August or September?

[emilymad]

I am new to DL. I have read most of the very helpful newbie threads in the sticky. We are trying to do DL in 2 days. This is all I could get DH to agree to. We can go anytime in the last two weeks of either August or September. It seems like that in August I need to avoid the D23 expo. Is there any time in September that I need to avoid? We would be coming well after Labor Day.

We want to do be able to do most things as I am not sure when we will get back. We can do weekends or weekdays. We are early risers so rope drop won't be an issue.

Is one month better than the other?

 

[SMD]

After Labor Day, fireworks and Fantasmic will only be on weekends. We don't know the schedule for the new night time parade yet, but that may not run on week days then either. Halloween time usually starts mid-September with the first Halloween party starting the last week. What are you trying to avoid by not going during the Expo?

 

[chickapin parterre]

with the two day ticket, you need to avoid Tuesday, thursday and saturday. Wednesday is the best day. It will be all about summer conditions. School vacations not so much anymore with all the skewered schedules. If you want to see the real Disneyland, then august is the choice. Halloween process kicks in after labor day.

 

[figment_jii]

I've been tracking some of the major activites and events happening in and around DLR on the 2015 Calendar of Events & School Breaks and DLR thread.

In terms of the two choices in time, I think it really comes down to crowds, park hours, entertainment, and decor. As SMD mentioned, if you go in late August, the parks will likely be still operating (to some degree) on the summer schedule. This means generally longer hours and more entertainment, but also potentially more crowds. The summer SoCal and SoCal Select AP Blockout ends on August 17th, so I would expect to see an uptick in crowds at that point (especially on the weekend) as folks return to the parks for the first time since June. Last year, fireworks ran nightly through Labor Day, but F! did go down to Fri-Sun only schedule the week before Labor Day. With Labor Day being late this year (9/7), it's not clear when the summer schedule will start to taper down. Also, it's worth noting that Haunted Mansion usually closes towards the end of August so that they can install the Nightmare Before Christmas Overlay (I'm guess it'll be August 24 this year).

Late September is a fun time; the park will be decorated for HalloweenTime! If you do decide to go during HalloweenTime, I highly recommend joining us on the HalloweenTime SuperThread. We don't know quite what the schedule will be this year because based on historical calendars, HalloweenTime would normally start on September 11th, but given the signifcance of that day, it seems unlikely that DLR will opt to start a festive season on the day. So I'm guessing HalloweenTime will start on Saturday, 9/12. However, it could start as late as 9/18 (the next Friday). The first MIckey's Halloween Party has usually been on the last Friday in September, but there are rumors that the parties may be starting earlier and/or there may be more of them. There are also rumors that the parties might move to DCA, so at this point, we really don't know much about what is going to be happening during HalloweenTime. September weekends will be busy once HalloweenTime starts as guests come to see the Halloween overlays on HM and Space, along with the decor and any other Halloween-themed activities. Weekdays (Mon-Thu) are usually pretty managaable, but have short park operating hours.

So whether one month is better than the other really depends on what you are looking for. If it's strictly based on crowd levels, I would look to go towards the end of September, but avoid the weekends if possible.

 

[Indiana Scott]

The days immediately after Labor Day are nice slow times to go. The down side is Haunted Mansion is down for its overlay and they often start refurbs at the same time.

 

[emilymad]

After Labor Day, fireworks and Fantasmic will only be on weekends. We don't know the schedule for the new night time parade yet, but that may not run on week days then either. Halloween time usually starts mid-September with the first Halloween party starting the last week. What are you trying to avoid by not going during the Expo?

Wouldn't the whole park be more crowded with the Expo going on? I also assume hotel prices would be more expensive? Maybe that's a lot of bad assumptions.

 

[emilymad]

Thanks everyone for the advice. We don't really care about Halloween either way so that isn't really an issue unless I would have to avoid party dates.

 

[ludari]

You should also be aware that from September 3-6 Disneyland will host the runDisney half marathon weekend so you might want to avoid the parks during those dates.

 

[Geemo]

I am new to DL. I have read most of the very helpful newbie threads in the sticky. We are trying to do DL in 2 days. This is all I could get DH to agree to. We can go anytime in the last two weeks of either August or September. It seems like that in August I need to avoid the D23 expo. Is there any time in September that I need to avoid? We would be coming well after Labor Day.

We want to do be able to do most things as I am not sure when we will get back. We can do weekends or weekdays. We are early risers so rope drop won't be an issue.

Is one month better than the other?

I know how it goes...... Now I just leave him home and pull a few grandkids along with me.

If your budget allows, you can book an on-site hotel through DapperDays if one of your nights would be Friday Sept 18th.
You'll find info here. http://dapperday.com/fall-2015-disneyland-ca

Week days are generally less crowded.

Geemo

 

[figment_jii]

Thanks everyone for the advice. We don't really care about Halloween either way so that isn't really an issue unless I would have to avoid party dates.

The party dates probably won't be announced until mid-to-late July. Likewise, we don't know if the parties will be in DL or DCA this year, so all around, it's hard to say what kind of impact the parties will have.

 

[DWillowBay]

You should also be aware that from September 3-6 Disneyland will host the runDisney half marathon weekend so you might want to avoid the parks during those dates.

Just wondering....what does that look like in terms of crowds, mayhem....etc.

 

[ludari]

Just wondering....what does that look like in terms of crowds, mayhem....etc.

I'm a annual passholder and I like to participate in nearly all the runDisney events at Disneyland Resort. During the runDisney events you'll experience road/street closures that will effect local hotels and businesses and just trying to drive around the area can be frustrating. You will also find getting a hotel reservation and/or dinner reservations more difficult. With thousands of people coming out for the races the park crowds also increase. I typically avoid going into the parks during this time just because of the crowds.