It's kind of awful this week.

[kyrkea333]

We went in late June. The crowd levels were a 9. We masked the entire time except when eating, even in hotel hallways and elevators. We were usually the only people with masks, though we did see a handful of other people wearing them. We have been home for 3 weeks, covid free. I think the masks really do help. We wore N95s and KN94s.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate hearing that!

 

[Aurora0427]

We were there Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and I thought is was just me. I’m glad to know it wasn’t though I’m sorry for your experience and everyone else who also did not feel the magic last week. Tuesday was just awful. Wait times were instantaneously 40 mins. You couldn’t move by 8:30am. Trash in the queues, CMs bordering on surly. It felt like a run of the mill amusement park, certainly not the Disneyland I’ve known and loved all my life. When we hopped over to DCA after our break that afternoon so many rides were down and wait times were so ridiculous there was literally nothing to do so we went back over to Disneyland. So weird as DCA is usually where we go to escape the crazy. We ended up calling it a night at 8pm. Wednesday and Thursday were better but I honestly don’t know when the next time will be that I drop that amount of cash for the type of experience we had. Never thought twice about it in the past, have held APs multiple times and have always been willing to pay the extra because Disney has always gone above and beyond. Now not so much.

I will say the extra $20 a pop was absolutely worth it for ROTR. Mobile ordering rocked. Genie+, meh. Maxpass was the sweet spot while still giving others who didn’t want to pay for it a fair shot at decent wait times.

We were there Wednesday and it was nuts. I didn’t read the Disney genie thread before we went, so I didn’t stack my LL for our park hop to DCA correctly, and we were only able to ride Guardians and Ariel…. But now I feel like I’m prepared for next time. We did get a lot done at Disneyland, but I completely botched our park hop. We left at 1 and took a 3 hour break at the hotel because it was hot and crazy!

 

[Aurora0427]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate hearing that!

We were there Wednesday and my mom- who is 69, 4 shots- wore a kN95 everywhere. I mean, EVERYWHERE. We only ate outdoors and asked for tables out of the way…. I nicely explained that my mom has not had Covid yet and if we could have an outdoor table out of the way, we’d appreciate it. The CMs were so understanding and helpful with that. So it’s now Monday and so far she’s not sick. But she masked outdoors, indoors, on rides, and only took it off to eat outside.

 

[DLgal]

Not to hijack this thread but we went today (Sunday) and it was actually quite nice! Are weekends the new less-crowded days?

Not really new. Weekends have been less busy than weekdays (particularly in the summer) for a while. I think you primarily go on weekdays, right? Might wanna switch that up. It's one of the main reasons we got Dream Keys. Saturdays are less busy than Sundays, in my experience, but Sunday MORNINGS have long been slow. Up until about 11 or so. I have fond memories of Sunday mornings with my toddler boys and we were sometimes the only people around on many walkways. The oldest is now 18. We joke that DL is our "church."

Our family used to always go Sundays but about a year ago we switched our family days to Saturday and Saturdays are usually very pleasant!

 

[Aurora0427]

Not really new. Weekends have been less busy than weekdays (particularly in the summer) for a while. I think you primarily go on weekdays, right? Might wanna switch that up. It's one of the main reasons we got Dream Keys. Saturdays are less busy than Sundays, in my experience, but Sunday MORNINGS have long been slow. Up until about 11 or so. I have fond memories of Sunday mornings with my toddler boys and we were sometimes the only people around on many walkways. The oldest is now 18. We joke that DL is our "church."

Our family used to always go Sundays but about a year ago we switched our family days to Saturday and Saturdays are usually very pleasant!

We moved to San Diego in 2019, and Sunday mornings that year were wonderful. We would come up for two nights, and have so many happy memories of spending Sunday morning in a deserted Toontown with Pluto, my girls running around with him. It was so special.

I really wish that dream pass would come back……

 

[wenrob]

We were there Wednesday and it was nuts. I didn’t read the Disney genie thread before we went, so I didn’t stack my LL for our park hop to DCA correctly, and we were only able to ride Guardians and Ariel…. But now I feel like I’m prepared for next time. We did get a lot done at Disneyland, but I completely botched our park hop. We left at 1 and took a 3 hour break at the hotel because it was hot and crazy!

See we did stack on Wed/Thurs and managed to do a bunch of stuff in the morning before getting LL. But we also avoided the parks between 1-4pm. There was still a ton broke down in DCA especially on Thursday. At one point it felt like everything was down at once.

 

[Aurora0427]

See we did stack on Wed/Thurs and managed to do a bunch of stuff in the morning before getting LL. But we also avoided the parks between 1-4pm. There was still a ton broke down in DCA especially on Thursday. At one point it felt like everything was down at once.

Yes, I don’t know what is the deal with DCA. It seems like multiple rides down frequently.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Not really new. Weekends have been less busy than weekdays (particularly in the summer) for a while. I think you primarily go on weekdays, right? Might wanna switch that up. It's one of the main reasons we got Dream Keys. Saturdays are less busy than Sundays, in my experience, but Sunday MORNINGS have long been slow. Up until about 11 or so. I have fond memories of Sunday mornings with my toddler boys and we were sometimes the only people around on many walkways. The oldest is now 18. We joke that DL is our "church."

Our family used to always go Sundays but about a year ago we switched our family days to Saturday and Saturdays are usually very pleasant!

We do both. But I had two super slammed weekend visits in May and June so I wasn’t sure what the new pattern was this summer. I’m sold on Sundays for now!

Edit: My son has Believe so he’s blocked on Saturdays this month.

 

[AustinTink]

I didn’t read the Disney genie thread before we went, so I didn’t stack my LL for our park hop to DCA correctly, and we were only able to ride Guardians and Ariel…. But now I feel like I’m prepared for next time.

I think I'm in trouble because I have no idea what stacking LLs means.

ETA: I know the term in theory but I really think I'm going to mess it up when I'm there.

 

[AustinTink]

but Sunday MORNINGS have long been slow. Up until about 11 or so. I have fond memories of Sunday mornings with my toddler boys and we were sometimes the only people around on many walkways. The oldest is now 18. We joke that DL is our "church."

Our family used to always go Sundays but about a year ago we switched our family days to Saturday and Saturdays are usually very pleasant!

One of the reasons I chose to start our days on a Sunday. I thought it would we similar to our local park. People come from all over the country travel here to visit Schlitterbahn, the waterpark near us. But, Sundays are always empty until about noon when church gets out. Then the locals flood in. We had annual passes for many years and always went on Sundays.

 

[laugard]

Not really new. Weekends have been less busy than weekdays (particularly in the summer) for a while. I think you primarily go on weekdays, right? Might wanna switch that up. It's one of the main reasons we got Dream Keys. Saturdays are less busy than Sundays, in my experience, but Sunday MORNINGS have long been slow. Up until about 11 or so. I have fond memories of Sunday mornings with my toddler boys and we were sometimes the only people around on many walkways. The oldest is now 18. We joke that DL is our "church."

Our family used to always go Sundays but about a year ago we switched our family days to Saturday and Saturdays are usually very pleasant!

Yup, as OP emphasized, key word being slow MORNINGS. We booked a reservation on a whim yesterday at 12:30, got to the parking structure by 1:30 and stayed until 6. We knew what we were in for, but being local-ish (45 min. away), were ok with eating, soaking in the atmosphere and only riding a few (not our usual favorite) attractions. Between the heat, wanting to leave at 6 and Genie+ not being practical for our short visit, we knew long waits were not for us. But if we'd wanted to go on any of the big ticket rides, 45-60 min. would've been the standard.

 

[jrsharp21]

Hoping that it is not so crowded on our Friday visit in a few weeks. We are planning on staying for the full 16 hours from open to close. We have a first timer with us and want him to see as much as he can in that one day.

 

[Pluto468]

Hoping that it is not so crowded on our Friday visit in a few weeks. We are planning on staying for the full 16 hours from open to close. We have a first timer with us and want him to see as much as he can in that one day.

Depending on your dates, the LA schools may be back in session which would help with crowds.

 

[Aurora0427]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate hearing that!

So just an update…. My mom is 6 days out from our day at Disneyland and still Covid free. The incubation period for this variant is pretty quick… 2-3 days for most. So it looks like wearing her KN95 mask everywhere helped keep her healthy.

My girls and I are vaxxed and I am boosted and we had Covid over Memorial Day weekend and into early June. We did not mask and are still symptom free, so I definitely think having a recent Covid infection helps with immunity, at least short term.

Just providing an update because there has been some discussion and concern about Covid and Disneyland!

 

[deejdigsdis]

So just an update…. My mom is 6 days out from our day at Disneyland and still Covid free. The incubation period for this variant is pretty quick… 2-3 days for most. So it looks like wearing her KN95 mask everywhere helped keep her healthy.

My girls and I are vaxxed and I am boosted and we had Covid over Memorial Day weekend and into early June. We did not mask and are still symptom free, so I definitely think having a recent Covid infection helps with immunity, at least short term.

Just providing an update because there has been some discussion and concern about Covid and Disneyland!

Thanks for sharing your experience. I was one of the many that avoided it for 2 1/2 years and then got it a few weeks ago. My trip is in 3 weeks. I was hoping I would still be in that seemingly brief window of extra protection, having recently been infected.

ETA: I'm also glad to hear about your mom. That's great. My mom is 83 and has avoided it so far. I was with her before I knew I had been exposed. (Actually I had COVID and didn't know it yet). I was just counting those days until she seemed to be out of the woods. She didn't get it, thank goodness.

 

[DLgal]

We are heading back on Sunday for 2 nights at the Grand and I'm dreading my kids testing positive after we come back, but if they get it, at least I don't have to worry about getting it from them since I'm literally 3 weeks out from my infection. I already told them they will need to mask indoors. I am traveling out of state in mid August and don't need that trip disrupted by sick kids at home. We have not been to the parks since July 3 precisely because I didn't want anything to mess up our do over vacation.

We will be there on a dreaded Monday, but its mostly going to be about enjoying the resort anyway.

 

[DisneylandFan22]

For DL I am sure Toon Town being closed also impacts crowding. In addition to RR and GC remember that is where people would go to take pictures with Mickey and Minnie. I am interested to see what impact its reopening will have on crowding especially with Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway added (which I am excited about).

DCA really needs to get a show back in the Hyperion (or put a ride there) and add an e-ticket to AC. That would do a lot to help decrease crowding and ride times.

 

[Geemo]

I think I'm in trouble because I have no idea what stacking LLs means.

ETA: I know the term in theory but I really think I'm going to mess it up when I'm there.

"Stacking" "Fishing" for LL's is outlined in this thread.
The thread has grown since DLRExpert began in January.
But learning how to go for an LL that will turn into a LLEP is genius!!


Here is an excerpt from the thread.
4/18/22
The Lightning Lane Experience Pass (LLEP) is a pass given to the guest holding a LL return time, and the attraction breaks down during that return time.

 

[AustinTink]

DCA really needs to get a show back in the Hyperion (or put a ride there) and add an e-ticket to AC.

Agreed. And bonus points if they bring back Aladdin!

 

[AustinTink]

"Stacking" "Fishing" for LL's is outlined in this thread.
The thread has grown since DLRExpert began in January.
But learning how to go for an LL that will turn into a LLEP is genius!!


Here is an excerpt from the thread.
4/18/22
The Lightning Lane Experience Pass (LLEP) is a pass given to the guest holding a LL return time, and the attraction breaks down during that return time.

Thanks for the reference. It's a lot of absorb and manage. Tried explaining it to my husband and he said "it sounds like too much work for vacation".