And, also.. I recommend reading Andy Castro's article, "Disneyland’s Diamond Celebration kicks off with a bumpy 24-hour party" - on MiceChat/MiceAge. Here:
http://micechat.com/102868-disneyland-diamond-celebration-launch/
I don't like to link to "the competition," but this article is worth a look!
It is a fascinating read, as he breaks down the 24-hour event and where it went wrong, due to misinformation and lack of communication. The photos of a near empty Disneyland in contrast with the startling shots of a jam-packed, claustrophobic Esplanade are quite remarkable.
I was at the 24-hour celebration as it was also my birthday! I have to agree with the Dateline Disneyland account. We were there with small children, so we weren't at rope drop, nor were we planning on camping out all day. We were in Disneyland in the morning, though. My plan was to go back in after my wife and the kids were in bed at our hotel. I figured after the parade at 8:50 and fireworks at 9:30, enough people would be leaving to re-open the gates. My plan was to come in on the monorail to get in "behind" everyone exiting on Main Street. I think this would have been a great plan, except for the fact that the Monorail was not re-opening and the CMs there were relaying the information that Disneyland was going to be closed until 9 am Saturday, period!
I left the monorail to get into the line that stretched from bag check all the way to the Rainforest Cafe. There was a rumor that we didn't need to stand in that line as the multiple lines at bag check were in use and people were just walking up to those lines, including people coming off the trams. I didn't want to risk getting out of line since I was by myself, but it turned out to be true. I spent 45 minutes in line to get into the esplanade, when I could have just gone straight to bag check and been in within 10 minutes.
Once in the esplanade (around 11:15 pm), the Disneyland side was roped off and the CMs there were also saying that they had been told Disneyland would be closed until 9 am, end of story. A number of people were just waiting there, and after a few minutes, the CMs were brought together by some supervisors and updated. They then came back and said, still 9 am, but if Disneyland does happen to re-open, they will clear the esplanade and first allow guests in DCA to cross over. So, the best bet to get into Disneyland would be to enter DCA. I did this and waited near the front with a lot of other people. We all kept checking Twitter for updates, seeing the pictures and reports of empty walkways and walk-on rides in Disneyland. It finally dawned on me that with Main Street crowded for the 1 am parade (which I was really hoping to see), they probably would wait until after that and the crowd cleared before they opened Disneyland again.
As word started getting out on Twitter that Disneyland would re-open around 2, the front area of DCA got extremely crowded. I was in the middle of the gates, about 15 people back when it became official that we would be allowed into Disneyland. We were packed in there pretty good, and I did start to get worried that there could have been a very dangerous situation if people got impatient and started pushing. The crowds around me were a mix of some pretty big guys and families with small kids, so it could have been bad. Thankfully, the CMs were in control as much as possible in that situation, and most of the people were just happy to be making it into Disneyland and willing to be patient.
Once in Disneyland, the crowds were pretty light. In under 2 hours, I was able to ride Jungle Cruise, Indy single rider, Pirates, Snow White, Mr. Toad, and Buzz. I was glad I waited it out
As Andy said, the biggest problem was the lack of communication and accurate information. I don't know if there was some strategy to telling everyone that Disneyland would remain closed until 9 am, in order to get enough people to leave? I completely understand why Disneyland had to close their gates in the afternoon, it just seems like they should have been better prepared to re-open the gates in the evening. Why not use the Monorail to let guests who have hand stamps or hotel guests into the park as some guests start to leave? This would at least avoid adding to the congestion on Main Street. Or, what about the corridors behind the shops on Main Street? Weren't those made to allow people to move in and our of the parks when Main Street was crowded? How about sending a CM through that line stretching through Downtown Disney to let people know that this was not any official line?
There were CMs and security clearing people out of the area by the DCA gates, telling people that the tweets about Disneyland re-opening at 2 were false, and then a few minutes later, other CMs were telling people to form single-file lines in order to move over to Disneyland. It was just obvious that there was no real plan in place.
Ultimately, I'm glad that I went. It was still a great way to spend a birthday. If I knew that Disneyland wasn't going to re-open until 2, I probably would have stayed with my family, slept for a couple of hours, and headed down to DCA around 12-1 am.
I am thankful to all of the CMs on the ground who were working hard to keep everyone safe. All of the ones that I encountered were very nice and patient.
If anyone has any questions about the experience, I'd be happy to answer. Thanks!