Leap Day updates

[Disneyland 1951]

10:40 - 3:30am

Decided to head back to the park with most late night activities beginning at 11.

OH Nooooooooooooooo. I took more than 1hour 40 minutes to go from Fwy to Toy Story Lot.

The lines to get into the park were huge, it took 25 minutes to get in.

Pearly Band in Fantasyland.

SUPER CUTE: I talked to the cast mamber when to line up.
Waited only 10 minutes, but then the line was more than an hour.

Lines for any food were very long all night. This is for Churros in tomorrowland.

The country Bears in Frontierland.

The KIIS "Club 29" was so packed all night that there was no room to dance.
However, the music was great (Modern Dance), so much better than Electronica with it's weird tecno shuffle dance.

It was as crowded as I have ever see it at night, even at 3:30am.
The Bus service back to Toy Story had a wait time of 30 minutes, as there appeared to be only 4 buses.

Overall, good fun in the day, but overnight it was difficult to find anything to eat, and the lines for Star Tours, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, etc were super long. 80 minutes or longer at 3:00 am.

 

[nunzia]

Wow..oh wow..this is pretty much what I expected to see. I'm sorry to those of you who went and experienced the madness. Really though, this was totally predictable..like a New Year's Eve that goes on and on. Too many people and with a much rowdier demographic was certainly to be expected and although people felt Disney was overwhelmed there are no reports of fights or anything that extreme. I do think they should have had the rides geared up to full capacity and not have a TV show shooting at the same crazy time, but other than that I don't know what they could have done..I would like them to be more aggressive about tossing line jumpers and disorderly guests and I also think they should re-evaluate what 'capacity' is. Honestly though, this is the reason I would never go to something this this..prdictable total chaos. Maybe it should have been a ticketed event from say 10PM to 6 am..but then people would be screaming about that.

 

[elaw]

... It was as crowded as I have ever see it at night, even at 3:30am...

Reminds me of new years eve

 

[tdashgirl]

Much like the D23 Expo, I think Disney has big ideas, but underestimate the Mouseheads that come out of the woodwork for events like this and fail to plan accordingly. This was evidenced by filming a tv show on the day of a special event such as this, causing delays all over the park throughout the day.

I agree, this does seem like an odd choice.

Kudos to you DISers who braved OMDD! I'm pretty convinced this would not have been my cup of tea. But it was really cool to see the photos and hear the first-hand reports. Thanks again

 

[MotoWifey185]

Wow, I really wanted to go to this.... I was so sad that DF could not take any time off. But now seeing how it went I guess I am kind of glad we didn't go. I'm not saying I wouldn't have a great time if we did go but I'm glad we've got a different trip planned.

I think it would have worked best if it was a few day-week long vacation and this was just one crazy day out of many. I do hope that everyone had fun. And hey, being at Disneyland at 3am is way better than being in bed sleeping and having Zombie nightmares like I was for some reason.

I wonder if they will still do this next leap year? They should think of some type of system so it's more of an exclusive day, only so many people get in and you get the park for yourselves!

 

[croppincolburn]

Thanks for the pics. Love the characters in PJs.

 

[HeyItsNickCA]

What a nightmare. I hate Disneyland with crowds. I went once during summer, never again. I always go during the off season or try to. I picked my November dates in hope that it would be the least busiest time during the Christmas season.

 

[ter-moo]

I got there about 12:30 in the afternoon and it was busy, but not unmanageable as others have said. A lot of the ride waits weren't bad at all. By 4 or 5 pm, it was starting to get a little crowded, but still fun and people were in really good moods. I thought the C.M.s were even perkier and funnier than usual in the evening--like the vibe and excitement was rubbing off on them, too.

Around 8:30, I was in New Orleans Square and lines were starting to get long. 45 minutes for Haunted Mansion, 30 for Pirates, and Big Thunder was just a mass of people all the way down to the Mexican restaurant. What really surprised (and irritated) me was that the area by the river was already filling up with blankets and people, saving places for the Fantasmic show that was going to be at 1 am. AT 8:30!!!!! People are insane.

I had planned on going there around 11ish to save a spot, foolishly thinking that 2 hours early would be sufficient--but FOUR HOURS people? I wish that Disney would prevent people from saving spots until an hour before or so. They've managed to do it for WOC. You'd think they could keep the area off-limits for the hours before and keep everyone moving so they couldn't stop and save spots like that. It just isn't fair to the normal park-goer who thinks he/she should spend time going on rides and enjoying stuff in the parks rather than sitting for hours on a blanket just to see a show.

Contrary to most previous reports, I thought the crowd was pretty well-behaved and happy at the parks. I'm 53--the average age there was probably 25. Some little kids, but not many, and a very pleasant absence of strollers!

It was fun to do some stuff that I rarely do, like the Tiki Room (everyone sang along, and one guy even performed a lip-sync thing to all the gods in the queue for our entertainment!) and to stroll through the Disney Gallery leisurely, and go in the little movie theater on Main St. (most people were using that for a napping place!) One of the LONGEST lines was at Jolly Holiday around 7 pm, when I went to get a cup of coffee. They really need more coffee places in the park. I also had the special lobster bisque, but I found it to be WAY too salty. We wanted to try the Monte Cristo French Toast in N.O. Square, but the crowds there were just too insane to fight by the time we were hungry again.

The characters at the Plaza Garden (after 11 pm) were in the pajamas and REALLY interacting with each person that came up for pictures. That was fun to watch.

One weird thing that EVERYONE I passed seemed to be experiencing was the lack of wireless service--especially for texting. It took FOREVER to send a text and it often failed. I don't know if it was the sheer volume of people and everyone using broadband while waiting in the long lines, or what, but I did hear a lot of complaining about it. That may explain why this thread got fewer reports of line times as the night wore on. People simply couldn't post!

When I left around 12:30 (my back and feet were just DONE) I saw the infamous sea of people in the plaza. It was literally jam-packed from the turnstiles to the CA Adventure turnstiles. You could hardly walk across from the park exits to Harbor Blvd. I had toyed with the idea of going back around 4 am for breakfast and to see the sun rise, but when I saw THAT, I decided not to.

I'm glad we went, but I'm not sure I'd do it again--I do like the park more "empty."

 

[Leshaface]

Thanks for everyone sharing their experiences...even the not so great ones. Guess i'm somewhat glad we were unable to go, even though I would have loved to say I was at Disneyland at 4am once in my life. Wonder if they will ever make this for AP holders only? Perhaps that would cause too much controversy?

 

[MouseyDaddy]

Thanks for the pics. Love the characters in PJs.

That was awesome. Guess it was a good call not to go. Thankfully I am only a week out from all the magic. Thanks all for the great pics. Get some rest.

 

[Disneyland 1951]

Final Notes:

1. They were very clever and went the extra mile with Characters. They had two sets of major characters. One set would leave, and be replaced within two minutes with another set of the same characters. This allowed to have Mickey and Minnie out at nearly all times. (Parades - Fantasmic)

2. The Characters in PJ's were teriffic. With all four together they did all kinds of interaction with each other and the crowd. When this couple kissed the characters also copied them and kissed. Mickey followed this up by grabing Minnie, bending her over, and laying a big one on her.... So funny.

3. Filming of Family Guy was not a big deal. They took up a lot of space, but moved to vaious locations and were gone by evening.

4. I was amazed that with the Explanade full and signs saying Disneyland is Full at 1:00am, there were hundreds lined up to purchase tickets!!!

5. The food items looked good, but it took a long time to get anything. Places like Hungury Bear were closed. Why?

6. The KIIS DJ in Tomorrowland was sooooo much better than Electronica.

7. After 3:00 with the park full and Toy Story full, they had only four, or fewer Buses on Duty, when they could have used 12 or more. Again, why?

8. This is the worst traffic jam in the History of DLR.

9. With this mess, Carsland opening will be nearly as bad. I hope they plan better.

10. The overall show and event in the park was well done, just too many people.

They needed to sell tickets and limit admissions like the Holloween Party.

 

[cyclenut]

I know a lot of HS age kids who went for the evening, my DD17 and several of her friends, being among them. DW picked them up at 5:30 this morning and they reported having a most excellent time. Definately heavy crowds and exceptionally long lines, but they really enjoyed themselves. They never did ride Space Mountain. Even as they were preparing to leave around 5am, the line was still 140 minutes. YIKES!

We were predicting that the park would reach capacity in our house and felt that 9:00 was about the latest anyone should try and go. I'm not sure why so many seemed to feel they could drop in any time and there wouldn't be a problem. My DD18 texted us at about 9:15 to say she had arrived in the park and met up with her sister. Sounds like she made it just in time.

They did all report that cell service was down for awhile (Verizon). Maybe the local tower overloaded?

I am sorry to hear about the reports from folks who didn't enjoy themselves. It appears Disney underestimated the draw that this unique experience would have on the locals. I'm sure they will figure out how to make more money off of that in the future. It also highlights one of the big differences in attendance between WDW and DLR. The DLR attendance base is locals, but they have known that for a long time.

 

[disneychrista]

I honestly didn't expect to see the park this crowded & have capacity crowds mid-week.

 

[Castillo Mom]

It's 1:08 p.m. and happily I'm still wide awake here at work thanks to several cups of coffee (I lost count)!

We headed out to DLR at midnight since my son had to work. Saw the long line of cars trying to exit on Disney Way but the number one and two lanes were clear so I decided to pass them up to see if Harbor Blvd. was any better and it was. It was 12:40 by the time we got to the Explanade and the lines weren't moving because they had halted admission. We waited about 20 minutes and they started letting people in again.

As for the the crowd, I think everyone was pretty well behaved. It was definitely a different atmosphere, not as family oriented but in my opinion is to be expected at those hours of the night/morning. I did see a few parents with toddlers and babies and actually felt sorry for the little ones who probably should've been in their warm beds at home.

First stop was Tomorrowland which was wall to wall people so we decided to see what was going on at TLT. I enjoyed listening to the music at TLT (Tomorrowland Terrace), the DJ was really good and it was packed! My sons only spent about 20 minutes dancing and then we left to check out SM but the wait was way too long and so was Star Tours. We headed to Adventureland instead and rode Indy since the wait wasn't too bad.

By this time we were hungry so we put ourselves on the list for Cafe Orleans. Waited about 20 minutes before we were called to a table outside. It was very cold but we came prepared, I had on tights under my leggings, a long sweater, a wool coat over that, leather boots, gloves and I brought a Disney throw which came in handy!

For breakfast we ordered Bananas Foster french toast all around and shared an order of Eggs Benedict. Both were yummy! The coffee was also surprisingly good, not the usual Nescafe, and strong just the way I like it.

After breakfast we headed to HM then made our way back to SM. We waited about an hour which wasn't too bad under the circumstances.

I have a hard rule that we don't get in any line that states the wait is longer than 20 minutes either at DLR or WDW but this was a different experience. Based on what I had read in the days leading up to the event I figured that it would be packed so we mentally prepared ourselves and went in with that expectation and decided we would just go with the flow. That's exactly what we did and we had an awesome time. Would do it again in a heartbeat!

I don't think Disney expected the massive turnout and I don't fault them for that. But DLR does draw a lot of locals who are diehard Disney fans. If in the future it were more controlled as far as crowds and if we were able to experience specialty entertainment and there were plenty of event merchandise, I would pay for a quality hard ticketed event. And now I'm off to the WDW boards - curious to see how things went at MK.

 

[SilentFeline]

Wow, I really wanted to go to this.... I was so sad that DF could not take any time off. But now seeing how it went I guess I am kind of glad we didn't go. I'm not saying I wouldn't have a great time if we did go but I'm glad we've got a different trip planned.

I think it would have worked best if it was a few day-week long vacation and this was just one crazy day out of many. I do hope that everyone had fun.

I completely agree. At first I was really upset that I couldn't be there, but reading about all of the chaos made me glad that I wasn't, at least for the most part. On one hand, I would have liked to have been a part of the experience, but I'm way too impatient to deal with everything being one giant line. I can only imagine how long the lines were for the restrooms! I will always love Disneyland, but this event just wouldn't be for me. It sounds like a lot of people did have fun though, and that's great!

FWIW, I can't see Disneyland doing this again unless they make some major changes and have much better preparation. WDW is a different story. I read that things went much smoother over there. I guess we'll see what happens.

 

[Amommy21]

We left the park at about 9:15. It was controlled chaos. I've never been in the park when so many people with awful behaviors were there. We weren't interested in rides or anything, just wanted to people watch and get a bite to eat and look in the shops. After two hours of fighting crowds and seeing people treating each other like it was the longest Black Friday ever, we were done. My husband and I can handle a lot, but we felt completely unsafe with the amount of people let into the parks. When the guests are all adults/teens and the kids are gone, there's just a really weird vibe to the whole place. People were yelling/screaming at each other, the line cutting was crazy, one poor old woman in a wheelchair couldn't move because things were so thick and a man stuck behind her told her to "move it, or I'll flip your crippled ***."

This was the saddest Disney experience we've ever had and agreed that leap year once every four years is too much. I feel awful for people that took a special flight to attend. I hope others had a more positive experience and that we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.......all night.

The upside? Downtown Disney was pretty quiet and we were able to return to our hotel and relax with a drink next to the pool with heat lamps warming us up. That hour was worth the five hour drive alone

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=44198662#post44198662

 

[Amommy21]

We left the park at about 9:15. It was controlled chaos. I've never been in the park when so many people with awful behaviors were there. We weren't interested in rides or anything, just wanted to people watch and get a bite to eat and look in the shops. After two hours of fighting crowds and seeing people treating each other like it was the longest Black Friday ever, we were done. My husband and I can handle a lot, but we felt completely unsafe with the amount of people let into the parks. When the guests are all adults/teens and the kids are gone, there's just a really weird vibe to the whole place. People were yelling/screaming at each other, the line cutting was crazy, one poor old woman in a wheelchair couldn't move because things were so thick and a man stuck behind her told her to "move it, or I'll flip your crippled ***."

This was the saddest Disney experience we've ever had and agreed that leap year once every four years is too much. I feel awful for people that took a special flight to attend. I hope others had a more positive experience and that we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.......all night.

The upside? Downtown Disney was pretty quiet and we were able to return to our hotel and relax with a drink next to the pool with heat lamps warming us up. That hour was worth the five hour drive alone

saddest day ever... yeah, really it was just relentless people and crowds that were just wandering... ugh.. read my trip report:


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=44198662#post44198662

 

[cyclenut]

I did not attend personally but I have had a few more conversations with my kids and their friends who did attend. One of them put it very well. It seems that it was all about expectations.

If you expected large crowds with a "party" mentality, then it seems you had a good time. If you expected a magical experience then you were probably disappointed.

 

[bondgirl007]

I guess I was fortunate. I expected huge chaos and had different expectations for this visit than I normally do. I also met lots of great people. I did smell pot twice and alcohol more than once but is was on older people, not young adults. There was some bad language but someone usually spoke up to stop it. other than being extremely tired at a few points during the 24 hours, I had a GREAT time

 

[tdashgirl]

As for the the crowd, I think everyone was pretty well behaved. It was definitely a different atmosphere, not as family oriented but in my opinion is to be expected at those hours of the night/morning.

I think this is a great attitude and perspective to have Also, your meal of bananas foster french toast at CO sounds heavenly