PDA

View Full Version : Disney in July



SCUBAbe
07-11-2004, 10:56 AM
I have never been to DL/DCA I July before. I'm expecting fairly large crowds becasue it's the summer. However, I just called the PP hotel and got the AP rate for July 18. Usually when I call short notice they are all gone. I'm thinking it could mean one of two things. It's not that busy or it's because the SCAP's are blocked out. I should be expecting crowds...right?

I'm just happy I got an on property hotel..:)..we are going to be using ridemax for the frist time this visit to try and work around the crowds. If it gets to hot or crowded we'll go to the pool..;)

Dani24
07-11-2004, 11:04 AM
I was just there this past week. It was busy, but not necessarily to crushload point. It was a little less busy in the middle of the week than on Friday, when the park was more packed. Considering it's summer, expect a lot of teenagers, and families with children (and thus tons of strollers). You end up with a lot of stupid people who run their strollers into you, stop in the middle of a busy pathway with their whole entourage (which blocks all the people around them from getting by, while they stare blankly around them, instead of moving off to the side), kids who literally run all over the place and right into you because they aren't watching where they are going and their parents aren't watching their kids very well.

Despite there being a lot of people, I don't think it was as crowded as it could have been. I expected far worse than what we experienced. Most queue times didn't go much higher than 60 minutes (except for Splash Mountain which was just a constant madhouse). Many popular rides (like HM, Indy, POTC, Matterhorn, etc.) were consistently under an hour, and often only about 30 minutes.

SCUBAbe
07-11-2004, 11:07 AM
Thank you. You gotta love the stollers and stray kids running a muck...LOL...the blocking the pathways really bothers me also. How hard is it to move to the side to stare blankly around. :)

I'll probably end up back in the hotel by 2 and come back at night..:)

BTMichael
07-11-2004, 11:11 AM
With BTMRR going down this week and people not finding out about it until a few weeks from now, I would imagine that the park will be more crowded in those areas where the rides are operating (NOS, Splash, Indy, Matterhorn).

Dani24
07-11-2004, 11:11 AM
We had dinner in DCA Friday night, and then headed over to DL after the park closed. While there were a ton of people going from DCA to DL, there was also a mass exodus of people leaving DL for the evening. Though, I was surprised at how many parents with very little children were still in the park at 11 pm. Don't their children need to get to bed? It was actually nice being in the park first thing in the morning, and right up until closing. There were still plenty of people, but it wasn't crowded at all, and it was easy to get from one place to another.

Pookie
07-11-2004, 11:17 AM
We will be heading to the parks July 19th for a week. We will be taking a 3, 5 and 12 yr old. I will try and remember not to stop in the path in front of you and be considerate with my stroller. Sometimes you have to remember that as a parent you are trying to take in everything and watch your children at the same time. It doesn't work all of the time. I do understand that there are very rude people at the parks especially when you are trying to get a character autograph. Parents can be pushing. Since this is my first time to Disney with kids (only the 3yr old is mine) I may have something not so nice to say to the other parents.

rentayenta
07-11-2004, 11:23 AM
Sometimes those stupid are stopping to pick up their child's pacifier, bottle favorite toy etc. As a parent I can promise you that when I stop my stroller it is not to be stupid or to bother you. I know that a big family stopped in the middle of Main St. isn't ideal but when we do have to stop we have no choice but to keep the family together. We are just parents trying to have fun with our kids not stupid adults trying to ruin your fun.

SCUBAbe
07-11-2004, 11:31 AM
We will be heading to the parks July 19th for a week. We will be taking a 3, 5 and 12 yr old. I will try and remember not to stop in the path in front of you and be considerate with my stroller. Sometimes you have to remember that as a parent you are trying to take in everything and watch your children at the same time. It doesn't work all of the time. I do understand that there are very rude people at the parks especially when you are trying to get a character autograph. Parents can be pushing. Since this is my first time to Disney with kids (only the 3yr old is mine) I may have something not so nice to say to the other parents.

awe, no worries. I learned how to weave and bob through crowds in NY. I'm an expert now. My dauhter and I will actually serperate to get pass people who are walking slow or in the way and we just group up later. We don't even say anything first we just do it. I try to be very patient when I'm at DL/DCA. I have been many, many times and I walk fast and don't aways take the time to take everything in, because I have been so many times. However, I do not want to do or say anything that will take away from anyone elses visit.

My favorite thing to do is take people who have never been before. I love seeing their reactions to things I take for granted. It really opens my eyes and helps me to see the park like it was my first time also.

Staying in the on properties hotels is a special treat for us. We do not do that everytime. baout a month ago we stayed st the GCH. That was the first time we stayed at an on site hotel when we were going to the parks also. When DCA was being built I stayed at the PPH, but it was for business and there wasn't any time to visit the parks..:(

rentayenta
07-11-2004, 11:34 AM
kids who literally run all over the place and right into you because they aren't watching where they are going and their parents aren't watching their kids very well.


Color me kooky but it is Disneyland and intended for small children as well as adults. Most parents watch their children very closely. Aside from leashing them up you will get run into by the occasional child at DL. Running around is appropriate, it's DL not church.

SCUBAbe
07-11-2004, 11:39 AM
Sometimes those stupid are stopping to pick up their child's pacifier, bottle favorite toy etc. As a parent I can promise you that when I stop my stroller it is not to be stupid or to bother you. I know that a big family stopped in the middle of Main St. isn't ideal but when we do have to stop we have no choice but to keep the family together. We are just parents trying to have fun with our kids not stupid adults trying to ruin your fun.

yeah I know....the one area in the park that it always happens in is right in front of INDY. People just stand there looking lost. They usually don't have strollers. I still ahve not been able to figure out why it happens. I think thye aren't sure where they line is....I'll go around them and get in line and sometimes they follow, but I really have no idea what causes the confusion there. At DCA the same thing happens around GRR. I have no idea why, but lots of people just stop and stare around like they are confused. This happens everytime we go. Always in those two areas. We are used to it now and we get around people easily, but it does cause a bottleneck of people who don't know how to get around it. Also, people with strollers are at a disadvantage. There is no way you can quickly get through a crowd with a stroller, but I still don't like being hit by them......I usually just let the strollers go first, unless they are going really, really slow..:)

SCUBAbe
07-11-2004, 11:43 AM
Color me kooky but it is Disneyland and intended for small children as well as adults. Most parents watch their children very closely. Aside from leashing them up you will get run into by the occasional child at DL. Running around is appropriate, it's DL not church.

I think it's the occasion where parents are not watching their kids at all. They literally will run right into me. One time one child who was about 3 just ran right into my legs as I was walking. I reached out to stop her from falling and the parent was galring at me and gtabbed their kid back...ok, YOU"RE child ran into ME and I stopped her from falling...why am I getting glared at? I've now learned how to dodge small children to avoid that incident from repeating itself. Now, I now not all parents would react that way, but I don't know who will or won't...so I do my best to avoid those situations now.

Dani24
07-11-2004, 11:46 AM
Pookie, I certainly respect the difficulty of trying to navigate through the park with strollers and kids, and still trying to take everything in. However, there are simple things that people can do to be considerate of others (regardless of whether you're there with your kids, a group of friends, by yourself, or whatever).

1. Do not stop in the middle of a busy pathway (or even just a moderately busy pathway, for that matter) when there are other people around you. When you stop, the people who were walking behind you suddenly have to stop, and so do the people behind them, and the people behind them... And that's why you get traffic jams in areas where it feels like you're walking through molasses. If you know you need to stop, navigate towards the edge of the road, and stop there so that the ingress and egress of traffic can continue unimpeded.

2. Do not suddenly turn around and start walking the other direction without first carefully looking behind you to see if there are others following you. I don't know how many times someone quickly did an about-face in the middle of walking somewhere, and ran right into me because they didn't bother to check to see that someone was walking behind them. If there are people behind you, move over to the side of the road, or another area where you can safely turn around. Children are notrious for this as they will spin around on a dime and start running off in another direction without looking at what's around them.

3. When walking with a group of people, do not spread yourselves out in a wide, horizontal line so that your group blocks most of the pathway. If the pathway can accomodate about 10 people side by side, and you have your family of 6 walking very slowly side by side down that path, others walking the opposite direction and faster people behind you who want to pass will be highly inconvenienced by your lack of consideration. Take up less horizontal space by having some of your group members walk in front of or behind other members. This allows people walking the other way to pass by easily, and people who would like to walk a little faster to easily pass you without having to say "excuse me" and practically shove you out of the way.

4. STAY TO THE RIGHT. If you drive, this should be an easy one. Just because the other side of the road is clear, it doesn't mean you move your car over to the left side of the street. Even if you are stuck in traffic on the right side, you don't pull into oncoming traffic because you realize that sooner or later a car will come down that way, and if you are moving down their side of the road, you will collide. So, WALK TO THE RIGHT of the pathways so that people can freely move in both directions. And, just as in driving, slower walkers should keep to the far right so that faster walkers may pass more easily with less frustration and pushing and shoving. Why people don't use this very simple logic is beyond me. It would make navigating the park much easier for everyone.

5. If you have children, please try to keep them from running. I know Disneyland is exciting, and I know they're over stimulated. But, please do everything in your power to keep them from running and darting in front of people. This isn't just a matter of an inconvenience. This is a matter of safety. Your child's running and jumping and not paying attention to where they are going and who/what is around them may cause someone else, or YOUR CHILD to get hurt. Would you like to end your vacation early because your child got trampled when they ran blindly into a crowd of people? Would you like to be responsible for ending someone else's vacation early because your child ran right into someone else, causing them to trip and fall, and break a bone or otherwise hurt themselves? Hold your children's hands, put them on a leash, sit them in that empty stroller you're pushing around, teach them how to behave in public. Do it for your child's safety, if you don't care about anyone elses.

6. If you're in a wheelchair, pushing a stroller, or on one of those motorized carts, etc. PLEASE, PLEASE be careful with that thing. Drive or maneuver the device carefully and considerately. Do NOT cut people off with them. Do NOT run into people with them (I constantly saw people ramming into other people walking by with their strollers/wheelchairs/carts because they weren't paying attention to where they were going and where their device was going either). Do not park them in the middle of a pathway where people are trying to walk.

I could go on....but I'll stop for now. Mostly, just use your head. Think of all the times someone has rudely cut you off, ran into you, been inconsiderate of your movement from one place to another. And then DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU. Being considerate and polite to others actually makes you feel good yourself. It gives you a feeling of satisfaction to know that you are a good, considerate person.

rentayenta
07-11-2004, 11:56 AM
5. If you have children, please try to keep them from running. I know Disneyland is exciting, and I know they're over stimulated. But, please do everything in your power to keep them from running and teach them how to behave in public.


There are many forms of public places. Let them have fun too. I guarantee most small children don't consider running into an adult a good time.

MrsG
07-13-2004, 06:41 PM
Well said Dani, especially number 4. I began asking myself this weekend "Are all these people from England?" Stay to the right! And number 3 is especially a problem in the summer when the family vacationers are in high quantity.

Disneyfamily3
07-14-2004, 08:30 AM
I was under the belief Disneyland for everyone,young & old. Yes you will get bumped,maybe have a stroller run over your feet,or even have to walk around a very happy family that has spent years of savings to bring the family to the happiest place on earth(who don't know that park as well as those of us who go all the time). Take it with a grain of salt-all those things happen at the grocery store,dept. stores,every where you go.Try and remember when you were young and you got to be free for a little while,enjoying life!!!!!!

AliciasMom
07-14-2004, 08:50 AM
Just thought I add my lil ole voice here and add # 7 to Dani's post.

7. If you see someone is in a wheelchair or pushing a stroller do not cut them off, stop, and then yell that you got bumped into.

Most people realize they made a mistake and apologize but this has happened to me twice The first time I was in a wheelchair due to my pregnancy (first trimester, couldn't stand for long periods of time, fainted in the line for Peter Pan twice the first 10 minutes we were in the park). I swear, from the POV from the chair was like driving through L.A traffic. People didn't want to be stuck behind a wheelchair person, they cut in front of us, and then stop. My hubby was pretty quick to see what they were doing but sometimes people were just too fast. And then they yelled at me when I wasn't even pushing myself!

This happened again with me pushing my daughter's stroller. I try to be courteous as I can possibly be. I do go the far right, I try to avoid high areas of people traffic, I don't go against the flow. But still, a person cut me off and then gave me a glare for it. So the cutting off of other guests goes both ways.

Hakuna Makarla
07-14-2004, 10:26 AM
Where I come from people traffic is when we stand in front of the dairy queen and have to wait for the 5 people in front of us. I will not be used to the crowds, and do not know until I get there what crowds are all about. I do know Iwill be as curtious as I have always been, and it people do not like my smile well gosh they better get happy :)
here we say hi to everyone, I know thats not how its done in big cities but being from a small town ( 37 thousand) we are not so small that we still great everyone or hold doors for people coming and going. when I went to Cap Cod a few years ago a woman hit me with her shopping cart! She did not ask me to move, she just slammed me. Now the bad me would have turned around and clubbed her, but the "good in me" turned around ( accually spun around) and smiled and asked her if my behind was in her way, if so I would be more then glad to move it for her but that the next time she rammed me I was going to have to start praying for her" right now and very loudly" Boy she ran like a fish out of water back to her hubby and away from me.
I never intentially get in peoples way, but I am going to tell you right now I will be stoping periodically and looking at the awe of things there in the parks. Not to offend, and not by any means in some ones way, but I will try to go off to the side lines like mentioned. I am a newby, a first timer to the most famous park in all the world. and I am sure many others are as well. I will gawk, and giggle with glee, and feel like a kid again so watch out for this big kid, she will be the one screaming with delight while her kids tell her to act her age!
If you see me( stop and say hi) I will be wearing my favorite shirts ( oxford) and white or jean shorts.( think any one would notice If I wore just a thong since it will be so so hot? ) no I guess not, I will wear shorts I guess! )packing 1 in stroller, and a nine year old who refuses to walk walmart because she says " this store is to big""""" ( yes a blond child who wines )
The 3 year old will cry to walk, and the nine year old will wine to sit, go figure right?

rentayenta
07-14-2004, 11:28 AM
As are most things in life, its all about perspective and attitude. A little empathy and a smile go a long way.

sjcivilady
07-14-2004, 11:30 AM
Karla, you're too funny (I would have put some of your stuff in quotes, but haven't figured out how to yet). Hopefully, your nine year old will find Disneyland a lot more fun to walk around than Walmart :)

SCUBAbe
07-14-2004, 12:20 PM
the crowds at DL are really, really bad. The heat is even worse. I'm going this weekend and because of the crowds and heat booked a room so I can get away from it. I really try to have patience with people, but there's only so much I can take. My #1 pet peeve is the groups of people who block pathways looking lost. I know they don't know there way around, I know they may be first time guests, but they are still in my way and I know where I need to go. I usually just say excuse me (with a smile) and walk around them. This works for the first 10 times it happens, after that I need to go back to the room and check my patience level. (I also take a lot of pictures foe people. I don't kow why, but they ask me to.) Strollers and wheel chairs, and especially the motorized cars are my #2 pet peeve. Yes, I know people cut them off and try to get around them. the reason why is they walk slow or stop suddenly so nobody wants to be behind them. However, they also ram poeple with them all the time. I always let strollers go first, unless they are blocking the way lost. However, in a very crowded situation I let them go ahead of me for three reasons, nobody else will, it's difficult to push a stroller/wheel chair through crowds, and if I go ahead of them they will slam it into me.... :D

We go to disneyland to have fun...not make everyone else unhappy...so I know my patiences eventually run thin...I leave the park for a while or in this case booked a room..:) On the flip side of the coin when we go in the winter I have alot more patience. I think because it's cooler... :)

AliciasMom
07-14-2004, 02:00 PM
On the flip side of the coin when we go in the winter I have alot more patience. I think because it's cooler... :)

ITA. That's why I only go in the off-peak times, especially now since I have no choice but to take a stroller for my daughter. It seems that people do have more patience in the winter/off peak seasons. Heat & Crowds are never a good mix.