Just back, and DANG--CA Adventure, what a mess

[NancyIL]

School in San Diego County aren't closed for Rosh Hashanah.

In our district we're on a year round schedule, though. Schools are on break from 9/24 - 10/10. Sooooo nice!

Okay - all of THOSE people will be at Disneyland when I'm there this week!

 

[Cinerbelle]

I live in So. Cal. and my kids don't have any days off from now until Veterrans Day.

 

[emacat]

Carsland is not a big deal in terms of foot traffic disruption. It is an expansion in a corner of the park that was mainly a parking lot prior to construction.

The big culprit is Buena Vista street, the new front entrance to the park. Imagine the mess if Disneyland completely closed down Main Street, put up construction walls and rerouted you around it by using backstage areas as your pathway into the park. That's basically what they've done to DCA. It's a giant maze to get around right now.

All the construction is supposed to be done by summer 2012.

Suddenly I'm really happy I went with PPH rather than the Hojo. I'll be glad to go through the GCH, rather than that entrance mess.

And ten minutes for TSM? WOW! I'm envious!

 

[Sidney Land]

I can't believe what a wall of fencing and blocked off construction it is right now. The "walkway" in is the same as the way out. You are just walking through very tall fencing.

Last time I went to DCA I kept expecting there to be a piece of cheese just around the next corner.

 

[ducky_love]

We are going this year because of the construction. I know that sounds weird but we're hoping it will keep the crowds down. Plus my DH loves to see the before and after.

 

[SilentFeline]

We are going this year because of the construction. I know that sounds weird but we're hoping it will keep the crowds down. Plus my DH loves to see the before and after.

My boyfriend and I are doing the same thing. We wanted to completely avoid the opening of Carsland next year to avoid the craziness. Neither one of us can stand heavy crowds! We're planning a trip for January 2012, and then we probably won't be back until 2014 or 2015 when the novelty has worn off a bit and we can save up to stay onsite to keep up our tradition. Plus, it will be nice to possibly wait in a TSMM line that isn't 40+ minutes long!

 

[scion5220]

I was there last Friday (9/16) too, as I think a few of us on this forum were, and that was my first time in DCA since December of last year, so a lot had changed in 9 months. Not only are the construction walls a pain, but the route you have to take to get to where you want to go in DCA is really circuitous and annoying. I know it won't be like that forever, but it's a pain right now!

Even a CM who served us at the Plaza Inn made a joke about how much extra walking is involved in DCA now, in its current condition.

One thing I will say is that DCA was a virtual ghost town early in the day on 9/16. Toy Story only had a 10-minute wait - which is something I have never personally witnessed before! Little Mermaid was basically a walk-on too. Because 99% of the Halloween stuff is in Disneyland (with the exception of Duffy's Pumpkin Patch photo spot), most folks were in DL and not in DCA. So even though all the walls and roundabout paths to get from Point A to Point B were bothersome, it was a great time to go on rides in DCA. I don't expect the park to be that empty one year from now.

HA! Look at this photo I took when I was there on 9/8

 

[GrumpyGoat]

I think DCA was originally intended to give out-of-state visitors a "California" experience. Well, the greater percentage of Disneyland Resort visitors are from Southern California and we've seen it all already...

For the other visitors California Adventure wasn't "Disney enough..." It's my understanding DCA was a mony loser from the very beginning and all the construction, starting with Toy Story Mania and Little Mermaid is an attempt to add more Disney feature attractions to the park. I think when Cars Land opens, you'll see a major up-tick in attendance...