The Century City Mall added a light system last year to their parking garage. Green means available. Red is taken. Yellow/Orange is loading 15 minutes. Blue is handicap. You can read more about their system by clicking the link below.
http://laist.com/2008/09/03/finding_parking_and_missing_stop_si.php
And why not make Halloweentime a hard ticket event? Every other park does. I think it's a great idea. Regular day guests won't miss out on too much during the day. And if you wanted to see the extra events, then you pay more for them. 25,000 total tickets is a decent size crowd that will have average waits for rides. Could it even be run like extra magic hours. Guests with a hard ticket could get a bracelet at Guest Services and stay in the park the entire day and not vacate at a certain hour to return a few later. (i.e. Knotts Berry Farm)
Also, I've never been to the DCA hard ticket event, but I found Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy rather lacking. The pinnacle of the effects for me was on the second lift hill. And from there, it was all down hill, except for the 3rd lift hill. All the effects felt like riding the Mummy coaster at USH. The ghostly appearances did not blend in well with the ride.
As a Disneyphile, I have to say no. Satisfaction with the hard-ticketed events (Mickey's Not-so-scary Halloween Party/Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party) at MK in WDW seems to be at an all-time low.
I'd hate to see the same thing happen at the Mother Park...
Furthermore, if Disney wants to limit the number of its APs, I'd rather it do so through "soft" price increases such as segregating hard ticket event evenings, than raising prices across the board.
In addition, fewer APs would clear space for additional day guests, who spend more per capita per visit than APs, as well as clearing the crush of APs who overwhelm any new ride or show at the resort.
The tradeoff for customers, however, should be the elimination of expiration dates on multi-day tickets.
I would much rather buy 10-day park-hoppers with no expiration, like I have at Disney World, than Disneyland APs for my family. I visit often, since it is my job, but don't take the kids often enough to justify a premium or deluxe AP. Since I want to take them on Saturdays, I don't end up getting them the SoCal or Select APs, either. So I end up taking them once a year, if that.
Under Disneyland's current ticketing system, there's simply no attractive option for me to visit the park with my family more than once or twice a year, even though I'd love to bring them down four or five times a year.
I'd be happy to buy them 5 or 10-day tickets for Christmas every couple of years, if DL would sell them. I think that a lot of people are in the same situation, folks who would be happy to buy multi-day tickets but who, because of the 14-day expiration policy, end up buying heavily blocked-out APs instead.
Also, I absolutely would buy tickets to a DL Christmas party, or older-skewing Halloween party. That would be a much better deal for me and my family than buying day tickets on days when the parks are overfilled with low-spending AP-holders.
1. Demand clearly exceeds supply on weekend evenings in October and December, given Disneyland having to close the entrance gates.
2. Since Disneyland is limited in its ability to increase supply for specific short periods (it can throw a few more ride units in rotation, but that's about it), Disneyland more efficiently can address the inequity by reducing demand.
3. A price increase is the classic way of doing that, but since the demand is coming from annual passholders, the more effective result would be to block out those days.
4. But the demand doesn't persist through the day. It is hitting in the late afternoon and evening. In the morning and early afternoons on those days, the parks are nearly empty.
5. So the best solution isn't to block out those entire days; it is to find someway just to block out the evenings. How can the park do that? Close early, and go to a hard ticket event.
The alternative is to start the block-out date at, say, 4 pm, allowing APs admission before that, and requiring that they buy a hard ticket afterward. But the evening party accomplishes the same thing, and gives ticket-buyers something extra beyond a regular day in addition.
That is why I support hard-ticket parties in this situation. It provides an efficient economic solution to the problem of an overcrowded park while delivering a premium experience to the people who do wish to pay to get into the park.
This would allow the park to remain open to everyone for the holidays, while diminishing management concerns about costs and spending.
No, the best solution is for you to GIVE IT UP.
Disney is selling both the Annual Passes and Single Day tickets with the assumption that it is good for the entire day, meaning it's regular operating hours. Unless Disney wants to change it, then go ahead.... change the time in which those tickets are good and then everyone will know in advance what it means. Also, charge less for an abbreviated day (but we know Disney will never do that.)
When People are confronted with park closures, it ruins their trip especially with so-called special events. Your proposal makes it even worse by saying only 25,000 can attend.
I'm sure Disney has optimised the ticket prices to get the most dough. Attendance is very very good, but the real problem is the parking problem. Most people can fit into the park.
People already assume the park is crowded on the weekends. The fact that people ARE be diverted to Disneyland instead of DCA means they has to improve the situation where people are kicked out of a relatively unpopular theme park, DCA, and allowed to enter into the much more popular Disneyland. It's a bad situation all around.
Why not eliminate the kicking out people from DCA. Instead, allow everyone who entered into DCA earlier in the day to also enjoy Mickey’s Trick-or-Treat Party events for free. The hard ticket event is half the price so Disney can charge additional amount for new arrivals.
Disneyland overcrowding and bad parking should not be an excuse to make things more difficult for customers. The other issues you discussed will not result in better value, but more money for Disney, which is good for shareholders and executives, but nothing for customers and it creates unnecessary scarcity.
Why should Disney bother with making their parks SO ATTRACTIVE, that it has to make it EXCLUSIVE. Just eliminate all theming of Halloween and Christmas, then Disneyland will return to the boring and uncrowded conditions of years past, then no one will be turned away. Are you then happy Robert?
Hard ticket Halloween and Christmas events would be HUGE hits at DLR - especially if both took place at DL. It would also be great if the Candlelight Ceremony could be included in the holiday party.
Implementing a hard-ticket event certainly makes sense. It ensures that crowds are under control and at the same time brings in more money and hopefully more guests.
As you've mentioned, including the holiday overlays on attractions for regular day guests will ensure their experienced isn't diminished, which is of course integral at a Disney Park.
I'm honestly very surprised Disney haven't figured this simple solution out yet.