Disneyland Crowds Questions

[sazzle12]

I am looking at booking a trip to DL this Spring (sometime in April or May). I often look at the crowd calendars to help choose the dates, but last time we did this we went during the last week of April, which was supposed to be a "ghost town," only to find it was 10/10 crowds due to the upcoming opening of star wars land. I have been during the busiest times of the year before (Christmas etc) and this was much worse bc they were not staffed to deal with the unexpected overwhelming crowds. For this year, would you go during Easter Break- I know crowds will be high, but they will also be prepared for high crowds- or would you go during what is supposed to be a quieter time at the end of April/beginning of May? Since you have to reserve a spot in advance and they cap at a certain number, would a weekend like Easter not be too crazy? I am also hoping World of Colour and Fantasmic will be open by then! Fingers crossed...

 

[jason417]

We tend to go in the fall so I’ll let someone else chime in on your dates, but in general I’ll say that I don’t think capacity limits are consistent from day to day. It was “sold out” for basically all of Oct-Dec and there were definitely different levels of crowds. I assume they set capacity based on staffing for that day. We were there in late December and it was quite busy, but we found it very manageable with Genie+ and a willingness to be there at opening and stay later in the evening.

 

[sazzle12]

Interesting... so they may accommodate larger crowds at Easter with higher staffer and have a lower crowd limit during other dates due to lower staffing

 

[DLgal]

Interesting... so they may accommodate larger crowds at Easter with higher staffer and have a lower crowd limit during other dates due to lower staffing

Yes.

However, I would still probably recommend against going Easter week. We went the weeks between Christmas and New Years and it was very crowded with long waits, even in the lightning lanes (in excess of 30 minutes for Radiator Springs Racers, WEB slingers, and Guardians).

As a contrast, we went MLK Monday and it felt downright empty in comparison. That will be what early May feels like compared to Easter week.

 

[mdmost]

One factor that can affect things this year versus last was the Keys blackout dates. For Easter weekend, the Believe, Enchant, and Imagine Keys are all blocked from going. However, the single ticket price for those days are the highest tier on Friday and Saturday. Sunday is 2 tiers lower. So Disney expects those days to be pretty busy. I would imagine with it being a holiday weekend, there would be a lot of out of town visitors. Contrast that to the first week of May which all has much lower single day ticket prices but no Keys restrictions. There are also two after hours events that week which could reduce the amount of visitors those days until the event starts. I'm not sure I would go over a holiday weekend if you have the ability to go midweek in late April or early May.

 

[sazzle12]

It would be a Thurs/Fri/Sat late April or early May if we don't do Easter long. It will just mean using up vacation days compared to Easter weekend

 

[gelatoni fan]

Easter Sunday has actually been historically OK, especially in the morning. It's one of those holidays that people don't swarm the park unlike Christmas so crowds may be lower than your typical weekend. The days leading up to Easter can be pretty bad though. With dynamic pricing and blockouts, it's possible that the effects may not be as drastic but I still think it's really risky to pick Easter weekend. Crowds can sometimes be elevated during other weeks between March through May depending on what school districts are having their Spring Break and now that conferences are returning, you also want to check hotel prices to make sure nothing crazy is going on the weekend you are thinking about.

 

[sazzle12]

Thanks- I def find the hotel prices are great clues for corwd levels! Easter weekend looks pricey

 

[Cal-Pie]

Go in May. Why? Because it's my birthday month. I've been during the first couple weeks of May several times, and it really is the sweet spot. The only thing that can ruin it is if it's right at the tail end of the socal discount pass dates. But I think those are only valid on weekdays this year, so it probably won't have that much impact.

 

[sazzle12]

Great thank you!

 

[sazzle12]

The crowd calendars on most sites are showing easter weekend as a 4/10 or 5/10, but it is highest tier pricing for tickets. Maybe lower crowds bc annual passholders have blackout dates?

 

[Cal-Pie]

Crowd calendars are notoriously unreliable for Disneyland. They are not nearly as accurate as they are for wdw.

 

[DLgal]

The crowd calendars on most sites are showing easter weekend as a 4/10 or 5/10, but it is highest tier pricing for tickets. Maybe lower crowds bc annual passholders have blackout dates?

Easter Sunday is always quiet, but the days surrounding it are not.