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Noah
12-27-2005, 12:46 PM
Just incase anyone was thinking about heading to Dland today, as of 1:00PM the main gates are CLOSED. The park is packed. Perhaps later tonight they will let people in. Of course there always DCA! :)

The old man
12-27-2005, 03:26 PM
This brings me to a thought that DCA should not have been done as a separate park. It should have been an expansion of DL. Now I know that this would have gone totally against their plan of creating an extended vacation experience, or at least two admission fees. But when you think of it DL is not really that big--it needed the breathing room that reconfiguring the parking lot would have brought. Oh well.

David

Darkbeer
12-27-2005, 05:51 PM
At another board, a regular poster, a reliable CM reported that before 2 PM, the only people they were allowing inside of Disneyland were guests of the three Disney owned Hotels, plue the re-entry folks.

Everyone else, including Premium AP holders, and anyone else with pre-purchased tickets (Ticket sales were suspended earlier in the day) were sent to DCA.

Noah
12-27-2005, 08:01 PM
Interesting way to increase DCA's attendance! :rolleyes:

TowerofTerror
12-27-2005, 09:44 PM
Wow I expect it be the same Tomorrow and the next few days.

HorizonsA
12-27-2005, 09:49 PM
Just a question. In light of Disneyland closing to capacity, was there a third showing of Fantasmic!?

Darkbeer
12-27-2005, 10:04 PM
Wow I expect it be the same Tomorrow and the next few days.

Disney has plans for capacity days every day thru January 8th. So you are not the only one.

For folks planning to go to Disneyland for New Years Eve....

GET THERE EARLY. On Tuesday, restrictions started before Noon.

If you have an AP other than a Premium, or don't have a park ticket, you will need to be at the park at opening, or shortly thereafter, as the first thing they do is stop selling one-day tickets (and at the same time, blockout tickets for AP holders).

And even if you have your ticket or Premium AP, you should get there way before Noon, or be prepared to spend the evening at DCA....

adriennek
12-27-2005, 10:14 PM
Is anyone actually surprised by this news? :confused:

I don't mean to sound rude (really!) It's just not at all surprising given that they've closed the gates a few times already this month and this is always the busiest week of the year by far!

Adrienne

mi_mous
12-27-2005, 11:22 PM
Is anyone actually surprised by this news? :confused:

I don't mean to sound rude (really!) It's just not at all surprising given that they've closed the gates a few times already this month and this is always the busiest week of the year by far!

Adrienne

NOPE. I am actually glad to have decided not to go at all till after the first couple weeks in January.

pisces
12-28-2005, 06:46 AM
They're literally telling people when you check in at the GCH...to please use your monorail express boarding pass. When I checked in, yesterday, I was told several times (without asking) that hotel guests need to take the monorail in to the Park, and show your room ID....because they are not opening the maingates.

It's about 7:45 am, right now, and I don't feel like hopping on the monorail. So I'm headed to the maingate, and we'll see what happens. I'm sure it'll be open to all, this early. The question is for how long ???

We'll see.

It was a zoo yesterday ---Dec 27. Although the crowds are very orderly and festive, so, strangely things are manageable!

Come on out, y'all. Crowds when they are orderly and in a festive mood, are not that bad!

BQ2
12-28-2005, 06:53 AM
:eek:

nursemelis374
12-28-2005, 07:06 AM
What time did they reopen the gates, if ever?

I am still banking on the forecasted rain for NYE day to chase away some of the people. There is no way we are getting there before noon and waiting it out. I think that is insane. I would also kick myself if I got there so early and then discovered there was no need to.

Otherwise we will just go to DCA.

cakimmy
12-28-2005, 11:16 AM
today. My family went and they needed two extra tickets. No such luck. They stopped selling all tickets. They also said it took them over an hour just to park.

Darkbeer
12-28-2005, 11:26 AM
Oh my gosh, I went to the DLR to get some photos regarding the GCH fire, when I left around 10 AM... The traffic was CRAZY.... I drove around taking some photos and take notes regarding traffic.

The traffic Southbound on the I-5 was almost stopped at Lincoln, about 3 miles back from Disneyland Drive. And then Harbor Blvd exit was also a mess.

I talked to a Anaheim Police Officer, he stated they got there about 8 AM to control traffic, and it was needed. The special bypass over Ball Road was full, and they were directing traffic away from the bypass.

It was insane.

They stopped selling tickets prior to 10 AM!!!

ILovePoker
12-28-2005, 11:34 AM
Darkbeer, did you go into the parks on the 28th or only stayed outside of them? I only saw your Grand Californian pics.

raych30
12-28-2005, 11:35 AM
Would we still be able to get into DCA? We we're thinking of dropping by for a while today, but all this talk of major crowds is making me think twice. My two kids LOVE DCA, so I thought we could just hang out at that park for a while. It's a two hour drive for us, so I don't want to drive all that way, and then be turned away.

Thanks!
Rachel

potzbie
12-28-2005, 11:39 AM
Yes, the traffic update on the radio (KRLA 870) mentioned many times that the freeway offramp to BALL ROAD was long, in both direction of I-5 (Golden State Freeway), and that it is taking one hour for cars to move from that offramp to the (full!) Disneyland parking structure.

Coincidentally, according to the Los Angeles TIMES Sports section, today is arrival day for the UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS LONGHORNS. -- See ROSE BOWL.
Coincidence?

Did someone ask if Disneyland will be busy between the 25th and 31st?
:(

If you have to go to DLR, you may want to take AMTRAK or take the bus, to avoid the parking mess.
e.g., park your car at the AMTRAK stations of ANAHEIM (Katella Ave., where Anaheim Stadium is) or, better, FULLERTON (Harbor Bl. at Commonwealth Ave.), and take a bus or taxi to DLR.

ToursbabeC3po
12-28-2005, 11:56 AM
Would we still be able to get into DCA? We we're thinking of dropping by for a while today, but all this talk of major crowds is making me think twice. My two kids LOVE DCA, so I thought we could just hang out at that park for a while. It's a two hour drive for us, so I don't want to drive all that way, and then be turned away.

Thanks!
Rachel
I would not drive that far with these reports maybe tomorrow. DCA will be packed too because they tell everyone that can not go to Disneyland to go to DCA.

Darkbeer
12-28-2005, 11:58 AM
Darkbeer, did you go into the parks on the 28th or only stayed outside of them? I only saw your Grand Californian pics.

I stayed away from the parks themselves, I do have some Main Entry Plaza photos being uploaded right now....

ILovePoker
12-28-2005, 11:59 AM
Umm. I believe California Adventure will be packed because people actually might want to go there, not because Cast Member's are telling them to. Just because a cast member might suggest California Adventure doesn't mean people are just going to jump into their. I'm sure California Adventure is already packed as well.

raych30
12-28-2005, 12:03 PM
Thanks! I think we'll wait it out until next week. I'm a transplant to California and freeway driving makes me nervous. (I'm from a single stop-light town in the mid-west, lol) I can't imagine how horrible the traffic is right now.
Here's kind of a dumb question....where do they have you park when the Mickey and Friends parking lot is full? Do they turn you away, or tell you to park somewhere else?

Thanks again,
Rachel

ILovePoker
12-28-2005, 12:05 PM
I believe they would send you to a different lot. If everything was full, I'm not sure what would happen but I doubt every single space is gone. Plus, don't worry about driving in traffic, traffic is slow. Where I live, the drivers are so terrible you'd wish there was traffic to slow these idiots down.:D

mckygirl99
12-28-2005, 01:11 PM
Oh my gosh, I went to the DLR to get some photos regarding the GCH fire, when I left around 10 AM... The traffic was CRAZY.... I drove around taking some photos and take notes regarding traffic.

The traffic Southbound on the I-5 was almost stopped at Lincoln, about 3 miles back from Disneyland Drive. And then Harbor Blvd exit was also a mess.

I talked to a Anaheim Police Officer, he stated they got there about 8 AM to control traffic, and it was needed. The special bypass over Ball Road was full, and they were directing traffic away from the bypass.

It was insane.

They stopped selling tickets prior to 10 AM!!!

Driving I-5 south, I was trying to get to my hair appointment at Main Place by 10:00am. I drove through all the traffic and wound up being late for it. Oh my god! If I saw traffic like that just to get into the park, I would think twice about spending all that money and turn around and go home!

OCCOBRA
12-28-2005, 02:01 PM
Why would anyone even consider putting up with the crowds at this time of the year? That is crazy...

millionairegirl
12-28-2005, 03:11 PM
Since I hadn't gotten to the park this Christmas/holiday season and I did spring for the PAP, I decided to drop by to check out the atmosphere and the decor I hadn't seen in person.

I arrived to the Ball rd offramp about 8:35 and got into the park by 9:00. Of course I did park in the Downtown Disney lot since the traffic was insane. There were Anaheim PD directing traffic at the Ball/ (and in my opinion, may have been making it worse!). I'm not sure if that's typical of crowded days at Disneyland or if they were there due to the fire. When I left at 11:45 they weren't around. Even getting to the DTD lot was a pain since people turning left were causing gridlock. Since the monorail wasn't working I walked up to the gates. Getting in wasn't too bad, but there were long lines at the ticket booths.

Disneyland wasn't terrible at 9:00. Space had a 90 minute wait and FP return time of 12:30, Buzz was 35 min, and Star Tours 25 min. I just walked around and was quite glad that I can come back whenever I want. I walked over to It's a Small World, but found a fairly long line down the walkway, but I don't know if it wasn't looped properly. I went into Toontown and found long lines for Mickey and Minnie's house, but was able to walk-on Gadget's Go-Coaster. There was also a 5 min wait for Roger Rabbit. I also grabbed a FP for Big Thunder which matured in under 40 minutes. At 9:55 I walked by Indy and found the return time to be between 2 and 3!

Anyway, I left Disneyland a little after 10:00 and headed over to DCA and still found people in line for tickets, so I don't know why they would be waiting if they weren't selling them. At DCA I was able to walk on Mike and Sully to the Rescue, but other than that most of the lines were longer than I cared for. I ended up leaving at 11:30 so I wouldn't have to get lunch in DTD for validation.

Overall it was fun, but if you want to actually go on a lot of attractions, than you need patience (and lots of it!). And I'd arrive around 7:00 am.