The most crowded place on earth.
Without stopping to unpack from my Houston trip, I jumped in the car with the family and headed to California. We and some of our good friends had decided to take a two day vacation at Disneyland. Neither of our families had taken vacations during the summer and so we were overdue. Plus, we reasoned, Disneyland wouldn’t be nearly as crowded in October as it was during the summer.
Ha, what optimistic fools we were!
It was crowded. And we’re not talking just a little crowded. You know all of those Armageddon movies where vast crowds are fleeing destruction? That’s how crowded it was, but with added benefit of a herd of impatient, hyped up children to look after–and without the meteorite hurling toward the earth so that you could think, “Well okay, this sucks big time, but at least it will all be over soon.”
Nope, we’d paid more money for this trip than our first car cost, which meant we had to stay there and fight the crowd to get our money’s worth.
(When I got home and looked at my pictures I realized that most of them were just of the kids standing in various lines–which actually makes sense since that was 90 % of our Disneyland experience. So here are our vacation pictures!)
Oh look, we finally made it to a ride.
There are no pictures of me with my arm around Mickey Mouse because A) the line for pictures was too long and B) after waiting for an hour just so my daughter could have three minutes on the Dumbo ride, I was ticked off enough that I probably would have smacked one of Mickey’s ears clean off.
And it got worse after 6:00 when California Adventure closed and all of the park hoppers came over to the Disneyland side. You literally had to hold onto your children so the crowd brushing past your shoulders didn’t peel them away from you. It was so crowded then, that you couldn’t even make your way to the rides let alone contemplate how long you’d have to stand in line before you actually got to touch one. At that point we just gave up and left.
The beach was much more relaxing. If you’re going to California. I highly recommend the beach. But if you’re interested in the Disneyland experience, well, just go stand in an airport security line the day before Thanksgiving. It’s about the same thing, but less expensive.
12 comments
Leave a comment
Subscribe and receive 3 free Ebooks!
Want to know about new releases or ebook sales?
Sign up for Janette's newsletter and receive a free copy of 3 books:
- Slayers
- A Longtime (and at one point illegal) Crush
- Blue Eyes and Other Teenage Hazards
Looks like a great time, Janette. Hope the tragic fire situation didn’t affect your visit. Or was this before the fire?
I grew up in S. Cal. and went to Disneyland many, many times. We used to take our kids back every summer to see family and go to Disneyland. Before my son left on his mission, all he wanted was one more trip with the family to . . .Disneyland. So we went for New Year’s. We thought it would be crowded, but couldn’t go any other time.
And, yes it was crowded, crowded, crowded. But, lucky us, in addition to the crowd we also had monsoon rain storms. It rarely ever rained while I grew up, in fact, we had a severe water shortage so it never occurred to me we’d battle the forces of nature.
I have never seen so much water or so many wet people pushing each other to get out of the rain. It was still a great trip, but all of our photos have us in line and wet.
And, yes, we’ve found the beach to be much more relaxing.
You guys look much, much happier at the beach than at the “Happiest Place on Earth”.
The least crowded I’ve ever seen Disney is in January when it rained and everyone canceled–except us. We froze and were drenched, but we walked on to every ride.
At our family’s first trip there, my sister declared that people who go to hell never get there–they just wait in line for eternity.
Yeah, I have to say that the happiest place on earth is home sweet home . . . after the kids have all gone to school–okay, I’m just kidding about that.
And I have to agree with your sister on the hell thing. I think there will be long lines, and when you get to the end of the line there will be a never ending pile of dirty dishes . . .
Sea World is cool because its not as crowded. We went when school was out in chandler but not Sandiago, so the bulk of the people there were kids on feild trips. I Haven’t been to Disneyland since I was six and so those memmories were faint. My Cousins say that thanksgiving Day is the Least Crowded, though. I’ll Have to try that…
Janette,
Didn’t anyone tell you the entire state of Utah migrates to Disneyland during the month of October while students are on fall break?
Yeah, it was funny. Everyone I met was either from Utah or Arizona. Don’t you guys up in Utah have enough thrill rides at Lagoon?
First weekend in May is the best time to go to Disneyland. You wait in no lines . . . but like you, I would have thought October would be good too. Shows what we know.
The pictures are great though. Love the facial expressions.
I like how I’m not considered as part of the family anymore…
Your post really should read, “We went out with the family, except for our wonderfully beautiful daughter who is off slaving away at college.”
We went out with the family, except for our wonderfully beautiful daughter who is off slaving away at college.
(See, aren’t you glad you missed the crowds?)
lol on the airport security lines. I have the best luck at Disneyland if I get there very early and stay very late. Anything in between in just packed.