V-Day + DCA AP after hours

[MochaCat]

Hello Mice Chatters!

Just stopping by to give you some info on today's trip to Disneyland and DCA. Here are some notes:

-Both Parks were pretty darn crowded! I could have sworn we went LAST Valentines day and it wasn't this crowded! I think it was due to some local schools having a 5 day weekend + the after hours AP incentive + 'true love week'??

-Overall, any extra 'true love week' pluses that were added to DL were weak or just lost in the crowd. But its Disneyland, its awesome and fun can always be had.

-After the 7pm parade, we were making the usual shortcut through the stores on the west side of main street and MY OH MY what a mess! Usually, when you reach the Gibson Girl you cut through the foyer of that newly remodeled restaurant and jump into the next strip of shops.. but alas! It was roped off! So we were forced to squeeze out of the Gibson Girl, onto the crowded pavement and were at a standstill for a good 5 mins! @_@ we need that Main Street Alley STAT!

Entering the AP "after hours"
-What kind of upset me, was that it seemed like the whole point of arriving early to receive an AP Event wristband was that there was going to be a limited amount of them given. In fact, I do not believe there is a max amount that are to be given out. If you were an AP... you got one. There were many lines INSIDE DCA to get your wristband after the park was closed.

-At times I get fed up/upset/disappointed with the AP population. The beer lines were long and pot was in the air. I swear we were getting a residual contact high from the couple in the clam shell in front of us on Ariel's.... (Disneyland is a FAMILY place. A Carefree, innocent place to make and share memories with your children, family, and friends. Leave your questionable habits for when you are kicking back at home with your buddies, or what have you. SHEESH!)**shaking my angry stick**

-DCA was pretty busy after hours! TSMM: 45 mins.... RSR single rider line: 45 mins.... Luigis: 35 mins (we were able to walk onto that ride last time we visited!) Seems like word got out this week! a CM told me the park was cleared out by 9pm last week even though APs still had another hour!

-OH MY GOODNESS! The line to get into DCA around 7:30 extended well past that starburst thing in the middle of the esplanade! No CMs around to police the lines so it was a 'keep a smile on your face, dont get your feelings hurt, just stick tight to the person in front of you' kind of situation

-After the 8:15 WOC show... i was kind of hoping they would announce that there would be another showing of WOC for people in the park.. of course that did no happen BUT it was great because they kept the rainbow-after-the-show fountains going for, i think, the rest of the night! it was beautiful and added a lot of kinetic energy to the water of paradise bay! <3

-We got to walk on all the Bugsland Rides! Now we can say we have done them and did so without feeling guilty that we have no children with us. (and whhuut?! the Lady Buggy ride is the same system used in Mater's!?)

Hope you all had a swell day folks! Have a wonderful weekend.

[Coheteboy]

Good to know NOT to go to Disneyland on Valentines!

[JerrodDRagon]

^what I don't get is why they closed Disneyland by 8 PM? It was busy enough to be open til 10 easily

[MochaCat]

They could have EASILY stayed open until 10 or even midnight! Every sit down place in the resort was booked solid, and some of the nicer quick service eateries were a 20+ minute wait from 6pm to close.

[The Disney Ninja]

-At times I get fed up/upset/disappointed with the AP population. The beer lines were long and pot was in the air.

I smelled it too in the Hollywoodland Bathrooms last night. It was pretty strong in the air.

-After the 8:15 WOC show... i was kind of hoping they would announce that there would be another showing of WOC for people in the park.. of course that did no happen BUT it was great because they kept the rainbow-after-the-show fountains going for, i think, the rest of the night! it was beautiful and added a lot of kinetic energy to the water of paradise bay! <3

Yeah, Unfortunately, they didn't have any special entertainment offered, I asked. It would be cool if they did. I love how they have the fountains going until park closing.

[sediment]

They should create a hard-ticket event for Valentine's Day. Next year will be a Friday, the next will be a Saturday.

Or, hard-ticket every single day!!

[Tinkbelle]

I'm sorry to hear they aren't showing a WOC during that time, although if it is really crowded there might not be a good view anyway. It might make RSR wait times shorter if they had WOC, though.

[spaceranger]

Normal standby wait time for Radiator Springs Racers was 90 minutes at 9 PM. 70 minutes at 9:50. Toy Story Midway Mania wait time was 40 minutes just before 9. Wait times like that won't entice me back on a Thursday, I'll keep going on Saturday night.

But it was way cool that they kept the WOC fountains running all night. I wish they would do that all the time.

[Esteban]

I stayed in the Grand Californian on the 14th but traffic was a bummer. We got there around 7:20 and checking in and all of that took a while. So I was just thankful that the park was still open and I could get on a few rides after watching WoC. The wait to get the wristband was a little long. It made me wonder if they really were and/or if people knew that the wristbands were being handed out since noon. Again, our fault for getting there so late. We only went on a few rides. We walked into RSR at 9:50. The wait time said 70 but we didn't wait more then 50 minutes. After that it was nice to walk around the park with so few people around at 11pm.

Then there was the one big disappointment. We were going to walk to entrance to the Grand Californian through Condor Flats. We were stopped and told that the entrance gate to the hotel was closed and we would have to go around through DTD. That really sucked. I would have been in bed in maybe...seven minutes but instead we had maybe 15 minutes of walking to do to get to the room. That kind of ruins the whole point of one of the best that a Disney hotel can have. But i do understand that it wasn't the usual circumstances.

[The Disney Ninja]

FYI, I just want to give a heads up to everybody in getting wristband in the upcoming Thursdays for those who are attending the extended Magical Hours if the lines at the entrance are long, even though it took about 5 minutes, wristbands are in fact being handed out in Carsland and in front of Ghiridelli's

[Esteban]

I went to both the gate and by Ghiridelli's. For me the line was long at both places.