V.I.N.CENT.
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2009
When you feel lucky to come across a churro cart with no line, something is wrong. Just got back from a 5 day trip, 1/2 day on Saturday 10/16 then four full day including two Oogie Boogie parties. We've experienced really heavy crowds before, and set our expectations prior to trips knowing we were going to run into a lot of people. This time is was different. Lets get the no Fastpass/Genie thing out of the way. It made a difference. The ability to jump on something relatively quick to avoid a longer line helps temper the busy days. But there are several other things missing that is making everything that much worse.
No shows or parades. I think this was one of the biggest impacts on our trip. People queuing for shows or staking out parade spots, then attending those events, severely impacts the overall feel of the park. The time not spent waiting for shows/parades impacts everything else from rides to the churro carts. instead of watching the parade, then going back to the hotel for a rest or that one last show before going to lunch, people are hitting the lines for rides or food because there is nothing else to do. Other in park entertainment, glad to see the Dapper Dans back, also contributes to this as well.
Same could be said for the character meet and greets. Fewer attractions to help suck up the wandering crowds and level out the park flow just a bit more.
Restaurant capacity, specifically at the hotels. I don't think they are fully staffed at all dining locations yet. Paradise Pier restaurant is still shut down, Steakhouse 55 is closed, and from what I observed at Storytrellers, the reservation only system isn't allowing for all of the tables to be used to their fullest extent. We ate there twice and I never saw the restaurant more than 50% used at dinner. This also applies to locations like the Blue Bayou. When we had dinner there, we were able to order, get our food, and finish with several tables around us never used. I also think that with mobile ordering at the quick service locations, seating is very much an issue. We get our food quicker (sometimes) which is great, but without a line the seating fills up that much faster, causing some to stake out spots pretty early. So food/capacity still is an issue that in turn is contributing to the consistently long lines.
Park reservation system. On many of our trips, we would hit Disneyland first thing then jump to DCA by about 10am either for a Fastpass or the crowds are lower. This is no longer possible, keeping people in place until 1pm. We reserved Disneyland for every morning of our stay due to Rise of the Resistance, we wanted to make sure we had two swings at boarding groups if we happened to miss the first one. I think they need to go back to the pure park hopper option.
Everything listed above takes away waiting time for other activities or travel time to and from locations, slamming the ride wait times during busy periods.
I think its going to take quite a bit of time to find a balance for all of this. Even when "everything" is back. We have visited Disneyland in October for about 6 to 8 years now. Never experienced anything like this before. Haunted was consistently 45-70 minutes, Small World hit an hour on occasion, usually 30min at least, and we never saw the Jungle Cruise below 30 min, even at opening. It wasn't unusual to see the vast majority of everything at 45 min plus. At least Pinocchio was consistently under 15 min
Did we have fun and enjoy ourselves? Yes, but it was vastly different. We prepared for "the worst" as usual, but we didn't anticipate this. I don't see visiting during the holiday seasons anytime soon. And we may be going from our typical once per year visit to once every other year. My intent with this post is not to bum anyone out about their upcoming trip, I just hope it helps people prepare and set expectations.
No shows or parades. I think this was one of the biggest impacts on our trip. People queuing for shows or staking out parade spots, then attending those events, severely impacts the overall feel of the park. The time not spent waiting for shows/parades impacts everything else from rides to the churro carts. instead of watching the parade, then going back to the hotel for a rest or that one last show before going to lunch, people are hitting the lines for rides or food because there is nothing else to do. Other in park entertainment, glad to see the Dapper Dans back, also contributes to this as well.
Same could be said for the character meet and greets. Fewer attractions to help suck up the wandering crowds and level out the park flow just a bit more.
Restaurant capacity, specifically at the hotels. I don't think they are fully staffed at all dining locations yet. Paradise Pier restaurant is still shut down, Steakhouse 55 is closed, and from what I observed at Storytrellers, the reservation only system isn't allowing for all of the tables to be used to their fullest extent. We ate there twice and I never saw the restaurant more than 50% used at dinner. This also applies to locations like the Blue Bayou. When we had dinner there, we were able to order, get our food, and finish with several tables around us never used. I also think that with mobile ordering at the quick service locations, seating is very much an issue. We get our food quicker (sometimes) which is great, but without a line the seating fills up that much faster, causing some to stake out spots pretty early. So food/capacity still is an issue that in turn is contributing to the consistently long lines.
Park reservation system. On many of our trips, we would hit Disneyland first thing then jump to DCA by about 10am either for a Fastpass or the crowds are lower. This is no longer possible, keeping people in place until 1pm. We reserved Disneyland for every morning of our stay due to Rise of the Resistance, we wanted to make sure we had two swings at boarding groups if we happened to miss the first one. I think they need to go back to the pure park hopper option.
Everything listed above takes away waiting time for other activities or travel time to and from locations, slamming the ride wait times during busy periods.
I think its going to take quite a bit of time to find a balance for all of this. Even when "everything" is back. We have visited Disneyland in October for about 6 to 8 years now. Never experienced anything like this before. Haunted was consistently 45-70 minutes, Small World hit an hour on occasion, usually 30min at least, and we never saw the Jungle Cruise below 30 min, even at opening. It wasn't unusual to see the vast majority of everything at 45 min plus. At least Pinocchio was consistently under 15 min
Did we have fun and enjoy ourselves? Yes, but it was vastly different. We prepared for "the worst" as usual, but we didn't anticipate this. I don't see visiting during the holiday seasons anytime soon. And we may be going from our typical once per year visit to once every other year. My intent with this post is not to bum anyone out about their upcoming trip, I just hope it helps people prepare and set expectations.