No WOC 9-14? (Black hole week)

[tgpez21]

If it's only open till 6, maybe they are having media night tonight for the Halloween overlay.

Highly possible. They were decorating like crazy this morning.

 

[onlyoneash]

Guardians closed at 6. CM said it was for Halloween overlay or whatever. Locals FLOODED the park at 6. I can't even walk through cars land right now (traffic jam!). Guess everyone wants to see the new Halloween decor!

With all the fastpasses gone (maxpass is a waste at DCA on days where they run out by noon, just FYI)

My kids waited 70 minutes just to see Captain America the lines were so long. Lines were cut off before my kids could see Minnie because the line was so long.

3 rides we were on broke down just in the last 2 hours (Zephyr, jelly fish, and wheel)

This is my kids first time at Disneyland. They love everything Disney. They (and me) have been so incredibly disappointed. Honestly, I can't believe I have spend so much money on a once in a lifetime vacation.

Maybe this is a normal experience and I set the bar too high? Does anyone else feel it is incredibly overrated?

But honestly, my tough 6 year old has a few tears silently rolling down his cheek because he didn't get to go on half of the rides he wanted too (the 3 rides breaking down and getting cut out of the minnie character line didn't help either). Boo! So far I am never going to Disneyland again.

 

[Geemo]

Guardians closed at 6. CM said it was for Halloween overlay or whatever. Locals FLOODED the park at 6. I can't even walk through cars land right now (traffic jam!). Guess everyone wants to see the new Halloween decor!

With all the fastpasses gone (maxpass is a waste at DCA on days where they run out by noon, just FYI)

My kids waited 70 minutes just to see Captain America the lines were so long. Lines were cut off before my kids could see Minnie because the line was so long.

3 rides we were on broke down just in the last 2 hours (Zephyr, jelly fish, and wheel)

This is my kids first time at Disneyland. They love everything Disney. They (and me) have been so incredibly disappointed. Honestly, I can't believe I have spend so much money on a once in a lifetime vacation.

Maybe this is a normal experience and I set the bar too high? Does anyone else feel it is incredibly overrated?

But honestly, my tough 6 year old has a few tears silently rolling down his cheek because he didn't get to go on half of the rides he wanted too (the 3 rides breaking down and getting cut out of the minnie character line didn't help either). Boo! So far I am never going to Disneyland again.

The Black Hole discussion has been going on for almost two months now. When these things happen it's too bad vacations can't be rescheduled. But as you mentioned on pg 1 airfare locked you in.

Sorry your trip doesn't sound like it's going as planned. It's terrible to be disappointed on a vacation.
Vacations are usually expensive and a Disney trip is no exception.

Locals are a given as the afternoon-evening approaches, of course depending on weather.
This is one reason RopeDrop is so important.

What you have described sounds like the New Normal for DLR.
This trend has been growing the past couple of years.
"The parks are always crowded these days" or "There are NO slow times".
These are common statements in many threads.

I've been helping my DGD-20 and her BFF plan a 5 day DLR, 1 MHP & 1 day USH trip. This will be her BFF's very first trip to DLR. My DGD has been to DLR many times so she know what to expect. In one of our planning parties, I reminded them that even though they'd be in the parks for a week, they would NOT get it all done.

The two of them have been saving for this trip the past 18months. This was my way of lowering the bar. I don't want her BFF to be disappointed.

I hope this wasn't your last day in the parks. Maybe you can get the missed events/rides accomplished tomorrow.
Here is some to help end your trip on a better note.

G

 

[tnzzz]

Guardians closed at 6. CM said it was for Halloween overlay or whatever. Locals FLOODED the park at 6. I can't even walk through cars land right now (traffic jam!). Guess everyone wants to see the new Halloween decor!

With all the fastpasses gone (maxpass is a waste at DCA on days where they run out by noon, just FYI)

My kids waited 70 minutes just to see Captain America the lines were so long. Lines were cut off before my kids could see Minnie because the line was so long.

3 rides we were on broke down just in the last 2 hours (Zephyr, jelly fish, and wheel)

This is my kids first time at Disneyland. They love everything Disney. They (and me) have been so incredibly disappointed. Honestly, I can't believe I have spend so much money on a once in a lifetime vacation.

Maybe this is a normal experience and I set the bar too high? Does anyone else feel it is incredibly overrated?

But honestly, my tough 6 year old has a few tears silently rolling down his cheek because he didn't get to go on half of the rides he wanted too (the 3 rides breaking down and getting cut out of the minnie character line didn't help either). Boo! So far I am never going to Disneyland again.

I'm sorry today was so rough. We did DCA yesterday and it was light, but when we were in DL today I checked FP times in DCA and was surprised so many were gone as well. I hope you have another day and things improve.

 

[onlyoneash]

The Black Hole discussion has been going on for almost two months now. When these things happen it's too bad vacations can't be rescheduled. But as you mentioned on pg 1 airfare locked you in.

Sorry your trip doesn't sound like it's going as planned. It's terrible to be disappointed on a vacation.
Vacations are usually expensive and a Disney trip is no exception.

Locals are a given as the afternoon-evening approaches, of course depending on weather.
This is one reason RopeDrop is so important.

What you have described sounds like the New Normal for DLR.
This trend has been growing the past couple of years.
"The parks are always crowded these days" or "There are NO slow times".
These are common statements in many threads.

I've been helping my DGD-20 and her BFF plan a 5 day DLR, 1 MHP & 1 day USH trip. This will be her BFF's very first trip to DLR. My DGD has been to DLR many times so she know what to expect. In one of our planning parties, I reminded them that even though they'd be in the parks for a week, they would NOT get it all done.

The two of them have been saving for this trip the past 18months. This was my way of lowering the bar. I don't want her BFF to be disappointed.

I hope this wasn't your last day in the parks. Maybe you can get the missed events/rides accomplished tomorrow.
Here is some to help end your trip on a better note.

G

I'm sorry today was so rough. We did DCA yesterday and it was light, but when we were in DL today I checked FP times in DCA and was surprised so many were gone as well. I hope you have another day and things improve.

Thanks guys. I do have another day!
We are going to do Disneyland tomorrow. Send fairy dust!

Since the waits are so unpredictable but the hours are so short in the "off season", if we ever go to Disneyland in the future, we will definitely go in the summer. At least with the crowds you also get long hours and more entertainment/less refurbishments! Lesson learned. I am going to make the best of this though and hope tomorrow goes better.

Venting to people who understand has been really nice at least, so I'm glad this thread was created!

 

[tnzzz]

DL today was pretty short on wait times and the crowds were decent. We did a half day, this is our first trip doing more than 3 days and we were feeling pretty burned out today (day 4), so we went in around noon and left before 6. We got on Pirates, Thunder Mtn, Star Tours, Astro Blasters, and even Peter Pan (less than 30 minute wait!). Plus an early dinner. We break to visit family tomorrow and then do a short visit Friday to catch the overlays.
Overall black hole week has treated us ok and there was enough to do that I didn't miss the closures.

 

[tnzzz]

Thanks guys. I do have another day! We are going to do Disneyland tomorrow. Send fairy dust!

I'm guessing many people will park hop and do DCA in the morning so hopefully you'll have lighter crowds in the morning and afternoon. Make sure you rope drop, I think it's 9am tomorrow!

 

[onlyoneash]

DL today was pretty short on wait times and the crowds were decent. We did a half day, this is our first trip doing more than 3 days and we were feeling pretty burned out today (day 4), so we went in around noon and left before 6. We got on Pirates, Thunder Mtn, Star Tours, Astro Blasters, and even Peter Pan (less than 30 minute wait!). Plus an early dinner. We break to visit family tomorrow and then do a short visit Friday to catch the overlays.
Overall black hole week has treated us ok and there was enough to do that I didn't miss the closures.

Yeah, I think I hit the wrong park. DL seemed nice and slow! Ahhh! Here's to hoping DL is slowish tomorrow as well.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Yeah, I think I hit the wrong park. DL seemed nice and slow! Ahhh! Here's to hoping DL is slowish tomorrow as well.

You get an extra hour tomorrow, park opens at 9:00. Be sure to hit rope drop. We will be there! Thinking positive thoughts!

 

[tgpez21]

Guardians closed at 6. CM said it was for Halloween overlay or whatever. Locals FLOODED the park at 6. I can't even walk through cars land right now (traffic jam!). Guess everyone wants to see the new Halloween decor!

With all the fastpasses gone (maxpass is a waste at DCA on days where they run out by noon, just FYI)

My kids waited 70 minutes just to see Captain America the lines were so long. Lines were cut off before my kids could see Minnie because the line was so long.

3 rides we were on broke down just in the last 2 hours (Zephyr, jelly fish, and wheel)

This is my kids first time at Disneyland. They love everything Disney. They (and me) have been so incredibly disappointed.

I'm sorry you are disappointed today. There definitely is an event tonight at DCA as I can hear them playing World of Color over again after normal park hours and they're running Guardians constantly which I see from my room at the Grand Californian.

 

[tiffjoy]

Thanks guys. I do have another day!
We are going to do Disneyland tomorrow. Send fairy dust!

Since the waits are so unpredictable but the hours are so short in the "off season", if we ever go to Disneyland in the future, we will definitely go in the summer. At least with the crowds you also get long hours and more entertainment/less refurbishments! Lesson learned. I am going to make the best of this though and hope tomorrow goes better.

Venting to people who understand has been really nice at least, so I'm glad this thread was created!

We leave Friday for a quick weekend trip. But we have been many times before and will be going again in December already.

I am so sorry for your kiddos, especially. That makes me sad. I would highly recommend sharing your experience at guest services before you leave- Disney should know that these changes made just weeks or months out when people have to plan trips for longer than that are really hard. WDW is able to plan better- DLR really needs to get with it. It's fine if the park has to close at 6pm for something. That happens. But they know, or they should know, more than a couple months in advance and share that info with customers.

I really hope that tomorrow is better for you.

I recommend people now to visit in the summer months, which I never did before. We had family come out in June for their first visit ever, and they had a great time. The parks were quite crowded, but there were long hours and very few things down. (What was we had known way in advance, like the railroad). This allowed them to get a lot done. There is no down time at DLR anymore and there hasn't been for several years now. They just shorten hours and reduce rides.

Sending pixie dust your way!!!!

 

[MacMama0930]

Guardians closed at 6. CM said it was for Halloween overlay or whatever. Locals FLOODED the park at 6. I can't even walk through cars land right now (traffic jam!). Guess everyone wants to see the new Halloween decor!

With all the fastpasses gone (maxpass is a waste at DCA on days where they run out by noon, just FYI)

My kids waited 70 minutes just to see Captain America the lines were so long. Lines were cut off before my kids could see Minnie because the line was so long.

3 rides we were on broke down just in the last 2 hours (Zephyr, jelly fish, and wheel)

This is my kids first time at Disneyland. They love everything Disney. They (and me) have been so incredibly disappointed. Honestly, I can't believe I have spend so much money on a once in a lifetime vacation.

Maybe this is a normal experience and I set the bar too high? Does anyone else feel it is incredibly overrated?

But honestly, my tough 6 year old has a few tears silently rolling down his cheek because he didn't get to go on half of the rides he wanted too (the 3 rides breaking down and getting cut out of the minnie character line didn't help either). Boo! So far I am never going to Disneyland again.

I'm so sorry, I feel bad that everyone is having a rough time. Disneyland IS overrated to some people. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just some people LOVE it and some people DO NOT. The first time I took my kids (and myself as an adult) was a disaster. It was over 100 degrees (we dont do heat!), and I wasn't familiar at all with the parks, we didn't understand FP and how to maximum it, we rode practically nada. I cried on one of our days and my husband and I had a few squabbles on that trip. I vowed to not let us rememeber Disneyland that way. The next year we went again (after much reading and planning) and it truly was the best trip of my life! So much so that I immediately bought APs and I've gone 4 other times since then (in less than a year!).

Disney tried to cram too many closures and whatnot into one week think it'd be "slow". They should know better. They should know there's no slow time. If crowds are the same all year round then they should staff it appropriately and have more accommodating hours. 10am!?! My kids have been awake for over 4 hours by then!

With that said, I checked the touring plans website that gives historical data on crowd levels and DCA was only rated a 6 and DL a 4. Those are considered moderate crowds. Granted, crowds can "feel" different depending on what the crowds are doing (I.e looking at decorations, taking up the walking space, etc). But really, if those crowds seemed too intense for you guys, definitely steer clear of Christmas time! Disney is crowded, even on a relatively slow day. I personally think you have to LOVE Disneyland to overlook that, and if you don't LOVE it, all you see is crowds.

I truly hope today is better for you and the kiddos. Sending lots of pixie dust your way! Keep expectations reasonable, use Max Pass, take breaks and follow your kids leads

 

[Linkura]

Guardians closed at 6. CM said it was for Halloween overlay or whatever. Locals FLOODED the park at 6. I can't even walk through cars land right now (traffic jam!). Guess everyone wants to see the new Halloween decor!

With all the fastpasses gone (maxpass is a waste at DCA on days where they run out by noon, just FYI)

My kids waited 70 minutes just to see Captain America the lines were so long. Lines were cut off before my kids could see Minnie because the line was so long.

3 rides we were on broke down just in the last 2 hours (Zephyr, jelly fish, and wheel)

This is my kids first time at Disneyland. They love everything Disney. They (and me) have been so incredibly disappointed. Honestly, I can't believe I have spend so much money on a once in a lifetime vacation.

Maybe this is a normal experience and I set the bar too high? Does anyone else feel it is incredibly overrated?

But honestly, my tough 6 year old has a few tears silently rolling down his cheek because he didn't get to go on half of the rides he wanted too (the 3 rides breaking down and getting cut out of the minnie character line didn't help either). Boo! So far I am never going to Disneyland again.

I'm sorry you had such a crummy day, ash. Not what I was hoping to hear as I've seen your planning posts here the past couple of months! I hope today is better. I have a couple questions just so I understand the situation better:
-Did you rope drop? If not, when did you arrive?
-How many park days do you have? Do you have hoppers? I really hope that wasn't your only chance for DCA!

 

[tiffjoy]

I'm going to be cancelling a reservation for BB Fantasmic dinner for tomorrow night at 4:50 with 4 people.

Let me know if you would like to pick it up! I'll be letting it go in a couple hours if I don't hear from anyone.

 

[gillep]

Thanks guys. I do have another day!
We are going to do Disneyland tomorrow. Send fairy dust!

Since the waits are so unpredictable but the hours are so short in the "off season", if we ever go to Disneyland in the future, we will definitely go in the summer. At least with the crowds you also get long hours and more entertainment/less refurbishments! Lesson learned. I am going to make the best of this though and hope tomorrow goes better.

Venting to people who understand has been really nice at least, so I'm glad this thread was created!

I hope you have a much better day today!!!!!! My husband thinks DL is very overrated, he will go with me, and enjoys some of the experiences, but he just doesn't really enjoy it in the same way that he enjoys and loves WDW. I agree to a point, but I have a much higher tolerance for some of the things that really drive him crazy.

I hope you have a fantastic day today, fairy dust sent!!!!!

 

[jrjankowski8]

In the airport heading back to NY after Saturday-Wednesday in the parks. Lots of fun and not too crazy. Since we spent most of our waking hours in the parks, we got just about everything done.

MaxPass worked great and once we got through the headliners I realized you could keep refreshing and sometimes get earlier times. At one point the sold out Racers gave me a return time of 3pm, when I checked at 2pm.

One thing that was annoying is that (and I'm assuming this is because Space and HM were closed) there weren't many FP rides to select from. I think we rode Big Thunder 8-9x, Indy 4, etc. only did Peter Pan the first day at 7am rope drop. Didn't do autopia or submarines because when we checked the wait was always 30-40 minutes (which I'm sure was longer).

Also the big bummer was going all the way the DLH to go to the terrace (we knew Traders was closed) only to find out there was a private reserved party taking up any of the seats in the shade. I just wanted to relax and have a birthday drink in the middle of the day. Instead we tracked out of DL all the way to DLH to basically take the monorail back to where we were... why would you book private parties when your main seating area is already closed?

 

[tnzzz]

Wait times look so nice at both parks today! Wishing we were there.
I think next trip I plan will be a tues-Friday or Saturday. Sunday and monday always seem to be the busiest days.

Edit: looks like my app is stuck on 10am times. Oops.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Wait times look so nice at both parks today! Wishing we were there.
I think next trip I plan will be a tues-Friday or Saturday. Sunday and monday always seem to be the busiest days.

Edit: looks like my app is stuck on 10am times. Oops.

Yeah it's actually pretty busy today. Fantasyland has been a complete zoo all day.

 

[Linkura]

The actual wait times don't seem too bad though unless the app is lying. PPF is at 40 but that's standard. Matterhorn is only 20.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

The actual wait times don't seem too bad though unless the app is lying. PPF is at 40 but that's standard. Matterhorn is only 20.

Some aren't correct, especially in Fantasyland.