I'm sitting here shaking my head and chuckling a little as I'm reading this thread... The entire thing a nearly verbatim recitation of the conversations DH and I have been having since approximately June 13th.
I didn't grow up going to the Disney parks. DH, on the other hand, went for one day every summer when he was a kid. His experience was always hot and insanely crowded with long wait times, so he assumed that was simply the way it was because he didn't know any different.
DH took me on my very first trip to a Disney park BACK IN '07, a surprise trip, and it was to DLR. We had 1day/1pk tix. It was the very end of June and I was 7mos pg. It was HOT. it was CROWDED. My feet were grotesquely swollen, I had to use the bathroom once an hour, and by all rights it should have been an absolutely miserable trip. The only thing that saved us was that before we'd left, my SIL told DH to get me a "special pregnancy pass" so I wouldn't have to wait in line. I distinctly remember lumbering into City Hall and asking a CM for this special pass they issue to expectant guests...
He very politely informed me that there was no such thing but offered a guest assistance pass (and a wheelchair!) instead.
What very easily could have been the most wretched day of my life was actually wonderful, the MOST fun I'd ever had, thanks to that pass. It was on that trip that I caught the Disney bug. But I couldn't BELIEVE DH had taken me there in that condition during that time of year. I told him I'd love to go back again just NOT in the summer.
I don't pretend to be a Disney expert. I'm more of an ardent fan. But I felt going at that time of year was a big lesson. NONE of our subsequent trips have been during high season or busy periods. I refuse to wait in line. It feels like an enormous waste of time (and money). And I want to enjoy my trip. I don't want crowds detracting from the magic. And we PLAN. We research. I'm utterly amazed at these folks who are going this summer and without a clue about CL. It's been coming for a couple years now and I TRULY don't think that it was necessary to be a rabid Disneyphile to be aware it was opening Summer 2012. The phrase "know before you go" is so important... at least in our book.
And now I don't know how many times DH has remarked to me that he "never knew DIsneyland could be like this" and says it's so much more fun than when he went as a kid!!!