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Credit: Ed Aguila, Inside the MagicWait times were slashed at Disneyland due to the impact of Hurricane Hilary.
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Tropical Storm Hilary has been hitting the West Coast quite hard over the weekend. Accompany the rainfall, high winds, and inclement weather with a seemingly random earthquake, and you’ve got quite a lot of concerned California residents. Out of an abundance of caution, Disney decided to close the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim early on Sunday, August 20, 20203.
Of course, we assumed quite a lot of Guests would have opted to not visit anyway, but we’re glad Disney took action, ensuring that Guests and employees remain as safe as possible. The bad weather certainly had an impact on wait times, with almost every ride, attraction, dark ride, and roller coaster being a “walk-on.”
Some of the Resort’s heaviest hitters were left with practically no waits at all. Rides like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Galaxy’s Edge were left with a whopping 0-minute wait time:
Rise of the Resistance is a 0 minute wait. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Disneyland do a 0 minute wait. I thought 5 mins was the default pic.twitter.com/fz51MKMKEV
— Nate celebrating ✨Disney100✨’round the world! (@nateyagi) August 21, 2023
Classic rides like Peter Pan’s Flight were left empty, too, something that is quite a rare sight. Over in Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! was a “walk-on” as well, as you can see in the video down below:
Um WHAT pic.twitter.com/slvEtyc4cs
— Sammyland🏳️🌈 🐉 (@Sammyland6) August 21, 2023
Some Guests shared photos of rain and water levels at the Disneyland Resort. One Guest hopped on Dumbo the Flying Elephant and revealed that there was a considerable amount of standing water in the ride vehicles:
Dumbo with standing water inside the ride vehicle pic.twitter.com/wKbRSIlwBD
— 💖✨Andrea✨Eras Tour 8/7✨💖 (@andreajessica) August 20, 2023
Guests on Space Mountain at the Disneyland Park were told to pick whatever car and seat they wanted due to the sheer lack of Guests:
They just said “take whatever row you want” 🤩 pic.twitter.com/gOvudfaDhP
— Sammyland🏳️🌈 🐉 (@Sammyland6) August 21, 2023
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It’s every Guest’s dream to be able to “walk-on” to rides like Space Mountain, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, but the conditions are, of course, not ideal. Aside from high water levels, it does not look like the Disneyland Resort was damaged in any serious way due to Hurricane Hilary.
Hurricane Hilary did not just affect the Disneyland Resort, however, with several other iconic amusement parks closing their doors. This list includes places like Universal Studios Hollywood, Six Flags Magic Mountain, SeaWorld San Diego, and Knott’s Berry Farm.
It’s not every day that you see the Disney Parks shut down early, with the most infamous closures occurring in 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. In early 20202, both Walt Disney World and Disneyland closed in an unprecedented move by The Walt Disney Company to keep Guests and Cast Members safe. Eventually, Walt Disney World and Disneyland opened back up.
Did you visit Disneyland before it closed early? What ride would you never wait in line for?