Originally Posted By Dabob2 Looks like I'll be in DL next month. My last time was also mid-December, and it was really packed. In fact, so packed that it actually took me more than 15 minutes just to make it up Main Street and into TL; I wanted to see the Assimo show, and I missed it as a result. Most of that shoulder-to-shoulder was on Main Street, of course, as people waited to see the early evening Christmas parade. There was ostensibly a lane for people wanting to move up the street, but it was slow going indeed. This was before the "side corridors" (for lack of a better term - I forget the official one) opened. So my question: are they always open during shoulder-to-shoulder times like parades and fireworks? Is one for heading north and the other for heading south? If so, which is which? I'd guess the east one would be for going north and the west one for going south, but let me know. Thanks!
Originally Posted By monorailblue The dedicated corridor on the east side is not always open, and there is no dedicated corridor on the west side. The west side backstage areas are opened at times but generally only for southbound (exiting) traffic. The east side corridor empties north of the parade route, so is subject to the same parade crossing restrictions as the rest of Main Street when the parades are going. The best plan is to plan for congestion. If the Railroad is operating or if entering the park by the Monorail is an option, you can avoid Main Street.
Originally Posted By monorailblue Let me clarify that: the east side corridor runs from behind the corn dog wagon to behind Disney Showcase--and at Disney Showcase empties north of the parade route.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 North? Wouldn't it be east of the parade route? Doesn't it empty around the plaza, Inn and then you have a straight shot at TL?
Originally Posted By Dabob2 North? Wouldn't it be east of the parade route? Doesn't it empty around the plaza, Inn and then you have a straight shot at TL?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros When I was there over Labor Day, the backstage passage was used during very limited hours. We watched WOC and then made a bee-line back to DL (moving with purpose, but not running or anything) as soon as the show finished. We got into DL shortly after the fireworks ended, and we actually saw them close the gates to the passage while we were in Town Square, about to approach it. That left us swimming upstream through the post-fireworks crowd, but it actually didn't take too long to get to the end of Main Street; it was just a little chaotic to get there I didn't spend much time in/around Main Street immediately before or after parades, so I can't say how often (or for how long) they used the walkway. Given all the effort they put into building it, I have to imagine they use it pretty regularly, but I can't say what exactly that means
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>North? Wouldn't it be east of the parade route?<< At Town Square, the entrance is immediately north of the parade gate, making it necessary to cross the route while the performance is going on. The north end is next to First Aid, so users can either wait to cross the route near the hub or just head into Tomorrowland. I know the west side doesn't have as much space as the east (and the hub-end of that corridor isn't ideal), but building it over there would have allowed much easier operations
Originally Posted By Dabob2 "When will you be there, Dabob?" Weekend of Dec 11-13. Any chance of a meet?
Originally Posted By Dabob2 And by the way, I get what FA and MB were saying now. When MB said the corridor "emptied" north of the parade route, I was picturing the north end of the corridor, because that's where I pictured it "emptying," i.e. ending. But I get it now; the SOUTH end of the corridor begins north of the parade route, so you still have to cross the parade route to access it. So getting up Main Street during a parade would still be problematic; I'm hoping they might open the corridor just prior to a parade so crossing would be easy, and then getting up the street easy too.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Weekend of Dec 11-13. Any chance of a meet?<< Miss you by three days! I may be in NY in mid-January. If that trip pans out, I'll shoot you an email.
Originally Posted By ecdc Before. And actually it's more before than I realized. I thought we were leaving on the 8th, but it's Sunday the 6th.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 That's a shame. I'll be in LA proper earlier (but not that early), which is why I asked. Let me know about NY though.
Originally Posted By fkurucz This is why I haven't been back to DL since 2008. I just can't deal with the nearly year round wall to wall crowds. On the other hand, MK's much wider walkways seem to take something away. I have found that I really find MK to be unlikable. Am I turning into some kind of Disney Scrooge?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I also think that MK is pretty unpleasant due to the scale of everything. While a large park with wide walkways isn't inherently bad (DLP is great, and even TDL has nice areas), there's just something about the circa-1970 design aesthetic that permeates so much of MK that really lacks any discernable charm. It's always amazed me how much people love that park, when I think of it as being one of Disney's lease lovely places
Originally Posted By ecdc >>I just can't deal with the nearly year round wall to wall crowds.<< I was going to post a trip report but decided against it because I'm afraid it'd just be too negative. So I'll share my rant here My family had a semi-last minute chance to go to Disneyland. We had free flights and just a few days in S. Cal. We arrived last Thurs. afternoon and left Sunday. We've been this first week in Dec. a couple of times before and hoped for similar light crowds. Yeah, it was the weekend but we can't take our kids out of school for a week anymore since they're older. Let me say this at the outset: I had a great time with my family. We've been swamped with work/school/life and so spending some time together was great. We *loved* the meals we had and we loved riding in the early morning. That aside... They should change the name of Disneyland to Disneyline. Immediately. It was a joke. They should issue fastpasses just to be able to use the restroom to pee. God forbid you should want a cup of coffee. People pay good money for this? Routinely? People actually fork over their hard-earned dollars for APs to experience...this?!? Had I known or had any inkling it would be like this, I would've avoided it like the plague. I would've gone somewhere else, given the money to charity, or burned it to keep warm. (I did check out when it was supposed to be slower, and this time was. But about two weeks before we left, crowd figures were revised significantly upward, too late to cancel or change plans.) Every day by 2-3PM we said screw it, left the parks, went to the pool or went to the hotel room to hang out. We'd eat dinner and decide to brave it again, only immediately realizing what a terrible mistake we'd made. My kids were initially so excited the parks were staying open till midnight so they could stay up and go on rides. I don't think we ever bothered past 10PM, and usually it was closer to 8 or 9. For those of you who don't know, here is Disney's (official?) message to people coming to the parks: "Are you here to experience rides and walk around the park and enjoy classic attractions but not watch one of our 37 parades, Fantasmic shows, or fireworks shows? Well then screw you! We are going to rope off enormous sections of the park and major thoroughfares so you have to squeeze with 370,000 other people into a 3ft wide passage! Are you in Downtown Disney, back at your hotel, or in DCA but would like to ride Indiana Jones? LOL! Have fun being shunted under the right tunnel, down the sidewalk past the Disney Gallery, and through a back passage where you come out in front of the Plaza. Not so bad, you think? You'll just dart across Main St. into Adventureland? Hahaha! You dumb fool! No, you'll be going into Tomorrowland, around the Matterhorn, through Fantasyland, onto the Big Thunder Trail, down into Frontierland, and, if you can actually manage to fight through the crowds, to Indiana Jones where you can wait in line for a mere 55 minutes!" Parades at Disneyland should be banned. Forever. I honestly don't mind some crowds. I don't mind waiting in line for 30 min or so. I can talk to my family, check Twitter, whatever. But not being able to navigate the park from about 2PM on? What the what? I've said I probably wouldn't go back to DL before only to end up in the parks again. But this time did my family in. Even my kids couldn't sugar coat it. I'm sure the day will come in the next few years when I'm in SoCal and I end up buying a one-day pass to check out Star Wars Land or something. But going to DL resort for a few days for those kinds of crowds? I question the sanity of anyone who does that knowing what they're getting into. At least I have the excuse of being an idiot.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA ^^^^this. Your comments are so in line with how I feel about going to Disneyland. Haven't been since Nov 2008. Have a ton of great memories surrounding Disneyland since my first visit at age 7 in 1969. Heck, I met the Mrs. Jim in Merced CA when we both worked there. So I'm good, you know?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros The parks are definitely busier overall these days, but there are still some relatively quiet times. They just happen to defy all logic and be during the AP blackout days, which historically have been the busiest days of the year. I've been in the parks for Labor Day weekend for the last several years, and have been surprised to find them rather manageable; they're still very busy, but it's hardly overwhelming for a major holiday weekend I thought that some (not all) APs were usually blacked out for Candlelight weekend, which would have helped this past weekend. But with all the extra crowd control measures for the production, perhaps any dip in attendance was negated by that. I can't even imagine how crazy that must have been with nighttime parades factored in too I've also found that the early morning and late night hours are the best for light crowds, but things really tend to clear out after the fireworks. I can certainly understand that you guys were exhausted and fed up by the end of the day, but it's amazing how much one can accomplish in those last couple hours that the park is open >>They should issue fastpasses just to be able to use the restroom to pee.<< At least in DL you'd be able to get you restroom FPs after you arrive in the park. In WDW you'd have to book that 60 days in advance! : )
Originally Posted By Dabob2 < I question the sanity of anyone who does that knowing what they're getting into. At least I have the excuse of being an idiot.> ...about to be an insane idiot in a few days. But at least I know it.
