Busy Week in Anaheim!! (Oct)

[smile4stamps]

For the longest time I couldn't figure out why so many of the hotels were full the week I am at DL. I think I have figured it out.

There is a conference at the convention center called EDUCause that is supposed to draw quite a few people. This is Oct 12-14

And then! There is the 1st ever Anaheim Internation Film Festival which states they expect to draw thousands! I had seen a previous post about the VIP event at the Grand Californian and the WOC show after the dinner but didn't put it together till I searched for events in the Anaheim area! The Anaheim film festival is the exact dates I am in DL Oct 13-17. I am hoping that these thousands of people stay and watch their movies and stay away from DL!!

Plus the 11th is Columbus day and I guess a lot of AZ schools are out on break.. Guess its gonna be a busy week! Was really hoping for a slow week! But then who doesn't?!?!?

 

[JH87]

I will be in DL that same week! but just on the weekend oct16-17. I also was hoping for low crowds, but what can you do?
I really don't think the convention or the film festival will impact the parks though, because they are already busy doing their own thing i don't think they will have the time to visit DLR really, unless it's just a few hrs a day.
also, the CHOC walk is Sunday!!
I am not sure if that will impact crowds, i dont know how many people actually stay in the parks after the walk. But if anything, I would expect the only things to impact crowds would be Columbus Day and the CHOC walk.

Have fun!!

 

[MickeyManiac]

Utah's fall break starts 10/14 (UEA). Lot's of Utahn's will be headed to DL for the long week.

 

[Capt Silly]

Not a lot AZ schools have fall break that week, but ours do, so we will be there. Interesting news about the Film Festival, I'll have to look into that as a side activity while we're there.

 

[Mister Toad]

Not a lot AZ schools have fall break that week, but ours do, so we will be there. Interesting news about the Film Festival, I'll have to look into that as a side activity while we're there.

Weekend of the 22nd also very busy. I noticed every hotel around the convention center is booked up, looked at the convention center line up and there is some world of warcraft convention. Hopefully they stick to that kind of fantasy and not fantasyland making my trip crazy!

 

[Eeee-va]

At least two other Arizona districts are on fall break Columbus Day week (my mom's and my brother's). I'll be there on the weekend and had always figured high crowds.

The good news is that if the visitors tend to be infrequent visitors, they won't know the crowd flow patterns as well as the folks who spend a lot of time here.

Well, and the other good news is that we'll be at Disneyland so it should be fun no matter what!

 

[JH87]

At least two other Arizona districts are on fall break Columbus Day week (my mom's and my brother's). I'll be there on the weekend and had always figured high crowds.

The good news is that if the visitors tend to be infrequent visitors, they won't know the crowd flow patterns as well as the folks who spend a lot of time here.

Well, and the other good news is that we'll be at Disneyland so it should be fun no matter what!

A busy day in Disneyland is better than no day in Disneyland!

 

[smile4stamps]

The good news is that if the visitors tend to be infrequent visitors, they won't know the crowd flow patterns as well as the folks who spend a lot of time here.

It's my first time! I don't know the crowd flow patterns

 

[mom4princesses]

I have girls in both the Chandler and Gilbert school districts (AZ) and they both have break that week. We will also be there, would love light crowds but know it won't be. So we are just going to hope its not crazy and its manageable.

 

[Eeee-va]

It's my first time! I don't know the crowd flow patterns

Oh! You'll be there about the time I am!

You have plenty of time to plan. Are you going to one of the Halloween parties? If so, once we get the first reports back from October 1st's party, you'll have some good ideas as to how to navigate those.

The number one rule is get to the park before it opens each day, and do as much as you can in those precious early hours when locals and tourists are both sleeping in. It is most logical to do rides without FP in the early morning and grabbing FPs to do the rides that offer them later.

In 99.9(9?)% of cases, you can use your FPs anytime that day AFTER the window opens. So if it says come back between 10:30 and 11:30 AM, you can literally almost always use it at 8 PM. I've only read once or twice when someone had problems (and obviously the 20+ times it works for other parties on one vacation, they don't post about that!). That was with Splash Mountain on a hot, busy day.

Check Magic Morning days when you go (generally Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, but occasionally that varies). On those days, people with Magic Mornings get to go to Tomorrowland and Fantasyland an hour before park opening. If you have a 3-day hopper and your ticket says you have it (almost all will), you get to do it once. If you are staying on-site you get to do it every time it's offered.

Unlike WDW, you should definitely still get to Disneyland before regular park opening on all Magic Morning days (even if you don't have Magic Morning yourself!). The rest of the park isn't open during Magic Morning so you'll have an equal shot at doing the other rids. You'll just want to do Fantasyland first thing on the non-Magic Morning days. Peter Pan always first (no FP in DL!).

In the middle of the day there are tons of things you can do, no matter how busy the park is. Captain EO, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, even the Tiki Room and the Sailing Ship Columbia (if running) and Mark Twain are things you should be able to with little or no wait at any time. If you like "It's Tough to Be a Bug" and "Muppetvision" you can very easily see those in DCA. The Animation Academy should be fine at any time. I know there are other, longer lists of what to do when the park is busy but those are the ones that come to my mind.

You can check the threads at http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1072276 , including but not limited to HydroGuy's tips at http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1520483

Though the park isn't always open late for your trips, I'd plan like it's high-season overall. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1345319 has some info on that.

If you have any questions you can always start a new thread and get a ton of help too.