HydroGuy's High Season/Off Season Tradeoff Rule

[RADOPT]

We went the week between Christmas and New Years and so many blogs, etc has me petrified that our vacation would be absolutely horrible and worthless due to the crowds.

Same here but we where there Jan 2-5. I kept lookng at the people thinking "where is the crowd?" Then I looked at the app - they where all in 90 - 200 + minute lines. We did everything we wanted in less then 4 days by planning and using MaxPass for 2 days. The longest line we stood in was 60 minutes but we only stood in 3 ride lines the whole time sowe where ok with it. We had a amazing time!

 

[smartlabelprint]

I agree that this old thread is being resurrected at a great timel! We are "off season" folks - we have put off going during Spring Break and during the holidays for end of February and early March. However, I have a feeling that after this upcoming trip we may considering changing that. The issue for us about going during the summer time is that we use Disneyland as an opportunity to get a break from our cold Canadian winters. This year though it looks like while hours are longer during Spring Break - there will still be ride closures happening along with larger crowds.

We don't go in assuming you can eat your cake and have it too, low crowd days are few and far between now, you take your chances with anytime you pick and we've had something down or under construction on every trip but honestly the more you know about getting the most out of your time is your secret weapon and all the advice found on this board has made our trips the success they have been!!

This is true for us as well. I’m not leaving home in summer. We have 9 mos of winter and 3 mos of summer.

I’m hoping spring break will work well for us. We really need the extended hours since we have early bird kids with special needs.

I don’t want to go in nov anymore. It was our go to but we don’t do Halloween. Now it takes over space mountain and Carsland. Plus gotg. So we’d be down 5 rides-3 of them major.

 

[sherilaine]

This is true for us as well. I’m not leaving home in summer. We have 9 mos of winter and 3 mos of summer.

I’m hoping spring break will work well for us. We really need the extended hours since we have early bird kids with special needs.

I don’t want to go in nov anymore. It was our go to but we don’t do Halloween. Now it takes over space mountain and Carsland. Plus gotg. So we’d be down 5 rides-3 of them major.

I hear you about Halloween - how did it become a 6 week holiday? I hate Halloween so you will never see me there between end of September to end of November! I have half considered Christmas though - kids are off school and it's free time but honestly it must be a lot more expensive? But yes, why on earth would anyone who lives in the north go to California in the summer - unless it's for work!

 

[HydroGuy]

All:

Lots of good comments here. For good measure check out this recent post from the WDW forum on high season/off season and see if it has any relevance to DLR crowds:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/is-disney-more-crowded-or-less.3655995/#post-58640495

 

[smartlabelprint]

All:

Lots of good comments here. For good measure check out this recent post from the WDW forum on high season/off season and see if it has any relevance to DLR crowds:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/is-disney-more-crowded-or-less.3655995/#post-58640495

I did not read all the links in the post you Linked. But I agree wait times aren’t much different. They do artificially manufacture crowds in slower periods by lower hours, etc.

For me what I appreciated about “slow season” was not touching people all the time. When DCA was still empty 2008ish i loved it when people on boards like these were making snarky comments about how it wasn’t Disney enough, or whatever. I loved empty streets. I loved how Disneyland felt as open as DCA does on a busy day now. I hate being packed in like sardines.

I hate that park hopping takes longer than it used to. The gates often have a line. I also hate the security line. People say to get there early. We get there early and stand in lines for an hour. Security then gate then rope. I’d rather just add 10 minutes at each line in fantasyland and get there after opening. (Granted-our last visits have all had 10 am openings).