Crowds at Disneyland since the grand re-opening of DCA?

[jforever52]

Can anyone give me some input on how the crowds at Disneyland have been since the DCA Grand Re-opening?

My 8 year old son and I are heading down to Southern California for a 1 day excursion to Disneyland on Sunday June 24th. We are ONLY going to Disneyland (his father made me promise not to go to car's land without him ). I'm expecting it to be busy but I'm curious as to how busy.

I'm wondering if the crowds at Disneyland have been impacted during the day or if there are less people at Disneyland because they are all in line for rides at cars land.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Girimama33]

Since that is the last day before the So Cal AP Summer blockout, I would imagine it will be very crowded. Most will be at DCA. I would expect lower crowds at DL in the morning and an increase in crowds as the afternoon goes on. My suggestion is to get there right at opening.

 

[joelnkelly]

wasnt this weekend forcasted to be possibly the busiest of the year? probably not the best idea to head to DL this weekend

 

[sheetz]

So far it looks like most people are headed to DCA in the morning so almost everything in DL is under 15 min wait for the first 2 hours.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

Since that is the last day before the So Cal AP Summer blockout, I would imagine it will be very crowded. Most will be at DCA. I would expect lower crowds at DL in the morning and an increase in crowds as the afternoon goes on. My suggestion is to get there right at opening.

So far it looks like most people are headed to DCA in the morning so almost everything in DL is under 15 min wait for the first 2 hours.

yeah i agree with sheetz...with the AP holders more than likely going to CL, DL may be very doable at least till afternoon...by mid afternoon it will be pretty packed im sure...but if you are wanting to go into CL then you definitely need to be there imo, at least when they open for EMH...and make a beeline for CL and try to ride RSR right away and get FP...MJ and LT will be busy but very doable...then you should be able to do the rest of the park without much issue and go over to DL

wasnt this weekend forcasted to be possibly the busiest of the year? probably not the best idea to head to DL this weekend

yeah...last weekend they had 45, 000 people and broke a record...they are expecting same amount or more this sunday...

 

[WDW415]

This was my first visit to DL in 10 years, so I can't comment on how crowds usually are, but I was at Disneyland Park yesterday and it felt EXTREMELY crowded and disorganized. I'm not sure if that's a normal summer day or what. I've been to MK 20+ times and never felt as congested as DL felt yesterday.

As other posters said, lines were pretty minimal until around 11am. Single rider lines were a safe bet even longer, but after about 1pm, lines were coming out of the queue and into nearly every walkway. Single rider lines were closed or 30+ minute waits. Like I said, not sure the norm, but felt very very crammed -- but it didn't ruin my enjoyment at all!

 

[sheetz]

This was my first visit to DL in 10 years, so I can't comment on how crowds usually are, but I was at Disneyland Park yesterday and it felt EXTREMELY crowded and disorganized. I'm not sure if that's a normal summer day or what. I've been to MK 20+ times and never felt as congested as DL felt yesterday.

Yesterday was one of the last days before the SoCal APs are completely blocked out for the summer. According to Al Lutz at Micechat the combined attendance at both parks yesterday was roughly 100,000, which would make it one of the busiest days of the year.

The last unblocked days for the SoCal passes are June 24-28, so it'll be interesting to see what those days will be like.

 

[WDW415]

According to Al Lutz at Micechat the combined attendance at both parks yesterday was roughly 100,000, which would make it one of the busiest days of the year.

Oh ok -- it certainly felt that way! And it was a Grad Nite so that seemed to add to the mayhem.

 

[jforever52]

Thanks for the input. My son is almost 9 so I'm confident we can get a lot done before 11am! It's going to be hard to resist DCA but a dose of Disneyland will most certainly cure that.

 

[ALTkids]

We got into the park (DL) at 8:08 AM on Tuesday. We were not in line for the the park opening. Our morning went like this:

FP for Star Tours (9:35 AM)
Headed over to Matterhorn, but it was closed
Mr Toad's
Big Thunder
Splash (walked on, rode twice without getting off the ride!)
Haunted Mansion
FP for Indy (10:40 AM)
Jungle Cruise
Pirates
Indy
Star Tours
Monorail

Virtually no lines. Get there early.

 

[jforever52]

Just in case anyone is wondering, the Boards were right on in their advice!

My son and I got to the park at 8am. We did the following from 8:00-12:30

Got fast passes for Space Mountain
Matterhorn
Big Thunder Railroad
Splash Mountain
got fast passes for Indiana Jones
Rode Space Mountain
(all of the above in 1 hour 15 minutes)
Star Tours
Astro Blasters
Got fast passes for Star Tours
Rode Indiana Jones
Got Dole Whips
Captain EO
Rode Star Tours again
Autotopia

The longest line we encountered was 25 minutes at autotopia. Even though we didn't stop, Fantasy Land was not busy at all. We literally walked onto Thunder Mountain and Splash.

Lunch was at Carnation Cafe (I was not impressed...the Turkey Club was a cold sandwhich with fruit, not worth $12).

After lunch the crowds did start to pick up a bit. By the end of the day Splash was posting a 75 minute wait (this was at about 6pm when were leaving.

In the afternoon we hit the following rides:

Pirates
Haunted Mansion
Got fast passes for Splash Mountain
Canoes
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Small World
Rode Splash Mountain

Dinner was at 6pm at Rancho Del Zocolo (yum). Then we headed home.

Overall it was a crazy busy day. Not as busy as I expected and we were able to hit all the rides we wanted to do.

My advice mirrors what I was told. Get there early and hit the major rides first!