Honest Crowd Level

[Maleficent Dragon]

How crowded is Disneyland/CA these days? We contemplated WDW because many say the crowds are low compared to 2019, but I think we want the ease of DLR and just driving to Universal a few days. I do not have enough experience with the California parks to make a judgement by listed wait times.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Ok. There's just no good way to answer this question. It varies from day to day, and we'll even have experienced park-goers here in the same park on the same day who will give you two different answers. Crowd perception is a function of perspective, previous experiences, and also just where you are in the parks at certain times. One person's "low crowd" day is another person's "packed."

HAVING SAID THAT, I'd say that in general, weekends are busy and weekdays aren't too bad lately (with some exceptions). Specifically, I've been four times in September and will give you my impressions:

Wednesday, Sept. 1 - visited from 8-11pm. The parks were pretty deserted. (I was able to get a Webslingers Boarding Group at 8pm, which is pretty unheard of.) It seemed quite empty, and by all accounts, that had been true all day.

Friday, Sept. 3 (First day of Halloweentime) - visited both parks from 4pm until 10:30pm - This was "moderately crowded," with most people there to see Halloween stuff. Ride waits were pretty low - we got on Haunted Mansion Holiday in less than 15 minutes around 4:30, which surprised me. By the time the Halloween fireworks started, though, Main Street was an absolute crush of humanity, as one would expect.

Monday, Sept. 6 (Labor Day) - visited DCA from about 8:30am until about 3pm. I'd describe this day as "pretty crowded." While ride waits were still quite reasonable, walkways were congested and food service was challenging. Long lines for food, or long waits for mobile order windows/pickups. Animation Academy at 2:00 was "full" by 1:50. That's rare.

Friday, Sept. 10 - visited DL from 4-6:45pm - This was weird. Ride wait times were SO LOW. We literally walked directly onto Star Tours at 5:45pm. But the parks didn't "feel" empty. It was like the parks were normal crowds, but no one was on the rides? I can't explain it.

As the Magic Key program ramps up and Disney adds Genie+ at some point, things could change quite a bit. But that's how I'd describe crowds recently.

 

[Cfiiitz]

Ok. There's just no good way to answer this question. It varies from day to day, and we'll even have experienced park-goers here in the same park on the same day who will give you two different answers. Crowd perception is a function of perspective, previous experiences, and also just where you are in the parks at certain times. One person's "low crowd" day is another person's "packed."

I just wanted to say I love your disclaimer and it’s so so so true.
I was just looking at a FB thread where someone asked how the crowds were on this Friday and the first comment said “amazing! So low and no wait times for rides!” and the second comment was “horrible! Worse than ever!” Two very different perspectives about the same place at the same time!

 

[Sunnyore]

I think it’s true it varies day to day but it’s definitely a lot nicer crowd wise compared to pre-covid. I took this photo yesterday around 11am and I can’t really think of a time before that I had the opportunity to snap a photo completely without a stranger in it. I don’t think I waited more than 20 minutes for any rides all day. Did both RotR and Webslinger.

 

[jujubiee4]

Yeah one day we went a couple weeks ago and it was so nice and crowds seemed low so we
decided to come back the next day and it was busy. lol So I guess it just depends.

 

[gelatoni fan]

If comparing to before COVID, today felt like a below-average crowd weekend but not really low crowds. I think it's manageable but some things do take a bit of planning as mobile order for some places started running out starting at 5PM.

 

[l4dyj8]

Here right now for a weekend. From our perspective, not that bad. Expected crowd levels for a weekend. But was pleasantly surprise.

Our usual measure is seeing more 30 minutes or less wait times. Radiator Springs was only 45. Goofy was 15 minutes. Star Tours, Pirates and Jungle Cruise on a Saturday was just 15.

haunted mansion and the wet rides are in high demand. So the long wait is expected.

the heat is terrible right now. The lines back into the park at 5 is horribly intimidating. This is a OBB night. So I image people leaving CA

 

[DLgal]

The easy answer for now is:

Weekdays: slow/not crowded
Weekends: busy/crowded

This will be the case until around mid October, when things ramp up during the week due to area school breaks.

Once November hits, the pattern will hold until Thanksgiving week, most likely. Then the first 2 weeks of December will follow the pattern as well.

If you can get here on a Wednesday-Friday, you'll have the best experience.

 

[Dudekiwi]

Ok. There's just no good way to answer this question. It varies from day to day, and we'll even have experienced park-goers here in the same park on the same day who will give you two different answers. Crowd perception is a function of perspective, previous experiences, and also just where you are in the parks at certain times. One person's "low crowd" day is another person's "packed."

HAVING SAID THAT, I'd say that in general, weekends are busy and weekdays aren't too bad lately (with some exceptions). Specifically, I've been four times in September and will give you my impressions:

Wednesday, Sept. 1 - visited from 8-11pm. The parks were pretty deserted. (I was able to get a Webslingers Boarding Group at 8pm, which is pretty unheard of.) It seemed quite empty, and by all accounts, that had been true all day.

Friday, Sept. 3 (First day of Halloweentime) - visited both parks from 4pm until 10:30pm - This was "moderately crowded," with most people there to see Halloween stuff. Ride waits were pretty low - we got on Haunted Mansion Holiday in less than 15 minutes around 4:30, which surprised me. By the time the Halloween fireworks started, though, Main Street was an absolute crush of humanity, as one would expect.

Monday, Sept. 6 (Labor Day) - visited DCA from about 8:30am until about 3pm. I'd describe this day as "pretty crowded." While ride waits were still quite reasonable, walkways were congested and food service was challenging. Long lines for food, or long waits for mobile order windows/pickups. Animation Academy at 2:00 was "full" by 1:50. That's rare.

Friday, Sept. 10 - visited DL from 4-6:45pm - This was weird. Ride wait times were SO LOW. We literally walked directly onto Star Tours at 5:45pm. But the parks didn't "feel" empty. It was like the parks were normal crowds, but no one was on the rides? I can't explain it.

As the Magic Key program ramps up and Disney adds Genie+ at some point, things could change quite a bit. But that's how I'd describe crowds recently.

We were at DL yesterday and our experience was somewhere between your visits on the 6th and 10th. The park was very busy but most ride lines were not too long. Some were only a little longer then when we went 4 weeks ago but most were the same or even shorter, however; the park was much more crowded yesterday compared to our visit 4 weeks ago. For example, 4 weeks ago in the mid-afternoon Dumb was a 30 minute wait. When we went on in yesterday in the early afternoon, it was only a 15 minute wait. It never got past a 15 minute wait while we were in the park according to the Disney App.

I can't speak for the evening. We left around 5:30 and the lines to get in were longer then when we first got there at opening. That is because the DCA guests were being pushed out of DCA because of the Oogie Boogie Bash that started at 6pm yesterday. Something to consider if you are visiting DL on a day the Oogie Boogie Bash is going on.

 

[Dudekiwi]

Here right now for a weekend. From our perspective, not that bad. Expected crowd levels for a weekend. But was pleasantly surprise.

Our usual measure is seeing more 30 minutes or less wait times. Radiator Springs was only 45. Goofy was 15 minutes. Star Tours, Pirates and Jungle Cruise on a Saturday was just 15.

haunted mansion and the wet rides are in high demand. So the long wait is expected.

the heat is terrible right now. The lines back into the park at 5 is horribly intimidating. This is a OBB night. So I image people leaving CA

This was our experience yesterday as well. The lines that were longer yesterday compared to 4 weeks ago were Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain. I am sure there were others but these 2 rides stood out to us compared to our last visit. Also, the lines were insane at 5:30pm to get into DL. They stretched all the way to the DCA gates.

 

[Wesley815]

How crowded is Disneyland/CA these days? We contemplated WDW because many say the crowds are low compared to 2019, but I think we want the ease of DLR and just driving to Universal a few days. I do not have enough experience with the California parks to make a judgement by listed wait times.

Others summed it up pretty well. The cheaper ticket days (Mon/Tues), and more Magic Key access days so far have been busier. You can use those calendars to check too.

Disneyland is tricky to compare to WDW as there's literally millions more local guests who come to DL, and can change their mind last minute vs traveling far and planning huge trip to WDW. Along with much smaller size of property itself.

 

[DLRExpert]

Currently typical (no holidays, schools in session) Mon-Thur are usually best. Mondays used to be busy when there were more people traveling.
Fridays are good until about 5pm, when the MKers get off work. Saturdays are busy but not bad between park opening and 11am.
Sundays not too bad until about 11am-9pm. People in Cali do not get up early, and have to leave early because of work the next day.

ME

 

[disneegrl4eva]

The easy answer for now is:

Weekdays: slow/not crowded
Weekends: busy/crowded

This will be the case until around mid October, when things ramp up during the week due to area school breaks.

Once November hits, the pattern will hold until Thanksgiving week, most likely. Then the first 2 weeks of December will follow the pattern as well.

If you can get here on a Wednesday-Friday, you'll have the best experience.

Yes, I agree...that is until the parks are not at the lower capacity leveles as they are now...once they go back to normal all bets are off

 

[kappyfamily]

We were there last week and Tuesday the 7th was by far the worst, wednesday and thursday much better.

 

[DLgal]

Thursday has always been the slowest weekday. I've been going on Thursdays for YEARS. That's the day I always choose for my solo "mom" days while the kids are in school.

 

[Marssiful]

I was there this past week from Sunday to Thursday. I thought the crowd levels were low. But it was HOT!!! I’m sure that had something to do with keeping the crowds down.

 

[AZMermaid]

Here right now for a weekend. From our perspective, not that bad. Expected crowd levels for a weekend. But was pleasantly surprise.

Our usual measure is seeing more 30 minutes or less wait times. Radiator Springs was only 45. Goofy was 15 minutes. Star Tours, Pirates and Jungle Cruise on a Saturday was just 15.

haunted mansion and the wet rides are in high demand. So the long wait is expected.

the heat is terrible right now. The lines back into the park at 5 is horribly intimidating. This is a OBB night. So I image people leaving CA

This was our exact experience too. It was busy but not crazy. One thing I dId note was it was way more crowded at 10:30PM than 10:30AM!

My son wanted to Rope Drop Goofys yesterday which I thought was crazy. But omg it was the way to go! He rode it 4 times without getting off, I bailed after 2. Only one other family ever got on while we were there. Then we walked on toy story, he did Incredicoaster 3 times (I did it once), we did the Ferris Wheel, and he did the swings- all before 9:15! We then walked onto Insude out and Ariel before hitting webslingers at 9:45. Yes, we hit lines later, but 45 min for RSR was the longest.

 

[geminimagk]

Ok. There's just no good way to answer this question. It varies from day to day, and we'll even have experienced park-goers here in the same park on the same day who will give you two different answers. Crowd perception is a function of perspective, previous experiences, and also just where you are in the parks at certain times. One person's "low crowd" day is another person's "packed."

HAVING SAID THAT, I'd say that in general, weekends are busy and weekdays aren't too bad lately (with some exceptions). Specifically, I've been four times in September and will give you my impressions:

Wednesday, Sept. 1 - visited from 8-11pm. The parks were pretty deserted. (I was able to get a Webslingers Boarding Group at 8pm, which is pretty unheard of.) It seemed quite empty, and by all accounts, that had been true all day.

Friday, Sept. 3 (First day of Halloweentime) - visited both parks from 4pm until 10:30pm - This was "moderately crowded," with most people there to see Halloween stuff. Ride waits were pretty low - we got on Haunted Mansion Holiday in less than 15 minutes around 4:30, which surprised me. By the time the Halloween fireworks started, though, Main Street was an absolute crush of humanity, as one would expect.

Monday, Sept. 6 (Labor Day) - visited DCA from about 8:30am until about 3pm. I'd describe this day as "pretty crowded." While ride waits were still quite reasonable, walkways were congested and food service was challenging. Long lines for food, or long waits for mobile order windows/pickups. Animation Academy at 2:00 was "full" by 1:50. That's rare.

Friday, Sept. 10 - visited DL from 4-6:45pm - This was weird. Ride wait times were SO LOW. We literally walked directly onto Star Tours at 5:45pm. But the parks didn't "feel" empty. It was like the parks were normal crowds, but no one was on the rides? I can't explain it.

As the Magic Key program ramps up and Disney adds Genie+ at some point, things could change quite a bit. But that's how I'd describe crowds recently.

So helpful, thanks for all your details!