SOOO packed this week!

[JerrodDragon89]

I went Sunday

Another sure its busy day but you can still have fun if you rope drop

I'll be honest and say, I would assume why many dislike going are because they are just showing up late....if you rope drop you should have zero problems getting on most rides you want and more then enough time to see a ton of shows and not too many issues getting through security or the gate....I think the issue is for many they come in much later in the day and by then parking is filling or filled up...LL are gone and the parks are packed

 

[disneychrista]

There is a new law apparently. My local grocery store removed plastic bags entirely a few weeks ago.

This closes the loophole of using the thicker, worse for the environment, bags that popped up about a year after the initial "ban" on the thinner bags. I am pretty sure my Walmart no longer has the thicker plastic bag because there were only paper bags at the self checkout last week.

 

[KPeterso]

There is a new law apparently. My local grocery store removed plastic bags entirely a few weeks ago.

Yup - my ralphs moved to the paper bags a couple weeks ago too. Am not super happy. There are just some things I prefer in a plastic bag (cold or frozen stuff or meat so the bag does not fall apart from condensation). But I have plenty of plastic so I just bring those and use those to bag my stuff.

 

[LAS2AMS]

That was supposed to have happened 12 years ago, until they discovered a loop hole of making them thicker. I’ve used reusable bags for the past 15+ years. Hopefully this time there is no loophole

No loophole. The original law was lobbied by the grocery industry, lead by Safeway, banned single use plastics, required reusable plastic to be offered for a fee and was limited to the grocery industry. Now, I could be wrong but I really really don’t think they gave two hoots about the environment. Grocers could still offer brown bags for free… but Trader Joe’s (never had plastic) opted to charge for theirs. Amazon Fresh had free brown bags when it debuted but quickly shifted to plastic and cheaper brown bags available for a fee.

The new law is supposed to eliminate plastic everywhere. Disney announced way back in 2018 they were phasing plastic bags out, and quite frankly I was surprised they’re still around in 2025. Where they disappear from WDW, all the folks of this hoard will be hating on CA… when Disney had already announced its intentions nearly a decade ago.

But yes it’s happening. Want proof?

 

[disneychrista]

No loophole. The original law was lobbied by the grocery industry, lead by Safeway, banned single use plastics, required reusable plastic to be offered for a fee and was limited to the grocery industry. Now, I could be wrong but I really really don’t think they gave two hoots about the environment. Grocers could still offer brown bags for free… but Trader Joe’s (never had plastic) opted to charge for theirs. Amazon Fresh had free brown bags when it debuted but quickly shifted to plastic and cheaper brown bags available for a fee.

The new law is supposed to eliminate plastic everywhere. Disney announced way back in 2018 they were phasing plastic bags out, and quite frankly I was surprised they’re still around in 2025. Where they disappear from WDW, all the folks of this hoard will be hating on CA… when Disney had already announced its intentions nearly a decade ago.

But yes it’s happening. Want proof?

The loophole was the original ban from 2016 only included the thin "single use" plastic bags under a specific thickness (the old school plastic bags grocery stores had). They then said okay we will just make them thicker plastic. Now the new ban is saying no plastic bags regardless of thickness. Which was the intent of the original ban in 2016.

 

[LAS2AMS]

The loophole was the original ban from 2016 only included the thin "single use" plastic bags under a specific thickness (the old school plastic bags grocery stores had). They then said okay we will just make them thicker plastic. Now the new ban is saying no plastic bags regardless of thickness. Which was the intent of the original ban in 2016.

No loophole. Lawmakers envisioned that rather than paying for bags every visit, people would bring their own reusable bags, including the thicker plastic ones. Instead… people paid for bags and treated the thicker plastic ones as single-use.

 

[disneychrista]

No loophole. Lawmakers envisioned that rather than paying for bags every visit, people would bring their own reusable bags, including the thicker plastic ones. Instead… people paid for bags and treated the thicker plastic ones as single-use.

Lawmakers obviously forgot how lazy society is. That the 10¢ is not enough of a motivator.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Lawmakers obviously forgot how lazy society is. That the 10¢ is not enough of a motivator.

The law was designed and lobbied by the grocery industry, lead by Safeway (pre-Albertsons merger). It was never about the environment.

 

[Tinkaboo]

We have been using reusable bags in Colorado for many years now.
Can't believe we actually beat CA in an environmental effort. I thought you had done this years ago! I love collecting my reusable shopping bags...actually a great souvenir!

And yes, you can buy a PAPER bag here for 10 cents but frankly, they aren't strong enough to hold two bags of potato chips ( she said as the bag ripped on the way to the parking lot!)

 

[BriannaRuth]

We were in the parks Dec 14-19 (Monday through Friday). First December trip and I was surprised how NOT busy it was most of the time. I was expecting the parks to be more crowded than I'm used to, but that wasn't the case. We normally go in August/September/early October. I didn't feel Monday through Thursday were busy during the day. It did get considerably busier in the evenings. But Friday was noticeably busier than the other days and Friday night definitely felt busy and crowded. I noticed even the lines for mobile order pickup were LONG at a few spots Friday late afternoon/ evening, especially Harbor Galley (which I assumed might have been due to its proximity to Fantasmic). The line for mobile order pickup there was winding clear around the building and back towards the canoes, as was the line for regular ordering.

 

[evilmommie]

We were in the parks Dec 14-19 (Monday through Friday). First December trip and I was surprised how NOT busy it was most of the time. I was expecting the parks to be more crowded than I'm used to, but that wasn't the case. We normally go in August/September/early October. I didn't feel Monday through Thursday were busy during the day. It did get considerably busier in the evenings. But Friday was noticeably busier than the other days and Friday night definitely felt busy and crowded. I noticed even the lines for mobile order pickup were LONG at a few spots Friday late afternoon/ evening, especially Harbor Galley (which I assumed might have been due to its proximity to Fantasmic). The line for mobile order pickup there was winding clear around the building and back towards the canoes, as was the line for regular ordering.

Do a trip report!

 

[BriannaRuth]

Yes, I plan to!

 

[LAS2AMS]

We were in the parks Dec 14-19 (Monday through Friday). First December trip and I was surprised how NOT busy it was most of the time. I was expecting the parks to be more crowded than I'm used to, but that wasn't the case. We normally go in August/September/early October. I didn't feel Monday through Thursday were busy during the day. It did get considerably busier in the evenings. But Friday was noticeably busier than the other days and Friday night definitely felt busy and crowded. I noticed even the lines for mobile order pickup were LONG at a few spots Friday late afternoon/ evening, especially Harbor Galley (which I assumed might have been due to its proximity to Fantasmic). The line for mobile order pickup there was winding clear around the building and back towards the canoes, as was the line for regular ordering.

I think busy has a different meaning than it use to. For example, the PhotoPass lines at DLR are way longer than those at WDW. We got two pictures by the Castle and waited three hours for the daytime and 90 minutes for the evening shot. We also waits over 90 for a photo by the tree. Lines are really deceitful… 10 people in front of you, but when they make it to the front, 10 family members join them. And they want one photo together, one with the kids, one with the adults, one with the adult children, and then solo shots for every member of the party.

The lines for the characters dressed for Christmas were also long (we don’t do character pics so I don’t know the timing)).

Never ceases to surprise me that the parade viewing fills up nearly every showing. Even PTN isn’t that popular.

As you noticed, food lines are always long at DLR, as people indulge in festive treats/ flavors.

It’s mostly when tourists are in town that attraction times go up. Saw some long waits on Sunday for everything, including the crappy attractions.

Will say this… WTH is going on with Incredicaoater? Can’t remember the last time I was there and it was working.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I think busy has a different meaning than it use to. For example, the PhotoPass lines at DLR are way longer than those at WDW. We got two pictures by the Castle and waited three hours for the daytime and 90 minutes for the evening shot. We also waits over 90 for a photo by the tree. Lines are really deceitful… 10 people in front of you, but when they make it to the front, 10 family members join them. And they want one photo together, one with the kids, one with the adults, one with the adult children, and then solo shots for every member of the party.

The lines for the characters dressed for Christmas were also long (we don’t do character pics so I don’t know the timing)).

Never ceases to surprise me that the parade viewing fills up nearly every showing. Even PTN isn’t that popular.

As you noticed, food lines are always long at DLR, as people indulge in festive treats/ flavors.

It’s mostly when tourists are in town that attraction times go up. Saw some long waits on Sunday for everything, including the crappy attractions.

Will say this… WTH is going on with Incredicaoater? Can’t remember the last time I was there and it was working.

Wait, what? You waited three hours for a photo in front of the castle? Really??? What day was this? That’s crazy.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Wait, what? You waited three hours for a photo in front of the castle? Really??? What day was this? That’s crazy.

Saturday; waits can get long as many families want a photo with the decorated castle. It’s hard to estimate the line because there may be only a dozen people in front of you, but as they reach the front others will join them. And they’ll get oodles of photos taken - together, in groups, individually, etc.

Sometimes they have two, or even three photographers but when I’ve walked past I’ve seen only one.

 

[amyg1975]

The best time for a photo with the castle is first thing in the morning, and we went about 10 minutes after rope drop. We waited behind one family, and because it was so early, there is only one person in the background. We were 3rd or 4th in line for a picture with Mickey right at rope drop. Any later than that, and the lines are just too long for us. The longest line we waited in was for Santa at Disneyland. Maybe 30 minutes?

 

[JerrodDragon89]

3 hours for a photo at the castle

How can that be real, thats 180 mins. So at even 3 mins a family there was 60 families in front of you?

The Tree I know can get a 60+ mins line but 3 hours.....that just seems insane

 

[LAS2AMS]

3 hours for a photo at the castle

How can that be real, thats 180 mins. So at even 3 mins a family there was 60 families in front of you?

The Tree I know can get a 60+ mins line but 3 hours.....that just seems insane

They spent nearly an hour with a large family. Two people in line, many others joined later. Castle often has two photographers, there was just one’s. Holidays bring large families, not unusual.

 

[LKing]

The number of photographers and speed of photos can be impacted by performances in front of the castle. On weekends, the Disneyland Band performs at 11:20, 12:15 and 1:25. The Pearly Band performs at 8:15, 9:05, 10:00, 10:55 and 2:00. I believe photos stop completely during the 12:15 pm March Down Main Street. For the other performances, photographers are still taking pictures, but everything gets pushed to the side and slows down.

Lines for photos at the tree seemed longer and slower this year. For the pumpkin, they had photographers on both sides. For the tree, I don't remember seeing a photographer on the backside (in the shade). Maybe it is because the photographers kept getting run over by strollers and ECVs. Or maybe it was too much of a pain having to move out of the way for the Main Street vehicles.

The characters are on a set schedule. You can view it on the app. The handler cuts off the line so the character can leave after a certain amount of time. If too many people were allowed in line, and it looks like it will take too long, the handler will inform the character and interactions will start to move more quickly.

 

[Wesley815]

They spent nearly an hour with a large family. Two people in line, many others joined later. Castle often has two photographers, there was just one’s. Holidays bring large families, not unusual.

It may not be a popular opinion but I prefer to stand off to the side and use my own camera/phone to take pictures with friends or family with almost no wait.

PhotoPass quality hasn't been that impressive (to me) for insanely long wait time even if it's included with MagicKey or ticket. On ride photos are what I save the most.