Crowd Levels - Hotels all booked for end of September

[LoriLovesMickey]

Trying to plan a last minute trip and looking for advice on crowd levels. The hotels on Harbor all seem to be pretty booked up. We are specifically looking at Sept 23 - 26 or even Sept 30 - Oct 3 and nothing is available. Checked the Calendar of events and nothing is listed other than MHP on the 25th. I haven't been in a couple of years but I don't remember having this much trouble booking a last minute trip. Is DL just that much more busy? Are these going to be busy days? I am trying to include a Friday because hubby really wants to see Fantasmic! I see some rooms during the week but we'd miss Fantasmic. My question is, does the hotel occupancy level mean that the park will be super crowded the last couple of weeks in September? Specifically the 22 and 23rd? Should I choose dates that do not have the MHP? We really don't want to wait until after Halloween and are hoping to get down there in the next few weeks.

Thanks!

 

[RichP1269]

Dapper Days the weekend of the 19th and Gay Days the weekend of the 3rd. With the discounted hotel rates offered by Disney, a lot of the attendees are probably extending their stays.

 

[keywis]

There is also a fairly large Security conference at the Anaheim convention center that week.

 

[jammyjam25]

I think you may have hit the perfect storm of stragglers from Dapper Days, early arrivals to Gay Days, and the first Halloween Party of the season, which is already sold out!

Friday the 25th Fantasmic won't be running because of the Halloween Party happening, and you will have to park hop by 7pm to DCA if you don't have tickets to the HP that night, so that may affect your planning and make the decision to go mid-week an easier one. Best of luck!

 

[figment_jii]

I don't expect the weekdays (Mon to Thu) to be super busy in the parks, but the weekends (Fri to Sun) will probably be fairly busy. As others have said, HalloweenTime is very popular and with the first MHP happening on the 25th, I'm not terribly surprised that the hotels along Harbor are short on rooms (I did check and some of the further out motels do have rooms). As jammyjam25 said, DL does not present F! on nights when there is MHP, so if you want to see F!, you'll need to add a Saturday or Sunday to your trip.

 

[LoriLovesMickey]

Thanks for the info. Hubby says he doesn't want to go unless we can see Fantasmic (it's been a few trips since we have been able to see it). I don't want to go on a Saturday or Sunday! I wonder who will win?

So do you think if we went Tuesday and Wednesday either the 22 & 23 or 29 & 30 the crowds would be OK?

 

[figment_jii]

My instinctive guess is that it should be pretty manageable in the parks either set of days. I wouldn't go expecting walk-on attractions (those days seem very rare nowadays), but I don't think you're going to see super long lines. I would expect things like HMH, SMGG, RSR, and, depending on the weather, Splash/GRR, to have moderate lines.

If you go on the 29th and 30th, you will have a MHP to contend with on the 30th. DL will close at 6:00 pm for the party and you'll see a noticeable uptick in crowds starting around 3:00 pm when party guests are allowed to enter the park using their MHP tickets. There are no MHPs on either the 22nd or 23rd.

 

[agamble]

In our experience during mid-week when school is in session the morning and early afternoon crowds are significantly lighter than other days. The evenings can be crowded though, especially during holiday seasons, as locals come after school and work. Also, expect to see a lot of strollers as people whose kids are younger often visit during the school season since the crowds are a little lighter.

 

[LoriLovesMickey]

OK, I think I found a way to make us both happy. We'll just go for more days! We originally were just going to get a 2-day park hopper. Now if we get a 3-day (or 4-day from Orbitz for the same price) we can arrive on Sunday the 20th, go to the park when we get into Anaheim, watch Fantasmic that night, then still get 2 (or 3) full days. Also, none of the days (the 20th - 23rd) have MHP so no early park closure to worry about!

 

[jammyjam25]

What a wonderful solution!

 

[LoriLovesMickey]

OK, forgot about one thing. The whole point of going down there on Sunday the 20th is to see Fantasmic. Just tried to book both the BB and RBT Fast Pass and they are all booked up for that day. What are the chances up getting a regular Fast pass if we arrive around 1:00 pm? Is there any decent stand-by viewing at all?

 

[figment_jii]

What are the chances up getting a regular Fast pass if we arrive around 1:00 pm? Is there any decent stand-by viewing at all?

You'll probably still be able to get a FP for the second show at that point. They still had FPs in the early afternoon when I checked in mid-July. If you wanted to be certain you'd get a FP, you could also look into the Aladdin On-The-Go Dining Package (it gets you a regular FP, so no real advantage in terms of the viewing areas, but you know you'll get a FP). There really isn't much decent Stand-By viewing. It's off to the side and fills up quickly.

 

[LoriLovesMickey]

Do you know what color Fastpass you get with the Aladdin On-The-Go Dining Package? Also, I can't find what the meal options are, anyone know?

 

[figment_jii]

There hasn't been a really consistent answer about the color; it's either a Blue or Yellow FPs. I think more Dis'ers have reported back saying they got a Blue FP, but when I asked the CMs, I got conflicting information. It was mentioned in this thread:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/fantasmic-viewing-area-locations.3381412/page-10

The original menu for the On-The-Go meal packages is in this Parks Blog Post:
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/fantasmic-dining-packages/

 

[LoriLovesMickey]

Thanks Figment!

 

[Geemo]

Keep checking and you might be able to get a reservation on the 20th
Watch for a cancellation there were a few last week

 

[LoriLovesMickey]

Thanks Geemo, will do. Also trying to talk hubby into driving down Saturday and spend the night with his brother in LA. That way we can get to the park early enough on Sunday to snag a Fastpass.