Hours extended today 12/19

[Lesley Wake]

Just announced that they are extending hours tonight! DCA open until 9 pm and DL open until 11!

Due to crowds yesterday and today, I’m not surprised! I’ve also been seeing lots of operations people walking around looking concerned and taking notes/photos.

 

[Susie63]

Well it looks like the tourists have arrived. I'll be there Thursday.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Well it looks like the tourists have arrived. I'll be there Thursday.

Yeah, wouldn’t surprise me if they extend hours later this week too!

 

[tink89]

Not sure what the hours were before but it shows DL closing at 11 pm or 12am and DCA at 10pm for the rest of the week

 

[minnieralyks]

I'm surprised they're closing at 11. I thought it was getting into the 8am-midnight everyday season?

Wait...we were there last week and they had 8 a.m. to midnight hours. We were there Sat-Tuesday and hours were 8 a.m. to midnight even on the weekdays. Why shorten hours when there will be more and more people leading to Christmas? Strange!

 

[donaldanddaisy]

I've been checking the app -- lines seem to be crazy! 110 min for TSMM?!?

 

[tink89]

I've been checking the app -- lines seem to be crazy! 110 min for TSMM?!?

Mine shows TSMM down at the moment but wait times seem to be in line for this time of the year. And almost all rides except for RSR has FP still available.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Mine shows TSMM down at the moment but wait times seem to be in line for this time of the year. And almost all rides except for RSR has FP still available.

It definitely feels crowded! I was always surprised by the earlier closings this week-I get that majority of APs are blocked, but it’s still the extremely busy season!

I was actually backstage this morning for a meeting and I know Ops was having another meeting where they were trying to figure it all out! A couple hours later-boom, hours extended!

 

[ParkHopper1]

Was in the parks yesterday and today and it was crazy. At the end of fireworks it was literally gridlock trying to get out down Main Street cuz fireworks was at 8:45 and park closed at 9 poor planning on DL’s part in trying to shave hours with the crowds that were there. This morning line to get out of the GCH to DTD through security was backed up to the Christmas Tree in the hotel lobby! It was a sad showing for operations

 

[mom2rtk]

I thought Touring Plans had lower numbers this week (I guess because of some of the APs being blocked?).

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I was surprised with the shorter hours.... I wonder if they had anticipated fewer guests. I am curious about the method they use to determine the hours, sometimes it makes a lot of sense and sometimes seems sort of random (like one day in a week with short hours and the rest with extended hours).

 

[Morningsun70]

Here now and somewhat surprised at the crowds. Mostly surprised because there was SO MUCH hotel room availability. We are kind of wondering where all these people are actually staying. But not that surprised because it *is* holiday season.

 

[MonocularVision]

Relieved to see the 11pm posted this morning at the Toy Story Parking lot. Of course, the bus driver said 10pm, a store CM said 11pm, an information desk CM said 9pm and the DisneylandToday Twitter account said to use the app (which didn’t get updated until this afternoon with the 11pm time).

Regardless, the extension is much needed. No idea why they were thinking with the hours they had this week.

 

[BayouQueen]

Was in the parks yesterday and today and it was crazy. At the end of fireworks it was literally gridlock trying to get out down Main Street cuz fireworks was at 8:45 and park closed at 9 poor planning on DL’s part in trying to shave hours with the crowds that were there. This morning line to get out of the GCH to DTD through security was backed up to the Christmas Tree in the hotel lobby! It was a sad showing for operations

Wow! That's crazy about the GCH security line. Is this the first holiday season they've done the security there? I can't remember about last year. Sounds like they weren't prepared for the busiest season.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Last year, the first week of AP blackouts was pretty light. My Signature+ friend kept texting me pictures of empty walkways and lines. So I think they expected that to happen again... apparently not so much.

 

[az4boys]

Last year, the first week of AP blackouts was pretty light. My Signature+ friend kept texting me pictures of empty walkways and lines. So I think they expected that to happen again... apparently not so much.

Maybe people heard it was a great time to go based on last year and BOOM - crazy crowds.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Maybe people heard it was a great time to go based on last year and BOOM - crazy crowds.

I think it’s a combination of a lot of things: people wanting to visit before the crowds get “unbearable” with SWGE, people who want to visit in December rather than Jan-April due to the amount of closures next year.

 

[wowsmom]

Wow! That's crazy about the GCH security line. Is this the first holiday season they've done the security there? I can't remember about last year. Sounds like they weren't prepared for the busiest season.

The current security started 12/15/2016 - we were staying at the GCH last year for my birthday, so I remember the date.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Crowds have been busy, but not local. I know more about the parks than any non-CM I met for the first time ever. Everyone I talk to is from somewhere that's not local area. Got beignets this morning around 10am with like 2 people in front of us. Last couple trips there was a line wrapping down the alley- it was like they were a hidden secret again! Went by at lunch & the line was only a bit outside of its wrought iron cue.

Hours changed for the whole week Tues afternoon. FWIW GCH conceirge told me WOC added a 2nd, late night showing for the week at that time. Tues was a disastrous day I think (from a park operations stand point). For a couple hours the fastpass and disabled return time systems went down parkwide. They resorted to paper return times for DAS- at first the POTC CM was like "I'm sorry but that hasn't been valid for a couple years"! Explained & we got on. HMH went down for a bit, Indy & TSMM (this according to a CM, I was in DL) spent most of the day down. That night BTMRR also kicked the bucket ( couldn't resist that one). Tues wasn't pretty, they were caught completely off guard imho. Thankfully the computer systems were back up when we got out of lunch.

We expected it to be quieter honestly. C'est la vie.

GCH security: has been ok. Tues @8:20 line was halfway down hallway by conference area. We were thru in 10 mins, they had an additional checkpoint opened down by world of color so it moved fast. Yesterday for EMH line for DCA to Storytellers, went out DtD exit & waited for 1 person. Today about 8:10am one DtD entry open, line halfway down courtyard (ick! Liked the warm inside line better, the wind is FREEZING today) took 15 mins. Very annoyed the other entry wasn't opened.

Hotel capacity as a park gauge: apparently ALL pricing has a point and Disney priced too high this week so people voted with their pocket books and booked elsewhere. A very interesting development.

As for the genius who decided on limiting park hours this week & not running Fantasmic (think of all the dining packages they didn't get to sell) I would NOT want to be in their shoes.