Disneyland Crowd Tracker

 Wet Blanket Linda here.  I went to Disneyland on Thurs 12-27-12 with family (total of 6 of us, including 1 surprise visiting cousin Alexis from Boston who flew in Christmas Day afternoon… What a WONDERFUL surprise on Christmas day when I got to my sister’s house!  There was our cousin hiding behind the door greeting us!)  but I swear I’ll never ever go again to Disney when it’s a holiday.  Uh-uh.  NEVER.   (yeah, I admit, I’m a Scrooge when it comes to these “fun” traditional holiday 1000’s and 1000’s of people doing the same thing, enjoying the beautiful HOLIDAY decorated Disneyland park).

at least for me, it’s definitely NOT the “Happiest Place on Earth” when it’s PACKED LIKE SARDINES!
After waiting on line after line (tram, security, ticket purchase… after the long drive to Anaheim) we finally got in to the Park at 10A.

I was trying to google to get the “attendence stats” for Disneyland on 12-27-12, but couldn’t find anything official, but I see from the comments at the link below, there were MANY OTHERS who also attended 12-27-12 and said it was PACKED.  (yup, it was, and for me and I believe my son will agree, it was NOT fun).  
https://www.isitpacked.com/live-crowd-trackers/disneyland/

So to continue our adventure, once we got there, and the nieces went to Disney’s City Hall to get us each a “Celebrating” button, nieces went straight away to “Indiana Jones” to get the 6 of us a FAST PASS.  Hooray!  I’ll finally see what it’s like to bypass lines and use my 1st ever “Fast Pass!”  (I thought).   We went to wait on line for the Ladies Room, then to the Tiki Room waiting courtyard for our 1st Disney venue.  Saw the singing birds, flowers and Tiki’s then where to go next?  In to the swelling crowds, that’s where.  Well, I’m just bummed out that I never had the opportunity to even use my first ever “Fast Pass”  🙁 as I was way too pooped out and stressed and finally left before the Fast Pass for Indiana Jones for our group of 6 obtained at 10am for our time slot of  “655p-755p” so in-between, we waited on lines for Pirates and Haunted House and luckily Tiki Room, and then tried to find somewhere to eat… somewhere that maybe you could SIT DOWN, finally found something but darned Murphy’s Law, the sandwich place was out of roast beef, so I had a turkey salad and Michael had a delicious “strawberry shortcake parfait”   Nearly impossible on a HOLIDAY period at Disneyland to find somewhere that you weren’t getting shoved or stomped on … and don’t even get me started with those humongous “baby strollers” that parents today drag around and some parents use to ram thru crowds or take up precious space on packed trams or packed walkways where HUMANS are trying to manuever, and now have to share the limited “real estate” with mini-Hummer-shopping-cart sized strollers, that have cup holders, huge baskets underneath the size of my Honda’s trunk, heavy duty bumpers, and 10″ tires.  (Hey, what happened to the simple “UMBRELLA STROLLERS” that we parents used 20yrs ago, lightweight and sleek and compact with rinky dinky 4″ wheels and that would “tip-over” if you slung your minimally packed diaperbag w/ a bottle and wipes, and a few lite-weight shopping bags on the “umbrella curved tubular handles” of an empty stroller when the toddler decided to walk instead of ride?  Shhh, don’t tell anyone, but I’ll admit I would have LOVED having a “cup holder” on my son’s stroller 22yrs ago)

My 22yr old son say that despite the name, Happiest Place on Earth, all his memories of Disney (or theme parks) quite the opposite as each got on the nerves of others in the group, trying to see as much as possible and everyone getting stressed, mad and NOT “happy”  … told him that one day when he’s a “dad” with young kid(s) he’ll have to put a “happy face” on for his kids when visiting Disney just like parents do … and he said “Nah, I’ll take the kid to “Knotts”  ”   (aka Knotts Berry Farm, which we all know is NOT so jammed & popular as Disney).

Anyway, as we (or rather I contemplated cutting my time with our family outing to Disney and leaving “early,” as I was tired and Fri was a work day and I was not relishing the long drive back home with the other “masses of park visitors”), we had time to kill, and use our Fast-Pass for Indy at 655p, went to Main Street at apx 4:15p for the 5:30p parade.  Alas, at that time “curb” space was jam packed already and we found no were to sit down for the 530p Parade, so my son Michael and I got some ice cream at Dreyers, and then wandered around till we were asked to move from & keep the pathway clear in front of a building, so off we went and near the “Lockers” alleyway we found 2 chairs at someone’s table and sat down with a fellow stranger visiting to the “Happiest Place on Earth” who was busy on his iPhone.  We saw the tops of the passing floats over the heads of all the standing parade watchers, but grateful we had somewhere to sit.    Since I was going to work on Fri, no way I could stay for what another park visitor said was a fabulous “Fantasia” evening Parade & Fireworks late at night.

Left the part at 615p and dropped off my niece Christine J. at home by 830p and got home shortly after that.   Don’t know how long my sister Armine, niece Dena and cousin Alexis S  stayed, but they all looked like they WERE having a fabulous time last time I saw them before the Parade (and after Alexis had a few “words” with the little kids behind her who were screaming and stomping on her fingers while they were sitting curbside for 1hr waiting for the 530p parade to begin).

PS, seems that friend Marcy said that our friend Katie M says the BEST DAY to go (shhhhh, don’t tell anyone!) is Super Bowl Sunday.  
Hmmm, maybe I’ll try to do that some year in the future..

I wouldn’t be surprised if Disneyland hits full capacity again today, sooo packed.

The lines at Disneyland and DCA are absolutely ridiculous today. Stay from the parks, it’s awful! 🙁

I’m thinking the rain today will keep the big holiday crowds away. We shall see!

Capacity days only happen a few times a year, so it was just a really bad day to go. I love going in early December when all the Christmas decorations are up, but it’s not that crowded yet.