Can anyone at Disneyland right now report crowd levels for this week? :) (any days between 10/5/19 through 10/13/19)

We were there over the holiday weekend Friday evening to Monday evening. My friend and I have been doing a Halloween DL trip for 5 years now and this was by far the most crowded but also probably the best weather. We are likely going back to September trips again, but I would do Columbus Day weekend with her again. It was crowded, but with MaxPass we got a ton done. I probably wouldn't want to go as a larger group as navigating the parks was a challenge and there was only two of us and we are both well versed.

We couldn't get our usual close hotel so we had to walk from the Hilton, it actually wasn't as bad as I remembered, but I still prefer to be closer.
 
She said the parks were slow in September, so that’s when we’ll come for Halloween next year!

It's so weird to me, I was there from September 8-22 and it did not at all feel slow to me! We went last year from Aug31-Sept7 and the Sunday before Labor Day seemed alright, but then I was expecting it to be packed both because of the holiday and Bug's Land closing so it wasn't as bad as my expectations... the rest of the week it just got progressively worse, but then the hours were much shorter: 10-8 for both parks, and they weren't running all the rides at full capacity which was really frustrating to me so even when the crowds didn't seem that bad the wait times were still longer, but it was never not crowded. By our last day with Halloween time just starting it was packed shoulder to shoulder people everywhere, even with Maxpass we were only able to manage a few rides and park hopping was just not manageable between the lines getting in and crowds so tight weaving through them was impossible. I swore last year I was never coming back for Halloween but then I saw the longer hours, heard about the lighter crowds this year and the parties moved to DCA and thought with an Annual Pass so that we could do more days it might be worth a shot.

It was definitely better this year in the mornings since they opened 2 hours earlier, especially the first week we were there, but the evenings were very crowded despite being open an extra 3 hours, imo, navigating Main Street started becoming difficult hours before the parade. SWGE never seemed too bad besides the Cantina always had a line (this was a surprise to me... you make reservations only to stand in line for an hour -crazy!... especially considering there's really nothing to do there once you are inside) and the shortest wait for smuggler's run we saw posted was 30 minutes, but it actually turned out to be closer to 50 minutes. The weekend of the 13-15 seemed horribly crowded to me, I did not want to be there it was so bad but we had a friend with us just for those days, even in the morning it was very difficult and took us a long time to get through security and into the parks and even the mobile orders were taking a long time and fast passes were all gone for both parks pretty early... I thought there was something wrong with the app at first. It sounds like it's definitely worse now, but to me it was already awful that weekend and we left hours before closing every day because it just wasn't worth it even though we'd taken midday breaks because it was SO HOT... I feel like at least crowds would be easier to handle in better weather.
 
We were there over the weekend Sat - Mon. I have been in DL on Christmas Day and the 4th of July and my family felt like Sat / Sun were more crowded than those days. We were on Flex Passes so no EMH for us. We waited in line fo Space Mountain for over an hour to just have the ride break down. We talked to a cast member on the way out and they told us to check with Town Hall and they would probably issue is a FP.

When we did talk to guest services, they gave us a FP (very accommodating). The CM at guest services told us they were having a lot of trouble with the rides due to the high winds late last week.
 


Another thing I will add. My friend’s husband has some sort of android phone. Around 3pm yesterday, the Disneyland app told him DCA was totally out of fastpasses. When I checked on my phone (iPhone XR), I saw that there were fastpasses left. He tried logging on, removing and reading the app and the same thing popped up. So I ended up linking all of the tickets to my phone and booking fastpasses on my end. I’ve heard about Androids having issues with the DL app.

The advice of going at rope drop is very crucial. The morning was very nice. We did the major headliners by 1pm. Despite the craziness we managed a show, sitting down for breaks, snacks, lunch, and dinner. Maxpass was also a big help, but if the app is down, that can throw that out of the window. So there is hope if I’m the future people decide to go at this time. I think part of the problem is many people are taken back by the crowds and it showed when I would see people looking lost, and bewildered.
 
It's so weird to me, I was there from September 8-22 and it did not at all feel slow to me!
The weekend of the 13-15 seemed horribly crowded to me, I did not want to be there it was so bad but we had a friend with us just for those days, even in the morning it was very difficult and took us a long time to get through security and into the parks and even the mobile orders were taking a long time and fast passes were all gone for both parks pretty early...
Huh. I was there all day on September 14 and we didn't think it was too crowded at all, and my FP data for that day looks pretty moderate. This past Saturday was LIGHT YEARS more crowded than September 14! Absolutely no comparison.

I will say that September definitely did have evening crowds show up for the Electrical Parade, and also for Halloween Screams... so evenings in September, especially on weekends, felt a lot different than the daytimes.

So all of the comments that said Disney raising prices was the reason for the low crowds last Summer was absolute nonsense. Seems like crowds this Fall are just as bad as ever. No appreciable drop in attendance caused by Disney raising prices.
Ehhh, it's more complicated than that. As noted by many people on this thread, the bulk of the crowds right now are tourists, including what seem like an awful lot of first-time visitors. The price increase for spending a few days of Fall Break at Disney weren't that significant, especially for people who were going to take a trip over break to begin with, you know? And I think that the "empty park" summer stories encouraged a lot of visitors, and a lot of people who wanted to check out SWGE thought that those crowds would "die down" by the fall so planned trips for here then... not realizing that things worked out very differently than they expected!

I do think that the higher prices factored in somewhat this summer. Locally, I know a LOT of APs who didn't renew this year (so in late August, when APs unblocked and the anticipated crowds didn't materialize, I think that was a big factor), and even some people who used to do something like a yearly birthday Disney day didn't do that this year, either, citing the prices. The thing is that people don't want to pay those higher prices and then have the parks be insane, which is what people expected this summer. Local people will hold out for ticket deals (I can think of several families who'd had lower APs who said "we're not renewing and we'll just go three days next spring when the ticket deal is out" - they assume that deal will happen every year, which, of course, is debatable).

What's happened with crowds this year has been pretty fascinating, and I'm very curious to see what happens with the holidays this year and then ROTR opening in January. It's unprecedentedly unpredictable... and DL crowds have always been famously unpredictable!
 
Huh. I was there all day on September 14 and we didn't think it was too crowded at all, and my FP data for that day looks pretty moderate. This past Saturday was LIGHT YEARS more crowded than September 14! Absolutely no comparison.

Yeah, for me I thought it was brutal that day, especially with the heat -even with a fast pass on Indy it took over 20 minutes to get through the line. There was already long lines to get into M&F at 7am and long lines at security and trying to get on the tram all together was very stressful, we had to wait for a few and almost didn't get on the one we did... it took 3 times as long to get through everything just to get in as on the weekday mornings. There were crowds everywhere, even Winnie the Pooh ride was a long wait. I was getting evening fast passes for DCA before we left around noon, iirc There was an insane line just to check in for fast pass at the Haunted Mansion. I saw the longest line I have ever seen for Buzz Lightyear's Astro blasters going so far back I didn't even realize what the line was for! It reminded me of when I went during Christmas in 2001, even worse by about 7pm... too much for me! I definitely would not want to be there now for sure. I mean it was definitely doable and at least before the parade crowds came while still crowded I wouldn't at all say it was TOO crowded (except for me, but my tolerance for crowds is pretty low) and if not for the extreme heat I think we could've easily done most everything that weekend, but I just would not consider it "slow" if that makes sense.
 


Yeah, for me I thought it was brutal that day, especially with the heat -even with a fast pass on Indy it took over 20 minutes to get through the line. There was already long lines to get into M&F at 7am and long lines at security and trying to get on the tram all together was very stressful, we had to wait for a few and almost didn't get on the one we did... it took 3 times as long to get through everything just to get in as on the weekday mornings. There were crowds everywhere, even Winnie the Pooh ride was a long wait. I was getting evening fast passes for DCA before we left around noon, iirc There was an insane line just to check in for fast pass at the Haunted Mansion. I saw the longest line I have ever seen for Buzz Lightyear's Astro blasters going so far back I didn't even realize what the line was for! It reminded me of when I went during Christmas in 2001, even worse by about 7pm... too much for me! I definitely would not want to be there now for sure. I mean it was definitely doable and at least before the parade crowds came while still crowded I wouldn't at all say it was TOO crowded (except for me, but my tolerance for crowds is pretty low) and if not for the extreme heat I think we could've easily done most everything that weekend, but I just would not consider it "slow" if that makes sense.
It was slow for Halloweentime. 😊 🎃 If someone wants to see Halloween decorations, September is better than October (until the last week or so of October, which usually calms down - we’ll see if that’s true this year!) So when PP said next year they’ll come in September to see Halloween stuff, that’s a reasonable idea.

The heat was definitely brutal for parts of September! I wish it would cool down a bit now, but it’s not terrible.
 
that's standard EMH at Disneyland ... those are always the only lands open during that hour. I have never seen them change that.
Those 2 areas are the only ones open for EMH normally, so I’m not sure why it would be a surprise...
This has always been the case. Or at least as far as i remember it has only been Fantasy land and Tomorrow Land...
Exactly right, everyone. And we repeat that information very often on this board. The news is out there so that everyone can plan accordingly. MM/EMH is not the time to do the whole park -- it is a great time (with good planning) to hit the dark rides that aren't on the FP system and to get a jump on MP.

I get the winds impacting rides like Silly Swings or Golden zephyr, but why would Haunted Mansion, Space, and Pirates break down due to winds? 🤔
It might have something to do with their electrical system. With all the power shut offs and other power headaches caused by the winds, it wouldn't surprise me if DLR is having some residual issues.
 
It was slow for Halloweentime. 😊 🎃 If someone wants to see Halloween decorations, September is better than October (until the last week or so of October, which usually calms down - we’ll see if that’s true this year!) So when PP said next year they’ll come in September to see Halloween stuff, that’s a reasonable idea.

The heat was definitely brutal for parts of September! I wish it would cool down a bit now, but it’s not terrible.

It's so hard for me to wrap my head around! I've been going in September for over twenty years (not every year though) and it's been quite a shift in the last decade getting more and more crowded -just when I think it can't get any worse it does.... those extra early morning hours this year though were great along with having everything going and the extra land, ride wait times didn't seem quite as bad as they could've been considering I still got the impression there were more people than ever showing up especially in the evenings, I guess it makes sense with this being the first year the Halloween Screams was open to everyone. I was thinking when I was there maybe I should've waited until later in October, ha! I had nooooo idea apparently.
 
that's standard EMH at Disneyland ... those are always the only lands open during that hour. I have never seen them change that.

Thanks for the empathy! 🤪

We’ve never stayed on property before so it was new to us..... and quite frankly stupid when the parks are so crowded. I mean, just because they’ve always done something doesn’t mean it’s smart practice.

And to the poster who said EMH aren’t intended to do the entire park.... yes. We realize that. We weren’t intending on trying to do the entire park this morning. My point is simply that on days it’s so crowded, perhaps opening up a few more attractions would be helpful so everyone’s isn’t waiting 30 minutes to ride Toad. 🤪😂🤦‍♀️

It is what it is and now we know to be prepared if we ever deal with crowds like this again. EMH just work much better at WDW because there are more parks so everyone is more spread out. Now we know what to expect at DLR. Not sure why it didn’t need occur to me that it would be a total
Cluster this morning. 🤦‍♀️
 
Exactly right, everyone. And we repeat that information very often on this board. The news is out there so that everyone can plan accordingly. MM/EMH is not the time to do the whole park -- it is a great time (with good planning) to hit the dark rides that aren't on the FP system and to get a jump on MP.

We weren’t intending to do the entire park. And I guarantee any planning anyone had went out the window today with these crowds. Everything had a long wait in Fantasyland. It’s fine and now we know what to expect if there are crowds like this again!
 
Oh and for anyone wondering,
Today is much better than Monday. It’s busy and crowded, but other than our EMH experience, which I guess shame on us for not knowing how that would go, everything was much easier to maneuver than yesterday! Ending our mini trip on a high note!
 
FWIW, Pretty much everything is usually open in DCA during EMH with the occasional exception of rides that can be slow to come online at park open regardless of EMH or not (I'm looking at you TSMM. And sometimes RSR and IC). I find EMH to be much more valuable at DCA over DL.

DL's EMH is also not exclusive to on site guests as it coincides with Magic Morning and basically everyone with a 3-day or longer ticket gets access to MM.
 
Oh and for anyone wondering,
Today is much better than Monday. It’s busy and crowded, but other than our EMH experience, which I guess shame on us for not knowing how that would go, everything was much easier to maneuver than yesterday! Ending our mini trip on a high note!

I'm so glad to hear today is better! It was really making me sad to read these reports... I started looking through my photos from five years ago and even in late September the firework crowds were less than the day crowds this year in September, it's just gotten so bad. And fwiw, I was really shocked the first time we did a MM in Disneyland and only those two areas were open, it was very disappointing, I honestly don't know how people are supposed to know this stuff? I think it was after that experience that I started checking out this place hoping to be better prepared and I still run into surprises all the time -very frustrating! I definitely agree with pharmama that DCA is better use of that early morning hour... this year I upgraded my 5 day park hoppers to flex passes and didn't even worry that I was giving up a MM.
 
Got to the parks at 10 today after early morning flight. We went to DCA and I did not think it was busy at all. We did not get through cars land but managed almost all other rides and left at 3 for early dinner in Disneyland. Hoping Disneyland is as easy tomorrow as DCA was today!
 

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