This weekend, the unofficial “Gay Days” are expected to draw more than 30,000 people to Disneyland. The annual event is in its 15th year and the various entertainment planned begins on Friday.
With any crowd of that size visiting the resort, there will likely be some impact to the average family visiting. This is true with any large group, whether it is college students on spring break, cheerleaders in town for competition, or people dressed up for Bats Day in the park.
Disneyland is designed to accommodate large crowds, so it is unlikely that you’ll notice much in the way of increased wait times. The Disney planners add additional staff when large groups are expected so that wait times are kept to a minimum.
The main thing your average family will notice is that everyone will be wearing red t-shirts. The red shirts have become a tradition among the Gay Day attendees because it makes it easy to identify and connect with others who are part of the event. This is similar to how many families will wear matching t-shirts during a vacation, but obviously at a larger scale. If you don’t want your family to get lost in a sea of red, you may want to wear a different color t-shirt this weekend so you can spot one another in the crowd.
The Gay Days event is privately organized, which means it is not an official Disney event. That said, the event organizers work closely with the Disney company to plan several special events for the attendees.
This year, there will be a series of parties and entertainment, including previews of TV shows such as ABC-TV’s “Nashville.” Karmin, a duo that recently won a back cover of Rolling Stone, will perform Saturday night at House of Blues Anaheim in Downtown Disney. Actress Florence Henderson will speak at a Sunday night charity event for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Gay Days started in 1998 with 2,500 people unofficially gathering in Disneyland. Back in the day, groups had protested and boycotted Disneyland, saying the event was not family-friendly. But the large-scale, organized protests have been absent for several years.
In recent years, the biggest complaints seem to come from the average family who is upset that they did not have advance notice about the large crowds. This isn’t an official event, which is why Disney does not advertise it on the theme park event calendar. It just usually surprises families to see such a large group of people when they were expecting to visit during a slow time at the resort.
Photo via Rudy Villa
