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Some Disneyland visitors had to wish upon a star for parking over the holidays

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During the holiday season, finding parking at the “Happiest Place on Earth” made some guests, well, not so happy.

To make way for the construction of a new “Cars Land” attraction at the California Adventure Park, Disneyland officials closed a parking lot with more than 2,200 spaces in 2009. A new replacement lot is under construction along Harbor Boulevard and should be completed in a couple of months.

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But the loss of the lot caused some parking headaches during the holidays, when the park was inundated with visitors from near and far. Disneyland tried to replace the lost spaces by directing visitors to use lots at the Anaheim Garden Walk mall and the Anaheim Convention Center.

Still, the parking crunch forced visitors to either park in the far-flung lots or circle the sea of cars, waiting for a spot to open. “With the number of people that were going during the holidays, they were toast,” said Robert Niles, founder of themeparkinsider.com, a website on the theme park industry.

Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown acknowledged a “parking challenge,” but said the holiday crowds have diminished and the problem has passed. “It was an issue for a few days,” she said.

-- Hugo Martin

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