We’ve nearly made it to Thanksgiving, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. Disneyland managed to expand their shopping offerings with the long-anticipated reopening of Buena Vista Street in Disney California Adventure. We were there on opening day and have photos, news, and tips for you. Unfortunately, it seems that for every step forward there’s a step back these days, and that was certainly the case this week. So, even as Disney expanded the total number of shops open, all shops had to decrease the number of guests by half of what was allowed just one week earlier. There’s also some Splash Mountain news— it’s possible you might not get to say goodbye after all. Plus, new holiday offerings at other area theme parks and some holiday delights which may leave you humming Christmas carols.
Buena Vista Street Reopened
The big news of the week was the reopening of Buena Vista Street. While there aren’t any rides or entertainment offered, it was truly nice just to walk into California Adventure again. Though, we didn’t do so without a long wait . . . and lengthy waits are likely in the cards through the holidays at the very least.
To best enjoy your visit, and because you will likely encounter the impact of huge crowds, it’s important to know what to expect and how best to navigate.
Buena Vista Street Parking
Knowing that there would be lots of pent up demand for any sort of Disneyland theme park experience, we arrived two hours before the opening of Buena Vista Street. Unfortunately, parking doesn’t begin operations until shortly before Downtown Disney opens for the day. Thankfully, we’ve got a solution for that we’ll share with you at the bottom of this section.
If you do park in the Disney lot (located next to the Paradise Pier Hotel), it will now cost you $10. Disney no longer offers free parking for Downtown Disney/Buena Vista Street.
Timing/Mobile Wait
As busy as opening day was, we expect the coming weeks to be even more in demand. Due to state mandates, Disneyland shops are currently capped at 25% capacity (though we believe they are operating well under that number). As a result, you may find yourself waiting at many points during the experience. First, you may find the Simba parking lot temporarily unavailable. Then, you may be held outside of Downtown Disney’s security gates waiting for guests to leave before you can enter.
Before you enter Buena Vista Street, you will either wait in a physical queue, or you’ll be directed to enter your phone number into a mobile queue and receive a text when it’s your turn to enter.
But even after you enter Buena Vista Street, there are waits of 15 to 25 minutes for Five and Dime and Trolley Treats.
That’s a whole lot of waiting. We recommend visiting early on weekdays and avoiding Black Friday and weekends in general. We wish Disney had implemented an advance reservation system for Buena Vista Street, but since they didn’t, you should prepare for the worst, or avoid the experience entirely until demand decreases.
What’s Open
Once you enter Buena Vista Street, you’ll be greeted with many familiar sights. The shops and light posts are decorated for the holidays.
The stores and windows have a delightfully vintage feel.
Trolley Treats has proven to be very popular, with long waits to get in. But not everything you remember from Christmases past is available this year.
We spotted this Baby Yoda (“The Child”) crispy rice treat. Cute:
The main shops on the street are open, and nearby restaurants in Hollywoodland and Grizzly Peak Airfield area also open (Award Weiners and Smokejumpers respectively). Unfortunately, other shops in Hollywoodland and the Airfield are NOT open. And that means lower capacity for the experience and longer lines for shopping.
We would really like to see Disney open the “Gone Hollywood” shop in Hollywoodland AND “Off the Page.” Since Wonderground was lost in Downtown Disney, there’s a lack of places to buy higher-end collectibles and artwork. Off the Page would be the perfect replacement. Let us know if you agree.
Over in Grizzly Peak Airfield, “Humphreys Service And Supplies” (directly across from Soarin’) would make a great pin location.
And since all of the closed locations we mentioned are within visual distance of Carthay Circle, they would be easily managed by the Buena Vista Street crew.
How to Reserve Dining
One of the things we keep getting asked is “How do you make a reservation for Carthay Circle Restaurant?”.
It’s not easy. First, this isn’t the beautiful indoor Carthay experience you love. Tables have been set up outside, between Carthay and Disney Jr. It’s a somewhat watered down experience, but at a premium price.
But getting a spot is like winning the lottery. The first guests into Buena Vista Street each day snap up all the lunch reservations instantly. Then, at an undisclosed time in the afternoon, they begin taking names for Dinner. So you really have to be in the right place at the right time. Our advice, unless you just happen to be there at the right time, plan to eat elsewhere. Carthay may begin taking regular reservations after the initial rush to see Buena Vista Street dies down a bit.
Mobile Order
Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe (Starbucks), Award Wieners, and Smokejumpers are each doing mobile order.
We strongly recommend using Mobile Order. However, you shouldn’t place an order until after you make it into Buena Vista Street as there is no express access if your food is ready before you get through the line to get in.
There is no Mobile Order for the outdoor vending carts, so you’ll need to get in line for popcorn, turkey legs, churros, and Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bars . . .
Was it worth the wait?
Yes and no. It is absolutely wonderful just to walk through the gate, see the decorations, and feel a bit of the theme park experience.
However, there are a lot of hoops to jump through before getting there. Keep in mind that all of the merchandise is available elsewhere in Downtown Disney. Some might be disappointed that the wait doesn’t have a big enough payoff. But we think that will change if Disney can expand the number of open shops in California Adventure and the early FOMO crowds subside a bit.
A Cinematic Look at Buena Vista Street
MiceChat’s videographer, Trevor Perez, joined us for opening day and shares this gorgeous cinematic take on DCA’s nostalgic entry street.
Parking at The Anaheim Hotel
Earlier in this section, I mentioned the issues with parking at the Simba lot. You will frequently find it “paused” due to overcrowding, and it doesn’t open early. Luckily, we’ve worked out a deal with our hotel partner, The Anaheim Hotel on Harbor Blvd, to match Disney’s $10 parking fee (the hotel normally charges $25 for all-day parking). Just show our offer below at the front desk and they’ll take your payment and give you a parking pass for the day. As an added benefit, it’s generally much easier to enter Downtown Disney from the Harbor Blvd entry than the one over by the Disneyland Hotel.
Should Main Street Reopen As Well?
We think so. Because there is so much demand for Disney shopping, and shop capacity is so low, it would make sense for Disney to increase the total number of shops to accommodate more guests. Though, we really do think some sort of advance shopping reservation for Main Street and Buena Vista Street would make sense. It could operate just like Disney’s dining reservations. They could take a credit card and charge a certain fee only if the guest doesn’t show up for their reservation.
We’d like to hear your thoughts on this. Should Main Street reopen as well? And how should Disney manage the resulting demand?
For more photos and info from the reopening of Buena Vista Street, please check out our opening coverage:
Buena Vista Street Reopening News and Views – Dining Reservations Added
No Candy Canes The Year!
Here’s a bit of a holiday bummer . . . no hand-pulled candy canes this year for the Disneyland Resort. The frenzy that these treats create is just more than Disney wants to deal with this year, so we’ll have to wait for the next holiday season.
Disneyland News – No Candy Canes This Year but Plenty of Treats
Downtown Disney Updates
It’s merry and bright in Downtown Disney. Last year’s ugly-ish glow trees have been replaced with traditional Christmas trees and decor. It’s a welcome change of pace and a little bit of comfort in this year of hardship.
Each tree, or set of trees, has a specific color scheme. You’ll find trees of blue, gold, red, silver, green . . .
Here’s what last year’s short-lived glow-trees looked like:
They sort of felt like undecorated pipe cleaners.
Shopping Events
The Downtown Disney Monday shopping events which previously sold out instantly, are now having trouble finding an audience. Merchandise from the events eventually finds its way elsewhere in Downtown Disney. Today’s Dooney & Bourke event still had availability for both days of the event (today and tomorrow) as of the time we wrote this article. the previous “exclusive” shag event merchandise was in Stage 17 this week.
Here are the bags and the bonus Christmas mug which will be offered today:
And some Shag items we spotted in Stage 17 from the previous event:
Disneyland App – More Info Needed!
One thing many of you have noted is that it’s very hard to get information these days on the current status of Downtown Disney since Disney shut down its Disneyland Today Twitter and Facebook accounts. They would like everyone to use the Disneyland App instead. However, the app just doesn’t provide quick updates on parking closures, crowded conditions, etc.
We did get this random pop-up when checking out the app yesterday.
But as soon as we closed the message, it’s gone for good. There is no tab for live updates from the resort. We’d really like to see some enhancements to the app which show guests the current status of the parking lot, the average wait time to get into Downtown Disney, and the number of guests waiting in the virtual queues for the popular shops and Buena Vista Street. That would really help guests make an informed decision on if it’s worth making the trip to the resort and it would also help Disney avoid creating unsafe crowding conditions as many would decide to stay home if they knew the line to get into Downtown Disney was 2 hours long.
Disneyland Park News
Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products, addressed the IAAPA Expo from Disneyland last week. The keynote session gave updates on Disney Parks projects around the globe set against the backdrop of an industry dramatically changed by the worldwide health crisis.
D’Amaro noted Disney’s reopening strategy, citing a willingness to learn and evolve safety protocols from park-to-park, as they open each property. Those lessons included implementing technology to reduce touchpoints in theme parks and encourage social distancing. D’Amaro’s notes on COVID-19 stressed the importance of various businesses within the industry working together to ensure a bright future for the travel and tourism industry: “These businesses were hurting just as bad as we were and it’s going to take teamwork throughout our whole industry to recover. The good news is now more than ever people need shared experiences. They need adventure. They need travel.”
Cultural change, fueled by the summer’s civil rights protests was also a focal point of the session. D’Amaro noted changes in corporate culture at Disney including adding a fifth key to Disney’s “Four Keys” guiding principles: inclusion. “Events in the U.S. forced us to look across our entire business with an updated lens and frankly we have some work to do both on stage and backstage. And at Disney, a company steeped in traditions and heritage, change isn’t always easy,” he said. D’Amaro announced Disney would be deepening its relationship with historically Black colleges and universities to “create a stronger pipeline to careers in finance, human resources, legal, communications, production, and technology.”
This significant corporate change aims to bring more diversity to Disney and into its projects throughout the company, including the upcoming “Princess and the Frog”-themed makeover of Disneyland and Walt Disney World’s popular Splash Mountain attractions. D’Amaro noted that the upcoming “Princess and the Frog” attraction, as well as other “guest-facing changes” have been expedited.
D’Amaro shared a video, later uploaded to Disney’s YouTube channel, showcasing the current progress of major Disney Parks projects around the world:
The video does include snips for various Disneyland projects, including Avenger’s Campus, the DVC Tower at the Disneyland Hotel, and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. But you can almost hear EPCOT fans wondering about all the missing projects for that park (which had been promised at the last D23 Expo)
Avengers Campus Construction Update
One thing we could see from the newly reopened Buena Vista Street is the area of Avenger’s Campus nearest the upcoming Spider-Man attraction. Facades have been completed in this area, new lighting fixtures have been installed, and we even saw a tree being lowered into place for landscaping.
Some new greenery dropping in. . .
We recently caught a large tree being hauled in backstage as well.
Two Steps Forward & Two Steps Back
Here in California, stores are starting to run out of toilet paper again. Last week, the majority of California reentered the restrictive Purple Tier of the state’s reopening blueprint, and as of Saturday a curfew went into effect for much of the state (including Orange County). During this month-long curfew, Californians must remain home between the hours of 10pm-5 or 6am (depending on the county’s guidelines) unless there’s essential work or business taking place.
There’s been some talk about how this could impact the operating hours of Downtown Disney or Knott’s Berry Farm, but we believe there will be very few, if any, changes. The operating day for businesses and events will likely wrap up around 9pm so visitors can return home by 10pm. That said, you should verify the operating hours of businesses in the state before making the trip out for the day!
Yesterday evening, it was announced that Los Angeles County would be temporarily suspending all in-person dining— even outdoors— for a minimum of three weeks in the attempt to control a rapid rise of cases in the county. At the moment, approximately one-third of the state’s COVID infections are located in LA County, and as a result, it’s possible that LA could be headed towards even more restrictions than a simple dining-in ban. Between the curfew order and the suspension of in-person dining, it looks like Universal’s CityWalk could face some mandated operational changes. Similarly, it could potentially impact Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Holiday in the Parks event (we’ll take a look at that charming event below).
The good news is we’ll still have things to watch on TV! The governor has reclassified the TV and Movie production industry as “essential” since folks are much more likely to stay home if they’ve got new content to watch on their TVs.
But, for now, Disneyland shouldn’t be impacted much more than they were last week, when shopping capacity was reduced from 50% to 25%. Downtown Disney had published a 10pm closing time beginning Black Friday, but we aren’t sure if that might be rolled back a bit to allow workers and guests time to vacate the property prior to the start of Curfew at 10pm.
We’ll be keeping an ear open to any further updates and will share if they result in any significant alteration to Disney’s operating plans.
Taste of Merry Farm
Disney has some jolly competition this year. Knott’s Berry Farm has turned on the holiday cheer in a major way. The park’s latest food festival, Taste of Merry Farm, is more than a taste, it’s a full holiday meal! The event kicked off this weekend, and it’s filled to the brim (and then some) with all the holiday trimmings and tons of delicious things to eat. Here’s a quick overview of what’s happening down on the Farm.
The park is fully decorated for the holidays, with Christmas trees and lights pretty much everywhere you look. The stores, both those inside the park and those located in the California Marketplace, are filled with seasonal items and decorations.
Local artisans are placed around the park selling homemade goods perfect for gifting.
On top of the decor and merchandise, there’s even some limited entertainment around the park. Guests can walk around Ghost Town (which has been lightly rethemed to Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol”) and experience a reinterpreted version of the classic story. Actors on balconies around the area interact with guests and improvise lines fitting for their character. If you look around the area, you can find Ebenezer Scrooge, the Ghosts of Christmas (Past, Present and Future), and even experience a little projection show in the Ghost Town graveyard.
There are occasionally live performers in different areas of the park. In Ghost Town, we saw a bell choir/vocal quartet, a magician on the Calico Mine stage, and an endearing radio show performed on the Boardwalk.
The menu for Taste of Merry Farm has over 60 unique items, such as Turkey Dinner Big Bites, Pulled Pork Mac & Cheese, and Blitzen’s Christmas Tree Bundt Cake. Here’s a sampling of the food from the festival
And if you need a bit more convincing that Taste of Merry Farm is the place to be for the season, take a look at this little 3-minute video we put together from our visit on opening day.
Taste of Merry Farm runs on select days now through January 3, 2021. Dates are filling up quickly. You can learn more about the event and see all sorts of photos and video in our article below:
Six Flags Holiday in the Park
And here’s a different take on the holidays. Theme parks are getting clever. The Magic Mountain’s usual “Holiday in the Park” event has been reimagined as a drive-through experience. YES . . .you drive through the actual park to experience the lights and live performances. For those in the LA area looking for a little holiday magic, it’s a very safe way to get some holiday cheer.
Tickets are purchased in advance and start at $20 per person and are time-specified. The event is free for passholders, but reservations are still required. Additionally, you can also choose to upgrade your tickets for an extra fee to include some goodies like fudge and bags of candy to snack on during your drive through the park.
There was some safety guidance posted upon arrival, and it definitely errs on the side of caution. Guests are asked to stay in their car for the duration of their visit, AND wear their masks and wash their hands. We’re pretty sure these signs were installed back in July when they thought they were going to be allowed to reopen. But every ticket does ask guests not to leave their car and to wear their face coverings at all times.
Here’s a quick little video of the event from our drive-through on Saturday night. The video may be short, but it shows you everything you need to know. . .
The holiday light spectacular is laid out similarly to how they’ve done it in the past. Only, during those times you’d walk around the park instead of driving through it on four wheels!
Music is played throughout the experience and many of the lights operate in sync with the rhythm.
You’ll find various characters and performers like Bugs Bunny, Mrs. Claus, elves, holiday dancers, singers, and some generic winter-themed princesses. It’s neat that Six Flags found a way to incorporate so many live actors into their experience.
There were even a few areas that were set up with a “stage” with dancers and people shouting out holiday greetings.
The last segment of the drive-thru experience is through the Gleampunk District, which is a steampunk winter wonderland.
And Santa is the fitting end of your tour. . . . Ho, Ho, Ho . . . Merry Six-mas.
Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Holiday in the Park drive-thru runs nightly now through January 3, 2021. For more info about Holiday in the Park, take a look at the article below.
Christmas on Wheels: A Drive Through Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Holiday in the Park
Holiday Comparisons
In the battle of the holidays, it’s clear that the normal leader, Disney, isn’t innovating. After seeing what Knott’s and Six Flags have done for their guests, it really makes us wonder why Disney hasn’t come up with more clever solutions to the current situation. If Knott’s, Six Flags, SeaWorld, and even Legoland can figure this out, we’re not sure why we aren’t seeing more from Disneyland than a few garlands, Christmas trees, and a smattering of treats.
Both Knott’s and Six Flags were able to find clever ways to incorporate entertainment into their experience, all the while maintaining a safe atmosphere for guests. Knott’s has led the way for themed outdoor food festivals since July, with an all-new mix of decor and dishes for each version of the event. Disney didn’t even decorate Downtown Disney for Halloween. And although they have done much more for Christmas, just reopening for shopping without really adding the holiday wow-factor is disappointing.
That said, one of the things a staff member of ours pointed out during their trip to Taste of Knott’s was the sheer number of guests walking around in Disneyland merchandise (such as Spirit Jerseys and Loungefly bags). Clearly, people who would normally stick to Disney-only events are making their way to Knott’s for their family holiday outings.
I don’t want to come across too harsh. Disneyland opening Buena Vista Street is a step in the right direction, and there’s plenty of opportunities for them to expand their operations in the (hopefully) near future. We would love to see a food festival at DCA and Main Street reopen for shopping and dining … which leads us to our next segment…
Meet Me on Main Street – MiceChat Reader Photos
With Beuna Vista Street now open for guests to shop and dine, it could potentially pave the way towards partially reopening Disneyland. We’ve been advocating for Disney to reopen Main Street in a similar manner to Buena Vista Street for months now, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that there could be good news ahead. We asked the MiceChat Facebook group to share their favorite holiday photos of Main Street U.S.A., and we got some stunningly beautiful submissions! Here are a few of our favorites. We hope they inspire Disney to take another step forward and you to encourage them.
The holidays really make Main Street stand out, especially with all the subtle nods. Like putting a Christmas tree in the window of Walt’s apartment.
Although there’s no fireworks or parades planned anytime soon, we miss the anticipation of the nightly spectacular as lights on Main Street dimmed.
That massive tree needs to be assembled using a crane! It’s not the holidays at Disneyland until it’s built and fully lit.
During the holidays, you’re greeted with the welcoming atmosphere of an old-fashioned Christmas on Main Street, but Sleeping Beauty Castle shines ever so brightly at the end of the area. Covered in magical unmelting snow, it has become a Christmas icon for us Southern Californians.
Thank you to everyone who shared a photo with us this week! The selection we chose was only a handful of photos that were submitted this week, so to see the rest of the gorgeous shots head over to the MiceChat Facebook group! Keep an eye out this week for the next reader photo section!
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Let’s Hear From You
Have you visited Buena Vista Street yet? Would advance reservations work better for you than the current system? What shops or restaurants would you like to see added to the Buena Vista Street experience? Is it time for Main Street to reopen as well? Would you like to see Splash Mountain one last time before it transforms? Is Knott’s Merry Farm outdoing Disney in the magic department this holiday season? Let’s hear from you in the comments below.
Special Thanks
We’d like to take a moment to thank all the contributors who helped make this week’s Disneyland Update possible: Alanna Omidvar, Andy Castro, Brian Pinsky, David Yeh, Dusty Sage, Logan Collins, Mike Kindrich, Nathan Villamor, Robbie Bulus, and Trevor Perez. Thank you for all your help!