Just back from 12/31-1/03

Patty2005

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jan 23, 2017
Messages
17
We arrived on NYE around 2pm at Disneyland. Was super crowed, but expected. I was grateful that that capacity was not reached and we were able to enter the park at all. Went and had chicken dinner at plaza inn. Very short wait and was delicious. Went on a couple of rides. I did not bother with purchasing Max Pass as they were almost all gone for the day anyway. They announced that the NYE fireworks would probably be cancelled, and they were. They were giving out hats and horns and every kid was blowing the horn. It was freezing and we were basically miserable so we went back to hotel approx 9pm.

Up early on New Years Day and straight to DCA at opening. Security was fast, Crowds were light, and it was much more enjoyable than the day before. I tried to add Max Pass to my tickets but the site was having problems. Pulled an manual fast pass for Guardians. Was finally able to add Max Pass and had a great day. We went on everything we wanted several times using Max Pass, single rider lines, and buddy pass lines.

Jan 2nd security lines were out to harbor at 10am. ugh. Again I had trouble adding max pass and pulled a manual fast pass until the site would finally cooperate. It was more crowded than the day before, but we were able to go on every thing we wanted.

Jan 3rd. Security lines out to harbor at 10am. We only had until 2pm to be in the park so I didn't bother with Max Pass. It was much more crowded than the 2 days prior. But it was much warmer. We only went on one ride, got a dole whip, and spent the rest of our time shopping at downtown disney which was not crowded.

I saved money by purchasing my tickets from last minute travel. I now don't feel that it was worth it. I should have paid full price and got max pass right away. The site is just too overloaded early in the morning to purchase, and those early morning hours are too valuable. And I wasted to much time fighting with the website instead of enjoying my family time.

We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott theme park entrance. The hotel was nice, and a true hotel vs motel, but unless you plan to use the water park feature, I don't think it is worth the price we paid. The walk felt far, and we walked through a parking lot to get to the hotel. (could have gone around and down manchester, but took the short cut). I don't understand why they don't offer free breakfast. They have a whole room for it. We were with my mother who does not like motels, and didn't want to pay the DL hotel crazy price. I would have preferred staying closer to the crosswalk with a free breakfast.

Overall the trip was great and we all had a really good time.
 
I'm glad to hear you had a good time!

I considered buying tickets elsewhere than Disney for our upcoming trip, but I ultimately decided that I wanted to pre-purchase Maxpass with the tickets, so I hear you on that one and your experience only makes me feel better about that decision.
 
We were there the same time! I agree with your assessment - we did go to DCA on 12/31 around 2pm, bought maxpass and the boys (teens) used it a lot and did a ton of rides on 12/31! Husband and I mostly wandered around and went to bed early, yes it was cold!!!

1/1 was a great day to go. Relatively light crowds. Maxpass in the morning was so irritating... about to start a thread on that... not sure if you had already purchased it if it worked? I struggled with that app the whole trip and both loved and hated it.

We went through to Goofy's kitchen breakfast on 1/2 and yes the security line was out to harbor about 9:30am... never have I seen it that long! The 2nd and 3rd were very crowded. We still did a lot with maxpass once it worked and the teens didn't mind waiting in some long lines... but I thought 12/31 and 1/1 were definitely less crowded than 1/2 and 1/3!
 
Were you by chance on a Samsung or Pixel phone? I had zero issue purchasing MP for my friends that were with me on tickets (I have an AP), but it was glitching quite a lot (often wouldn't let me book FPs for them, but would work if I just selected my AP). It worked fine if we used my friend's iPhone, but that was a huge inconvenience for us to do that since I was playing guide.

I was told it's a known issue affecting those two device lines especially and IT is working on a solution still.
 



Disney Vacation Planning. Free. Done for You.
Our Authorized Disney Vacation Planners are here to provide personalized, expert advice, answer every question, and uncover the best discounts. Let Dreams Unlimited Travel take care of all the details, so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy a stress-free vacation.
Start Your Disney Vacation
Disney EarMarked Producer






DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter

Add as a preferred source on Google

Back
Top Bottom