Disneyland sees massive crowds

The first day without pandemic restrictions brought with it long lines, no masks and an end to physical distancing on a hot and steamy day in Anaheim.

A massive line to get into Disneyland wound like a human snake through an unused transportation center and stretched up and down Harbor Boulevard as pandemic rules came to an end and out-of-state visitors jammed into the Anaheim theme park.

The first day without pandemic restrictions at Disneyland brought with it massive lines, huge crowds, no masks and an end to physical distancing on a hot and sweaty day that crept close to triple digits.

Disneyland dropped COVID-19 rules on Tuesday, requiring masks, physical distancing and temperature checks while increasing theme park attendance and ride capacity for the first time in 15 months.

David Cervera, a DJ and photographer from Las Vegas, posted video of a massive line of Disneyland visitors streaming up and down Harbor Boulevard — that didn’t start moving until 8:15 a.m.

“As the line moves, people in line leave gaps and newcomers are trying to cut in line,” Cervera wrote on Twitter.

Theme park enthusiast

Eric Oh was on hand for rope drop at 8:55 a.m. Tuesday and posted a photo to Twitter of a huge crowd in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle waiting for Disneyland to open for the day.

Disney Examiner, an online Disney magazine, posted a photo to Twitter at 11 a.m. Tuesday of long lines stretching from the DCA entrance to the Disneyland Monorail track of visitors waiting to get into the park.

“What out-of-state, selfdeclared vaccinated crowds look like,” Disney Examiner wrote on Twitter.

Things didn’t get much better once visitors made it into Disneyland or DCA. Rides went down all day for extended periods.

Toy Story Midway Mania (4 hours), Rise of the Resistance (75 minutes), Radiator Springs Racers (60 minutes), Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin (50 minutes) and Haunted Mansion (30 minutes) all had significant down times on Tuesday, according to DL Stats, a Twitterbot that posts real-time wait times and attraction interruptions.

Wait times were high for major attractions such as Radiator Springs Racers (2 hours), Grizzly River Run (80 minutes), Splash Mountain (75 minutes), Indiana Jones Adventure (70 minutes) and

Soarin’ Around the World (60 minutes), according to DL Stats.

Stephanie Suarez, a sports and performance designer from Los Angeles, summed up the feelings of many Southern Californians who enjoyed the six-week hiatus from crowds while Disneyland operated under COVID-19 capacity constraints.

“Farewell, physically distanced Disneyland,” Suarez wrote on Twitter. “We had fun while it lasted.”

Disneyland is expected to slowly but steadily increase attendance from a state-mandated 35% capacity limit to full capacity by the fall.

Starting Tuesday, fully vaccinated Disneyland visitors were no longer required to wear face coverings while unvaccinated visitors still were expected to wear a mask.

Telling vaccinated and unvaccinated visitors apart was impossible — with Disneyland relying on a statemandated honor system. Proof of vaccination was not required for park entry.

The new mask rules were confusing for families with kids. Vaccinated kids 12 years old and over and unvaccinated children 2 and under don’t need to wear masks — but their unvaccinated siblings ages 3 to 11 do.

State guidelines still require Disneyland employees to wear masks regardless of their vaccination status and maintain 6 feet of physical distance. Disney employees can now wear a N95 mask or safety glasses along with their company-issued mask.

Tuesday brought a crush of more people to Disneyland and temperatures in the 90s as the park welcomed outof-state visitors for the first time since reopening on April 30 and reopened Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel after a 15-month closure.

While masks, physical distancing and proof of vaccination weren’t necessary, an advance reservation still was required.

Disneyland plans to keep the reservation system in place to help manage crowd levels at least through October as the park gradually increases attendance capacity. The system allows Disney to make staffing, budgeting, marketing and a myriad of other decisions based on anticipated attendance levels.

While the Disneyland Railroad was running around the park, not everything was full steam ahead. More than two dozen attractions and two dozen eateries remained shuttered at Disneyland and DCA. Rehiring

and retraining the employees necessary to operate those rides and restaurants will take time.

Dropping ride capacity restrictions, physical distancing requirements and using indoor attraction queues again helped Disneyland clear crowded walkways overrun by snaking outdoor lines that had turned some areas of the park into gridlock.

New Orleans Square was no longer a massive queue with the physically distanced lines for Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion returning to normal, according to MiceChat.

Web Slingers virtual queue boarding groups were gone in five minutes for the 7 a.m. distribution, according to DL Stats. Crowds improved throughout the day in the new Marvel themed land. The standby queue for Avengers Campus was nonexistent by 2 p.m., according to social media posts.

Disneyland loaded more riders on attractions as state-mandated 25% capacity limits on indoor rides came to an end.

Rise of the Resistance returned to its pre-pandemic form. Disneyland restored the pre-show elements of the 20-minute attraction that were temporarily removed to get the ride under a 15-minute runtime — which had been required by state COVID-19 guidelines.

Several more attractions reopened to handle the influx of visitors, including Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough, Golden Zephyr, Animation Academy and Mickey’s Philharmagic.

Some things haven’t changed from the “new normal” of pandemic operations. Trams between the Mickey & Friends and Pixar Pals parking structures and the parks still remain suspended — with visitors forced to walk along the tram route between the parks and garages under a blistering sun.

Disneyland and DCA visitors still can’t hug Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars characters — with wave-andplay character encounters remaining socially distanced for now to protect Princess Tiana, Captain Jack Sparrow and Black Widow.

Shannon Rona, an Avengers cosplayer from Pennsylvania, posed for a photo with Iron Man — who took shelter in the shade to avoid the midday sun.

“They revoked the mask mandate today,” Rona wrote on Twitter. “I’m so excited because it’s so hot.”