Disneyland in December

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jdubbya33
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Disneyland in December

Post by jdubbya33 » Jan Mon 20, 2014 8:20 pm

Did anybody here happen to go to Disneyland a day after Christmas? I couldn't believe how crowded it was. They actually had to turn people away because they reached maximum capacity. I look forward to going again in March. I hope it's not as crowded. The wait times were crazy! But of course, I still enjoyed every minute of it.
Jonathan

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Re: Disneyland in December

Post by Amy » Jan Mon 20, 2014 8:39 pm

jdubbya33 wrote:Did anybody here happen to go to Disneyland a day after Christmas? I couldn't believe how crowded it was. They actually had to turn people away because they reached maximum capacity. I look forward to going again in March. I hope it's not as crowded. The wait times were crazy! But of course, I still enjoyed every minute of it.
We were there the first week of December and it was pretty darned busy when we were there too!

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Re: Disneyland in December

Post by ZenMondo » Jan Mon 20, 2014 9:16 pm

I read last night, that the week between Christmas and New Year is the most crowded of the entire year. The winter off season officially begins January 2nd. My recent trip was Between January 12th, and 14th (with a quick jaunt into the park for some last minute shopping and a ride on the Mark Twain on the 15th). On Tuesday the 14th we spent most of the day at the DCA park, and pretty much just walked right onto every ride there except the Toy Story Midway and the Radiator Springs Racers. We spent the last two hours of the night in Disneyland Park, and the line situation was similar. While we really did not do rides on our 2 hours on Wednesday, the lines were even sparser.

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Re: Disneyland in December

Post by Amy » Jan Mon 20, 2014 9:39 pm

ZenMondo wrote:I read last night, that the week between Christmas and New Year is the most crowded of the entire year. The winter off season officially begins January 2nd. My recent trip was Between January 12th, and 14th (with a quick jaunt into the park for some last minute shopping and a ride on the Mark Twain on the 15th). On Tuesday the 14th we spent most of the day at the DCA park, and pretty much just walked right onto every ride there except the Toy Story Midway and the Radiator Springs Racers. We spent the last two hours of the night in Disneyland Park, and the line situation was similar. While we really did not do rides on our 2 hours on Wednesday, the lines were even sparser.
I'd like to try and go during the off season for low wait times...although I was disappointed that the parks were only open until 8 pm on the two weeknights we were there :(

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Re: Disneyland in December

Post by ZenMondo » Jan Mon 20, 2014 10:53 pm

Amy wrote: I'd like to try and go during the off season for low wait times...although I was disappointed that the parks were only open until 8 pm on the two weeknights we were there :(
It may just be a sign of getting older, but the two full days we spent at the park. Getting there before or near opening, we were completely BEAT by 8pm and ready to walk "home" to the Hotel Room. For a few of those nights, that walk was SO HARD, not because we were sad to not be at Disneyland anymore, but because we were SO TIRED.

I think one advantage for us is that we live about a 5 or 6 hour drive away from the Park, and bought the Annual Passes. We did not feel pressure to squeeze everything we could into this one trip, knowing that we would be returning, and returning sooner than later.

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Re: Disneyland in December

Post by Amy » Jan Tue 21, 2014 7:53 am

ZenMondo wrote:
Amy wrote: I'd like to try and go during the off season for low wait times...although I was disappointed that the parks were only open until 8 pm on the two weeknights we were there :(
It may just be a sign of getting older, but the two full days we spent at the park. Getting there before or near opening, we were completely BEAT by 8pm and ready to walk "home" to the Hotel Room. For a few of those nights, that walk was SO HARD, not because we were sad to not be at Disneyland anymore, but because we were SO TIRED.

I think one advantage for us is that we live about a 5 or 6 hour drive away from the Park, and bought the Annual Passes. We did not feel pressure to squeeze everything we could into this one trip, knowing that we would be returning, and returning sooner than later.
I think since we are used to 14-16 hour days at WDW, the 10-11 hour days at DL just seemed short. I suppose the earlier closing was better though since we still had a 45 minute drive back to where we were staying. I sure wish we could have seen and done more during our three days at the park. We took up a lot of that first day with lunch at Club 33 so that cut down on the attractions we were able to take in, but it was a once in a lifetime experience so I wouldn't trade it. AP are the best. We've had them a few times for WDW even though we live a long ways away. When you have one of those you know you are going at least twice in one year :D

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Re: Disneyland in December

Post by Wizzard419 » Jan Tue 21, 2014 3:43 pm

That is totally normal to reach capacity during that week as well as a few days in summer. It even makes the news every year, I always warn people that unless they hate themselves they should avoid the parks.

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Re: Disneyland in December

Post by Amy » Jan Tue 21, 2014 9:01 pm

Wizzard419 wrote:That is totally normal to reach capacity during that week as well as a few days in summer. It even makes the news every year, I always warn people that unless they hate themselves they should avoid the parks.
Does DL have the huge fireworks celebration like WDW for New Year's Eve?

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Re: Disneyland in December

Post by MmeLeota » Jan Tue 21, 2014 9:17 pm

We went to DL for New Year's once (to check it off the bucket list) the year we also went to the Tournament of Roses Parade. I remember that the park was open until 2am and that it was nothing but wall to wall people all day. I remember that there were fireworks, but I honestly can't remember if it was a different display than "normal". Of course, it was about 10 years ago, and things could be quite different now.

The early closing times are typical for non-summer weeknights. We used to hang out in Downtown Disney or go somewhere else (if we weren't too tired from playing all day) when the parks closed early. It was a bit of a body shock when we went to WDW in 2012 and had a 15 hour day! :shock:

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Re: Disneyland in December

Post by Wizzard419 » Jan Tue 21, 2014 9:32 pm

Amy wrote:
Wizzard419 wrote:That is totally normal to reach capacity during that week as well as a few days in summer. It even makes the news every year, I always warn people that unless they hate themselves they should avoid the parks.
Does DL have the huge fireworks celebration like WDW for New Year's Eve?
Do you just pretend to read the updates posted each week? :D Of course they do, as well as various crap in the parks to celebrate as well.

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Re: Disneyland in December

Post by Amy » Jan Tue 21, 2014 9:57 pm

MmeLeota wrote:We went to DL for New Year's once (to check it off the bucket list) the year we also went to the Tournament of Roses Parade. I remember that the park was open until 2am and that it was nothing but wall to wall people all day. I remember that there were fireworks, but I honestly can't remember if it was a different display than "normal". Of course, it was about 10 years ago, and things could be quite different now.

The early closing times are typical for non-summer weeknights. We used to hang out in Downtown Disney or go somewhere else (if we weren't too tired from playing all day) when the parks closed early. It was a bit of a body shock when we went to WDW in 2012 and had a 15 hour day! :shock:
Love the extra long WDW days ~ the longer the better! Of course I tend to start getting a bit crabby from sleep deprivation after a few days, but it is totally worth it!!
Wizzard419 wrote:
Amy wrote:
Wizzard419 wrote:That is totally normal to reach capacity during that week as well as a few days in summer. It even makes the news every year, I always warn people that unless they hate themselves they should avoid the parks.
Does DL have the huge fireworks celebration like WDW for New Year's Eve?
Do you just pretend to read the updates posted each week? :D Of course they do, as well as various crap in the parks to celebrate as well.
Didn't even look at the update yet...maybe tomorrow ;) I just always hear about the Armageddon barge at EPCOT, but never anything about DL

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Re: Disneyland in December

Post by Wizzard419 » Jan Tue 21, 2014 11:00 pm

It wouldn't be on this week's update, since it's mid-January. :D People get p*** when they find out that it is not only packed but they have to wait hours just to get in the park.

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