Disneyland crowds

[ClaraOswald]

We were there in early February 2023 and the crowds weren't too bad, from what I recall.

 

[LKing]

There is always something happening at the parks. It would be nice to have a thread with what cheer/dance competitions, unofficial events etc. are in the parks on different days. I wish there was a way for more than one person to update the top posts. Otherwise, it is too much of a burden on the OP.

Today is the first day of Food & Wine. Yesterday was the soft opening of the booths. Expect Soarin over California to have long lines.

Sunday is Adventureland Day. It is an unofficial dress up day. Below is the schedule so you can avoid those areas if you are not interested in the event.

 

[RickNJane]

Touring Plans updates their crowd calendar for prior days to reflect the actual crowd levels. The levels this week were 2s and 3s. It has been updated to 9 and 8 for Wednesday and Thursday. Being DVC we make reservations 11 months in advance so we rely on predictive models for crowds. Usually Touring Plans and Thrill Data are pretty close, at least for WDW. They both missed this one! Disney seems very adept at filling in the slack times. The Disney apps have a calendar of events, but it does not cover non Disney sponsored group events. As @LKing stated:

There is always something happening at the parks. It would be nice to have a thread with what cheer/dance competitions, unofficial events etc. are in the parks on different days. I wish there was a way for more than one person to update the top posts. Otherwise, it is too much of a burden on the OP.

I totally agree it would be great if we had a calendar that could tap into group sales or some other data source.

Bright Side We survived a level 9 and level 8 days at DL and CA. We did everything we wanted to do. I would never have done it on purpose, however

 

[VGCgroupie]

My sister was there this week and she was so taken aback by the crowds in Feb for the second year in a row. I wish she would listen to my advice.

It's always been a running joke that I decided to birth my kids during expensive/crowded vacation times March and April. Then my daughter has a baby in February.. turns out thats now also a busy time and we could not get inexpensive flights either.

 

[irlandaise]

Sunday is Adventureland Day. It is an unofficial dress up day. Below is the schedule so you can avoid those areas if you are not interested in the event. View attachment 942759

I don't know these people, but I love that they sing the Adventurers' Club song when they meet up! (At least, I assume that's what they mean, even though that isn't exactly what's typed on the flyer. "Adventure's Club"??)

 

[LKing]

I'm at DCA today for the first day of Soarin over California. They only have one side running and wait times soared (pun intended) to 85 min. Single rider is max 5 per side (according to a CM). I tried SR first and it took 4 showings to get on.

There is a high school choral competition this weekend. Tons of high school groups in matching shirts today.

Edit to add that the other side went down so the ride is closed. They are taking the boxes of Cuties backstage and giving out those in the open boxes to anyone and everyone. Sounds like the attraction won't be opening anytime soon.

On the positive side, standby for RSR was 105 min. Single rider looked long but only took 17 min!

 

[irlandaise]

I'm at DCA today for the first day of Soarin over California. They only have one side running and wait times soared (pun intended) to 85 min. Single rider is max 5 per side (according to a CM). I tried SR first and it took 4 showings to get on.

There is a high school choral competition this weekend. Tons of high school groups in matching shirts today.

Edit to add that the other side went down so the ride is closed. They are taking the boxes of Cuties backstage and giving out those in the open boxes to anyone and everyone. Sounds like the attraction won't be opening anytime soon.

On the positive side, standby for RSR was 105 min. Single rider looked long but only took 17 min!

I'm so envious that you got to experience the One True Version of Soarin'! That's awful that the ride went down. At least you saw it and got an orange! (Please, let's not get into a debate about that. It's close enough, just the fact that Disney does it is wonderful, and Cuties are a lot less messy to eat than a real orange.)

 

[RickNJane]

I'm at DCA today for the first day of Soarin over California. They only have one side running and wait times soared (pun intended) to 85 min. Single rider is max 5 per side (according to a CM). I tried SR first and it took 4 showings to get on.

There is a high school choral competition this weekend. Tons of high school groups in matching shirts today.

Edit to add that the other side went down so the ride is closed. They are taking the boxes of Cuties backstage and giving out those in the open boxes to anyone and everyone. Sounds like the attraction won't be opening anytime soon.

On the positive side, standby for RSR was 105 min. Single rider looked long but only took 17 min!

We started at DL today at rope drop. Got in all the attractions we missed the other days. Indiana jones was a walk on as was BTRR, Mickey and Minnie Runaway Railway and Rodger Rabbit Cartoon Spin. RR and MFSR would have been close to walk ons, but we chose to do toon town instead. At 11:00 we moved over to DCA. DL was Packed at this point and DCA was not much better. Pixar Pier was really jammed.

We also saw lottos teen age kids running around. Wondered why, so choral competition makes sense of that.

 

[LKing]

We started at DL today at rope drop. Got in all the attractions we missed the other days. Indiana jones was a walk on as was BTRR, Mickey and Minnie Runaway Railway and Rodger Rabbit Cartoon Spin. RR and MFSR would have been close to walk ons, but we chose to do toon town instead. At 11:00 we moved over to DCA. DL was Packed at this point and DCA was not much better. Pixar Pier was really jammed.

We also saw lottos teen age kids running around. Wondered why, so choral competition makes sense of that.

First days of festivals are often busier. If you are planning on purchasing from the booths, you can order everything at a single register. You don't need to get in line for the register next to each booth where you want to purchase an item. When you are ready to pick up your food, go straight to the booth and show the CM your receipt. They will cross of the item to show that you picked it up.