How were the crowds the last few days? 10-20 to 10-23

[jennilouwho]

We might have to go over UEA (we're in Utah) next time we want to go the parks. How bad was this last Thursday and Friday 20-21st? Was it as crazy as expected?

 

[juliamollymama]

I don't know about Thursday and Friday but last night was packed! It was crazy. Worse than summer IMO.

 

[ichabody]

We went Friday night for the Halloween Party (ticketed event) and it wasn't too bad. The lines for Haunted Mansion were at 70 minutes before the party and then 15 minutes afterwards. Similar times for Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy. Saturday was absolutely nuts! Our family went into Main Street (just to activate our tix) and I made my way over to Space Mountain to get fastpasses to use later. That was around 10am and the crowds were there...80 min. for Star Tours and 90 for Space Mountain. Our fast pass return time was 5:00pm. Our plan was to just activate our ticket for Disneyland and spend the rest of the day at Cal. Adv until our dinner reservation at Big Thunder Ranch at 7pm. After a super fun day in CA Adventure we headed back to Disneyland and rode Space Mountain and ate dinner. After that we watched the fireworks near Dumbo and got in the "post fireworks Peter Pan line" near the Mad Hatter. Once the fire department gave the all clear after the fireworks we rode most of the Fantasyland rides with little wait.

It was definitely crowded, and if you don't know your Disneyland tips then it could've been a pretty frustrating day. My recommendation is to take Friday off and go to Disneyland that day, and then do CA Adv. on Saturday. During the holidays Disneyland is ALWAYS crowded on the weekends. Especially Saturdays during the Halloween layover period...as was the case yesterday.

 

[jennilouwho]

Thanks for the info! We'd probably pull the kids out of school Mon-Wed and then they would have Thursday and Friday off of school. Then maybe head home Saturday it's sounding like.... Anyone know what Thursday and Friday during the day was like?

 

[DisneyPhreak]

We just spent a few days at DL last week and it was crazy busy! We got there on Saturday and went into the parks around noon and it was slammed which we pretty much expected. So we gathered fast passes and walked around and did the less busy things. Sunday was packed as well. The busy rides were pretty much always an hour or more wait. Helped doing the fast pass as much as possible.

Monday we took a day off and went to Santa Monica. Tuesday was the slowest of the days we were there...in the morning only. It was great to do quite a few walk on rides, but by early afternoon it was a zoo again. Wednesday (our last day) was also packed all day long (like weekend busy IMO). We took off for San Diego around 4.

We decided we probably wont do October again. It used to be a great slow time, but not any more. I heard people saying that these were mid-summer crowd levels. One CM at the TOT said it was unlike anything he had seen and had no explaination for it. O well. Just make the most of what you can. The worst day at DL is 100x better than your best day at work

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Why would the crowds the last few days have anything to do with UEA crowds?? I would never choose to visit DLR over UEA *4th of July/Thanksgiving - sure* we did visit WDW during UEA 2009 and hope to head back next UEA *2012*

 

[indiesgirl4ever]

I was at the parks just yesterday, crowded, I've seen worse, yet leaning towards very crowded for a Sunday. Haunted Mansion lines were ridiculous. I never had seen the line so long, went way past the entry gates and circled around the litle hub in front of the train station. Many of the other rides were a long wait, took advantage of FP as much as we could

 

[gabsandalex]

We went early for UEA and actually returned to Utah when the rest of Utah headed to Disneyland. Our first day in the parks was Sunday, Oct. 16, started out ok, but was packed by mid afternoon so we headed over to CA for some breathing room. Monday was good, but got a little busier mid-afternoon. Tuesday (10/18) we chilled at the hotel pool and headed to DL for the Halloween party around 3:30. It was crowded, but most of the crowds were for the candy lines and we were able to either walk on or have a short wait for most of rides. I could totally tell when the UEA visitors began to trickle into the hotel and parks - SOOOO many BYU shirts.

There were a few reasons I opted to start the trip a few days early:

- Because I knew that we could only afford to be in the parks for 3 days, I didn't want to go on super crowded days.

- Originally, we were going to drive and I like to break the drive up to 2 days (at least for the trip home). I would rather not have to rush the driving part or get back home late Sunday. I also wanted to avoid the LA to Vegas traffic - which meant I didn't want to be driving back on a Friday or Saturday - since it can be awful! We ended up flying instead, so none of this was much of an issue after all.

- I wanted my daughter to have at least one day of downtime after all of the excitement. It was nice to have a few days (and it took it!) to get her back into her regular routine before sending her back to school.

- Salt Lake City school district closed the elementary schools Wednesday - Friday this year for UEA. That meant that my daughter would only miss 2 days. We didn't tell our kids ahead of time, but I did let her teacher know. And he was so cool with it - he told me that her only homework for the 2 days she missed would be to have fun!

My only complaint was that our trip went by too fast - we missed it before we even left! Next time, we will drive down, head to the parks first and then head to the beach for a day or two before coming home.

 

[liesel]

We were there Tues 10/18- Thursday 10/20. Crowds were light on Tues, building as the week progressed. We spent Tuesday and Wednesday with a more relaxed touring plan. The crowds started to build at DL after 3 on Tues once the party crowd was allowed in so we park hopped to DCA, grabbed some FPs and walked onto Little Mermaid. Once DL closed at 6, the crowds started to build at DCA, so we left, we had been up since 5AM mountain time to fly out that morning.

Wednesday was more crowded than Tuesday, 45-60 min peak waits for the headliners. We did note that the more "thrill" headliners like IJA, Splash, Space, Screamin', etc. often had 20-30 min waits and the lines seemed to be more concetrated on FL rides like Peter Pan (40 min at peak). HMH was busy as usual, but on Tuesday we rode at noon with a 10 minute wait, it was 50-60 later in the week. Thursday was like a busy peak season weekend and we toured accordingly. It was amazing the jump in crowds from Wednesday to Thursday. I had seen people here argue the impact of Utah's fall break on crowd levels, but I do have to say that we saw lots of Utah/BYU gear at the parks and it was definitely more crowded.

I agree that the parks were not staffed for a busy peak season day on Thursday. For example, on the Matterhorn, they did not have enough people to assist guests getting in the bobsleds, several people were confused. Screamin' only had one side open, etc. I hope they do make note of this and staff these days accordingly next year. There were a few more breakdowns on Thursday, which I think is typical when there are increased crowds. The area around POTC was definitely impacted by its closure, many rides in that area like the Jungle Cruise had longer lines than usual. There were many who were unaware of the closure until they actually got over to the ride. We had a blast, but I would definitely recommend getting a day or two in before the crowds descend at the same time next year.

 

[jennilouwho]

Why would the crowds the last few days have anything to do with UEA crowds?? I would never choose to visit DLR over UEA *4th of July/Thanksgiving - sure* we did visit WDW during UEA 2009 and hope to head back next UEA *2012*

Wasn't this UEA weekend? My kids were out of school last Thursday and Friday? Or was our fall break different than other schools?

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Wasn't this UEA weekend? My kids were out of school last Thursday and Friday? Or was our fall break different than other schools?

Oh my goodness! Indeed it was, can you tell we did lots of exciting stuff during the break - well Breakfast with the Witches *Gardner Village* and then the zoo *way to crowded and many animals missing/construction going on* were fun.

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Friday was pretty busy during the day. Party didnt feel super crowded except suring the fireworks, which was to be expected.

Saturday was busier than any summer day I have been there. We collected FP's and used them in the evening, the disconnected BTMRR FP was very helpful.

Sunday started out pretty mild. Crowds were building by noon, we left around 1:30.

 

[NiceOneSimba]

As everyone else said, Saturday was INSANE. Like can-barely-move-it's-so-crowded insane. Especially around Fantasmic! I don't think I've ever seen anything like how crowded it was.

I didn't think Sunday was bad at all, but we were there at rope drop and left around 1 for naps. We had a stack of FPs we used at night.