DTD was more crowded today than we've seen in a while -- maybe since Halloween. There was a line to enter the Simba lot that started just north of Magic Way. The lot was pretty full (well over half) by 2 pm. There was a line to enter bag check that was 1/3 to 1/2 through the parking lot behind the AMC. We had a reservation at CCL and were told to go straight to temp. check. There were many, many plaids -- more than we usually see -- and we heard a surprising number of people asking for directions or about where to eat. So it seems that there were first time guests who visited today, maybe because they thought they wouldn't be able to visit again later. There weren't any virtual queues for stores we wanted -- just lines (about 20-30 minute waits). We were escorted to the DCA gate for our CCL reservation. DCA was fairly crowded. Long lines for the shops. Jingle bell glow cubes sold out yesterday, but other merchandise is holding out. Carthay was so nice -- like coming home
. The food was really good, and I thought maybe it was because we hadn't had it in so long, but then I saw Chef Sutton walking around, so that explained everything! The new snowflake glow cube is nice -- much nicer than the one from last year. It is thicker, glows, and flashes, too. It has a C in the middle. They were out of the special drink that it comes with, so we ordered it with something else; and our wonderful server gave us an extra snowflake to make up for being out of the first drink! We saw lots of suits observing everywhere and had a nice conversation with one manager. She said that they got the news today about closing non-take-out dining and it hit everyone hard. I told her that they had so much support here, and she said it meant a lot to hear that. Got ice cream at Salt & Straw (December flavors are fun!). When we left, the switchbacks for the line for security filled the AMC lot and more cars were lined up going up Disneyland Dr.