Park capacity.

[rachaeld]

Just curious, how many people can be in each park at once?

 

[bcla]

Legally there's only a fire code maximum for indoor areas. I understand that it's a judgement call when they feel they should deny admission.

 

[Disney Dreams]

My understanding is that it is not an exact number, but rather a general sense of flow and motion. It's a question of, "Could we safely get emergency assistance in or evacuate everyone out if needed?"

That is partially why DL could close due to capacity on NYE and actually have less people in it than on a very busy December day (for example). On NYE, a giant majority of the people in the Park are in Main Street. With everyone in a concentrated area, it's more difficult to move crowds if necessary. Whereas, on a busy December day the Park is just crowded overall, but not necessarily all in one place, making movement throughout possible if needed.

I have always been told it's a general "feel," as opposed to a hard set number.

- Dreams

 

[disneychrista]

Just to add the more attractions that are down the lower number of guest that are allowed in the park, as it lower the "capacity" of the park.

 

[rachaeld]

So would it be 5k or 50k or 70k?... and no, I haven't been to Disneyland yet so I really have no idea at all.

 

[disneychrista]

So would it be 5k or 50k or 70k?... and no, I haven't been to Disneyland yet so I really have no idea at all.

Depending on a variety of factors I believe it is some where between 50 - 70k

 

[HydroGuy]

So would it be 5k or 50k or 70k?... and no, I haven't been to Disneyland yet so I really have no idea at all.

DL is something like 50k if memory serves. As others said rides are people eaters and when rides are down more people are making it feel more crowded.

I do not know what is is for DCA but believe it is at least 30k.

If anyone has better info please jump in.

 

[ParkHopper1]

Disney is VERY tight lipped on actual attendance numbers but 50K for DLR and 30K for DCA have been the numbers that have been generally accepted as capacity it seems.

 

[Vexorg]

They also don't just completely close off the entire park all at once when there's too many people. They do it in phases, ranging from blocking first entries on single-day tickets, then multi-day tickets, then blocking re-entries (except for annual passes and Disney hotel guests), and ultimately just completely closing off park admissions entirely until enough people leave the parks to start letting people back in. Naturally Disney doesn't really discuss this, but here's an unofficial page (for WDW, but probably still relevant) talking about what appears to be the policy:

http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/capacity-closures

 

[Malcon10t]

The number is in the high 50K for Disneyland when running at peak. Take down a high capacity ride, it drops a couple thousand. Even minor things such as closing a walkway affects the counts. Last I heard, DCA is in the low 30s at peak capacity.

 

[Sadie123]

More info on capacity please. Only been to DL once and taking my son over the xmas holiday. Does this mean if we are at DL all day and have dinner ressies at House of Blues that evening at DTD, there is a chance we can't get back into the park after dinner to watch the fireworks and enjoy the evening in the park? Thanks for any additional info!

 

[krispin41]

Sounds like it could be a distinct possibility.

More info on capacity please. Only been to DL once and taking my son over the xmas holiday. Does this mean if we are at DL all day and have dinner ressies at House of Blues that evening at DTD, there is a chance we can't get back into the park after dinner to watch the fireworks and enjoy the evening in the park? Thanks for any additional info!

 

[disneychrista]

More info on capacity please. Only been to DL once and taking my son over the xmas holiday. Does this mean if we are at DL all day and have dinner ressies at House of Blues that evening at DTD, there is a chance we can't get back into the park after dinner to watch the fireworks and enjoy the evening in the park? Thanks for any additional info!

Yes there is a chance. But unless this is NYE the park capacity goes down in the evening, so you should be fine.

 

[starshine514]

The number is in the high 50K for Disneyland when running at peak. Take down a high capacity ride, it drops a couple thousand. Even minor things such as closing a walkway affects the counts. Last I heard, DCA is in the low 30s at peak capacity.

Has DCA ever been closed due to capacity? I don't remember ever hearing about it happening. I'm surprised it doesn't have equal capacity to DL. I know they have at least one additional area (over by Soarin' - it lets out in DTD - we were ushered that way after WOC) to exit people from the park.

 

[halfmonkey]

Has DCA ever been closed due to capacity? I don't remember ever hearing about it happening. I'm surprised it doesn't have equal capacity to DL. I know they have at least one additional area (over by Soarin' - it lets out in DTD - we were ushered that way after WOC) to exit people from the park.

I believe it has about 3 years ago. We went for 3 days after Christmas and you could say that it was the perfect storm. The week of Christmas, there was rain so that kinda of prevented some people from attending. Once Christmas passed, the weather turned nice and so I'm guessing the people that didn't go during the rains, ended up going the week starting after Christmas. This was the most crowded I've ever seen DLR.

On the first day we were there, we heard rumor of DLR enacting phase 1 or 2 of their crowd control procedures. I guess with that plus the rain crowd, the second day was chaos. Apparently, they stopped selling tickets by 10 or 11am to both parks. I remember going home and looking up the news on the internet and I watched this Japanese tourist give an interview saying that he came all the way from Japan and couldn't get into DLR. That really sucks.

So it can happen but I don't recall hearing anything about park closures over the last 2 years.

I was able to find a link:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/12/disneyland-and-california-adventure-halt-ticket-sales-as-holiday-crowds-fill-parks.html

 

[disneychrista]

Has DCA ever been closed due to capacity? .

Believe it or not YES! I believe during the BOGO ticket promotion, toward the end of the time you could use the second day DCA was bombarded with people who bought the ticket went to Disneyland for their first use and now had to use the second day for DCA. It was likely 3 years ago.

 

[Malcon10t]

Has DCA ever been closed due to capacity? I don't remember ever hearing about it happening. I'm surprised it doesn't have equal capacity to DL. I know they have at least one additional area (over by Soarin' - it lets out in DTD - we were ushered that way after WOC) to exit people from the park.

Yes, but only twice.

 

[dtnrhi]

I think that even though DCA has rarely been closed due to capacity reasons, it just doesn't hold crowds as well. I would choose a crowded day at DL over DCA any day.

 

[Disneyland1084]

To my knowledge, Disneyland has a capacity of 80,000. I remember several Disers mentioning this number 8 years ago when the park kicked off its 50th anniversary celebration.

 

[HydroGuy]

To my knowledge, Disneyland has a capacity of 80,000. I remember several Disers mentioning this number 8 years ago when the park kicked off its 50th anniversary celebration.

I think that might have been 80,000 in the whole day. But something closer to 50,000 at any particular time.