DL was a Zoo today! (fun anyway)

[CUatDL]

I got to Disneyland today (Sun Dec 11) and found that yesterday was a zoo! The tram guy said that they closed DL yesterday, “so if you want to leave and come back in, be sure to check with someone at the main gate before exiting, ‘cause once out, you may not get back in”. This was the warning on the tram at about 8:45 AM.

I go up to the tram stop at the park side and it was crowded getting off, and getting to security, so I hunted for a light line security and went there (guess the scooter thing will be OK afterall). After security, I decided that I may as well just go through the middle of the ticket booths and be prepared for looooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg lines, but no, the lines at the turnstyles were short, so I went on up, to a (can you believe) vacant tunstyle and went on in.

Today I mainly I just wanted to ride HMH, IaSWH and POTC before they went away for refurb. Got to HMH, and no line! Went right on in, it was great! But you should have seen the line when I got out. Hey, can’t beat timing. Went to IaSWH, and NO LINE! Again, wow! Two out of tree, NO LINE! as a mason I used to know would say “Better lucky than good”, well, at least the “Better lucky” part seems to apply here, again, when I got out of IaSWH, what a line, 3/4 of the way down to Matterhorn… Whew!

Last on over to POTC, well, there was a line there, but I went over to the special access area and only had to wait for about five or six boats before boarding. Great rides all! Had a wonderful time. Now time to just settle down and do not much of nothing, so I just cruised around, to soak up the ambience of DL and enjoy the nice day.

Did I say what a nice, nice, nice weather day it was? Well, it was great! Unfortunatley about 60 K other people thought the weather was great and maybe they should go to DL, so they did. I’m not sure that anyone, anywhere stayed home today, I think they all went to DL.

Went to the hub about 11:15 found CL and others already there. Looked down Main Street and from about 11:20 until 12:30 Main Street was shoulder to shoulder! Wow! Where did all the folks come from? We soon went to lunch to relax and recharge. Nice relaxing lunch, visiting, only took about 2 hours.

I started to go home then, but decided to take one quick run through (well, scoot through) DCA because I didn’t get here at all last week and wanted to see what the crowds were like. All I can say is WOW! I haven’t seen DCA this full in a long, long time! But nice day, so much to see. I finally left DCA about 3:30 and headed home.

All in all, great day! Nice warm So. Cal. winter day. This, is why I live in So. Cal.!

I’ve taken enough of your time, you are now released back to your regularly scheduled (or unscheduled) MiceChat, Chats!

CU@DL

Andy

[migo]

It was a mad house on Saturday. We got there around 10 or so, and the lines to get in were back to DCA. Once in, we quickly realized we didn't want to be in there, and the family turned tail for DCA. Spent the day in there relaxing and having a great time. We didn't even want to get back into Disneyland.

[Olympicnut]

It was a busy day, lots of people everywhere, but really, the lines IMHO weren't as bad as I thought they'd be, at least for what we did. Mansion - 30 minutes. POTC - about 15, BTMRR - 15, Jungle - 10ish, Buzz - 20. Then again when you have 2 evil twin bullies together time tends to stand still

And DCA was great in the evening. We even rode Mulholland Madness since there was barely a line. Unfortunately neither of us brought our neck braces.

[Crazy Legs]

Yes the park was busy but with the good company it did not matter as much

[CUatDL]

Yes the park was busy but with the good company it did not matter as much

Yeah, I guess I didn't say that, but with the good company, it did not matter at all. Just happy to be there visiting with all the MC folks.

CU@DL

Andy

[Disneyfreak]

The park was not crowded on sunday. The only reason why it seemed like it was because the ticket booths were half open due to the lack of cast members. Once you got into the park the waits were in the 30's to 40's and the biggest things as usual 60-70 min. In 9 hours I finished every single E-ticket and got to ride space and matterhorn twice. I am sure sat was worse.

I went on:

Indy
Pirates
HMH
2x Matterhorn
2x space mountain
Star Tours
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder
Autopia

Remember

[NeverNeverland]

The company helped but the crowds made me grouchy!!
As I was wating to get in, they opened two ticket taking booths... that helped!

[migo]

Friday evening, the line just to purchase tickets was insane. Why do they have all these ticket booths, and only open up 4 windows? Nothing was open on the tram side, but 4 windows only over on the DtD side.

[Where's Barbie?]

Lots of people but it was fun anyway!
Ate lunch at WWG with some of the noon meet group . Then went shopping with DS, FB, DLCM, CL, BGB, Morriggon and MM. Spent lots of $$$$. Group keep getting smaller and there was just 3 of us. Went back to DL to look for the evil twins (o-nut & g4) but then where going home.
CL, BGB, WB, Gwyren, MM & NNL bugged DLCM at work. Went on MH and then SM where we saw THE BOB he made sure BGB and my lap bar was secure. Then hit the pizza port. Meet up with aunt Devin and uncle Sean (DLCM's family) CL went home and it was starting to clear out. The guys patiently wait while I tried to find a hat cause it was freezing. Went on Pooh, HHM, Dumbo (rode the golden one) and the 2nd from the last SM ride. Leaving at 12:30am it was sure empty.
Had a great time!!! Even with crowds the company is always the best part. I don't even notice the other people cause we keep out of the busy areas.

[dizneeboy]

I was there the 8-10th. Everything was a walk on basically on TH and was a blast. Hit DCA on Friday and had the same experience with small lines and crowds.

Friday night, about an hour or so before DCA closed, headed back over to DL to catch one of the two fantasmic shows...what a nightmare. We attempted to go down main street and didn't make it past the penny arcade. We went back to take the train around and the line for the train was beyond long. We tried the right side of main street and finally made it through, but it took over 25 minutes and a lot of patience. We caught a side view of fantasmic at 9pm and went around the back of the park to the monorail to take it out of the park and bypass the crowds. But, the fireworks were delayed due to high winds and the monorail stayed shut down until they made a decision. The delay lasted about 25 minutes and then we had to sit through the fireworks until the monorail started running again. However, due to one of the two monorails going down earlier, only one was available and was making one way trips. We gave it about 20 minutes and, with no monorail in site, tried main street again. Luckily, as Al stated, they opened the backstage areas to relieve the traffic and we were able to get out without being trampled.

Saturday morning I went in for the olszewski siging of the two new main street pieces and I watched the constant sea of people coming down main street from 8am until noon (yes, it took 4 hours to get the pieces signed....seemed very missmanaged....never again).

Thank goodness for TH and a vacant DCA on Friday or my first trip in 4 years would have been a bust ; )