Crowds & Heat this week

[jason417]

I have a question about the FP's. can you collect them sooner than 2 hrs before the return time? Looks like some of the times you have posted for collecting FP's is only and hour or hour and a half apart? OR, are you using some of them up in the early part of the day?

Oh and What about the Nemo subs? do you know when the best time to ride that is?

Whenever you get a FP it will tell you "return between Time A and Time B". If Time A is less than 2 hours from when you got the FP then you can get your next FP at Time A. To make it easy, in fine print at the bottom of the FP it will tell you when you can get your next FP. Early in the day the return times are typically less than 2 hours away so you can get them faster. Remember, you don't have to actually use them in order to get your next one. I never use FPs before 11am; it's a waste. Wait in the lines in the morning when they're shorter and use your FPs when the lines are long in the afternoon.

In my experience it is better to get an Indy FP first and then Space. The MM guests take the first batch of Space FPs before you can get there and then for their next FP at 8:45 or so they grab Indy or Splash. By going Indy and then Space you are going against the herd which is a good thing in Disneyland.

In my opinion, the Nemo subs aren't worth the wait and there's no FP for it. I suppose it's worth doing once though so if you haven't then go for it. The line is pretty long all day, but it's the worst in the first half of the day. It gets progressively better as the day goes on... and it's a long ride so between waiting for it and riding it you lose a healthy chunk of the day. I'd make it my last ride, the one I planned to get in line for at 11:50pm after doing Fantasyland. It'll probably be a 20-25 min wait and then the ride itself is about 17 min but that doesn't matter because the park is closed so you're not missing out on anything.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

Based on a 8am-midnight day...

I get FP in this order and roughly these times:
Indy (8:05am)
Space Mtn (8:55am)
Splash Mtn (10:00am)
Space Mtn (11:30am)
Indy (1:30)
Thunder Mtn (3:30)
Haunted Mansion (5:00)
Thunder Mtn (7:00)
Depending on the crowds, you might be able to squeeze one or two more FP out. I also grab a Roger Rabbit FP somewhere in the mix since it's not connected to the network. Don't use any FPs in the first couple hours; save them for later.

There's the beautiful hours from roughly 8am to 10am when crowds are light and we hit rides like Buzz, Haunted Mansion, Star Tours, and Thunder Mtn during those hours.

Then there's the busier but still not horrible time from about 10am to 11am and we'll usually ride Pirates and Jungle Cruise.

Use the busy afternoon hours for FP usage, relaxing on a roundtrip on Disneyland RR, Mark Twain, Tiki Room, or resting in the hotel.

Matterhorn is always a shorter line in the second half of the day because of the parades so we don't hit it in the morning. the early evening is another good time for Pirates and Jungle Cruise. Pirates is such a long ride and rarely has a horrible wait so it's a waste of precious morning time to go on a 16 min ride that will only be a 15 min wait at 6pm. You mentioned you want to do Pirates 5 times. I'd hit it a couple times in the late morning (10-11am) and a few more any time after 5pm.

Thunder Mtn is always busier in the dark hours so that's why the FPs come in handy that we grab at 3:30 and 7:00. We typically do Fantasyland after the fireworks. We can usually hit every single FL ride before the park closes (always end with Peter Pan). Sometimes we finish in just enough time to get in line for Indy or Space Mtn by midnight (as long as you're in line by midnight they'll let you on the ride)

People will say, "Don't forget to leave time to enjoy the park." Well, I enjoy the park by riding rides so I'm perfectly content going from ride to ride. My wife likes shopping and soaking up the atmosphere so we usually do that in the afternoon.

That's a good plan to follow. We do something similar, as well with getting FL in first thing in the morning. Or Nemo, that is one to get in first thing (being up close to the gates is almost a must too).

Some people like and handle the crowds better then others. Even with the best of plans, we'd rather go when the crowds are not as big. We don't live near by, and go maybe once or at most twice a year. So we like to be able to make the very best of it when we go. Part of that is hopefully planning our trips for when the crowds are as low as possible. It's more enjoyable, and we get to see EVERYTHING multiple times this way. So it's just a preference.

 

[ORMom2Four]

Well, as far as the "I told you so's", the last time we went in October, it was very, very quiet. We walked on EVERY ride, including Indy! The only time it got super busy was at the end of our trip, and that was because the Angels went to the World Series (this was in 2002). Soooo, we planned our trip thinking that early October would not be too bad.

We have gone in February, May, September, October and November. So far, I think February was the best month, as far as crowds and weather.

Oh well. It's better to be at Disneyland than at home, even with the crowds!

 

[AGentlRose]

We just got back (October 5 to 8) and it was very crowded. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and the line to get on the monorail in the morning wrapped around past The Rainforest Cafe and then some. The heat, well that's another story. We live in Las Vegas and not many places are hotter than here, but it was 10º hotter in Anaheim than it was in Las Vegas (Tuesday, the high was 98º), even the cast members I spoke to were complaining about the heat. I have medical issues, so we took things slowly and had a wonderful time anyway.

 

[LMO429]

I have to say we are have been staying in Disneyland since October 7th (tuesday) we find the crowds to be quite manageable. The longest we waited for an attraction was 25 minutes for Toy Story Mania. I think as long as you make it to the rope drop and do the one or two bigger attractions first we have found the rest of the day at the parks here to have been a breeze. The longest posted wait times we saw were 45 minutes for Indiana and Splash Mountain but you could just fast pass those and by pass such a long wait. as far as the weather yesterday was warm but not muggy and unbearable tonight you could use a sweatshirt its a little cool

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

We took a day trip today since the kids had no school. We arrived at about 9:15 and made it through security quickly. Then into the park with the plan to hit Fantasey Land and saw the Dream Team handing out something to the right of the castle - the walk through wth the wishing well.. Headed straight there and won fast passes...

The crowds today were not as bad as I thought they would be and the heat was very managable... it was much COOLER than last Tuesday! It was actually cmfortable all day but did cool down about 6 PM where you may have needed a sweater depending on what you are used to....
I think it should be a comfortable weekend..

 

[disney_love<3]

We took a day trip today since the kids had no school. We arrived at about 9:15 and made it through security quickly. Then into the park with the plan to hit Fantasey Land and saw the Dream Team handing out something to the right of the castle - the walk through wth the wishing well.. Headed straight there and won fast passes...

The crowds today were not as bad as I thought they would be and the heat was very managable... it was much COOLER than last Tuesday! It was actually cmfortable all day but did cool down about 6 PM where you may have needed a sweater depending on what you are used to....
I think it should be a comfortable weekend..

Hey! I was there today too around the same time! Ahhh, it was so nice today. I had a great time. My DBF and I were only there for a few hours.

 

[MVBowers111]

Jason...what would your plan be like for DCA in collecting fast passes? Thanks for all the great advice to help us all survive the crowds, I've printed everything out and will be reviewing it with my family.