Deluxe Pass Block Outs

[buyerbrad]

What impact does this have on the crowds? We are going from August 2-9th (can visit the parks August 4-8th). Both Southern California passes are blocked out the entire time, but the Deluxe Pass is also blocked out on Sunday, August 6th. The plan was to go to the Angels game that afternoon, but I am now wondering if it's worth going to Disneyland that day instead. We have 3-Day Hopper Passes (although we don't really plan on hopping as our kids are 1 and 4) with one Magic Morning. What 3 days should we go?

 

[SMD]

It's summer, every day is going to be crowded. Have a plan, arrive early, check wait times, be flexible, be open to hopping. You'll be better off with that strategy than trying to pick 3 days out of 6 that might have slightly lower crowds at a time that will be busy no matter when you go.

 

[Malcon10t]

The deluxe pass is blocked on Sat Aug 5th, not Sunday the 6th.

 

[rentayenta]

I agree, the summer will just be be busy. Best to have a plan; rope drop.

 

[Jedi Mouse]

Remember, block out days on AP's are to control crowds. The higher the level of the block out, the busier they expect the parks to be. So it's a trade off. Saturdays in the summer are going to be packed.

 

[lilmissfoodie]

My experience is slightly different. On days when deluxe and below are blocked out, the parks are quieter early. I believe that's because most pass holders are locals and aren't there at rope drop. Just my opinion.

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

I would agree with Lilmissfoodie-we love going in August-early in the month, middle of the month, especially late in the month. Get there early and you can get quite a bit accomplished before noon-go back to hotel and cool off-go back in evening.

 

[buyerbrad]

Based in your theory that it may actually be less busy first thing in the morning on the Saturday(we will rope drop all 3 days), do you think we should also use our Magic Morning that day or save it for Tuesday? Here are the 3 options we are considering:

#1 - Disney Fri, DCA Saturday, Disney Tuesday w/ Magic Morning.

#2- DCA Saturday, Disney Monday, Disney Tuesday w/ Magic Morning

#3 - Disney Saturday w/ Magic Morning, Disney Monday, DCA Tuesday

I would agree with Lilmissfoodie-we love going in August-early in the month, middle of the month, especially late in the month. Get there early and you can get quite a bit accomplished before noon-go back to hotel and cool off-go back in evening.

 

[SMD]

Are you going to want to wake up early on the 4th day of a trip after staying late in the parks the night before?

 

[dshimel]

There was a time when there were non-busy days. No more.

Back at that time busiest to non-busiest were:
Holiday (2weeks of xmas, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, memorial, labor...)
Day DAP was blocked.
Day local kids are off school but so-cal passes not blocked (example: weekdays during first 2 weeks of June)
Day that DAP could go, but SoCal can't. (Example: Saturday in fall)
Weekday that kids are in school and Socal can go.

There is another issue around Spring Break. Schools stagger this, with some on the true equinox, and others doing it on Easter. I have gone when my kids were off, but local SoCal were not. While the parks were moderately crowded, they were running capacity like a slow day.

As the parks have gotten more and more crowded, it seems it has averaged out a lot. Busy days have not gotten much busier, but the previously non-busy days, are now busy too.

 

[buyerbrad]

Are you going to want to wake up early on the 4th day of a trip after staying late in the parks the night before?

We won't stay late on the back to back days. We will do one late night at each park and can hop at night to make this work if necessary.

 

[buyerbrad]

I guess the trick is to try and find a slightly less busy day if some flexibility exists on the days a person can go.

There was a time when there were non-busy days. No more.

Back at that time busiest to non-busiest were:
Holiday (2weeks of xmas, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, memorial, labor...)
Day DAP was blocked.
Day local kids are off school but so-cal passes not blocked (example: weekdays during first 2 weeks of June)
Day that DAP could go, but SoCal can't. (Example: Saturday in fall)
Weekday that kids are in school and Socal can go.

There is another issue around Spring Break. Schools stagger this, with some on the true equinox, and others doing it on Easter. I have gone when my kids were off, but local SoCal were not. While the parks were moderately crowded, they were running capacity like a slow day.

As the parks have gotten more and more crowded, it seems it has averaged out a lot. Busy days have not gotten much busier, but the previously non-busy days, are now busy too.

 

[SMD]

If you have hoppers then which park on which day isn't that critical except on your MM day. If DL opens before DCA and you're planning to do rope drop, then you could to both.

 

[dshimel]

3 days between Fri 4th and Tue 8th? For me this is a no-brainier.

Fri, Mon, Tue.
With SoCal passes blocked the whole time, week days are be less crowded than weekend. Deluxe being blocked on Sat is not enough to reduce the crowd below the extra people that come on the weekend.

As far as not planning to hop because you have young kids... nah. Super easy to hop. In fact, I'd say that you should do opening, take a 3-4 hour break in the afternoon, then go back near dusk for a few hours. Going back, it doesn't matter if you go to same park or different.

 

[buyerbrad]

I agree this would be ideal. However, it will eliminate the opportunity to do Toy Story at Rope Drop without having the resorts guests in the park for early entry - unless we hop at the very end of our Magic Morning, which somewhat defeats the purpose.

3 days between Fri 4th and Tue 8th? For me this is a no-brainier.

Fri, Mon, Tue.
With SoCal passes blocked the whole time, week days are be less crowded than weekend. Deluxe being blocked on Sat is not enough to reduce the crowd below the extra people that come on the weekend.

As far as not planning to hop because you have young kids... nah. Super easy to hop. In fact, I'd say that you should do opening, take a 3-4 hour break in the afternoon, then go back near dusk for a few hours. Going back, it doesn't matter if you go to same park or different.

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Based in your theory that it may actually be less busy first thing in the morning on the Saturday(we will rope drop all 3 days), do you think we should also use our Magic Morning that day or save it for Tuesday? Here are the 3 options we are considering:

#1 - Disney Fri, DCA Saturday, Disney Tuesday w/ Magic Morning.

#2- DCA Saturday, Disney Monday, Disney Tuesday w/ Magic Morning

#3 - Disney Saturday w/ Magic Morning, Disney Monday, DCA Tuesday

When we have a MM-we tend to go the first opportunity in the trip-but I would always take a 7am MM over an 8am MM any time-you will see a lot less people even for MM.