August 24/25- Which park which day?

[megankj]

I'm visiting with a friend (both late 30s/early 40s) for 2 park days- checking into the Cortona Inn in the afternoon on Wed 8/23 (driving down after 2 1/2 days in Sequoia NP) and checking out the morning of Saturday 8/26. We'll be using Genie+ and really packing our days full- but not park hopping. (Happy and exhausted- even bordering on "type 2 fun"- is our preferred travel style together, lol!)

My original thought was to do Disneyland on Thursday 8/24 and DCA on Friday 8/25, which is what our park reservations reflect right now. This was for a couple reasons:

1. I thought Disneyland Park would lilkely be significantly less crowded on a Thursday compared to a Friday, and since that's the park with the most major attractions to juggle, that's important to us.
2. The original plan was to drive back to San Diego after park closing on Friday, so the park with an earlier close time on Friday made sense.
3. After an exhausting day at Disneyland, the slower pace of DCA seemed like a logical flow.

Now I'm having second thoughts and considering flipping the park days, because:

1. TouringPlans is showing DL as a 6 on Thursday 8/24 and a 5 on Friday 8/25; and DCA a 4 on Thursday 8/24 and a 3 on Friday 8/25. Not a huge difference, but as I mentioned above- I'd rather prioritize the lowest possible crowds in DL.
2. We got a good hotel rate and decided to stay the night on Friday, so it might make even more sense to just wear ourselves out Friday night, sleep in, and then drive home when we wake up (rather than rope dropping DCA after a late DL closing on Thursday).
3. It seems more likely that we'll have fireworks at DL on Friday than Thursday- and while I'm sure the evening show with just projections is great, fireworks would be better.

If it matters, Friday 8/25 is my birthday- but there are things I love about both parks, so it's not like there is a clear favorite where I want to celebrate. What would you do?

 

[chezcurrie]

IMO no crowd calendar is accurate for DL. At all. So don’t take that into consideration.

If evening entertainment is important I would do DL on Friday. As it is your bday as well I would want to feel like I had lots of options on what to do that evening, and would likely stay until close to end out my bday.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Agree with the PP, do not use information from any crowd calendars to make your decision.

I would do the parks in the order that works best for what you want to do. I don’t think there will be any significant differences between the two parks on the two days.

I even think the nighttime entertainment at DL should still be offered weekdays (until Labor Day weekend if I recall correctly) so that won’t even factor in.

 

[megankj]

That's good to know about crowd calendars! Given that, is there reason to believe there will be a huge difference between crowd levels Thursday vs. Friday in either park? And if so, is that likely to be true all day or just in the evening?

Also good info about fireworks being likely on weekdays prior to Labor Day. I know they're not guaranteed any day due to wind, etc- but it's hard to beat Disney fireworks .

 

[chezcurrie]

The 25th the Enchant Key is blocked, so may be lighter than Thursday. Many local schools will be back in session (our district is later than others and we go back Aug 23) so I think you are likely going to get some really nice days in the park regardless.

 

[megankj]

The 25th the Enchant Key is blocked, so may be lighter than Thursday. Many local schools will be back in session (our district is later than others and we go back Aug 23) so I think you are likely going to get some really nice days in the park regardless.

Ahh, that makes sense re: Magic Key blackouts! Even if the crowd calendars aren't reliable, I figured there must be some reason it seemed to think Friday would be quieter than Thursday.

 

[dec2009mama]

The 25th the Enchant Key is blocked, so may be lighter than Thursday. Many local schools will be back in session (our district is later than others and we go back Aug 23) so I think you are likely going to get some really nice days in the park regardless.

Enchant Key isn't blocked on the 25th, its only blocked on the 26th (Saturday)
Imagine Key is the only pass blocked on the 25th