If You Open Buena Vista Street People Will Come
If you’ve been following along with MickeyBlog then you’ll know Disney made the decision to open Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure last week (November 19th) to offer holiday shoppers more retail and dining experiences. We here at MickeyBlog HQ wish we could’ve been there but there was a fantastic article that appeared recently in the San Francisco Gate that really gave a sense at what those first few opening hours were like.
The long and short of it was that Disneyland fans embraced the chance to walk down Buena Vista Street once again even if that meant no rides and long lines.
According to Julie Tremaine who wrote the piece in SFG, Disney fans showed up in abundance for the Buena Vista opening last week. So much so that the writer referred to the experience as “a long, uncomfortable day, mostly spent waiting in lines, not the kind of day you expect at the Happiest Place on Earth.”
The main downside from what we’ve heard on Twitter and what seems to be corroborated by the SFG article is that there were long lines to get into Downtown Disney, more lines to get into Buena Vista Street followed by a virtual queue. Once inside there were more virtual queues for everything from visiting some of the gift shops to dining.
As the SFG piece tells us, guests started showing up in droves as early as 8:00 am to Downtown Disney for the opening of Buena Vista Street which opened at 10 am. This resulted in a long line of hundreds of people waiting to get into Downtown Disneyland and Buena Vista Street for opening.
Kim Burgett, left, his wife, Ericka Prado, and their daughters Alyna Burgett and Rilye Burgett, pose for a selfie on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood Land inside Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020.
Orange County Register via Getty Images
Guests arriving at Disneyland for holiday shopping should note that there is now a $10 parking fee in place throughout the Holiday Season. You should allow extra time for temperature checks and bag checks. On opening day, Tremaine said that it took over two hours for her to clear the queue to get inside the gates. On opening day, guests were guided to sign up for a boarding group via QR codes to gain access to Buena Vista Street and hundreds of groups were reported within the first hour of the area opening to the public.
After registering to enter Buena Vista Street guests are then given an opportunity to shop or dine at Downtown Disney while you wait for your group to be called to enter DCA. On opening day it took some guests nearly three hours after arriving to be able to actually enter the park.
Once inside, depending on how busy Buena Vista is, guests can inspect additional virtual queues put in place for eateries and shopping experiences. This is to limit the amount of guests that are in a shop at any given time as part of Disney’s social distancing policies. With this in mind you might yourself waiting around a bit more to access the area even after entering.
Here’s a look at the shops and eateries open on Buena Vista Street:
- Elias & Co – Awesome Disney merch for men, women and children.
- Julius Katz and Sons – Holiday merchandise and Disney-themed home decor.
- Kingswell Camera Shop- Frames, photo albums and more
- Trolley Treats – Classic Candies and confections.
- Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe – Coffees and Sandwiches
- Carthay Circle Lounge – Cocktails and outdoor dining.
- Smokejumpers Grill – Tasting American classics. Is open for lunch and dinner.
We’ll be monitoring the continued opening of Buena Vista Street during the busy holiday period and we’ll keep you posted about any new updates and changes as well as crowds levels so keep checking in with us!
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Source: San Francisco Gate
