does anyone think there is any difference between Sat and Sun crowd wise?

[sherilaine]

I am thinking weekend is weekend is weekend - so Saturday and Sunday are going to be busy no matter how you slice it.

We arrive late on Friday and are planning to hit the parks bright and early Saturday morning but now I am reconsidering - why should we rush - anticipation is a great thing so not going the very first day is not necessary when will be be tired and rushed. Perhaps we should sleep in, do our shopping we want to do, spend some time in DTD and then be super ready to be up against the rope Sunday morning.

Is there any benefit to going Saturday over Sunday other than we will be just eager to go.

 

[nikkislaght]

Ive heard that Sundays tend to be busier.. due to the locals working Sat, and visiting the parks Sundays...

We tend to take our day off on Sundays because of this.. so have no personal experience.. but either way , we see a huge increase on Sat..

 

[kickpuncher305]

I can't remember where I read it but apparently DCA is less crowded on Saturday and DL is less crowded on Sunday. We went to the parks both these days in early January and it wasn't too busy at either park (aside from Hyperspace Mountain and Radiator Springs Racers). If you have only a few days at Disneyland, I wouldn't skip the parks in the morning as you can get so much done. You can always go back to your hotel in the afternoon and have a rest then.

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

We have done a lot of weekend trips and I have never really noticed a huge difference between either a Saturday or a Sunday if there wasn't a holiday involved. With the changes to the AP program, Southern California Passes no longer being sold-which were blocked on Saturdays during busy times, its probably the same either day.

It really depends on how many days you plan on going into the parks and what nighttime entertainment is being offered, when are you going? If you are going during "off season", some of the nighttime entertainment may only be offered on weekend nights, so that might play a huge part in when you would want to go in the parks.

 

[firefly87]

I was in the park last Saturday all day and until 3:30 pm on Sunday. I felt like overall, by the afternoon the crowds were essentially the same. However on Saturday, we started off in DCA because we had 2 hours to kill before our tour in DL. We walked on to Toy Story 3x in a row.....absolutely no one in line! Then went to Radiator Springs and did Single Rider 2x within 20 minutes there. Crowds were pretty non existent!!

On Sunday, we attempted the same plan. This time when we got to Toy Story, the line was much longer.....it was EMH for DCA so hotel guests were an hour ahead of us. We still did Single Rider on Radiator Springs but it took more like 15 mins for 1 ride. (which is not bad at all in comparison to afternoon/evening crowds)

We were also in the park all day on Friday as well and by lunchtime, we had already been on 8 rides. If we did not have a tour on Saturday, I expect we would have accomplished just as much that day.

So all that being said, I would most definitely get up early and be there at rope drop. I was surprised at how much we got done before the crowds started coming in later on. Are Saturday and/or Sunday your only days in the park? If you do have week days available, then it's prob not necessary to hit that first Saturday early & hard.

 

[tlovesdis]

I feel that Disneyland is always busier on Sunday. Not sure why but when I am there for a weekend, that's how it feels. So we usually do DL on Saturday and DCA on Sunday, but we hop too.

 

[sherilaine]

Thanks for all the feedback folks.

This is just our 1st day of 5 full days we will spend in the parks over our 8 night stay. If we were arriving earlier on Friday then there would be no decision. However, we won't likely get to our hotel for check in until around 11PM. I do not want to go on Saturday unless we are going to be through security and in line at the gates at 7:15 at the latest for the 8AM opening of DCA (since we don't have EMH which is at DL that day). I can't recall there being any difference in the two days from our prior trips but it seems things have ramped up in the busy department since our rainy visit in March of 2014!

I am just trying to be realistic in thinking that taking Saturday to sleep in some, pick up groceries, and maybe take a drive somewhere since we have rental car, have dinner in DTD and have an early night so we are up super early on Sunday would be better than being tired and rushed Saturday morning after a long work/school and travel day on Friday.

 

[GatorChris]

I've only done one Sunday and several Saturdays. Of course, Saturdays are busy. On Saturdays, it's ok in the early morning with it getting busier as the day goes on. But I remember going to DL on a Sunday....by 11am, it was absolute madness. After that we decided we either need to hit a local church on Sunday or make that a travel day back home or somewhere else. On our last trip, even with an AP, we skipped even just a few hours at DL for a character breakfast and then we drove to San Diego. I don't ever again plan on hitting DL on a Sunday.

 

[sheetz]

My hunch is that AP blackouts still matter, though maybe not as much as before. I generally don't trust Touring Plans' crowd predictions but they are probably ok to use for discerning patterns like this. Just glancing at their 30 day calendar there doesn't appear to any real difference between the two days.

 

[calilou]

Because you have 5 days in the parks, I wouldn't worry about getting an early start on your Saturday. I do think Saturday mornings can generally be a little quiet. However, Saturday evenings and afternoons tend to be very crowded with locals coming in.

 

[ddwlms]

Micechat seems to always show saturdays as busier than sundays

 

[sherilaine]

My real challenge now though will be keeping my kids from going mental on Saturday and waiting until Sunday!!

 

[sharona]

Do you have a time change to consider? Not Disney specific but for us, when we travel East to West - we do all our early morning plans in the first few days because we are going to be up no matter what. We plan our night time must do's for later in the week when we have adjusted to west coast time.

 

[Mysteryincorp]

I would go early Saturday morning and then head back to the hotel or DTD for the afternoon. Sunday's are usually very busy because a lot of people still have the so cal pass and Sundays are the only weekend days they can go. But I find the crowds dip Sunday night as many have to got work the next morning.

 

[sherilaine]

Do you have a time change to consider? Not Disney specific but for us, when we travel East to West - we do all our early morning plans in the first few days because we are going to be up no matter what. We plan our night time must do's for later in the week when we have adjusted to west coast time.

We only gain an hour when we fly straight down from Calgary - so certainly nothing to wake us up that much earlier - nothing like a 3 hour difference.

 

[RemainSeatedPlease]

I agree that you should take some time to rest on Saturday so that you are fully energized for Sunday, but I would suggest taking that time in the afternoon/nighttime rather than in the morning. So, in your situation I would be up bright and early Saturday morning, spend 3-4 hours in the parks, and then come back and take it easy for the rest of the day. Maybe take some naps, then go back for a couple of hours, have dinner in the parks, and then leave before the park closes to get to bed early. This way you get your rest but also get to enjoy the prime low-crowd hours on Saturday.

 

[sherilaine]

Thanks for all the feedback - we actually changed out flight today and will be flying in around noon on Friday instead - so we will now have plenty of time to get all our errands done and get a good sleep before heading over to the parks in the morning on Saturday!

It was a bit more to change the flight but will make our first day there a lot more enjoyable.

 

[longboard55]

deluxe passes are usually good for sunday but not saturday, so often sundays are busier

 

[Sith]

Sundays are supposedly busier, since local/ deluxe passes are blocked on Saturday. So, they all come on Sunday.

But, I've had a different experience. We took three trips last year. May, Halloween, and Christmas. On all three trips, Monday was by far the busiest. And it got busy early. Not sure why.