When Will it Be Busy at Disneyland - 2009 Edition

[Minnie Momma]

I'm thinking of taking my daughter and I over a few hours this afternoon/evening. Has anything changed now that we're in the middle of July. Is it any busier, like wall to wall people busy, or still reasonable like it was a few weeks ago when I was there?

[BCC]

If anyone is interested in my crowd reports: twitter.com/BCC4321 (Crowd scale from 1-4.)

Updated almost everyday during the summer season and once a week during the school year. Feel free to direct tweets to me and I will reply with as much information as I can.

[ryanvalle]

what are your expectations for tomorrow, disneyland's b-day?

[BCC]

^Nothing more than an average 45 mins for big rides and 25 mins for small rides.

DCA on the other hand, will have short line ups with the exception of toy story mania.

[UtahDisneyDad]

We are considering a trip either the week before (10/25-30) or the week after (11/1-6) Halloween and would like to know if anyone thinks one will be any busier than the other. We have always gone in early Dec. and don't know what to expect around Halloween.

[Sleepy505]

When does Disneyland start setting up for Christmas?

[Minnie Momma]

I can answer my own question. It was amazing, Pirates a walk on, Haunted Mansion a walk on, 5 minutes for Buzz. My daughter and I had a really nice time, a little too hot, but the stores and rides were nice and cool. Just wonderful.

[rajbonham]

Originally Posted by Sleepy505

When does Disneyland start setting up for Christmas?

I think they start at the beginning of November to have it ready right when Thanksgiving hits. I could be wrong though.

[Donald_Duck]

Originally Posted by UtahDisneyDad

We are considering a trip either the week before (10/25-30) or the week after (11/1-6) Halloween and would like to know if anyone thinks one will be any busier than the other. We have always gone in early Dec. and don't know what to expect around Halloween.

I'd guess that the week before (10/25-30) would be busier. I could be wrong, but it makes sense to me.

[equustel]

I'm headed to Disneyland tomorrow (Saturday the 18th) since it's my birthday. We're planning on finally becoming annual passholders again, so we don't feel the need to stay all day, and I know it's gonna be REALLY busy (being a Saturday in the middle of July!).

So... I was thinking of going in the evening after 5PM - just catch a few rides and the new fireworks show. Is the park any less busy at this hour? Since a lot of smaller kids will be heading home, etc? Or is there really no difference?

I haven't gone to Disney in the summer for many moons, so crowd patterns are entirely lost on me at this point.

[sediment]

Originally Posted by equustel

I'm headed to Disneyland tomorrow (Saturday the 18th) since it's my birthday. We're planning on finally becoming annual passholders again, so we don't feel the need to stay all day, and I know it's gonna be REALLY busy (being a Saturday in the middle of July!).

So... I was thinking of going in the evening after 5PM - just catch a few rides and the new fireworks show. Is the park any less busy at this hour? Since a lot of smaller kids will be heading home, etc? Or is there really no difference?

I haven't gone to Disney in the summer for many moons, so crowd patterns are entirely lost on me at this point.

Assume the crowd thinks just like you. They'll want to see the fireworks, they'll want to see Fantasmic!, etc.
I think you'll be happily surprised by the turnout. The economy has put a damper on spending, and only PAPs have no-further-payment-required entrance privileges.
(Actually, no one likes you, so they'll be avoiding you on your birthday. Enjoy!!)

[sekwence]

very light crowds while we were there on the 15th.. either walked on or less than 10 minutes on space, matterhorn, mansion, pirates, etc until about noon.. started to go up to 40-45 minutes around mid-day, so we headed to DCA and got on screamin in about 20, and soarin in about 25.

left at 5 and crowds had already begun to lighten up a bit.. seems like july has been lighter than in previous years.

also experienced the single greatest difference in standby/fastpass lines i have ever seen. around 1pm we headed back to splash with fastpass and i'm telling you it was the biggest discrepancy in lines i have ever witnessed.. we literally WALKED ON to splash with fastpass, while the line was about 50 minutes. i have seen big differences in lines before, but not a straight WALK ON to splash when the standby was 50+ minutes.

has this happened to others? just straight walking on with zero wait in a fastpass line when there's a somewhat long standby?

[sediment]

Originally Posted by sekwence

also experienced the single greatest difference in standby/fastpass lines i have ever seen. around 1pm we headed back to splash with fastpass and i'm telling you it was the biggest discrepancy in lines i have ever witnessed.. we literally WALKED ON to splash with fastpass, while the line was about 50 minutes. i have seen big differences in lines before, but not a straight WALK ON to splash when the standby was 50+ minutes.

has this happened to others? just straight walking on with zero wait in a fastpass line when there's a somewhat long standby?

I think you got lucky, no other Fastpassers there at the same time. I think more people hold on to their FPs for later.

[equustel]

Originally Posted by sediment

Assume the crowd thinks just like you. They'll want to see the fireworks, they'll want to see Fantasmic!, etc.
I think you'll be happily surprised by the turnout. The economy has put a damper on spending, and only PAPs have no-further-payment-required entrance privileges.
(Actually, no one likes you, so they'll be avoiding you on your birthday. Enjoy!!)

Sounds good, thanks!

Yeah, I was wondering how the economy might affect summer crowds. The madness I remember was from around 4 or 5 years ago, right around the 50th Anniversary, so business was boomin'. (We usually get the Southern California APs, so most of the summer is blocked out and we only attend in fall/winter/spring.)

[mechurchlady]

July 17th around 1 pm and the Pirates disabled line was out the door and heading toward the river, very very long line.

The train required waiting 10 to 20 minutes dpending on what station you wer at.