With Disneyland shutting half the park next year should I wait or go next year?

[AdamEfimoff]

Have no idea

 

[figment_jii]

Um...half the park is not closing next year...only the Rivers of America (Mark Twain/Columbia, Canoes, and Tom Sawyers Island), the railroad, and F! are closing for most of 2016 and Big Thunder Ranch is permanently closing.

 

[chickapin parterre]

depends on your value of the train and lack of sounds in ROA

 

[luulu1999]

sure skip going...that way there will be less ppl when I go....half the park...Really??!!

 

[Disney_Princess83]

Have no idea

To be honest we considered putting off our trip next year after we heard of all the closures and ride refurbs. But when we made a list of all the things we wanted to still do, we decided to go ahead with the trip. We are also wanting to go specifically for the 60th anniversary so this helped tip our decision to go next year. There is still plenty to do in the parks.

 

[NannyBeBe]

As another poster said, it depends on what the closures mean to you. One of my favorite ways to relax in DL is to sit by the ROA and watch the boats and the ducks. I certainly understand why the OP would not want to go during the construction. I do not plan to return until after everything is finished. I have no idea when that will be.

 

[Indiana Scott]

I appreciate your feelings on losing such a wonderful part of the park. That whole "side" is my favorite as well and I spend most of my time there.
I'm on the fence about going next year as well and I think we will have to wait and see how bad the situation really is and what the effect on the parks charisma and attendance will be.

 

[AZMermaid]

We went in Feb 2015. The following was closed (off the top of my head)
All of critter country- wall just past Haunted Mansion- this included Splash, Pooh rides and meets, canoes
Matterhorn
Peter Pan
Train
The castle was UNDER A TARP! Which also made traveling to Fantasyland difficult
Maybe Space Mt (I could be wrong on that one)

All of the area where Soarin is was walked off just past the entrance to Grand Cal to the front, shutting off Soarin' and making traveling from the Grand harder
Grizzly River Run
Redwood Creek play area
The lagoon was emptied so no world of color, plus loss of ambiance
Ariels Grotto

We still had a great trip. It was really crowded for Feb and I think having whole lands walled off caused that feeling. I wouldn't go in Feb again just because I felt like the amount of closures were not offset by lack of crowds like I hoped. But, we had fun and had plenty to do and see!

 

[Angel Ariel]

Um...half the park is not closing next year...only the Rivers of America (Mark Twain/Columbia, Canoes, and Tom Sawyers Island), the railroad, and F! are closing for most of 2016 and Big Thunder Ranch is permanently closing.

Exactly...it's not half the park at all. There is SO much at Disneyland, there is plenty to do outside of those things. I wouldn't put off a trip just because of that construction, personally. We just got back, and I definitely want to go again...maybe we'll indulge DH and go for the 2017 Star Wars 1/2 Marathon (and maybe, just maaaaybe, I'll run the 5K or 10K )

 

[Angel Ariel]

As another poster said, it depends on what the closures mean to you. One of my favorite ways to relax in DL is to sit by the ROA and watch the boats and the ducks. I certainly understand why the OP would not want to go during the construction. I do not plan to return until after everything is finished. I have no idea when that will be.

I thought I remembered reading that the closures wrt to the ROA are supposed to last 18 months or so.

 

[PoohsFan1]

We are WDW vets going to DLR in June and the amount of construction that is being discussed here is nothing compared to what is going on at WDW...this is one of the reasons why we are taking a year off, there is just too many walls up with more to come....talk about closing half of a park (Hollywood Studios for example)

 

[GeneralTso]

LOL at half the park.

If you can't figure out what else to do, it's probably best you don't go. You'll be bitterly disappointed and writing a trip report about what a waste it was.
Go vacation somewhere else and experience life outside Disneyland. There's a lot to see and do!

 

[grnflash]

Well I'll weigh in to wait. It sounds as though this is an infrequent visit for the OP. If that is the case, then yes, I'd wait till after the ROA closure is over. That could make it a late 2017 trip, possibly later. I'm sure the OP could find a million things to enjoy at DL anytime. But the ROA is much more than it's attractions. It's ambiance permeates 3 lands - as will the walls that will go up during the closure unfortunately. And the train adds atmophere throughout the park. So if this is a rare trip and it could be postponed, then that's what I would probably do - and visit DL in all it's magical glory.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Well I'll weigh in to wait. It sounds as though this is an infrequent visit for the OP. If that is the case, then yes, I'd wait till after the ROA closure is over. That could make it a late 2017 trip, possibly later. I'm sure the OP could find a million things to enjoy at DL anytime. But the ROA is much more than it's attractions. It's ambiance permeates 3 lands - as will the walls that will go up during the closure unfortunately. And the train adds atmophere throughout the park. So if this is a rare trip and it could be postponed, then that's what I would probably do - and visit DL in all it's magical glory.

I do agree that the construction walls affect that whole section of the park. We were there in (I believe it was) 2010 when ROA was drained, walls were up, no F!...it was definitely different being over in that section of the park. There was still *plenty* to do though. So yes, the ambiance was definitely affected, and if that's a major concern then yes I'd consider waiting til the construction is done. If the concern is just the # of things to do, however, then I wouldn't let the construction deter me from a trip.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

I'm a vote for the glass half empty. My partner and I are putting off DLR until 2017 ourselves, specifically because of no RoA, no river craft, no TSI, no F!, no DLRR, and frankly the sting of the loss of Big Thunder Ranch and Walt's original RoA layout. I know as others have said there's a lot more to DL. But for us, these are impacts at the heart of the park, and we just don't want to be there with a wall along Frontierland and NOS while it all goes down. (I won't even bother to get into the suck of Aladdin vs. Frozen at the Hyperion.) We're big Disneyland 12-year-olds and experience the parks on that level, so it's all enough to leave us to very shell-shocked. We're sucking up our pride (after our disastrous 2013 Orlando trip) and considering WDW instead for 2016, or potentially even DCL.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

LOL at half the park.

If you can't figure out what else to do, it's probably best you don't go. You'll be bitterly disappointed and writing a trip report about what a waste it was.
Go vacation somewhere else and experience life outside Disneyland. There's a lot to see and do!

That LOL was rude. Different people experience DL in different ways. For people whose DL hearts live along the RoA, the impacts are great. That's obviously why OP posted in the first place.

 

[Angel Ariel]

We're sucking up our pride (after our disastrous 2013 Orlando trip) and considering WDW instead for 2016, or potentially even DCL.

If you want to avoid construction walls, I would avoid DHS completely. That is a park that truly is going to be 1/2 shut down. And with the construction over in AK for Pandora and the Rivers of Light, there were tons of construction walls up there in 2014 and that construction's not done yet AFAIK.

Given what you posted, I'd probably do DCL over a park in 2016 if construction is an issue. There's going to be a lot of walls in both DLR and WDW.

 

[disneycat321]

I think only you can answer that question. For us, the ambiance that ROA provides (to, yes, nearly half the park) and the absence of the DLRR are a big deal. Also, we were locals for 5 years and went through all kinds of construction, etc, and ride closures/construction increase the crowds in other areas considerably. Those things combine to create something we don't think is quite worth the (extremely expensive) price of admission. That's our choice, and this is your choice. I agree with mikedoyle - it depends how you experience Disneyland.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

If you want to avoid construction walls, I would avoid DHS completely. That is a park that truly is going to be 1/2 shut down. And with the construction over in AK for Pandora and the Rivers of Light, there were tons of construction walls up there in 2014 and that construction's not done yet AFAIK. Given what you posted, I'd probably do DCL over a park in 2016 if construction is an issue. There's going to be a lot of walls in both DLR and WDW.

I hear you. It's really about the specific construction and changes at DL for us. We've both been in Disney parks with construction walls and major attractions down for refurbishment and/or major construction, including DL (the overlong BTMRR refurb) and MK (during New Fantasyland construction.) The AK and DHS construction shouldn't be an issue for us.

 

[superme80]

We are going to avoid Disneyland until about 2018. We are going to visit family and friends in different states for our next vacations. I am planning to do the 2017 Tinkerbell Half Marathon, but i think it will be just me and some friends.