I was at Disneyland Park on June 23rd, and while the article mentions that the park reached capacity around 8:00 p.m., I can confirm it felt overwhelmed hours before that.
This was not a spontaneous visit. We are a Swedish family living in Finland and had over a week in Paris to choose from. We planned carefully, checking crowd calendars, app reviews, and attraction closures. We picked what was supposed to be the least crowded day, a Monday in mid-June. We bought our tickets two weeks in advance and shaped the day around making it special for our youngest son.
We arrived early, and the first hour was decent. But after that, the park became chaotic.
By 11:00 a.m., major walkways near the castle and Discoveryland were blocked due to construction, making it hard even to move, let alone find a spot for the parade. The app’s wait times were completely unreliable. Peter Pan’s Flight showed 60 minutes, but the real wait was 1.5 hours. Phantom Manor said 30 minutes, but we waited at least an hour. Big Thunder Mountain showed 40 minutes, and we stood for 1 hour and 34 minutes before even reaching the stairs.
It wasn’t just the crowding. Several major attractions were closed, including Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing, Pirate Galleon, Main Street Vehicles, La Tanière du Dragon, and the Frontierland Playground. Fountains were turned off, and several themed areas felt incomplete or fenced off, despite this being late June during the highly promoted Disney Music Festival.
To be fair, the app listed the attraction closures, but this was not clearly shown during ticket purchase. And ticket sales were not adjusted to reflect how much of the park was closed. For a family planning a once-in-a-childhood visit, that is not good enough.
We even looked into Disney Premier Access Ultimate to try and avoid the worst of the queues, but it would have cost €525 for the three of us on top of our tickets. That is simply not reasonable, especially when nearly a quarter of the park was unavailable.
And I say this as someone who truly enjoys Disney parks. I’ve visited Walt Disney World in 1984 and 1992, Disneyland California in 1991, and Disneyland Paris in 2013 with my two oldest children. All of those visits were wonderful. This time, I was there with my youngest son, and it should have been a magical day for him too. Instead, it was exhausting and disappointing.
I do want to emphasize that the cast members we met were kind, welcoming, and clearly doing their best. This criticism is not about them. It is directed at the managers, planners, and decision-makers who failed to ensure a functional guest experience.
Disney needs to control ticket sales when large parts of the park are closed. They should clearly warn about attraction availability before purchase, not just in the app. And they need to rethink both pricing and crowd control if they want to continue offering the high-quality experience Disney parks are known for.
This wasn’t bad luck. It was poor planning and overselling, and it left many of us let down..
Comments for Crowds Trample Disney, Park Locks Its Gates and Refuses Guest Entry
Allan
I was at Disneyland Park on June 23rd, and while the article mentions that the park reached capacity around 8:00 p.m., I can confirm it felt overwhelmed hours before that.
This was not a spontaneous visit. We are a Swedish family living in Finland and had over a week in Paris to choose from. We planned carefully, checking crowd calendars, app reviews, and attraction closures. We picked what was supposed to be the least crowded day, a Monday in mid-June. We bought our tickets two weeks in advance and shaped the day around making it special for our youngest son.
We arrived early, and the first hour was decent. But after that, the park became chaotic.
By 11:00 a.m., major walkways near the castle and Discoveryland were blocked due to construction, making it hard even to move, let alone find a spot for the parade. The app’s wait times were completely unreliable. Peter Pan’s Flight showed 60 minutes, but the real wait was 1.5 hours. Phantom Manor said 30 minutes, but we waited at least an hour. Big Thunder Mountain showed 40 minutes, and we stood for 1 hour and 34 minutes before even reaching the stairs.
It wasn’t just the crowding. Several major attractions were closed, including Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing, Pirate Galleon, Main Street Vehicles, La Tanière du Dragon, and the Frontierland Playground. Fountains were turned off, and several themed areas felt incomplete or fenced off, despite this being late June during the highly promoted Disney Music Festival.
To be fair, the app listed the attraction closures, but this was not clearly shown during ticket purchase. And ticket sales were not adjusted to reflect how much of the park was closed. For a family planning a once-in-a-childhood visit, that is not good enough.
We even looked into Disney Premier Access Ultimate to try and avoid the worst of the queues, but it would have cost €525 for the three of us on top of our tickets. That is simply not reasonable, especially when nearly a quarter of the park was unavailable.
And I say this as someone who truly enjoys Disney parks. I’ve visited Walt Disney World in 1984 and 1992, Disneyland California in 1991, and Disneyland Paris in 2013 with my two oldest children. All of those visits were wonderful. This time, I was there with my youngest son, and it should have been a magical day for him too. Instead, it was exhausting and disappointing.
I do want to emphasize that the cast members we met were kind, welcoming, and clearly doing their best. This criticism is not about them. It is directed at the managers, planners, and decision-makers who failed to ensure a functional guest experience.
Disney needs to control ticket sales when large parts of the park are closed. They should clearly warn about attraction availability before purchase, not just in the app. And they need to rethink both pricing and crowd control if they want to continue offering the high-quality experience Disney parks are known for.
This wasn’t bad luck. It was poor planning and overselling, and it left many of us let down..
Rk
Heh, they should fly them to our park, its empty for the summer.
I farted
I farted at the park