The Disneyland “population” (aka guest count) reached 300,000,000 in October 1995 (as seen in my previous post). The number by Spring 2000 on the Main Street Train station sign increased to 400,000,000:
The Park was celebrating its 45th Anniversary!
The numbers remained the same in April 2002:
Still 450,000,000 in January 2003:
Half a million by May 2004!
And here’s where you’re going to need the NoDoz caffeine pills. June 2005: 500,000,000
…just peaking out behind the train:
October 2006: 500,000,000. Happy Halloween!
January 2007: 500,000,000. Happy New Year!
May 2008: 500,000,000
Does an animated gif from September 2009 help the boredom? At least the train is moving, even if the number isn’t.
May 2012: 500,000,000
How is it possible that the Disneyland Population was stagnant for eight years?
FINALLY! In this June 2013 image, the number jumped to 650,000,000:
Sorry folks, it was just a temporary burst of activity. Here we go again: May 2015: 650,000,000.
And the last photo that I shot myself from December 2016: 650,000,000
According to inside sources, the number is still at 650 million as of January 2024. Maybe if somebody gets back on the job I’ll return to the Park. It could happen!
See more Disneyland population numbers at my main website.
Now I see what that number represents, albeit unintentionally. Management's regard for the park.
ReplyDeleteYou can see youthful optimism in how that population number was tended to at first; clearly an item of pride for the first 10 years. Over time it was still maintained but more out of tradition, and irregularly. Then it gets updated on rare occasion, just enough to say "We're maintaining it! ...technically."
As time goes on, it's completely forgotten by management, just like many other park details. If it doesn't fall into the scope of management's metrics, then it's not something to be done.
As go the details, so goes the rest of Disneyland.
A shame, I can't wait to see what smaller font they go with when it's time to switch to 1,000,000,000.
@ Fifthrider-
ReplyDeleteWell stated... regrettably-!
Thanks Dave for this series.
Really puts the Park in context...especially hearing that the count is no longer updated. But neither are the McDonald's hamburgers on their signage. KS
ReplyDeleteWhat's even sadder than the lack of maintenance of these fun little details is that the majority of guests today probably don't even notice (or care) about them.
ReplyDelete