2018 Choc Walk Aug 26th - park crowds?

[mershell]

Stop at the Sheraton Park. Leave the car out front with Mom inside -- explain to the valet that you'll be buying a ticket and won't take more than a few minutes. Go to the Disney desk (to the far right of the front desk). You'll need your AP, I.D., and form of payment. Took me all of 3 minutes to buy two tickets a few weeks ago. Then go park across the street at TS. M&F will be sort of a zoo because the walk participants are told to park there.

Thanks much!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Thanks much!

You're welcome -- hope your mom has a magical birthday in the parks! (Don't forget her birthday button -- the desk at the Sheraton might have one!)

 

[KPeterso]

I’m not sure how they are changing the route with the upcoming hotel construction. But it usually starts at DTD pretty early. I would assume, that as long as you avoid DTD and the walk route, you’d be ok. I would make sure you just don’t time it at the same time as the walk. We actually waited it out at our hotel (PPH) and was fine with security.

Actually the walk starts in Disneyland. The opening ceremonies are on Main Street, and then you walk through Disneyland into DCA, and end up in Downtown Disney with the finish line about where Splitsville is now and then a marketplace and festival type area to walk through and look at stuff and gather some swag. I have done the walk for several years. This year means more as a friend lost her nephew to cancer a few months ago and he was a CHOC patient. We will be there super early as we want to be at the front of the opening ceremonies.

 

[mershell]

It turns out we can perhaps go Friday instead, but my experience has been that Fridays are quite busy and I wonder if locals might shy away from Sunday and go Friday instead. I was quite surprised to find open ressies for most very popular restaurants on Sunday, but Friday is booked which got me thinking perhaps Friday might actually be worse. Thoughts?

 

[Skyegirl1999]

It turns out we can perhaps go Friday instead, but my experience has been that Fridays are quite busy and I wonder if locals might shy away from Sunday and go Friday instead. I was quite surprised to find open ressies for most very popular restaurants on Sunday, but Friday is booked which got me thinking perhaps Friday might actually be worse. Thoughts?

I think that after school/work this Friday will be very crowded - it's the first week that the low-level passes got back in, so I anticipate that they'll come out in droves at the end of the work/school week. No idea about the rest of the day, but a 9am opening does make for a nicer first hour or two than a 10am morning... especially this particular 10am morning... but I'd imagine Sunday evening will be better than Friday evening just because it's Sunday and people don't stay out as late, especially with so many people heading back to school. So it just depends what you prefer to deal with.

 

[Kimberly Klein]

It's incredibly crowded. I've been to Disneyland during every season (and on Easter and Thanksgiving Day) and the CHOC walk was the absolute worst of them all.

Went today the day of CHOC walk crowds were fine !!! Probably about 6/10

 

[smartlabelprint]

Went today the day of CHOC walk crowds were fine !!! Probably about 6/10

What time did you get there?
Where did you park?
Im curious and I think it will help those planning trips next year that may read old threads.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Reporting back: this had to be the easiest morning for CHOC Walk that we've ever experienced driving in. Drove right in to M&F at 4:30 am (structure opened at 4), everyone was directed to park on Daisy, bag check was a breeze (total change from last year!), DTD was really relaxed. Starbucks was hectic, but that was to be expected. Turnstile lines were long, as usual, but moved quickly. Was very surprised that there were no vendors afterward in DTD, but that meant no congestion in DTD after the Walk. I read that there were about 13,000 walkers this year, which is down from the last two years. So that could have contributed to the lower crowds in the parks, too.

 

[pharmama]

I agree that crowds really weren't that bad yesterday after the walk. I did feel like they were worse in DCA yesterday than DL by a fair margin-both park "feel" and wait times. Had a great weekend at the parks!

 

[Kimberly Klein]

We do CHOC Walk every year, and it's a very crowded day. Many walkers only have that one day in the parks, so they make the most of it. Definitely tell your friends to do anything they need to get done at the ticket booths the night before, if at all possible. The esplanade will be a mass of humanity for the morning while walkers get their discount tickets. They only get that one day to use their special offer for tickets, so they don't have the option to come back another time. Last year we had 14,000 walkers (and that was low because the date had been changed with relatively short notice). The year before, we had about 16,000 walkers. This year we still have the changed date but more advance notice, so no one knows yet how many people will sign up. DTD will be a mess in the morning, but should clear up by late morning/noon. Will your friends be staying on site or walking distance? Stay away from M&F until much later in the day. Walkers will fill that structure in the morning (Disney tells us to park there), and exiting the structure can take quite a while after the walk is over. The parks will be crowded all day, but it won't be any different from any other crowded day. Less than a bad day during Christmas week or HalloweenTime. Just use good planning and organization, take a break when needed, and have a positive attitude. Your friends should be fine.

Just to follow up we went on CHOC walk

It's incredibly crowded. I've been to Disneyland during every season (and on Easter and Thanksgiving Day) and the CHOC walk was the absolute worst of them all.

we went during CHOC this year and crowds were moderate . We got all the fast passes we needed easily! The lines were outside the park with walkers trying to buy their discounted tickets not INSIDE the park

 

[Kimberly Klein]

What time did you get there?
Where did you park?
Im curious and I think it will help those planning trips next year that may read old threads.

We went into California adventure around 11:30 am to let the crowds disappear a bit . Honestly the swarms of people in the parking lot and at the tickets counters is overwhelming! But we breezed through security and used MaXPass all day to get fast passes . Crowds not any different than the Friday prior . The Thursday of he week before was waaaay worse as all AP holders allowed

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Just to follow up we went on CHOC walk

we went during CHOC this year and crowds were moderate . We got all the fast passes we needed easily! The lines were outside the park with walkers trying to buy their discounted tickets not INSIDE the park

Agree that this was one of the most mellow CHOC Walk Sundays in recent memory! Yes, the esplanade was the usual zoo, but inside the parks was not that different from a usual summer weekend. We knew families who got their CHOC tickets and put off their parks day until later because of the first week of school starting either the next day or within few days -- maybe that had something to do with the lower crowds in the parks?

 

[Jimsig]

We (9yo DD and myself) arrived at 515PM the day of the walk. There were plenty of FP times left and the crowds started to thin out pretty quickly. We were able to do 13 rides before the park closed and that included dinner at Blue Bayou w the F! package. The rides included Alice, Buzz, Small World, Pirates, Jungle, Winnie, BTMRR (a couple times), and finished up with Peter Pan riding after the park closed at midnight.

 

[WonkaKid]

I went to the park on the day of Choc Walk 2018. I was surprised at how light attendance was. I fully expected the park to be slammed but attendance was actually lighter than usual. The line(s) at the ticket booth, however, were insane. Apparently participants are allowed a sizable discount on park tickets... but only once the walk is complete. The main problem is the late opening time: 10:00 (as opposed to the usual time of 8:00). Aside from that, things were way better than expected. Maybe other people were scared off by the anticipated crowds? In any case, don't let the Choc Walk deter you next year .

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I went to the park on the day of Choc Walk 2018. I was surprised at how light attendance was. I fully expected the park to be slammed but attendance was actually lighter than usual. The line(s) at the ticket booth, however, were insane. Apparently participants are allowed a sizable discount on park tickets... but only once the walk is complete...

Walk participants are allowed half off up to 5 tickets per wristband, but these can be purchased only on the day of the Walk -- so you can understand the lines at the booths!