Chuck Canzoneri’s New Years Eve Photo Report
And now for our second photo report, also from New Years Eve, from Chuck Canzoneri. For this photo report, I’ll leave the captions to Chuck:
The park hours sign at Mickey & Friends. We got there at 8AM.
8:34am & the tickets windows are as full as I’ve ever seen them.
A look through the New Years Eve guide-map.
Most Cast members were wearing these little buttons.
9:05am. Still putting finishing touches on the landscaping.
Hints of the big Dance Party coming to the Hub.
It was foggy most of the morning.
The Stage in front of the Castle.
The Disney Fairies had their winter outfits on. Here is Silvermist.
Tinkerbell in her Winter coat.
10:11am. Still some breathing room in Adventureland.
It was already getting busy. There was actually a 10 minute queue to get a Fastpass for Indiana Jones.
1:40pm. Good thing we had a Fastpass.
Ever see a full queue for Indiana Jones? They actually used the Top Floor of the Jungle Cruise queue to hold everyone!
2:10pm. Wait Time Board.
2:20pm. I decided to check the front gate & see if they were still letting people in. They said it would probably be full within another hour. They brought out the Princesses… plus Goofy.
I saw a few of these shirts around. Never got to find out if it was from the new personalized Celebration store.
2:30pm. The Hub was already packed with people camping out for Fireworks that didn’t start for another 6 hours. (I also saw people on blankets for Fantasmic! at 1:30pm)
2:50pm. Crowds, Crowds, Crowds.
3:00pm. This is the queue to Roger Rabbit, outside the building & wrapping around the fountain.
3:05pm. Toontown, taken from Chip ‘n’ Dale’s treehouse.
DJ Booth next to Small World.
Character Stage next to Small World.
The Holiday Time at Disneyland tour is still going on through January 4th I believe.
3:25pm. The walkway from Small World to Fantasyland. This is one the most crowded times I ever saw, but that was mainly due to the street being cleared for the parade.
4:45pm. I’ve only seen the Fountain Garden in New Orleans Square put to good use twice. Once was the meet & greet for Ratatouille. And the 2nd was today. It was turned into an extended queue for Haunted Mansion Holiday.
Look carefully & you can see the fountain of what usually is an empty plaza.
These are not Cast Members, but 2 guests who have arrived for New Year’s.
6:25pm. The only place to get these little items was at Big Thunder Ranch. By this time, the line had extended all the way into Fantasyland. The back of the line was near Dumbo!
6:35pm. The Hat & Horn distribution begins. A guard at the entrance makes sure people don’t sneak in from the Frontierland side. But the line moved really fast & I just waited at the gate for a few minutes.
6:43pm. Headed to get my hat & horn. They opened up the Festival Arena for distribution.
There were a couple of dozen tables that looked like this. I wish I could have gotten a photo of the whole operation.
It seemed there were as many Cast Members hired to keep the line moving as there were to hand out the hats & horns.
6:45pm. 2 minutes from when I went in to when I was being rushed back out.
The New Years Eve Hat & Horn.
7:00pm. More crowds.
9:00pm. Now it’s really getting crowded!
Everyone wears their shiny hats, but there’s no room to move, let alone dance.
9:25pm. Turns out Small World is a great place to watch the fireworks.
Tomorrowland’s dance party featured the live band Suburban Legends.
Suburban Legends on stage.
Decorations next to the Tomorrowland Terrace Stage.
All hats & crowds!
9:41pm. The celebrations are now in full swing. You can start to notice people feeling like these crowds are not the New Years Celebration they signed up for. There’s a grouchiness to the crowd.
Next year is just a day away. What will you celebrate?
Packed in tight!
Maybe a little snow will cheer people up?
9:45pm. The Small World DJ on stage.
Pluto & Goofy dance along to songs from High School Musical.
10:00pm. I wanted to head over to DCA & take pictures of their festivities, & I discovered something remarkable. It seems that by this time many, many people were leaving the parks. Maybe they had enough of the crowd, but a lot of people were heading for the trams.
10:34pm. A really thick fog fell over Disneyland. It was kind of eerie. Also, people leaving the park were simply heading home. California Adventure was incredibly EMPTY!
10:46pm. This is Hollywood Blvd. at DCA. It was like winning a night in the park all to yourself!
Decorations by Muppetvision 3-D.
There was an outdoor dance party, but I was excited the the old Millionaire building (aka. Stage 17) was open & hosting it’s own party.
10:49pm. This was the most crowded spot in all of DCA. That’s it. After the mad crowds of Disneyland, this was heaven.
10:55pm. There was another dance party set up at the Pacific Wharf. It was a ghost town.
I hadn’t seen this yet. It’s an amazing effect created with different layers of glass. When you see it in person it’s in 3-D.
11:24pm. You’re not seeing things. This is the queue line for Toy Story Mania. They were letting guests stay on & ride again if they wish.
And we’ll end off Chuck’s photo report with a short video showing just how annoying those party horns can really be: