After our last trip, considering cancelling our Christmas 2018...

[smartlabelprint]

We probably get 6 rides in a day for our toddlers. They have special needs, we use the DAS. We come for a minimum of 6 days in the parks. We can only spend about 5 hours in the park. Plus maybe some food in the park.

 

[Sergio S]

Perhaps, but as most of the PP have stated that wouldn’t affect crowds nearly as much as controlling the number of APs.

Crowds weren't bad at all when I got my AP in July. I take my daughter and son once a week and I have noticed little by little, the crowds seemed to get bigger and bigger. It was getting more noticeable when we started parking further and further away in M&Fs. When they started having crowd control CMs near Jungle Cruise, thats when I realize its becoming unbearable. What use to be a 4-6 hour visit is now a 2-4 hour visit with them doing two rides a day and having dinner and we're done. We don't even stay on site for the fireworks anymore.

But another clue that the park was getting crowded with locals...I talk to people waiting in line for a ride. In July, I spoke with families and some Solos from all over the US (Texas especially) and a rather unpleasant couple from France. Yesterday...it was mostly "Long Beach, Fullerton, West LA, San Gabriel, etc."

I always thought that instead of an unlimited number of visits an AP can get, Disney brass should drop the black out dates and then "cap" the number of visits per year an AP can get... more of a tier system.

Min- 10 Visits
Low- 25
Mid - 45
High- 85
Max - 120

I haven't thought of it fully but that's just a thought I had. The only downside...whats gonna stop people from purchasing a low priced pass over and over again.

 

[GeneralTso]

You are absolutely right, OP. When it's crowded there, it's miserable. I don't care that it's Disneyland, it's miserable. It's getting harder and harder to find reasonable crowds anymore. It's a matter of a bit less crowded, never uncrowded. Crowd level 2 days were still crowded. It still felt crazy after noon.

It's time to travel to other parts of the country and world when a Disney trip leaves you feeling frustrated. We go often enough that I try to plan to avoid insane crowds, but like I said, sometimes it's just bad no matter what. We travel other places so there's a nice balance. Love Disney, but it gets to be too much sometimes.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Crowds weren't bad at all when I got my AP in July. I take my daughter and son once a week and I have noticed little by little, the crowds seemed to get bigger and bigger. It was getting more noticeable when we started parking further and further away in M&Fs. When they started having crowd control CMs near Jungle Cruise, thats when I realize its becoming unbearable. What use to be a 4-6 hour visit is now a 2-4 hour visit with them doing two rides a day and having dinner and we're done. We don't even stay on site for the fireworks anymore.

But another clue that the park was getting crowded with locals...I talk to people waiting in line for a ride. In July, I spoke with families and some Solos from all over the US (Texas especially) and a rather unpleasant couple from France. Yesterday...it was mostly "Long Beach, Fullerton, West LA, San Gabriel, etc."

I always thought that instead of an unlimited number of visits an AP can get, Disney brass should drop the black out dates and then "cap" the number of visits per year an AP can get... more of a tier system.

Min- 10 Visits
Low- 25
Mid - 45
High- 85
Max - 120

I haven't thought of it fully but that's just a thought I had. The only downside...whats gonna stop people from purchasing a low priced pass over and over again.

I like this idea. And a system like
This wouldn't have to be only southern cal. There are plenty of AZ and other guests that would benefit from this type of system.

There may still need to be blackout dates. Or limits of how many days can be used during peak days.

Tiers of visit numbers combined with peak and non-peak pricing.

 

[MalkaR]

So going the Sunday after July 4th isn't a terrible idea? It just seems so counterintuitive, but it's a blackout day for the first two tiers of AP.

 

[MacMama0930]

So going the Sunday after July 4th isn't a terrible idea? It just seems so counterintuitive, but it's a blackout day for the first two tiers of AP.

Last year the weekend after the 4th of July was rated a 3 and 4 respectively on the touring plan crowds calendar. I think it's a great idea.

 

[lcp9]

So going the Sunday after July 4th isn't a terrible idea? It just seems so counterintuitive, but it's a blackout day for the first two tiers of AP.

haha that's how I feel! I'm totally scared to plan a few thousand dollar vacation for a weekend that I imagine would just be heinous

 

[Buson808]

Went 3 years in a row in late January. Very minimal crowds. Got to ride pretty much everything at least twice in a day. Longest wait line was cars at 30 mins. No fasspass used all 5 days we were there.

 

[az4boys]

I had asked on here if July or October would be better and got mixed responses. We haven't gone as a family since January 2013 so picking a good time to go was a big deal to me. It is hard to work around school schedules though, especially now that my kids are getting older. We planned a trip for October, but made a last minute decision to go in July. On day 3 of the PH tickets, we upgraded to Deluxe AP's. This is going to be our year of Disney and then we won't go back for a few years.

Well, we just got back from our initially scheduled October trip. As far as crowds, July 9-12 was so much nicer than October 12-14. I told my husband yesterday as we were waiting in a long security line that if we didn't have AP's I would probably be miserable with the crowds. My kids joked that there was a line for the line for the line. Line to get on the Toy Story bus (we stayed at the Homewood Suites and walked to the bus), line to get through security, and a line to get into the parks. All were so much worse on this trip than in July. I do think that July was nicer partially because the two So-cal passes were blocked. I had previously thought summer, especially July, was the high-peak/avoid at all cost time of year, but I have a different opinion now!

In July, we had a grand time with traditional fast passes that were available late, and quite often immediately. Maybe we just got lucky because they were experimenting with the fast pass system before Maxpass started a week later. Our first day we got there at 8pm and still got so much done, including fast passes for Indy and Matterhorn. On this trip, Maxpass is the only reason we rode any rides in the evenings. We did as much as we could in the mornings, then went back to the hotel by 1-2pm. At the hotel, I was diligent about lining up fast passes for evening. All stand-by lines were too long for us and most fast passes ran out by the time we got back to the parks. My advice: If you are going to be there when it is crowded and you care about rides, getting MaxPass is a must. On Friday night, the lines for Toy Story and RSR were over 2 hours. Several other rides were just as long, or nearly as long. Thursday was about the same. They kept announcing something about apologizing that the stand by wait time was going to be longer than expected. When we left RSR, the posted wait time was 150 minutes, but I wouldn't be surprised if some people waited longer. I do think Disney might scare away infrequent visitors if the crowds & lines are always that bad. When we left on Saturday around noon, there were lines at the ticket booths. I was curious if any were buying day tickets. I wanted to warn them about how bad the lines were. We still had a good time on our trip, but we certainly didn't do everything. I'm just glad we didn't pick October as our once every 3-4 year trip because I would have been disappointed.

 

[VeNoMiZeD]

I'm heading to DL on Dec 13-17th staying on site and going in the parks on 14-16th of this year. Will those days be packed any events happening on those days?

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

October is the 2nd busiest month at Disneyland, and its been this way for awhile.
I'm sorry you had a rough trip. That is why research is super important, Gay Days and holidays merged into one weekend and on top of that having the halloween party friday night caused a lot of crowds.

 

[dina444444]

I'm heading to DL on Dec 13-17th staying on site and going in the parks on 14-16th of this year. Will those days be packed any events happening on those days?

Those will be the last few days APs are not blocked before the holiday block starts.

 

[love2go2disney2]

We are starting to plan our trips, when the APs are blocked. We were at Disneyland Jan 1 thru through the 6th! The day the APs became unblocked the PARK was at capacity! The other 2 days were actually nice. We learned , and we are not going unless the so cal pass are blocked! It just want we noticed and made a decision. We are also go to WDW this winter, and we booked our Disneyland trip for the first week in July.

 

[PirateRedhead]

Um... things have changed from 2012. A LOT!

Have they ever. We went in fall 2012, right after Cars Land opened, when our son turned 2. There were crazy waits for RSR because it was new, but the crowds felt pretty normal and manageable otherwise. We didn't visit again until January 26-29 of this year, and we naively expected it to be the same. We were totally overwhelmed. We were there the Saturday of the week that MSEP reopened, and sometimes we couldn't even move. The difference was staggering.

I'm curious about it, really. What accounts for such a massive shift in crowd levels in such a relatively short period of time? There must be some theories about why the crowds have intensified so hugely. Is it a result of the 60th? Is DLR really becoming more of a resort destination? I hear all the time that APs are part of the issue - have a significantly higher number of APs been purchased in the last 5 years?

 

[DLfan4]

Um... things have changed from 2012. A LOT!

Yes, they have.
But I heard from others that January still has lower crowds than December, or other busy times. is that not correct? is January just as busy as December now?

 

[beachdreamr1229]

This past year, I finally figured out what everyone was saying about the lower tier APs being the reason it's so crowded. My family splurged on the deluxe and signature tiers since we were going to D23. I was shocked at how empty the parks were in July compared to even January and February. It really depends on when you go. Weekdays from around January 10-February 28 tend to be okay (less so if it's a Monday or Friday of a 3 or 4 day weekend). March gets progressively more crowded. Mid-March through Mid-April are bad, then you get another 2-3 weeks before the grad nite season starts. After that, it's all over until July. July-August are actually great if you can tolerate the heat. Low crowds again for the first 2 weeks of September, but after that, it gets bad again due to Halloween and immediately after, Christmas.

At this point, if we don't do APs, we stay for 4-5 days. Otherwise, you just can't enjoy it. If you're not super familiar with how to navigate the parks, 6 days is even better. Anyway, I used to go every year, but we've started alternating years. I'm torn on 2019 though...without the new parking structure, it's going to be a mess once SWL opens. May have to wait until 2020 depending on early reports.

 

[Geemo]

I'm heading to DL on Dec 13-17th staying on site and going in the parks on 14-16th of this year. Will those days be packed any events happening on those days?

This thread has info for planning
2017
https://www.disboards.com/threads/2017-calendar-of-events-school-breaks-and-dlr.3528760/
2018
https://www.disboards.com/threads/2018-calendar-of-events-school-breaks-and-dlr.3635162/

 

[DLgal]

So going the Sunday after July 4th isn't a terrible idea? It just seems so counterintuitive, but it's a blackout day for the first two tiers of AP.

We went ON the 4th this year and it was DEAD. So enjoyable! I highly recommend coming that week. Many locals head to the beach.

 

[DLgal]

Yes, they have.
But I heard from others that January still has lower crowds than December, or other busy times. is that not correct? is January just as busy as December now?

January is still slow but there are typically a lot of rides down for refurbishment, plus it is rainy season.

 

[cali_crafter]

Columbus Day week has become one of the most popular weeks it seems. Many California schools have fall break that week, and it is becoming even more common. That was our normal week to go every few years and it was always fine until last year when it was out of control busy.

The best week we have gone recently was the week before Thanksgiving, although that was 4 ago. I agree that there seems to be no slow season anymore. We are trying out a Saturday in a few weeks. We know it will be busy but at least the hours are longer and all the shows and rides are running (or scheduled to be so, weather and breakage considering).