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View Full Version : Curious... Any Crowd Reports for Today (Friday, Dec 16)



Catcherman22
12-16-2005, 12:29 PM
Parents are on there way there and I am curious about the crowds they will be facing.

ferliemom
12-16-2005, 01:19 PM
Yesterday was pretty crowded!

mckygirl99
12-16-2005, 01:24 PM
I am not going based on last Friday. I won't go back for a long time!

olegc
12-16-2005, 03:13 PM
Parents are on there way there and I am curious about the crowds they will be facing.

I hope you made sure they carried provisions and rations... it may be a long wait to get in.. and then long lines to buy any food or drink..

Tomorrow will be WORSE! a ton of radio stations in LA gave away 4-packs of park hoppers for Sat, Dec 17th. Yikes!

adriennek
12-16-2005, 03:19 PM
They closed the gates. One of my son's classmates and his family were supposed to go to DLR straight from school (they were getting signed in,) and Grandma had called Mom earlier this afternoon to say: Nevermind, they closed the gates.

I wouldn't be surprised if they reopened later but they at least closed them at some point today. Today was the last day for a low-cost ticket promotion.

Adrienne

lisap
12-16-2005, 03:54 PM
We lucked out--got there at 8am and went like crazy until around 11am, then hightailed it out of there. Walked on everything in the morning, but people were pouring in as we were leaving.

Arrive early! It really makes a difference.:)

Btw, candy canes tomorrow at the Candy Palace. Sad for me, yea for everyone else...:crying:

chrisaustx
12-16-2005, 06:48 PM
I drove by DLR around 5pm, very crowded, it was nearly at capacity tonight. Expect full capacity this week and the park closing its gate due to being full. This is a bad weekend to enjoy disneyland without a mob.

D-lander 1956
12-16-2005, 06:53 PM
My SIL works in the DL offices. He went to the main gate at noon to sign my brother and family in, but the front gates were closed due to capacity. They were able to go into DCA though. Hope your family was able to get in! :(

AVP
12-16-2005, 07:45 PM
Today was the last day CMs could sign people in this year, so the park was especially busy. I know the "Disneyland is Full / DCA is Open" sign was flashing outside the parking structure at 12:30, and they were handing out slips of paper when you parked telling you that locker and stroller rental may not be available due to crowds.

LisaP, the candy cane thing is DRIVING ME NUTS. For the past few years, Candy Canes have been sold every Friday from the day after Thanksgiving to the Friday before Christmas. This year it's changing every week - they started on Thanksgiving instead of the day after, and then it's been Thursday / Friday OR Saturday. I've missed them three weeks in a row, and a certain SOMEONE is probably wondering is she's ever going to get them.

AVP

sierranevada
12-16-2005, 09:16 PM
We are here right now. We went in about 11 am this morning - SM had 2 hour wait and they were not issuing any Fastpasses. They closed the gates for about 2 hours sometime between 12:30 & 1. We were going back into the park after 5 pm dinner at ESPN Zone - shooting for around 7 pm for riverfront seats at Fantasmic! - and the front desk at the hotel told us that they had closed the gates again for a while unless you were a hotel guest. By the time we hit the monorail around 7:30 - it was reopened again. They ended up cancelling the 9 pm Fantasmic and we started to exit. Crowd control was directing people behind the shops on Main Street. It was jammed packed in the hub!:fez:

The Mouse Is Back
12-16-2005, 10:24 PM
Were you all at the same DL as we were?

Yesterday was not crowded at all! We arrived at around 10:00 a.m....granted, we left at around 6:00 p.m., just as the usual deluge was heading in from DCA. We didn't bother with SM, since we can always do it some other time AFTER the holidays (and when it isn't *new* again). Everything we did do was a totally short wait.

Today we actually ARRIVED at around noon, and practically walked on HMH, POTC, IASMH. The notorious pathway around Indy was no problem at all. Things did start getting noticeably more crowded at around 3:00 p.m.-ish, and we wisely departed at around 6:00 - went to DCA for an hour and headed back to check out of our hotel.

I am definitely feeling like I was in some kind of parallel universe after reading about the gates closing...


-Allegra-

Opus1guy
12-16-2005, 11:22 PM
Were you all at the same DL as we were?

Today we actually ARRIVED at around noon, and practically walked on HMH, POTC, IASMH. The notorious pathway around Indy was no problem at all. Things did start getting noticeably more crowded at around 3:00 p.m.-ish, and we wisely departed at around 6:00 - went to DCA for an hour and headed back to check out of our hotel.

I am definitely feeling like I was in some kind of parallel universe after reading about the gates closing...

I was thinking the same thing as I read this thread. We arrived early this afternoon and noticed no warning signs at all as we passed Mickey & Friends on our way to valet at the Grand Californian. We arrived at Disneyland's Main Gate at precisely 1:28pm (after having no problem renting a $7.00 locker outside the gate) and there were only a couple of people in front of us at the turnstile and we got in with no problem.

Once inside we thought it was fairly busy but nothing earth shattering. We fairly breezed on most attractions during the day and didn't even feel the need to utilize Fast Pass on a couple. We did go over to Space Mountain at 3:00pm to try to get a Fast Pass, but they were sold out. 50 minute wait on the Standby line which was more like 35 minutes. Buzz was about 20 minutes Standby.

As we walked down Main Street around 5:00pm heading to Lincoln to see the 50th show, the crowds waiting for the parade weren't all the way to the rope-backs. But we did notice a lot of people pouring into the park after the parade and attendance did pick up a bit.

Then over to California Adventure to show a friend Crush. No problems or really huge crowds or lines there either. Then went to Ralph Brennan's for dinner but it was closed due to a Private Party. So swung back to Catel where they told us 45 minutes to a hour and a half wait. I chatted with one of the Managers a bit while waiting and within minutes we had a table! ;) After a nice dinner, had just enough time to hit Napa Rose for a nice glass of wine before heading back to Disneyland for the fireworks. Main Street was pretty jammed but we weaseled our way to the hub and were surprised to find lots of "holes" in the crowd to stand with a perfect view.

After fireworks we stopped off at Häagen-Dazs before hitting the road for home.

So from our perspective, the afternoon was I'd say busy, but not that bad. I'm really surprised to hear they had shut the gates prior to our arrival. The park just didn't seem crowded enough for that.

Oh well. Guess we were just lucky. :)

The Mouse Is Back
12-16-2005, 11:55 PM
At least now I know that we weren't alone in our parallel universe. ;)


-Allegra-

AaronInCal
12-17-2005, 02:26 AM
For me, it was a bad sign when I got to the Mickey and Friends parking structure and had to park BEFORE you get to the booths where you would pay. But when I had to go up the stairs and over to the escalator, there were lots of empty parking spaces. Even inside Disneyland did not seem too bad, and this was around 9 before the fireworks.

I wonder if Fantasmic being cancelled at 9 was because of the Columbia. I saw the 10:30 show, and the ship was totally blacked out of it's on-board lighting and was being pushed by a barge. Only the light towers around the river lit up the performers.

TDBearGrrl
12-17-2005, 06:21 AM
We got there around 6:45 - parking was a nightmare - but the lines to get in were not very long... It was a birthday party at BB or we wouldn't have even gone!!!

bartender925
12-17-2005, 12:33 PM
I am not going based on last Friday. I won't go back for a long time!

I was also there last Friday...And any of you who were there around 8:00pm know how bad it was...it will also be a long, long time before we go back. I even shot Guest relations a nasty letter about how displeased we were, but of course we got no response....Hopefully the crowds this week are a little better, eventhough with all the squatters waiting to see a blasted fireworks show, I doubt the next week will get any better.

sierranevada
12-17-2005, 01:27 PM
It is funny how the crowd seem different to other people during the day. Perhaps Disney's approach of closing the gates for a brief period a couple times that day helped ease the crowding. I am also guessing the ELP back at DCA that night might have helped toward the evening. And they had the back pathway behind the Main Street shops open prior to the fireworks to ease congestion. Will I jinx it if I say maybe they are figuring out the crowd control better???

WITron
12-19-2005, 07:27 AM
LisaP, the candy cane thing is DRIVING ME NUTS. For the past few years, Candy Canes have been sold every Friday from the day after Thanksgiving to the Friday before Christmas. This year it's changing every week - they started on Thanksgiving instead of the day after, and then it's been Thursday / Friday OR Saturday. I've missed them three weeks in a row, and a certain SOMEONE is probably wondering is she's ever going to get them.

AVP

If I had known you were trying to get one I would have picked one up for you when we got ours. Maybe I can talk my dad into letting me send you his.

potterphreak
12-19-2005, 07:52 AM
Friday wasn't bad at all! We never had a wait longer than 30 minutes ALL day, including for Space Mountain and Tower of Terror. Never seemed at capacity. We left DL around 1pm for DCA and there was a huge line for Soaring, including the FastPass line, but after we went on GRR, it was a 10 minute wait for Soaring. DL was out of strollers when we went back in the park though. Didn't seem bad at all.

twist1980
12-19-2005, 11:31 AM
At least now I know that we weren't alone in our parallel universe. ;)


-Allegra-

I guess I was in the same universe as you two! Friday we spent most of the day at DCA, but left after the Electrical Parade and had no trouble getting into DL to catch the fireworks/snowfall and then catching the train to NOS to catch the 10:30 Fantasmic. We even got a place to watch right along the river. Saturday was the only day that it felt really crowded to me.

prncsmsj
12-19-2005, 12:44 PM
I guess I was in the same universe as you two! Friday we spent most of the day at DCA, but left after the Electrical Parade and had no trouble getting into DL to catch the fireworks/snowfall and then catching the train to NOS to catch the 10:30 Fantasmic. We even got a place to watch right along the river. Saturday was the only day that it felt really crowded to me.
I must have been there, too. It was definitely more crowded Friday than other days during the week, but we went back and forth between the 2 parks several times. The only long wait we saw was Space Mountain (which we did not wait in), and I assumed it was because they didn't issue any FP's for it that day. Of course, we were FP pros by then :) , and we didn't wait in a line longer than 20 minutes all week. It was packed on Main Street that night, though.

prncsmsj
12-20-2005, 07:39 AM
I forgot one thing . . . We went to the Lilo and Stitch breakfast at PCH that morning, so we drove into the parking at about 7:30 a.m. The sign was already flashing "Disneyland is very busy today," despite the fact that the park had not even opened yet.

Perdie
12-20-2005, 09:07 AM
My husband and I were there on Friday, and it was pretty busy, but we made it onto most rides without a lot of waiting-especially during Parade times. We left mid afternnoon to go to DCA and didn't see any signs about the Park being full-we also left for a break at 3pm until about 5 and we were able to walk right in to DL. We saw the Fantasmic show at 10:30-had no idea the nine pm one was canceled...and sat right in the front, arriving around 10 for seats. Also, during the fireworks, we like to watch from the Matterhorn-it's amazing to see from there) and we ended up getting on the ride three times in a row during the fireworks-there was literally NO wait!!
SM was crazy though. They had FP for about 45 minutes Fri morning and we were lucky to have had them, but the line was up to 120 minutes at one point during the day...but at 11:50 we jumped back on with hardly any wait at all! Saturday was a madhouse and surprisingly Monday was the busiest day-we ended up going to DCA to avoid the insanity at DL. We only rode SM (with a FP) Pirates, and Small World on Monday because the lines were just too long for everything else. Monday was by far the worst day.