PDA

View Full Version : Park Visit 12/13/2003



Pages : [1] 2

BornieoTheLoveBug
12-14-2003, 12:19 AM
Just got back from Disneyland. I stopped by just for a few hours with my family after spending the day with relatives in the area.

It was a madhouse on Main Street. For about 45 minutes not a body moved and it was wall to wall people and the only CM in sight was dead center of the street waiving his "light saber" with hundreds just standing about. People around us were yelling, pushing and one guy called the fire department. Then a couple of "trash" CM's tried to get through but ended up sitting on the bin waiting for the area to clear.

It was a total debauchery on those in Crowd control.

TP2000
12-14-2003, 01:16 AM
Hey, at least there was a CM waving a light. :-)

Once you get to a certain level of crowded, all of the light sticks in the world won't get gridlock moving.

Omar
12-14-2003, 11:52 AM
So what your saying is that there was so many people that no one could move walking out or into the park?

Omar

luvndisneyland
12-14-2003, 09:17 PM
Hello, I was also there on Saturday evening stuck next to "carnation" for about 45 min. while some lovely cm let a VERY large amount of people go past all of us stuck in the corner but wouldn't let us go "into Disney". Then when the parade ended we were told to go to the street and stay to your right. Well I had a stroller so of course no one had the manners to let me thru so I sat and waited and tried to push my way thru as I was being pushed from behind. It was madness. I have never seen it like this before. People were yelling and cursing because we were all stuck together with no where to go. More people were trying to go down mainstreet towards the exit and just filled mainstreet. I was holding my toddler son and was pushed over quit a few times. It was unbelievable. People were taking pictures of the crowd standing there. And the one cm that was waving his little "light saber" was just waving it and attempting to direct the people but no one could see or hear him where it counted. I had people fighting around me and one woman fighting with a cm. It just looked as if they let WAYYYYY too many people in. Even after we past all the people about 1 1/2 hrs later the place was still packed.

If you wanted to go in or out of the park down mainstreet you were there at the least an hour. It was a fire hazard. Had something happened while we were standing in the middle of main street there would have been no way out. From one end of main street to the other there were people packed in like sardines. So it was a horrible trip to disneyland that put :mad: faces on my kids face.

DisneyFan25863
12-14-2003, 09:21 PM
Sounds like my locker room :fez:




I would just hate to think what would happen if a bomb or somthing were to go off in a situation like that :(


:shiver:

luvndisneyland
12-14-2003, 09:27 PM
Thats funny (not haha but funny weird) that you said that because there was a guy next to me yelling bomb because he wanted to get thru. I guess that was a good way for him to get out, to be escorted.

Sophie832
12-14-2003, 10:35 PM
I got there on Sat. at around 7:15pm. Parking wasn't too big of a deal...I got a decent spot on Donald. However, when I got to the main gate, it was a different story.

The lines to get into the park extended to the halfway point of the esplanade, which means they were well past the monorail track. I was lucky enough to find a fast-moving line in the middle, which was actually splitting off into two lines.

Once I got in D-land, they were still letting people walk up Main Street before the parade, so that's what I did, and it didn't actually take too long for me to get to Coke Corner.

However, once I made it to Carnation Pavillion, that's where I stayed the rest of the night. I can only imagine the horror of getting into the park around 9-9:15pm, when everyone from the closed DCA was trying to get over to see the fireworks. They had to add a third Fantasmic due to the crowds, which was something I can't remember happening since the summer.

A CM told me that after the fireworks, there was a wall of people near Small World that didn't move for 15-20 minutes.

I thought next Sat. would be the crowded weekend, but apparently Xmas has started early.

brookedel
12-14-2003, 10:38 PM
Yeah, I took my little sisters to DCA in the evening to go on a couple of rides, but they decided they wanted Redd Rockets for dinner, so we got into Disneyland just as the parade was starting. The crowd was heavy even around City Hall, but once we got to Carnations all movement stopped. It was just a mass of bodies crunched together on the walkway. I've never seen that many people packed together on Main Street in my life. It looked like most of the crowd was trying to exit Main Street, so the CMs pretty much ignored everyone trying to get in and focused on diverting people out through the stores, etc. You could tell they were freaking out, too -- no feigned smiles or anything, just a lot of "We have to get these people moving, now."

So we turned around, went back to DCA, and got fast service at the sparsely populated Pacific Wharf eateries. It's amazing what a difference there is between the two.

donatello3000
12-15-2003, 01:05 AM
yeah, I also got stuck in that mess right outside Carnation Café. With so many people rubbing up against me, I'm surprised I didn't catch a disease. It was so nasty being pressed up against strangers like that. They were very rude, too. It took my friend and I about 20 minutes to squeeze out of that mess.
The night before wasn't so bad. Thankfully, we spent most of the day at DL on Friday and chose Saturday to linger at DCA. (We convinced a non-AP-holder friend to come with us on Friday, so she could only pick one park to visit)

Morrigoon
12-15-2003, 02:10 AM
Still surprisingly busy today, despite it being a Sunday and rainy.
It was one of those nights when we all said: okay, we're heading here, every man for himself! Sometimes the best way to get your group somewhere is to split up, LOL.

Nothing like what you guys had, but still surprisingly busy. Wouldn't be so bad if there were still attractions in the park, but w/out rides to wait for, where do all the ppl go? The street.

Mommy2NicknMax
12-15-2003, 02:36 AM
If you know the schedule and are arriving around the time of a parade or the fireworks, don't forget you can go to DTD and catch the monorail into Tomorrowland instead. This bypasses all the mess on Main Street.

Bruce Bergman
12-15-2003, 07:02 AM
Originally posted by Mommy2NicknMax
If you know the schedule and are arriving around the time of a parade or the fireworks, don't forget you can go to DTD and catch the monorail into Tomorrowland instead. This bypasses all the mess on Main Street.

Keep your fingers crossed on that one - on Saturday evening they had both Monorails Red and Orange running. But if any little thing goes wrong they could be back down to one train again - or none - real easily. :crying:

Saturday was insane, especially that one traffic clog between Coke Corner and the Photo Shop right after the fireworks. I don't know why, and I certainly wasn't going to get in the middle of it to find out. :eek: It even spilled over to the stairs betweeen the Coke Corner patio and Plaza Pavillion patio for a while.

They may have to (horrors) start opening up the Main St. West back alley again as a 'safety valve', like they did during Light Tragic^h^h^h^h^h^h Magic... But they really need to clean up back there and hide some of the more mundane stuff. :(

:fez: --<< Bruce >>--

PS: For those of you that haven't been doing this for a REAL long time Control-H or ^h is Teletype-speak for backspace.

Loric
12-15-2003, 08:47 AM
Query...

Does DL have the same failsafe for this situation that WDW does? When in doubt, all the stores and shops and everything on Mainstreet are connected - cut right on through, no line, no wait! ;)

Morrigoon
12-15-2003, 09:14 AM
Loric: unfortunately, they're both interrupted at some midpoint. On the Emporium (as I like to say, Implodium) side, the Carnation Cafe stops you - you enter in the Candy Palace, go through the Gibson Girl (a traffic jam in itself), then you have to exit the bakery, hit the sidewalk around Carnation, then may continue through the watch/toy/emporium (this is exiting the park btw). On the Disneyana side, you enter through the Photo shop (or the collectibles right behind it), pass behind the crystal/silhouette shop, through the baby store, exit clothiers (still nice and back there), enter the market house, go through Disneyana, but ah, you must exit Disneyana on the sidewalk and go around the cinema, after which it's hardly worth entering the music & magic stores, and there's only one clothing store left after that.

Basically, the only remotely viable route is the Emporium side, and it has that nasty break in the middle.

Oh, to have the DLP walkways behind Main Street...

Niwel
12-15-2003, 09:36 AM
Sorry -- a bit out the loop this weekend.
Anyone know WHY it was so crowded??? I know it gets jammed between X-Mas and New Year's, but I've never heard of people not moving when it hasn't been a holiday -- or a power outage on one side of the park. Was there an event or convention in Anaheim this weekend?

dude
12-15-2003, 09:51 AM
The last time I saw DL packed was last X-mas, and it was mass exodus after the fireworks, but people were moving the whole time. I have never heard of that gridlock of no movement ever happening till now.

On another note, I think that at the main gates to DL and DCA, they should have 1 or 2 "No bag lines" for those who don't want to be stuck behind someone with a backpack, a stroller, and their purse while they are searched. (I've tried to just move by them because I never bring any bags, but the gate CM's told me to wait until they were done searching the person)

Kevy Baby
12-15-2003, 10:07 AM
Originally posted by Bruce Bergman
PS: For those of you that haven't been doing this for a REAL long time Control-H or ^h is Teletype-speak for backspace. Careful Bruce, you're showing our ^h^h^h your age :crying:

Cadaverous Pallor
12-15-2003, 11:04 AM
Originally posted by Loric
When in doubt, all the stores and shops and everything on Mainstreet are connected - cut right on through, no line, no wait! ;) We, too, were caught in the MS quagmire on Saturday, and tried the "thru the shops" route. But like Morigoon says, with the breaks between shops, it only works in certain situations.

We were stuck on the sidewalk getting our ankles jammed with strollers and not really moving for quite a while. Eventually we were able to get to the crosswalk, slip under the rope and walk down the street, which was empty. I was shocked that very few people were doing the same.

It was very, very bad, with nary a crowd control CM in sight, except the one working the crosswalk. In fact I saw a couple Adventureland CMs stuck with us. There should have been a whole squad of crowd control out there. Everyone's right - if there was a fire or something, there would have been many trampled dead, no question about it.

Most of the rest of the park was a nightmare from afternoon on. Getting to IASM from Fantasyland....the Adventureland mess....the Riverfront was horrendous....most of the park was packed. They should have closed the doors!

luvndisneyland
12-15-2003, 11:14 AM
Yes it was madness. I have to apolgize just in case I rammed your ankles. I know after I got mad alot of people left with bruised ankles. I agree they should have closed the doors but I think they let too many people in. We got there about 7:30-8pm and it was unbelievable. We wanted to turn around and leave but by the time we got to the tough part it was not worth it to sit in the crowd and try to get out again. I think the problem had alot to do with the fact that they normally have a few cms keeping the crowd from stopping to watch the parade behind the rope. There were tons of people watching which clogged the walkways and I know the cm by us was frustrated but waving his little light wasn't helping and what he should have done was got on top of the food cart that one employee got stuck in the middle with and annouced over the PA system for everyone to stop and clear a path so they could organize at least two sections. But they were to busy trying to get people out and down thru the stores they didn't let the people wanting to go down mainstreet towards the rides. If they would have let some go each way taking turns as we learning I believe in Kindergarten there wouldn't have been such a problem. I'm just glad nothing bad happened that I know of. Except for the few smacks in the head my kids got in the stroller from people pushing thru.

Kevy Baby
12-15-2003, 11:14 AM
Originally posted by Cadaverous Pallor
We, too, were caught in the MS quagmire on Saturday, and tried the "thru the shops" route. But like Morigoon says, with the breaks between shops, it only works in certain situations.

We were stuck on the sidewalk getting our ankles jammed with strollers and not really moving for quite a while. Eventually we were able to get to the crosswalk, slip under the rope and walk down the street, which was empty. Wait a minute... the sidewalks were not moving yet the street was wide open (except for CP)? Serious party foul!!!

Originally posted by Cadaverous Pallor
They should have closed the doors! Or opened more rides. But that's 493 other threads :fez:

SusanP.
12-15-2003, 04:09 PM
I was in the park early on Saturday morning. We jumped on the train at ToonTown around 10:30 and when we got back around to Main St., the Esplanade had huge lines and the lobby area was packed with people.

So we left, quickly!

We had spent the night, and Friday night was not nearly as crowded. I guess people's vacations must have started this weekend or something. It was ridiculous on Saturday.:eek:

Ghoulish Delight
12-15-2003, 04:23 PM
Originally posted by Kevy Baby
Wait a minute... the sidewalks were not moving yet the street was wide open (except for CP)? Serious party foul!!! The parade was mere moments away from starting. As a matter of fact, the second we hit the tunnel, the music started.

SteveOriole
12-15-2003, 10:06 PM
Knowledgeable APs stay away from Disneyland during the following periods:
1. Almost any Saturday, especially during the Summer months. Saturdays are O.K. if there has been actual rain earlier in the day. No one paying full price generally wants to get a late start.

2. Holiday weekends, except for entry on a holiday Monday for the late afternoon and evening. There are fairly light crowds on Monday holiday evenings.

3. Arrive at the main gate well before the afternoon parade to make sure you get up Main Street before it bottlenecks with parade-watchers. Make sure you get all your Fantasyland rides in during the afteroon and early evening, since 1/2 the area (around the Sleeping Beauty Castle) closes for fireworks around 9:00 p.m. Smaller children are generally too tired to resume riding Fantasyland attractions afterward.

4. If you plan to stay for the fireworks, plan to stay for additional rides afterward. You risk life and limb if you immediately try to exit the park by travelling down Main Street immediately after the end of the fireworks show. Go somewhere else for at least 30 minutes to let the crowd dissipate.

5. Forget the period between Christmas Day and New Years -- this is the period of maximum Disney visitations. The worst day in Disney attendance history is generally December 27th. A surprisingly good day to go to Disneyland is on Christmas Eve -- generally lighter crowds.

6. Always check the website at Disneyland prior to visiting for the park's hours of operation. It can vary a great deal during the holiday season. Start times are either at 8:00 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. while the park closes early at 6:00 p.m. on at least one December date for the annual Cast party. Beware or be caught off-guard.

cemeinke
12-15-2003, 10:23 PM
I heard they were completely caught off guard on Saturday, that about 15k more people showed up than were anticipated. They got real close to capacity and nearly had to close the gates.

I guess with rain projected for Sunday, a number of people went on Saturday to beat the holiday crush normally expected to start the following weekend.

I went Sunday after the afternoon rain cleared the park - It was a pleasent change to see the park without so many people in the way.

HBTiggerFan
12-15-2003, 10:29 PM
Originally posted by cemeinke
I went Sunday after the afternoon rain cleared the park - It was a pleasent change to see the park without so many people in the way.

Um what park were you in??? It was a madhouse until after the fireworks. They had a quque to get a FP for the HMH! :eek: and then they ran out!!!!!