October hours?

[VernonP]

We are planning our firt trip to Disneyland in 40 (me) - 30 (SO) years. We have reservations for our room, but the problem we are having is with park hours / dining reservations ( SO needs to take medications at specific times with meals). Does anyone know when Disney publishes their park hours for the parks?
We are at the "54 days out mark" for our vacation and I want to make reservations for his "Birthday Dinner", I just got off the phone with Disneyland Dining and tried to make a reservation for the 4th of October at Disneyland and they told me that the park would be closing at 6:00 p.m. There goes his B-day dinner (at the spot that he wanted). Would DCA be open longer that day? Do I need to try a reservation at our Hotel or just walk somewhere offsite?
This trip to Disneyland just seems to lose more of it's "Magic" the closer we get.

 

[Sharron379]

Did they add an extra day for the Mickey Halloween party? That seems to be the only reason why it would close that early. They do have party on Oct. 3rd, did they by any chance misunderstand your date.

 

[VernonP]

I've just subscribe to Touring Plans and they have the same hours (unofficial) for the 4th.

 

[Sherry E]

Just in case it's of any help to you, VernonP, this was the schedule (and park hours) for Disneyland and California Adventure October last year (except there was no Soundsational Parade back then):

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneyland/park-hours.cfm?month=10&year=2010

Chances are, the October schedule/hours for this year will be exactly the same on all the non-party nights as it was last year.

The nights that DL is shown on last year's calendar as closing at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. were Mickey's Halloween Party nights (10 party nights total).

I agree with Sharron379 - there could have been a mistake in what they told you in Dining. I wonder if the Dining folks do not have an updated calendar yet, or weren't thinking quickly enough to realize that the party that should have been held on Tuesday, October 4th this year is actually being held on Monday, October 3rd instead. The reason why I say "should have been held" is because, based on the fact that the Halloween party happened on mostly Tuesdays and Fridays last year (not a single Monday in the bunch), it was quite surprising to see that, this year, 10/4/11 will not be a party night but 10/3/11 will be a party night. Everything pointed to 10/4 being a party night.

In other words, it could be that 10/4 was originally supposed to be a Halloween party night, and Disney had it penciled in on their schedule that way. Somehow they changed it to 10/3 and perhaps places like Touringplans.com and the Dining number have not gotten the updated agenda yet?

The only other thing I can possibly think of is that there could be some other sort of private event being held on 10/4 - not a Cast Member party but some other sort of private function or press event, and that would explain the 6 p.m. closing on 10/4.

In any case, yes, if Disneyland does, indeed, close at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 10/4, California Adventure will remain open for at least another couple of hours beyond that time, if not longer. The 3 Disney hotels have some nice dining choices (Storytellers Cafe, Napa Rose, Steakhouse 55, PCH Grill), and, of course, Downtown Disney has Jazz Kitchen, Catal, Naples, etc.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I remember seeing that there was a private party on the 4th and that's why the party was scheduled the 3rd instead.

 

[Sherry E]

I remember seeing that there was a private party on the 4th and that's why the party was scheduled the 3rd instead.

Ahhh...interesting. Good to know. Well, that explains why the MHP is on the 3rd and Disneyland closes at 6 p.m. on 10/4. At least DCA will stay open for a while on both of those nights.

 

[VernonP]

Does anyone know when Disneyland officallly posts the park/entertainment hours for October?

 

[Sherry E]

Does anyone know when Disneyland officallly posts the park/entertainment hours for October?

Disneyland rolls the hours/entertainment schedule out a little a time. Some of the schedule will probably show up within the next couple of weeks or by the end of the month, and then the rest of it will show up in September. They are just now getting the complete September 2011 schedule up.

 

[VernonP]

Disneyland rolls the hours/entertainment schedule out a little a time. Some of the schedule will probably show up within the next couple of weeks or by the end of the month, and then the rest of it will show up in September. They are just now getting the complete September 2011 schedule up.

Thank you.
It's hard to get used to the slower schedule at Disneyland after using Disney World's for so many years, LOL. I am still in a kind of panic, considering we would have had our Dining Reservations for at least a month if we were going to WDW.

 

[HydroGuy]

Thank you.
It's hard to get used to the slower schedule at Disneyland after using Disney World's for so many years, LOL. I am still in a kind of panic, considering we would have had our Dining Reservations for at least a month if we were going to WDW.

WDW really conditions people to be obsessed about schedules, dining, and a lot of other things. Convincing WDW vets that it is actually better to not have to plan months and months in advance can be tough. Isn't it great that I am going to DLR next week and was able to get a Blue Bayou reservation yesterday at the exact time I wanted for next Wednesday? Never at WDW.

You will be fine. DLR is much easier to do and forget about your WDW-conditioned obsessions!

 

[VernonP]

Thanks Hydroguy.
And thank you for the wonderful threads that you've started especially the WOC superthread. You've hepled me get quite a few "tips" and to not worry about that show as much, since it will probably be showing during the 5 days that we are there. (We'll be going in through our hotel entrance (at least 30 minutes before posted park opening time) the morning we want to view and getting a FP.

I am sure that we will have a wonderful time, it's the pre-planning that's hard to shake-off, since it's been so ingrained into our other "Disney Vacations".

 

[LisaT91403]

FYI -- they posted the rest of September today, as well as the first few days of October.

 

[smile4stamps]

I had posted about the special event awhile ago.... (However I cannot find where I posted it!)

There is a conference in Anaheim for something Microsoft and they are doing a special Fantasmic for them and closing the park early to the rest of us.

 

[ppmcoj]

FYI -- they posted the rest of September today, as well as the first few days of October.

Where were you able to see the Oct hours? When I check the DL website, I can only see August and Sept.

 

[LisaT91403]

Where were you able to see the Oct hours? When I check the DL website, I can only see August and Sept.

They were posted, and now they are gone. So odd.

 

[Sherry E]

They were posted, and now they are gone. So odd.

That's happened before. Sometimes, even when things are posted, it's not necessarily complete or finalized yet. Sometimes they will still go in and add stuff or adjust times. Based on how DLR usually handles it, the schedule should trickle out, a little at a time, through the second half of this month and then the complete October schedule will be up in September (just like the complete September schedule was finally posted in August). I don't know why it can be posted in its entirety sooner (which would help with planning for the out-of-state or international visitors), but for some reason DLR takes its sweet time.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Bit of thread hijack here (sorry, OP!): I note that you guys think that the move from a Tues to a Mon MHP for Oct 3 is only because of a private event? I am planning an early Oct 2012 visit, and I had assumed that the move to Monday was to take advantage of people on vacation for Columbus Day (also Canadian Thanksgiving, FYI) and was planning my trip around the idea that *next year* they'd do the same thing with no Tues MHP the week of CD/Canuck Thanx, Mon, Oct 8, 2012.
How would you bet for 2012 if you were me? I am having a tug of war between wanting earlier rather than later Oct, wanting a Tues MHP and not a busier Friday one--which also means wanting to AVOID a Monday one scheduled for a holiday. But I think one the next day, Oct 9, 2012, wouldn't be too insane.

AJ

 

[Sherry E]

Bit of thread hijack here (sorry, OP!): I note that you guys think that the move from a Tues to a Mon MHP for Oct 3 is only because of a private event? I am planning an early Oct 2012 visit, and I had assumed that the move to Monday was to take advantage of people on vacation for Columbus Day (also Canadian Thanksgiving, FYI) and was planning my trip around the idea that *next year* they'd do the same thing with no Tues MHP the week of CD/Canuck Thanx, Mon, Oct 8, 2012.
How would you bet for 2012 if you were me? I am having a tug of war between wanting earlier rather than later Oct, wanting a Tues MHP and not a busier Friday one--which also means wanting to AVOID a Monday one scheduled for a holiday. But I think one the next day, Oct 9, 2012, wouldn't be too insane.

AJ

AJ -

This year Columbus Day is on 10/10, so having the Halloween Party on 10/3 would have nothing to do with that. I truly think that the only reason the MHP is being held on 10/3 instead of 10/4 this year is because of the private party that has been mentioned (for Microsoft or whatever it is).

Last year, the MHP's were all on Tuesdays and Fridays, except for Halloween night, which was a Sunday. Next year, since Halloween is on a Wednesday, there will be a party on that night. But unless there is a private party for a corporation like Microsoft (or some other huge company) again, I think the party nights will stick the Fridays and Tuesdays. I think DLR would prefer to keep the schedule as regular as possible since the MHP is being held in Disneyland and has to disrupt the usual schedule as it is.

Also, the wild card in this whole thing is that things could change completely next year. After all the work in DCA is finished and, presumably, the masses descend upon the entire Resort, depending on what else is planned for Halloween Time (like, let's say, for example, they do a full-fledged Halloween World of Color or they put something Halloween-ish back in DCA), DLR could decide to change the party nights. Fridays seem to always be in the mix. Tuesdays only started when they began having the party in DL. But if the parks are hopping next year and DLR suddenly gets tons and tons of business, that could somehow, directly or indirectly, affect when they decide to hold the parties. Maybe they will add more nights to the party. Maybe they will move the nights around. There's no telling.

But until then, I would assume the party nights will still be Fridays and Tuesdays, and Halloween night.

 

[cathicool]

I really hope the schedule is not finalized just yet for the last week of Sept-thru Oct 2. There is no fantasmic times listed for the dates I will be there and only 1 day has aladdin times. Hope disney plans to tweek!

 

[singitalto]

I know I'm going during the off season. But I was looking at last years schedule and during the time I'm going(Oct 19-23) there was no Aladden scheduled at all. I though i would have to bite the bullet and go to DLR on a Saturday to see shows, but its a mute point if they are not playing at all during my timeframe!! Can't wait for the official schedule!!