Dispatch From Disneyland
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Happy New Year!

They say it’s never too early to make plans for New Year’s Eve. This year, that is especially true. The roll over of dates from 1999 to 2000 has attracted a titanic share of attention and the parties scheduled for the end of this year are sure to rival any of the previous century.

If you’re like me, you haven’t finalized your plans yet. Should you shell out $10,000 for a pair of seats at the Streisand show in Las Vegas? Maybe a quiet evening at home with friends and family is the ticket? Whatever your decision, you’d better make it soon. Events are selling out and hotel reservations, if necessary, are already expensive enough.

For the past five years I’ve been at Disneyland every New Year’s Eve. I’m very glad they decided not to make this one a ticketed event. That certainly would have cemented my decision to party elsewhere. But that leaves me back at square one. Do I or don’t I go?

In an effort to convince myself one way or the other, and maybe provide a little guidance to you, here are my arguments:

Over the past five years, I’ve had many good times on New Year’s Eve at the park. Whether I was with Rod Miller at Coke Corner, the alt.disney.disneyland group at Plaza Inn, or the swing kids at Carnation Gardens, fun was being had by all. If you were careful in your planning, the crowds became a non-issue.

However, this year is very unpredictable. The crowds will either be supersized or the lightest in years. No one will know until the day of the event since so much of the New Year’s traffic depends on anything from the weather to how many local annual passholders show up.

What do you do if there are record crowds? First, get there early. Disneyland may close its gates as early as 10AM to keep the crowds below capacity. If you’re a premium annual passholder, I suggest calling Guest Relations (714-781-4560) for the latest information.

The information I received as of noon on October 5th, was that unlike in previous years where they would just stop selling tickets, this year they will actually prevent admission into the park by closing the gates. That means no re-entry, no showing up at 9pm with your annual pass and getting in, no hopping on the monorail to the hotel to avoid the crowds and then sneaking back in at a later time. Once the Fire Marshall says the park is full, that’s it.

If you go to the park anyway, stake out a base of operations early. In previous years we’ve had people hold a group of tables at a restaurant from lunch until the wee hours of the morning. This year, you might want to reserve it from opening to closing and store your extra clothes and bags there. Locker space will be at a premium since you won’t be able to get to the outside lockers and get back in if the gates are closed.

Finally, with apologies to David Letterman, here is a list of the top 10 things you are most likely to encounter on New Year’s Eve at Disneyland.

10) 100,000 of your closest friends and family on Main Street U.S.A. from 11pm to 2am. It should take that long for the human traffic jam of people to sort itself out.

9) One working restroom. Who knew all those little auto-flush motion sensors were Y2K sensitive?

8) 10,000 cheap plastic hats and noisemakers in the Castle moat, the Rivers of America, and Snow White’s wishing well.

7) Kevin Nealon on the Fantasmic! stage for 5 seconds… again.

6) 10,000 drunken guests in the Castle moat, the Rivers of America, and Snow White’s wishing well.

5) Overhear a tech at the Rocket Rods saying, "I told you we should have switched to the Mac."

4) A recreation of the "Alice Davis Pirate Dressing Incident" on all the Audio-Animatronics at the Pirates Of The Caribbean .

3) All the computers in Innoventions crash and you over hear a tech saying "I told you we should have switched to the Mac."

2) Proof that Rod Miller, Coke Corner Pianist, really is an Audio-Animatronic.

And the #1 event you’re most likely to see at Disneyland on New Year’s Eve…

Mr. Lincoln quoting the prophecies of Nostrodamus.

-- Indigo (October 6, 1999)