OK-whats going on on 18th May?

[Hobbes]

I had a BB reservation for 9.10 on 18th May. Tonight I have had an email from Disney Dining saying that
Due to an unexpected change in the operating hours for Disneyland Park on Monday, May 18th the Blue Bayou will not be able to accommodate reservations after 6:30pm
So I went in to see if I could get another reservation and it offers me 7.10 instead! So is the park closing early for grad night or what?

 

[dec2009mama]

there are several dates in May DL is closing at 7:30pm -- nobody has been able to tell us why?!?!

 

[iKristin]

I think they're closing early due to testing of the new shows for the 60th, like the fireworks and the parade.

 

[eagleone1983]

Huh, I've got reservations at BB for 6:40 pm on the 18th and I haven't received an email. I just checked Disneyland's site and they didn't have park hours posted yet for the 18th. I hope they aren't closing that early it only gives us 10 hours at the parks.

 

[thmcdonald1]

To add, I have BB rezzies at 7:20 PM on 5/18 and haven't received an email. It's still showing in the system as well.

 

[mom2rtk]

Maybe they are having some media events leading up to the 60th?

 

[wdwfan22]

I had a BB reservation for 9.10 on 18th May. Tonight I have had an email from Disney Dining saying that
Due to an unexpected change in the operating hours for Disneyland Park on Monday, May 18th the Blue Bayou will not be able to accommodate reservations after 6:30pm
So I went in to see if I could get another reservation and it offers me 7.10 instead! So is the park closing early for grad night or what?

That's weird. I just got online and it let me make one at Blue Bayou on the 18th for 8:50. I didn't finish the reservation cuz I already have one at Cafe Orleans for 6:10, but it went as far as to ask me for my cc to hold. so?? wierd things are happening. That's the week I'm there, and I'm starting to freak out about short hours like everyone else.

Maybe if there are short hours that week I will have enough energy to last for the 24 hr event, although if the crowds for that are as big as people are anticipating, not sure it will be a productive 24 hrs.

 

[Sherry E]

Maybe they are having some media events leading up to the 60th?

I fully expect that there will be at least one media day for some or all of the new 60th anniversary shows, and it will happen before 5/22. There may even be some sort of special, pop-up sneak preview thrown in there -- for AP holders, Parks Blog readers, Disney-ABC VIPs or some corporate group. Any day within those several days leading up to May 22 could be vulnerable to an early closure because of such an event.

 

[agamble]

That would be odd as the 18th is a grad night. I see closing the park early for testing, but not on a grad night where DCA will be closing early and you have extra teens in the park all day.

 

[figment_jii]

I also think it probably has to do with the lead up to the 60th anniversary. There are a handful of days when DLR is slated to close at 7:30 pm, so my guess is that DL will be closing at (or around) 7:30 pm on the 18th as well. Normally, the TS locations stop accepting reservations around 45 minutes to an hour before the park closes. In this case, they may be taking ADRs closer to closing so they can accomodate the folks that had later ADRs originally planned.

That would be odd as the 18th is a grad night. I see closing the park early for testing, but not on a grad night where DCA will be closing early and you have extra teens in the park all day.

I don't think Grad Nite will really have any impact on whether they close DL early or not because the event starts after DCA closes. From what I can tell, Grad Nite starts at 10:00 pm on most/all nights in May. Truthfully, I think if anything, it'll be more a matter of not extending DCA's hours by an hour to compensate for the early DL closing.

 

[wdwfan22]

I also think it probably has to do with the lead up to the 60th anniversary. There are a handful of days when DLR is slated to close at 7:30 pm, so my guess is that DL will be closing at (or around) 7:30 pm on the 18th as well. Normally, the TS locations stop accepting reservations around 45 minutes to an hour before the park closes. In this case, they may be taking ADRs closer to closing so they can accomodate the folks that had later ADRs originally planned.

Except I could just make a 8:50 reservation for the BB on the 18th a few minutes ago. So if they are already calling people to cancel them, why are they still accepting them? Soooooo confusing.

I can't imagine them closing for an entire day preview before the 22, or I would think they would have announced that by now. Lot's of people plan their trip around the parks being open every day, even if they close early. I wonder how far in advance they announced the full day closure before the 50th

 

[figment_jii]

I looked at the Blue Bayou's hours for the 18th and it listed 9:00 pm as the closure time. So at least, that makes sense why the OP got a message saying they couldn't keep the 9:10 pm ADR. As for the part that says they aren't accepting ADRs after 6:30 pm, that would make sense if the park was closing at 7:30 pm (ti's also possible that they made that the default message given the other early closure and it doesn't apply to the OP's case - kind of how you get the warning your party may be seated at separate tables even when you're a party of one!). However the 9:00 pm closure time for BB would indicate that they are closing at either 9:00 pm or 10:00 pm (at this point). Truthfully, my guess is that the systems are confused (which is not uncommon for Disney websites, it seems). I think it's very possible that the dining reservation system and the operating calendar systems aren't yet synced up. Hopefully we'll know more next week when the calendar should be updated through the 18th.

 

[wdwfan22]

I know there are lots of us waiting until they update the calendar so we can stop guessing. Although with their track record lately of changing times even after they post them will leave me wondering, I suppose until we get there! Haha!

 

[agamble]

Schedule shows Disneyland open until 10pm on the 18th and DCA open until 9pm; both open at 9am. Not sure what's happening with your reservation.

 

[Fantaluminishes]

I wonder how far in advance they announced the full day closure before the 50th

They announced the May 4 closure of DL when they announced the May 5 launch of the 50th Anniversary celebration. I believe the announcement was made in early 2005. There won't be a full day closure of the park before the 60th begins.

 

[wdwfan22]

Schedule shows Disneyland open until 10pm on the 18th and DCA open until 9pm; both open at 9am. Not sure what's happening with your reservation.

Not sure what you mean with what is happening with my reservation? Yes, that is what they have posted currently, my point is if you have been looking each day, they have posted hours then changed them several times within the past couple weeks.

 

[cindernat]

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/au/calendar/#/default/2015/05

The 18th still appears to be a day where DLP is actually open until a reasonable time, compared with the 19th and 21st. But as people say, who knows if this is the final schedule.

 

[figment_jii]

That would be odd as the 18th is a grad night. I see closing the park early for testing, but not on a grad night where DCA will be closing early and you have extra teens in the park all day.

The OP had a reservation at the Blue Bayou for 9:10 pm, but the operating hours for the Blue Bayou indicate that it "closes" at 9:00 pm. The Blue Bayou often stops taking reservations about an 45 minutes to an hour before the park itself closes. So my guess is that even though DL is staying open until 10:00 pm (at this point), the Blue Bayou is not taking reservations after 9:00 pm. The message about not taking reservations after 6:30 pm, sounds like it might have been a mix-up with the nights when DL is closing at 7:30 pm.