If you’ve been following along on MiceChat, you know that the Disneyland Resort parks have been steadily adding capacity since they reopened on April 30th. At first the parks were practically empty, with lots of closed attractions, shops and restaurants. Over time nearly everything has reopened except for the big entertainment offerings (though several smaller shows and groups have returned). By early July, the parks felt like a regular summer of old, with big crowds and health attraction waits. But Disney upended all of that by announcing a return of something similar to the old annual pass program called Magic Key. Almost immediately, park attendance plummeted. A combination of guests waiting to buy into the Magic Key program and kids going back to school has left the parks feeling amazingly uncrowded. Today, we’ll show you what’s going on in the parks right now and what’s coming soon. Just a hint…. BOO!
Magic Key Crazy
It’s been a couple of weeks since Disneyland’s new Magic Key passholder replacement program was announced. Since it launches on the morning of August 25th, a lot of folks are likely delaying their park visits so they can avoid paying $200+ for a single day park hopper.
And you can bet that every available reservation on the first day of the program will be snapped up quickly. You can also count on Disney having lots of trouble with the system to purchase the new passes. Unless you need to visit the park right away, it might be best to wait a day or two before you purchase, just to avoid the long waits and possible errors (some folks purchasing tickets to the Oogie Boogie party waited for 8 or more hours and many others were charged multiple times and had to call customer service to try to sort things out).
BREAKING NEWS: Disneyland Delivers a New “Magic Key” Pass Program Replacement
Ever since the new annual passholder replacement program was announced, Disneyland attendance has dropped to near walk-on levels for most attractions. Let’s take a look…
Crowds
Over the past two weeks, we have noticed an interesting pattern to Disneyland crowds, or rather, the lack of them. Aside from the oppressive heat, it’s been incredibly blissful to visit the parks this past couple of weeks.
Mid day waits for many major attractions were listed in the 10 to 20 minute range all week, but yesterday (Sunday) many things had no wait at all.
We’d normally find long switchback lines at Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours, but not this week.
Those folks standing around the Millennium Falcon are just taking photos, the line for the attraction begins inside. The posted wait was 20 minutes, but we didn’t wait longer than 15 (probably less).
Likewise, at Oga’s Cantina, if you didn’t have a reservation, you could still get in. The establishment was utilizing a mobile walk-up list all week. Although it quoted 30 minutes, it was approximately 5 minutes.
At Small World, you could often walk right on to a boat.
The same at Pirates of the Caribbean.
Walkways that are often packed or filled with overflow queues were wide open.
The crossroads of Disneyland is the central hub. But even mid-day guests were few and far between.
The same conditions could be found at Disney’s California Adventure, where the park felt empty.
The new Spider-Man WEB SLINGERS attraction was so uncrowded that the virtual queue never filled up!
In the image below, at 5:28pm you could still join a boarding group for Web Slingers. We noted that the attraction had wide availability all week. Often booking up for the morning, but not in the afternoon.
All this has us thinking it’s time for Disneyland to experiment with removing WEB SLINGERS from the virtual queue system and allow guests to just get in line. If the line becomes too long, they can start up a virtual queue at that point. What do you think?
But with the new Magic Key annual passholder program almost ready to launch, we don’t expect these uncrowded conditions to last for long…
Disneyland Capacity To The Max?
This weekend, we saw a news report on one of our local TV stations that Disneyland had removed all capacity restrictions and would be fully staffed by the end of the year. But that’s not really true and I’d like to take a moment to give you a better understanding of current capacity and likely staffing levels.
By July, Disneyland had more or less reached a level that felt full, but not so insane that the waits were oppressive (with some exceptions for rides like Radiator Springs Racers). Due to park reservations, Disneyland can control how many visitors can access the park on any given day. And while the resort could add some additional bodies here and there, we don’t expect them to open the flood gates. Management was quite happy with attendance levels and caps in July. So, give or take a bit, we don’t expect a massive increase in park capacity from what we’ve already seen.
The other issue mentioned in the broadcast was the park working toward full staffing by the end of the year. That’s also very misleading. Before the park shutdowns, the resort had 32,000 employees. As of last month, they had about 19,000 employees. And almost everything was open. While there are certainly many under-staffed areas of the resort (all of the hotels need more staff for example), and there are several areas that aren’t able to operate at full capacity due to a lack of staff, there are also many changes to how things operate that have reduced staffing needs. Guests buying tickets online, booking reservations and ordering meals in the app, and operational efficiencies squeezed into many roles across the organization mean that Disneyland doesn’t have the same maximum staffing level that it once did. The resort is likely within 5,000 employees of its new normal.
The major thing currently missing at the resort at this time is entertainment. Parades, nighttime spectaculars (Fantasmic!), and theatrical stage shows have yet to return. And though we know of a few things that are definitely in the works, it’s far from what the resort offered in 2019. So, at the end of the year, we can’t imagine Disneyland reaching the 32,000 employee level, they may not reach those levels again until the 3rd park opens in the next decade.
So, even with the new Magic Key holders soon to descend on the resort like a swarm of locusts, we don’t expect the parks to be much more crowded (if at all) from the levels in July. So, enjoy the current exceptionally low crowd levels, because they’ll be gone in a flash. But the new normal shouldn’t reach the insane levels of the past either.
Hot Days and Longer Nights
Nothing says summer quite like a long day at Disneyland. Arriving just in time for rope drop and powering all the way through until fireworks. And then going on more attractions afterward! Just such a day is possible right now since the parks have instated longer operating hours. Disneyland is now open 8am to 11pm, DCA is open 8am to 10pm, and Downtown Disney is open from 8am-12am. These extended hours continue as far out as Disneyland’s calendar is currently listed.
And it’s been HOT lately. On Friday, the park felt like 95º for a while. So, being able to stay late into the evening when temperatures are much cooler is a blessing.
The flipside to the longer hours is that if you’re hungry and it’s after 9pm, you’re pretty much out of luck. One of our staff members was at Disneyland on Saturday and pulled an all-day visit, but once Mix Magic ended at 9:15, all of the eateries around the park had already closed up shop— and there was still another 2 hours of operation for the day! It’s great that the park stays open longer so there isn’t a solid mass of people all trying to exit at once, but it’s also unfortunate that Disney is leaving money on the table. Sure, you can close some of the lower-performing establishments, but if you have the parks operating, people should still be able to eat something.
Halloween Ahead!
I know it’s a terrifying prospect, but we’re already halfway through August. For some of us, that means the dreaded reality that summer is ending and the return to school is imminent. For others, we know that the spooky season is ahead and it’s time to pull out the pumpkins and witch hats because Halloween is coming to town.
Pumpkins will be popping up in no time at all. We’re expecting that the fall time decorations will be hung up within the next couple of weeks.
In Cars Land, they’ve put poles up on the West side of the street so they can string the decorations up for Halloween and Christmas.
You can see the brackets which attach the wires.
A patch of pumpkin gas cans will soon be here…
and soon a spider car…
If you think that it’s too soon to be celebrating Halloween, you should take a look at what’s happening out at Walt Disney World. The first of their special ticketed Halloween parties kicked off this past week and will run all the way through October. Take a look at the fall festivities in the article below.
Speaking of Halloween parties, Oogie Boogie Bash at Disney California Adventure still has a few open nights. At the time of publication, there were still four nights in September that have availability. Although, all dates in October are currently sold out.
For the latest updates about Oogie Boogie Bash, including the new option for the specialty dinner package and the dessert party, take a look at the article linked below.
Halloween Time & Oogie Boogie Bash Return to the Disneyland Resort September 3rd
Construction Projects
There are a variety of projects at the Disneyland Resort right now. The biggest is Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. From the outside, we can only see the current facade work. Five & Dime has been torn apart to build a new El CapiTOON Theater and queue area.
When complete, the ToonTown facade will have this new theater marquee, where guests will enter to ride the attraction.
Just walking through ToonTown you can get a glimpse of the facade work. But that’s just a drop in the bucket when you look at the size of that massive show building.
The old shop has been gutted.
Just across the way, at the entry to ToonTown, a major repaving project is underway. The current blacktop is being replaced with brick pavers.
Only a tiny sliver of the walkway is open to guests. It’s a good thing the park has been so empty because a much larger crowd wouldn’t fit at all.
From the train, we were able to see the progress. They are actually moving quite quickly by Disneyland standards.
New Orleans Square has a minor, but highly visible, project as well. The facade around 21 Royal and the Port Royal and Pieces of Eight shops have been wrapped for exterior refurbishment. The interiors remain open and unchanged.
This & That
- The Pacific Wharf Cafe is reopened and once again baking sourdough bread bowls for the whole resort.
- The Bakery Tour has also returned but operates very limited hours (8am to 3pm).
I missed seeing the tour by about an hour.
- Dining closing early – If you are staying at DCA until closing at 10pm, be aware that many of the eateries close early. In the Pacific Wharf area, they have been closing Rita’s Baja Blenders at 7pm, Lucky Fortune Cookery at 8pm, and Cocina Cucamonga at 9pm. But the Pacific Wharf Bakery is staying open until park closing at 10pm.
- Tenaya Stone Spa opening – After a couple of years without a spa, the Grand Californian Hotel is finally getting a fancy replacement next month. The new Tenaya Stone Spa will open in mid-September for Disneyland Resort hotel guests only (it will open to all guests at a later date). The spa was designed by Imagineering and contains references to native California Indian tribes, the natural beauty of the state, and the arts and crafts style of the Grand Californian.
We have a lot more info for you, including photos:
Disneyland’s Imagineering-designed Tenaya Stone Spa Set for September Opening
- Covid Concerns -An increasing number of cast members have been scheduled for Covid testing in the past week and hotspots have been breaking out in a number of locations in both parks. While we’re glad to see Disney taking steps to notify cast members of possible exposure and get them tested, we are concerned that guests have no way of knowing which areas of the parks seem to be having the most trouble.
And a few photos from the parks:
Live At Disneyland With Dusty
Join me as we walk through Disneyland to show you current conditions, wait times, construction, latest news, and much more…
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Let’s Hear From You
The peace and quiet at Disneyland won’t last forever. If you have unused tickets and have been waiting to visit the parks, our recommendation is to use them sooner rather than later. But even when Magic Key is implemented, it shouldn’t be as crazy as the before-times (at least not yet). Are you looking forward to Halloween at the Disneyland Resort?
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