Disneyland Resort (DL, DLR, DCA) Discussion Thread

[Chrisrad]

For those of you who have been to Disneyland for NYE, was the Leap Year event busier? I've heard a few reports that it was.

 

I seriously don't think I would have made it out of there alive.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

^ It sure seemed busier. There probably weren't as many people as there are on NYE but people were out in the queues and midways rather than crammed in the hub staking out spots for midnight. It was like NYE without any midnight celebration or general party atmosphere to look forward to.

 

Pot smokers and pot smoke. EVERYWHERE. Even saw some nutcase doing the Ariel dance routine from Fantasmic! on top of a moving SUV going into the Mickey & Friends structure. Did not see one human outside the ages of 17-30 between 10pm and 3am.

[drtaru]

For those of you who have been to Disneyland for NYE, was the Leap Year event busier? I've heard a few reports that it was.

 

I seriously don't think I would have made it out of there alive.

 

 

I've been bantering back and forth with robb on the officiall OMDD video on YouTube and decided to register over here... and let me say YES 1000x yes

 

The thing with the NYE parties and such is there is a general goal (good spot for fireworks) and less young teens who snuck in drunk to the park, because they are all out at other parties on NYE.

[DevilSaint]

Yea, From the time Fantasmic filled at 10pm to the time it ended, the park was really busy. Once that let out and thousands of people were just left with no real objective, plus all the people super hyped up who had been trying to get in for hours - that's when it really got nuts.

[pdcon]

Yes, I have done new years, and nye is not even comparrable, the park reached max capacity so they put a standbye line out side, it didn't work verywell though because they jus, t let people keeping walking in, I'm sure it felt like the park was over capacity, I have never been then when sm, btmrr, and star tours all have 120 min wait. The dole whip line was an hourlong and all the rides inside FL all had 45+ minute waits.

 

If you managed to wait in line for a dark ride, once on you would get a contact high, they where hott boxing mr toads..lol.

 

The conga line they got going around the hub was bannanas. It was just a sea of people.

[dylanreich]

This is all just too bad to hear, especially with (as far as I've seen and heard) the success in Orlando. I have no idea how they can plan better next time, assuming they do this again 4 years from now. The only thing I could see working is making it a reservation-in-advance type of event, with a standby line of course. I doubt they'd do that, though.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

I actually had a great time that evening. I went for the purpose of going. I didn't expect to get on too many rides, and I figured it would have been crowded. My point is that the night is what you make of it, and I left the park having a good time.

 

I know it was busy, that there was a fair amount of drunk people who came in, and the special event line up for the night was on the lite side. However, this was the first time any theme park has ever done this, the turn out took everyone by surprise and they compensated as best they could to deal with the demand. If this type of party ever happens again (and I can see it happening sooner the next Leap Year), it will be very different, but probably even better.

[Sir Clinksalot]

I wasn't there for the 24 hour thing, but I've been there for a few NYE's. This seemed WAY worse.

 

Couple that with the fact that there was only 1 park open, they weren't properly staffed (how could they NOT see this coming?) and you get a huge Cluster ... well, you know.

 

A nice write-up about the event from Al:

 

http://miceage.micechat.com/allutz/al030212a.htm

[robbalvey]

For those of you who have been to Disneyland for NYE, was the Leap Year event busier? I've heard a few reports that it was.

 

I seriously don't think I would have made it out of there alive.

 

 

I've been bantering back and forth with robb on the officiall OMDD video on YouTube and decided to register over here... and let me say YES 1000x yes

 

The thing with the NYE parties and such is there is a general goal (good spot for fireworks) and less young teens who snuck in drunk to the park, because they are all out at other parties on NYE.

It's disappointing to hear. Perhaps limiting the event to premiere passholders only could help?

[dylanreich]

^That would probably help somewhat, but I think better planning would help the most. With the ticket booths having the lines they did, limiting it to premium passholders would still cause a lot of people to come. I think it would probably still reach capacity at least some point during the night. Hopefully they'll learn from this going forward, especially if the information stated in the story on Micechat linked to by Sir Clinksalot is true (only planning for 44,000, comparable to a lazy Saturday in the offseason, with tons of management employees gone for the night).

[Chrisrad]

I guess there were 66,000 passholders there, out of 106,000 people (according to Al's article).

 

How many of those are the cheap so cal passes I wonder?

 

How could they have not anticipated the magnitude of this event? I've been on summer days where all the passes were allowed back after being blocked for the summer - INSANE! And that's with the proper staffing.

 

I guess, for some reason, I thought DCA was open 24 hours as well - now I'm shocked that it wasn't. With all of those traffic/parking reports, that means it was only for one park.

 

 

 

Wow.

[the ghost]

I agree with what most of you are saying, but it drives me insane. As a young Socal pass holder(I have had a deluxe pass until this year, but I am currently jobless) I realize a lot of people abuse the hell out of their passes because they are relatively cheap... especially the monthly rate. I was at the event and had a great time, but I saw the drunk people EVERYWHERE, but I just wish that instead they would limit it to just letting a lesser people in. It is INSANE to me though that Disney had such little "quality control" over the event because as everyone mentioned the amount of drunk people were INSANE and many were clearly drunk that I was surprised Disney let people into the park.

 

I even heard from someone on Micechat that people were rolling and smoking joints near the partners statue... absolutely unacceptable.

[gisco]

Just wondering why not open up both parks? Maybe they could fill DCA for a change.

[asimowalk]

It's been confirmed on Twitter (is that possible?) that Disneyland and California Adventure are locked down this morning due to a bomb threat. From what I've gathered, an employee found an unattended backpack in a tree so authorities are there to investigate. The gates have been closed and guests are being forced away from them on both sides (there are guests already inside of the park). News stations are just starting to pick up the story on Twitter it seems, can't find anything from a Google search yet.

 

EDIT: Finally a news story: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-disneyland-suspicious-object,0,3171547.story

 

ANAHEIM, Calif. (KTLA) -- A bomb squad is investigating and all entrances and exits have been sealed at Disneyland after park employees discovered a suspicious object there Saturday morning.

 

The employees spotted the object about 7:0 a.m. during a routine walk-through held prior to the opening of the park. The object -- which has not been described -- was spotted in a tree near the park entrance, police officials said.

 

Park officials called Anaheim police, who brought in a bomb squad to investigate.

 

A group of guests were let inside the park early, before the discovery of the object, but they are being sequestered in a safe area away from the entrance, police officials said.

 

All entrances and exits have since been sealed and no one will be allowed in or out of the park until the bomb squad investigation is concluded.

[AnonymousReed]

It's been confirmed on Twitter (is that possible?) that Disneyland and California Adventure are locked down this morning due to a bomb threat. From what I've gathered, an employee found an unattended backpack in a tree so authorities are there to investigate. The gates have been closed and guests are being forced away from them on both sides (there are guests already inside of the park). News stations are just starting to pick up the story on Twitter it seems, can't find anything from a Google search yet.

 

EDIT: Finally a news story: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-disneyland-suspicious-object,0,3171547.story

 

ANAHEIM, Calif. (KTLA) -- A bomb squad is investigating and all entrances and exits have been sealed at Disneyland after park employees discovered a suspicious object there Saturday morning.

 

The employees spotted the object about 7:0 a.m. during a routine walk-through held prior to the opening of the park. The object -- which has not been described -- was spotted in a tree near the park entrance, police officials said.

 

Park officials called Anaheim police, who brought in a bomb squad to investigate.

 

A group of guests were let inside the park early, before the discovery of the object, but they are being sequestered in a safe area away from the entrance, police officials said.

 

All entrances and exits have since been sealed and no one will be allowed in or out of the park until the bomb squad investigation is concluded.

My friend is heading to Knotts now because of that..sucks because he has a Season Pass for Disneyland but not Knotts.

[SoCalCoasters]

Doesn't sound good...although it could be that someone just left it there out of the way to keep it from being stolen. However the location of it seems a biot odd so I don't blame them for being over-cautious.

 

As for the record attendance...I heard that they had an insanely high amount of merchendise sold? To me it sounds like the event could be a serious profit maker in the future if Disney plans it a bit better.

[dylanreich]

^It's a serious profit maker no matter what, but I'm hoping they plan better as well.

I'm optimistic that someone just didn't want something stolen without having to pay for a locker, but you obviously never know.

[Wes]

As usual, it was a false alarm. Park will be open soon.

[SoCalCoasters]

As usual, it was a false alarm. Park will be open soon.

 

Figures...

 

I'm still waiting for DL to open another extremely high capacity ride...It seems like the park could use one more major E-Ticket to keep the crowds in check...although, many could argue that this would only INCREASE crowds but...I feel like Disneyland hasn't had a truly NEW attraction that wasn't a revitalization or remake since Buzz Lightyear...almost 7 years ago. That's not to say they haven't added anything at all, but that was the last time a completely original attraction was designed and built, even if it was using exsisting space.

[dylanreich]

^My guess is we won't see anything majorly new until the rumored new Tomorrowland in a few years. Cars Land will definitely drive more people to Disneyland and not just DCA.

[ABW]

I'm still waiting for DL to open another extremely high capacity ride...It seems like the park could use one more major E-Ticket to keep the crowds in check...although, many could argue that this would only INCREASE crowds but...I feel like Disneyland hasn't had a truly NEW attraction that wasn't a revitalization or remake since Buzz Lightyear...almost 7 years ago. That's not to say they haven't added anything at all, but that was the last time a completely original attraction was designed and built, even if it was using exsisting space.

Let's not get in to this conversation about Disneyland "needing" a new ride the same year that Cars Land is opening. Investing in one more E-Ticket isn't going to do much for the crowds when it all comes down to it. It also doesn't really make sense for this to be a topic of conversation for Disneyland, because there's so many things to do already, and so many high capacity attractions already, that they don't need one so soon. Plus, look at the amount of money Disney Parks just spent on DCA to make all those improvments, about $1 Billion. So let's not get in to this.

[SoCalCoasters]

I'm still waiting for DL to open another extremely high capacity ride...It seems like the park could use one more major E-Ticket to keep the crowds in check...although, many could argue that this would only INCREASE crowds but...I feel like Disneyland hasn't had a truly NEW attraction that wasn't a revitalization or remake since Buzz Lightyear...almost 7 years ago. That's not to say they haven't added anything at all, but that was the last time a completely original attraction was designed and built, even if it was using exsisting space.

Let's not get in to this conversation about Disneyland "needing" a new ride the same year that Cars Land is opening. Investing in one more E-Ticket isn't going to do much for the crowds when it all comes down to it. It also doesn't really make sense for this to be a topic of conversation for Disneyland, because there's so many things to do already, and so many high capacity attractions already, that they don't need one so soon. Plus, look at the amount of money Disney Parks just spent on DCA to make all those improvments, about $1 Billion. So let's not get in to this.

 

I didn't really word that correctly. What I meant was that I feel like the focus for the next big Resort Project should be focused back onto Disneyland...

 

Yes I know crowds will always be an issue, but it seems like in recent years the park has become much busier and currently several areas of the park (most noticeably Tomorrowland) suffer from frequent overcrowding. It's come up time and time again, but could we see the re-invention of Star Tours be the first step towards fixing the "whoops we screwed up" Tomorrowland debacle that ruined the Rocket Jets and People Mover?

 

I know I'm far from the only person who wants to see something big happen to Tomorrowland, especially in it's current state. Innoventions is a total joke and could probably be turned into a new attraction with not much disturbance to park operations. People Mover is an odd case...it's the lifeblood of Tomorrowland that currently isn't flowing.

 

In any case, does a more futuristic Tomorrowland makeover seem possible in the somewhat near future?

 

Seeing as how well TR0N: Legacy did overall I still think some kind of a Lightcycle attraction, even with minimal Tron theming could be a huge hit.

[Someotherguyuser]

Seeing as how well TR0N: Legacy did overall I still think some kind of a Lightcycle attraction, even with minimal Tron theming could be a huge hit.

The thing is, TRON: Legacy did gross a lot of money at the box office, but it just broke even domestically. While $172 million in the domestic market sounds like it did very well, it's not sounding too great when you add in the fact that it cost $170 million to make the whole movie...that's not even counting the ad campaign.

 

Because of that, I wouldn't expect a TRON attraction to occupy TL (Occupy TL? ). I think Imagineers may have something else up their sleeves for the Innoventions building.

[cfc]

All they have to do is bring back these two attractions:

 

 

Problem solved.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

^ Won't hear any complaints from here if that were to happen.