DGPH Group booked rooms for the weekend at the Disneyland Hotel in order to celebrate the 50th Birthday of Disneyland. Rumor had it that the park would reach capacity -- about 65,000 people -- within a few hours of opening on the 17th, and I felt keenly aware of the massive numbers of people that would be squeezing shoulder to shoulder like sardines through the park that day. Visions of New Years Eves spent in the park, bodies pressed against bodies unable to move even a few inches, kept playing through my head.
CS offered me the other bed in his suite, but the thought of so many people outwitted my desire to spend a weekend in the hotel. I declined, saying that I might join them sometime Sunday, after the initial festivities died down a bit. In the early evening of Saturday, while the DGPH Group slept in their hotel rooms to prep for their 1 AM wake-up calls, RG and SK stopped by for dinner and a movie.
We drove to Long Beach with poor SK stretched across the back seat with his right leg propped up due to a broken ankle. Poor guy, but he was a trooper, and I think the schooner of beer from the Lonestar Steak House comforted him to some extent. After dinner, we walked to the UA just behind the restaurant for the 9:40 showing of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
We thoroughly enjoyed Tim Burton's visually stunning take on this children's classic. Johnny Depp came across as a quite dark and humorous Willy Wonka. I know comparisons will be made between his Willy Wonka and Gene Wilder's.
Both are equally good in the role, but whereas Wilder's is an eccentric older man, Depp's is a neurotic adult who grew up without any parental guidance and doesn't know how to react to other people. Freddie Highmore and all the other children give fine performances, but Deep Roy -- who played all the Oomph-Loompahs -- stole the movie with each of his unique songs and dance routines. Danny Elfman's score, along with lyrics by Roald Dahl, enhanced Burton's slanted and colorful world inside the chocolate factory.
Driving home, I continued debating with myself about going to Disneyland and finally convinced myself to go, despite my trepidation. So at 7:30 the next morning, I showered, left a message for CS that I was on my way and sped up Beach Blvd. I thought traffic would be worse, especially as I approached the parking structure, but only a few cars turned to enter the structure and not many more waited at the ticket booths.
They directed cars up to one of three different levels to get the "influx" of cars flowing smoothly. I'll be able to meet the group in no time! Up the ramp, around the corner and my jaw dropped as each of the 11 rows were almost filled with cars (9 held two cars in each space with the remaining two rows consisting of single spaces).
I pulled into a space, and rushed between the parked cars to the escalator leading to the tram loading area and almost gagged at the sight of 500 people jamming that little island of concrete. Dozens of us hurriedly maneuvered our way through the crowd to a crossing zone and followed it to Magic Way, across that street and along the sidewalk that parallels the Monorail behind the shops of Downtown Disney. We had almost reached the tram unloading area when I saw resort employees stopping the group.
A few of us broke away, sneaking into a gate next to a set of bathroom's and on to Downtown Disney. I crossed a long line of people walking in an orderly fashion away from the theme parks and toward the hotels and later learned that those people rode the tram over from the structure and were following other riders to the far end of Downtown Disney and back to the security checkpoint. Many of us walkers had no idea what was going on and just merged into the line heading toward security without any complaints.
I made it through that in good time as well as through the turnstiles, or the Main Gate, without any problems. A cheerful employee stamped my hand as I entered, saying that I would need to show that in order to get back in should the park close due to the number of people, and was handed a pair of golden Mickey Mouse ears with the date "July 17, 2005" embroidered in blue on the back. Parking structure to Town Square, Main Street U.
S.A.: 20 minutes.
I donned my ears and snaked through the crowd to a bank of pay phones in order to tell CS that I made it. I 'm one of the three people left in the United States without one.) I left a message then followed the herd of people up Main Street.
Halfway up the street, traffic stopped so I cut into one of the shops and made my way to the end of the street. The hub was already packed with people waiting for the re-dedication ceremony at 10 AM. My watch showed 9 AM so, believing that lines would be short and that I would be able to make it back to the hub in time, I sped toward Space Mountain.
A little over an hour later, I exited the attraction after having the prime front row seat in the car and started back to the hub. The ceremony had already begun, and foot traffic was at a standstill in that direction so I veered right instead, opting for the Autopia. (Actually, all exits out of Tomorrowland were blocked by hordes of people watching the ceremony, and I didn't want to stand on tiptoe trying to see over the sea of golden ears to catch a glimpse of what might possibly have been Governor Schwarzenegger on the stage.
) By 10:45, the ceremony finished. I called CS from another payphone and arranged to meet them for lunch around 11:30 because they were still in line to buy special, dated merchandise -- had been in that line, in fact, since 7 AM so they missed the entire re-dedication. After lunch, most of the group retired to their hotel suites to rest up for fireworks, dinner, more shopping, etc.
I tagged along just to check out the suites, having never been inside one at the Disneyland Hotel. Two of the men booked the end suite on the 14th floor of the Bonita Tower, with an incredible view of both theme parks, stretching on past Anaheim Stadium, the Pond, even Knott's Berry Farm to the mountains. CS ventured down to the pools to cool off, and I made plans to roam around California Adventure while everyone napped.
posted by Greg at 4:30 PM DGPH Group booked rooms for the weekend at the Disneyland Hotel in order to celebrate the 50th Birthday of Disneyland.
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