When Will it Be Busy at Disneyland - 2009 Edition

[blondiethesounds]

OK....this is what I have gathered:

• AP's are going to be back in the parks starting mid August (Anyone have a date?)
• Space and HM close in September (Again...a date anyone?)
• D23 expo is from 9/10 to 9/13.

My plan is to play in the park Thursday afternoon, all day Friday and most of Saturday. My available dates are 8/20-23, 9/3-6, 9/17-20, or October.

Based on that.....what do you think?

[shirleyfilms]

Originally Posted by blondiethesounds

• Space and HM close in September (Again...a date anyone?)

Space is closed Sept. 8-24
HM is closed Sept. 10-24

Of your dates, I would choose 8/20. It's the soonest.

If not August, then wait till October, when Space and Hm are open again.

[Patrick]

I live in Phoenix, and I was planning to take my 9yr old daughter to DL on August 6th & 7th. Are these bad dates to go? Are we going to be spending more time standing in lines, than having fun? I just want to give her the best DL experience I can, so if someone can give me advice on these dates, I would REALLY appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

[shirleyfilms]

Originally Posted by Patrick

I live in Phoenix, and I was planning to take my 9yr old daughter to DL on August 6th & 7th. Are these bad dates to go? Are we going to be spending more time standing in lines, than having fun? I just want to give her the best DL experience I can, so if someone can give me advice on these dates, I would REALLY appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

DLR tends to be busy in the Summer, but SoCal passholders are still blocked out on those days, so it should not be too bad. Friday will probably be busier than Thursday. It will be hot, but hit up some water rides and you will be fine. Don't forget to get fastpasses!

[blondiethesounds]

Originally Posted by blondiethesounds

OK....this is what I have gathered:

• AP's are going to be back in the parks starting mid August (Anyone have a date?)
• Space and HM close in September (Again...a date anyone?)
• D23 expo is from 9/10 to 9/13.

My plan is to play in the park Thursday afternoon, all day Friday and most of Saturday. My available dates are 8/20-23, 9/3-6, 9/17-20, or October.

Based on that.....what do you think?

Originally Posted by shirleyfilms

Space is closed Sept. 8-24
HM is closed Sept. 10-24

Of your dates, I would choose 8/20. It's the soonest.

If not August, then wait till October, when Space and Hm are open again.

What about the crowds? It seems everyone thinks the September weeks are going to be the worst, followed by October and then August being the lightest.

?????

[shirleyfilms]

Originally Posted by blondiethesounds

What about the crowds? It seems everyone thinks the September weeks are going to be the worst, followed by October and then August being the lightest.

?????

Well. That is the $64,000 question.

It's going to be crowded. Whenever you go. The days of Disneyland NOT being crowded are over. Be prepared for that. The best way to work around the crowds is to arrive at opening, get fastpasses efficiently, and not let it bother you. Obviously, weekdays are better than weekends... and holidays are generally the worst.

If you are not familiar with Disneyland, you might benefit from RIDEMAX. It is a program that helps you maximize your time at the parks. It costs about $30 to download, but it helped me when I was a newb to DLR. Some people on here hate it, but I would say that it can be helpful... if your main goal is squeezing in as many rides as possible.

[my7dwarves]

I believe the earliest date for the blocked AP'ers to be back in the park is August 16th...

[wettham1783]

I'm trying to plan a trip down for the first week-end in October but it looks like the hotels are booked up already. Anyone know whats going on that week-end to fill up the hotels.

[my7dwarves]

I think the first weekend of October is the traditional time for DLR's Gay Day Celebration...?

[sunnygirl]

Originally Posted by shirleyfilms

It's going to be crowded. Whenever you go. The days of Disneyland NOT being crowded are over. Be prepared for that. The best way to work around the crowds is to arrive at opening, get fastpasses efficiently, and not let it bother you. Obviously, weekdays are better than weekends... and holidays are generally the worst. .

Just an FYI, the crowds at DL this summer are lighter than I've seen them in the last 3 years. We went on the 4th of July, and most every ride was a walk on, at both parks. And last weekend (Friday night and Sunday afternoon) was about the same - just not very crowded at all. I'm not sure if it's the ecomony, blocked out passes, or what, but this summer is definitely a good time to experience Disneyland without the headache of crazy crowds.

[MickeyMousePal]

Originally Posted by wettham1783

I'm trying to plan a trip down for the first week-end in October but it looks like the hotels are booked up already. Anyone know whats going on that week-end to fill up the hotels.

Yeah, Gay Days usually happens on the first weekend of October.

[shirleyfilms]

Originally Posted by sunnygirl

Just an FYI, the crowds at DL this summer are lighter than I've seen them in the last 3 years. We went on the 4th of July, and most every ride was a walk on, at both parks. And last weekend (Friday night and Sunday afternoon) was about the same - just not very crowded at all. I'm not sure if it's the ecomony, blocked out passes, or what, but this summer is definitely a good time to experience Disneyland without the headache of crazy crowds.

Agreed. But that being said, it's impossible to forsee what the economy will be doing to the park a week from now. People were on here just the other day saying DLR was packed.

My experience is that it's best to avoid the obvious headaches (weekends, holidays)... it's all you can really do. But you are right - it's a crapshoot. Maybe it won't be busy this Christmas. I just know I am not going to plan my trip around that possibility.

[goofy10]

How do you think Monday, August 17 is gonna look? I know it will no longer be a blocked day for some annual passes, but it's a Monday... hmm

[Zovreign]

Re: Disneyland is never going to have slow days again, I disagree. I'm a AP owner with no blackout dates and I go at completely random times to get a feel to see how crowded things are.

I'll put it this way, if you go during a weekday on Feburary or Janurary, the fast past systems are turned off on most rides Nothing like going on Soaring 3 or 4 times in a row with a maximum 5 minute wait [they even shut down the second screen]. That being said that's the time they do major maintenance/upgrade work on some rides, one Janurary GRR was shut down for a few days so no short lines for that ride

I'm not finding things too bad this summer. Yesterday [Aug 1] was busy, I was getting fast passes for a few rides at 3pm that told me to come back 6 hours later. And the wait times for some rides were over 70min [Space Mountain and Splash Mountain]. The rest were around 20-40 minutes. And this was on a summer weekend, late afternoon.

Many times I only had to wait 5 minutes on a few rides, but I was going as a single rider on a few [Maliboomer, Soaring, GRR]. If your group is small on some rides you can get bumped in front on some rides [such as Soarin] as they try to fill up seats.

I was debating taking my family out during an August weekend vs a August weekday... but I don't have a problem doing it during a weekend now.

[Zovreign]

Originally Posted by goofy10

How do you think Monday, August 17 is gonna look? I know it will no longer be a blocked day for some annual passes, but it's a Monday... hmm

Some annual passes don't have blackout dates. Don't forget, for the locals Monday is a work day, so I wouldn't worry about local AP's flooding the park during a workweek.