Change of plans for DL next year...

[taben]

So, now looking at having to push our trip to May, Jun, July....HELP! First time to DL and don't know when the best month to go would be...we want to dodge the huge crowds the best we can. Planning on a 6 day park hopper and staying at Candy Cane Inn. ANY help would be awesome! Tips and advice too please. Thought we would start our research in advance. I guess the rainy "season" will be the first part of the year? Weather will be good May, Jun, and July right?


Thank you!!

 

[HydroGuy]

So, now looking at having to push our trip to May, Jun, July....HELP! First time to DL and don't know when the best month to go would be...we want to dodge the huge crowds the best we can. Planning on a 6 day park hopper and staying at Candy Cane Inn. ANY help would be awesome! Tips and advice too please. Thought we would start our research in advance. I guess the rainy "season" will be the first part of the year? Weather will be good May, Jun, and July right?


Thank you!!

Rarely are crowds "huge" in the summer. That happens during Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks and often in June for a few days before AP blockouts kick in.

Crowds are busy in the summer but generally most find them completely manageable.

 

[Eeee-va]

I imagine in 2012, crowds may be high all summer due to Cars Land. A lot of people are pushing back their trips planned for this year to next year when all the construction is done.

Weather's almost always pretty nice in Southern California, IMO! Summer can get a little warm/hot sometimes. It doesn't rain too much any part of the year, unless you get an unlucky stretch of weather during your trip.

If you would like lowest crowds, I'd think early to very early June might be lowest. But then you will probably have all the off-season issues and Grad Nites where the parks would close early 1 or 2 of your days. Or if you want to see Cars Land, then I'd GUESS as late in the summer as possible may be best. I think people will want to see Cars Land ASAP so later in the summer could avoid some of those crowds. Late August this year seemed to be really good for crowds.

Mid-to-late June seems to have been particularly crowded the last few years due to blockout dates so I'd avoid that.

Have a great trip!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Since you say it's your first trip and I can't tell from your post if this is a once in a lifetime or a once in a long time trip or a newly planned annual tradition, I would recommend waiting until July. Yes, there will be crowds, but they should not be overwhelming. The advantage to waiting until July is that if Disney doesn't fall too far behind schedule, there's a good chance the major construction in DCA will be over and that Carsland will be open. There may be one or two attractions at the resort as a whole that are in refurb, but most rides and attractions should be up and running. Park hours will also be longest in July (and most of June). If having lower crowds are an absolute priority for you and you are not as concerned about refurbs or seeing the newly opened attractions and don't mind having possibly shorter hours and/or a reduced entertainment schedule, then the first half of May is probably best for you.

 

[rramstad]

As a weird aside, I could see waiting for Cars to open so you get smaller crowds. I know, it sounds odd, but this year we saw Star Tours suck many many many people into 2 hour plus lines, and often the rest of the park was relatively manageable. It strikes me as somewhat likely that Carsland will suck in a similar number of folks, and you might actually find that the crowds over at DL and elsewhere in DCA are not that bad. Obviously also going late you give yourself the chance of seeing Carsland, if you want.

Just playing devil's advocate... I might especially think this way if I wasn't likely to come back to DLR, and this was a one off trip... having the option of Carsland or not strikes me as worth pushing the trip into late July.

My second choice would be shortly after AP are blocked, in early July. We went then this year and in a four day stay had one crowded day and three that were fairly manageable. Weather was warm but not insanely hot.

 

[ConnieB]

Personally, for 2012, I'd choose the week of November 25 to December 1. My reasons are that the holiday decorations will be up.....Carsland will have been open for a while so just like Star Tours is a reasonble wait now, Carsland should be as well.

Traditionally this week right after Thanksgiving has been a relatively low crowd week. The weather is wonderful....not too hot and not too cold. It gets chilly after dark but a light jacket is the most ever needed. No sweating standing outside in line all day though!

The annual World of Disney AP super sale is usually the first Saturday of the month (though with that being December 1st in 2012, it could be the following Saturday as well). This is a really wonderful event if you have the patience for it....it's huge for crowds as people start lining up before the sun comes up and the store is barely moving wall to wall people, but if you're up for it there are usually good deals to be had. The impact on Downtown Disney is significant for the early part of the day, but surprisingly the parks themselves don't go crazy....guess all that shopping and early morning hours wears out the shoppers, lol.

Now...the week after this won't be too bad either, but it will probably have the Candlelight Processional which means that DLR closes early for the event and the crowds that day tend to be heavy especially later in the day, and sometimes the Cast Member parties are that first full week of December as well. Much further into December it starts getting busier until it reaches sheer chaos at Christmas and through New years, lol.

If you can't go in Nov/Dec, then I would suggest the earlier in May the better. We were there the last week of April and the first two weeks of May this year and by the time we were leaving it was definitely busier. Not by any means unmanageable, but when you had almost two weeks of 30 minute lines for Toy Story and 15 or less for almost everything else, including walking right up to the loading for both Pirates and Haunted Mansion too many times to count, then you notice the crowds getting worse when there are actually lines for Pirates, lol.

Now, we don't have an opening date yet for Carsland....and if you want low crowds then you definitely want to watch for that closely and avoid it. The opening of Star Tours and Little Mermaid were the first weekend in June and while those two rides had 2+ hour lines, the impact on the rest of the park was much more than expected. You'd think since "everyone" was in line for the new rides that the rest of the park would be empty, but it wasn't....it was typical summer crowds, which kinda surprised us. We didn't bother waiting in line for either of the new rides...knowing that we'd be coming back several more times in the coming months we decided to wait for more reasonable lines. Right now they tend to be about 30 mintues and we're much happier than waiting 4x that just a couple months ago!

Whenever you go, just keep watch on these boards so you know what might be happening during your week. Being prepared for the crowds to expect makes it much easier to go with the proper mindset. Choose the "musts" and get advice on how to do them most efficiently and fit the rest in as you can. Remember....you're in the Happiest Place on Earth....and any crowd is still better than a day at work, lol. Enjoy!