Rides Temporarily Closed

[cndkanga]

I am looking at the Disneyland app and it has shown Mr. Toad, Alice, Peter Pan and Snow White all temporarily closed this morning. I want to have my expectations in line with reality when we go in June as I can become upset if my schedule is off too much. I am autistic I do much better if I understand the expectations when planning. Should I have multiple plans made or are there suggestions on how I might organize my day so that I am not met with a whole bunch of closures in a row. I have been to Disneyland a few times in the past and stuck with my daily plans without issue, no closures. Are there rides to avoid first thing in the morning as they are typically down? I am trying to last a little longer in the parks this time. Usually I can do a few hours in the morning, leaving about 11:30 and returning about 5pm. I am hoping to make it to maybe 1pm and then leaving and returning at about 5.

 

[Katiebird]

Today isn’t typical, but it’s very frustrating. I would have a plan for what you’d do IF this were to happen when you’re here, but it’s unlikely to actually happen.

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

Last year, my family went to WDW. While we were at AK, a transformer blew. Over half the park had no electricity and lots of rides were shut down. CMs couldn't give an estimate when power would return. My family had alternative plans, one of which included PH option to our tickets. That's what we did. We went back to the hotel, rested for quick bit and walked to EP for the rest of the day.

You should always, always have alternative plans if attractions are down, entertainment gets delayed or cancelled, etc. I think I saw something recently that at MK a trolley car derailed and then this impacted a parade or calvacade too. As much as we want attractions and entertainment to go off without problems, the reality is that trouble sometimes happens and its out of everyone's hands, including Disney.

 

[cndkanga]

Thank you. I will make alternative plans, something that doesn't rely on attractions sounds like it might be my best alternative, like take pictures in front of all the statues in the park or something like and then make reservations using the Genie+.

 

[DLgal]

Today isn’t typical, but it’s very frustrating. I would have a plan for what you’d do IF this were to happen when you’re here, but it’s unlikely to actually happen.

This situation has become the norm. It needs to be anticipated and planned around until Disney gets it together with the maintenance.

 

[Princesca]

Yeah, honestly, the time I went to DL, several of the rides at DCA were down. :/ I remember thinking 'Wow, I'm glad it's not like that at WDW!' and now... welp...

 

[DLgal]

I am looking at the Disneyland app and it has shown Mr. Toad, Alice, Peter Pan and Snow White all temporarily closed this morning. I want to have my expectations in line with reality when we go in June as I can become upset if my schedule is off too much. I am autistic I do much better if I understand the expectations when planning. Should I have multiple plans made or are there suggestions on how I might organize my day so that I am not met with a whole bunch of closures in a row. I have been to Disneyland a few times in the past and stuck with my daily plans without issue, no closures. Are there rides to avoid first thing in the morning as they are typically down? I am trying to last a little longer in the parks this time. Usually I can do a few hours in the morning, leaving about 11:30 and returning about 5pm. I am hoping to make it to maybe 1pm and then leaving and returning at about 5.

Hey there! I am a mom of 2 autistic teens. Have you thought about signing up with the Disability Access Service? This is an invaluable tool for people with disabilities like autism. We use one for my 16 year old son. I think it could be helpful because it lets you plan your rides a bit better during the day.

I will be honest, when rides break down, especially several in a row, it upsets my son quite a bit. It happens even though we go to the parks very frequently and if we miss a ride one day, it's no big deal because we will be back next week. He can't help it, though, it makes him feel very sad and throws off our day sometimes. The DAS helps a lot with this. Often, a ride we have a DAS return time for will break down, but when this happens, you can simply use it for almost any other ride, which is wonderful! We just keep an eye on the app and when the broken ride comes back online, we request another DAS return time for it. You do all this through the app, so it's really easy.

I will tell you to expect rides to be down at park opening and throughout the day. My advice is to do the following things:

1. Always choose a "top 3" rides that you want to start with at opening. If one is down, move down the list to the next one.

For example, while waiting at the gate, choose the 3 rides you will try to ride first. If choice #1 is down, start with choice #2 instead.

2. When deciding where to go next, always have another option in case that ride goes down.

So, for example if you are riding Mr. Toad and you want to do Alice next, have another backup choice in case Alice breaks. Maybe your second choice would be Snow White. If Alice doesn't break, and you get to ride it, plan for Snow White after that (fill in the ride). This way, you always have a "plan B" and instead of thinking how your schedule has been messed up, you can think of it as "I used schedule B instead of schedule A."

3. Always have a "safety" choice in case you start to feel overwhelmed. In your case, that sounds like it would be "go take some pictures" or it could be "go get a snack" or "go shopping in a store" or "ride the train." We use the train as a "safety" option because it is always running. The Tomorrowland station always has the shortest wait to board.

My son used to have a hard time staying in the parks for a long time, but the DAS really helps him stay all day now! Look into it and see if you think it might help you.

 

[Porsche4]

Thank you. I will make alternative plans, something that doesn't rely on attractions sounds like it might be my best alternative, like take pictures in front of all the statues in the park or something like and then make reservations using the Genie+.

My daughter and I are also on the autistic spectrum and I have found planning our upcoming trip to Disneyland really quite stressful so I completely understand where you are coming from. I have been posting questions on the boards for months so that I now feel like I have a good grasp of what we are going to experience and how to deal with it. In the past we have always travelled to DL or WDW in January (in the days when January really was the slow time of year and crowds were very low) so that we didn't have to contend with long waits etc. I always had very structured plans which we were able to follow with only a few deviations here and there and this worked really well for us and allowed us to have a wonderful structured, relaxed and fun holiday (people who are not autistic will not understand how a preplanned structured holiday could be that way but trust me it is very important that we know where we are going and when we are meant to be there). I have realised this trip is going to be very different for us. I have mapped out a plan of what we would like to do for the day using Touring Plans subscription based planning tool, but then I have also made little cards with lists of "filler" attractions and experiences that we will resort to if we find that we are unable to do the things we have planned. I also intend to use the Touring Plans App while we are in the park knowing that we can optimise it on the go which will help us decide what we should do next with as little wait as possible if our plans go awry. We will be buying G+ even though it will be a big outlay for our entire 8 day trip but again this will ensure that we can ride our favourites with as little wait as possible which ultimately will make it all worth it. My daughter and I have had many pre planning discussions about this trip and we are both determined that no matter what gets thrown at us we are going to be each others rock and we will be fine. The most important thing is we have each other's company and we are finally on a holiday that we have been waiting for for a very long time so we are going to just take a deep breath and remember how lucky we are to be together in our happy place, no matter what.

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

Thank you. I will make alternative plans, something that doesn't rely on attractions sounds like it might be my best alternative, like take pictures in front of all the statues in the park or something like and then make reservations using the Genie+.

One more thing to think about and that is added to our alternative plans is the timing for shopping and eating. Another thing that happened on our last trip to WDW is that TT was down for 1-hour (more or less), and so we went to do some pin shopping and decided to eat earlier than we originally planned and returned to TT when we planned to eat and shopped. In other words, we flip-flopped our plan of attack.

 

[Katiebird]

This situation has become the norm. It needs to be anticipated and planned around until Disney gets it together with the maintenance.

Yeah it wasn’t a great morning even for us folks who are usually able to just roll with things. I’m used to planning around a couple of rides being down, but this was 2/3 of fantasy land, space, and something else I’ve suppressed the memory of already, for like 3 hours. It was one of those times I wished we hadn’t checked out of the hotel already, we could’ve gone back for nap and stayed later instead. Or that we could park hop at a whim. My kids went out the “wrong” tunnel last night (we’re right entrance, right exit people) and I swear they jinxed us!

 

[sophy1996]

I would definitely have several plans. On one of our days at DL last November, Pirates, Indy, HM, Splash, and something in Fantasyland (maybe Snow White?) were all down at park open and were down for quite awhile. It was a rough morning on the west side of the park.

Also, I'm not sure I would push myself too much to stay until 1. The parks seem to get much more crowded by about 11. We're rope-droppers, and we've taken to getting a sit-down lunch reservation about 11:30, then we leave for an afternoon break. After 10:30 or 11, it's just not nearly as nice as earlier.

 

[fly girl]

I am looking at the Disneyland app and it has shown Mr. Toad, Alice, Peter Pan and Snow White all temporarily closed this morning. I want to have my expectations in line with reality when we go in June as I can become upset if my schedule is off too much. I am autistic I do much better if I understand the expectations when planning. Should I have multiple plans made or are there suggestions on how I might organize my day so that I am not met with a whole bunch of closures in a row. I have been to Disneyland a few times in the past and stuck with my daily plans without issue, no closures. Are there rides to avoid first thing in the morning as they are typically down? I am trying to last a little longer in the parks this time. Usually I can do a few hours in the morning, leaving about 11:30 and returning about 5pm. I am hoping to make it to maybe 1pm and then leaving and returning at about 5.

Sadly, ride breakdowns are becoming more prevalent. It is frustrating for all of us, but I can understand how it adds extra uneasiness for those on the spectrum. @DLgal gave fabulous advice. Hope that will help if it does occur.

I hope you have a great trip!

 

[gelatoni fan]

I don't think I've seen Peter Pan open on time at all this year and some mornings, half of Fantasyland doesn't open with the park.
I would definitely have backup plans.

 

[Federalist45]

Hey there! I am a mom of 2 autistic teens. Have you thought about signing up with the Disability Access Service? This is an invaluable tool for people with disabilities like autism. We use one for my 16 year old son. I think it could be helpful because it lets you plan your rides a bit better during the day.

I will be honest, when rides break down, especially several in a row, it upsets my son quite a bit. It happens even though we go to the parks very frequently and if we miss a ride one day, it's no big deal because we will be back next week. He can't help it, though, it makes him feel very sad and throws off our day sometimes. The DAS helps a lot with this. Often, a ride we have a DAS return time for will break down, but when this happens, you can simply use it for almost any other ride, which is wonderful! We just keep an eye on the app and when the broken ride comes back online, we request another DAS return time for it. You do all this through the app, so it's really easy.

I will tell you to expect rides to be down at park opening and throughout the day. My advice is to do the following things:

1. Always choose a "top 3" rides that you want to start with at opening. If one is down, move down the list to the next one.

For example, while waiting at the gate, choose the 3 rides you will try to ride first. If choice #1 is down, start with choice #2 instead.

2. When deciding where to go next, always have another option in case that ride goes down.

So, for example if you are riding Mr. Toad and you want to do Alice next, have another backup choice in case Alice breaks. Maybe your second choice would be Snow White. If Alice doesn't break, and you get to ride it, plan for Snow White after that (fill in the ride). This way, you always have a "plan B" and instead of thinking how your schedule has been messed up, you can think of it as "I used schedule B instead of schedule A."

3. Always have a "safety" choice in case you start to feel overwhelmed. In your case, that sounds like it would be "go take some pictures" or it could be "go get a snack" or "go shopping in a store" or "ride the train." We use the train as a "safety" option because it is always running. The Tomorrowland station always has the shortest wait to board.

My son used to have a hard time staying in the parks for a long time, but the DAS really helps him stay all day now! Look into it and see if you think it might help you.

One more tool to add to your toolbox: while waiting for the rope to drop, ask a cast member whether they are aware of any rides that they anticipate being down at park opening.

 

[cndkanga]

Thank you for all the good suggestions. I have all the suggestions noted and will incorporate them into my plans. Everyone was very helpful.

 

[westie55]

This can be frustrating for sure! Last time I was in Disneyland, it took 3 attempts for us to successfully get on Alice. Every time we were in line and got close, the ride broke down for an extended period of time and we finally left the line. Having a plan B is always a great idea. In WDW, I also had several failed attempts to rope drop Splash Mountain because it was temporarily closed at opening. The nice thing about Disneyland (compared to WDW) is that many of the attractions are closer together so that a larger amount of valuable time is not lost going to a nearby attraction instead before the lines get too long in the morning.

 

[Raech]

This issue was rumored to be a power outage they were trying to resolve.

 

[DLgal]

This issue was rumored to be a power outage they were trying to resolve.

Every day? Because this happens every day.

They will throw out any excuse other than just tell the truth.

 

[Raech]

How long has it been happening? I have only just seen vloggers mention it. And I no longer live there so I didn't know.

 

[gotomu212]

How long has it been happening? I have only just seen vloggers mention it. And I no longer live there so I didn't know.

We were there 4 days last week. Many many rides were down multiple times throughout the trip. Sometimes it was an hour, sometimes half a day. Alice, It’s a Small World, Mr. toad, Pinocchio, Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones, Haunted Mansion, and Winnie the Pooh had down times every single day. We got evacuated off Winnie the Pooh one day and the next got stuck at the wedding scene on Little Mermaid for 10 minutes. Son and I also got stuck on Haunted Mansion at the part they recline you back for about 5 minutes but I was tired so appreciated that one.

As someone who rolls with it and someone with lots of extra time and in no rush I was a little shocked at how many things were going down repeatedly.