If You Could...

[dairyou]

...go when the lines are at their shortest and the park is at its emptiest..

When would that be?

deb

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Are you asking about a random time or a specific, predictable date/day and time? If the former, then my answer is any day that is pouring rain, preferably at night. The harder the rain, the better. The last time we did the parks in the pouring rain (dressed for the occasion, of course!), there appeared to be only a handful of groups roaming both parks because we kept running into the same people on rides all night. Yes, it was very cold and wet, but we walked on all rides that were open and rode multiple times in a row all night. If you are asking about the latter, there really aren't any predictably certain low crowd days/dates/times at DLR now. And with SWGE opening next year, I would guess that the for-certain-low-crowd-factor is going to get more rare. It is much easier to predict high crowd times at DLR. We tell people here to choose the dates that work best for their schedules, double check the dates here to make sure that there isn't anything huge going on at the same time, then be at the parks when they open and make the most of those early morning hours.

 

[beachdreamr1229]

Well...I'd say about 20 years ago in the off season, around January or February.

Nowadays, there's really no such thing as a least crowded day as far as I can tell. Even in the off season, special events and nearby conventions bring crowds, especially as the park hours tend to be shorter. But, I would still say January or February, middle of the week, far away from any 3-day weekends. Though honestly, sometimes it feels like the dead of summer on a hot day is less crowded because hours are longer and APs are blocked.

 

[tarheelalum]

When fewer people go to Disneyland, the lines are often longer than on days when more people are in attendance. Disneyland greatly reduces staff on slower days. Sometimes by as much as 50%. In that respect Disneyland is like Las Vegas in that the house ALWAYS wins. You cannot plan out which days will be the slowest at Disneyland. But slow days do happen from time to time but it is by accident. But logic used by regular park goers very well might be off this year due to all of the changes coming. One sure fire way to insure locals won't go is to know a rain storm is coming days in advance and go on those days. But then again, you probably can't plan things like that on short notice unless you are a local so its pretty much a catch 22. As a general rule, don't go on a holiday weekend, or the most of the month of March, or any time near the opening, or after the opening of Star Wars or Christmas/New Years. Also try to book your hotel as early as possible with a rate you can cancel. Anaheim has a few big conventions every year so hotel prices can vary a lot around those times. To me, the next best time to go to Disneyland is the last few days of April when you take into account ride closures/maintenance, weather, crowds and general feel of the place. Good luck whenever you decide to go.

 

[figment_jii]

As others have said, there are very few predictable times when the crowds will be light in the parks. As theluckyrabbit said, any day when there is steady heavy rain will probably be pretty good. If the rain lets up, then the crowds might show up (I was there one day when it rained pretty steadily in the morning, but let up around 11:00 am and by mid-afternoon, the typical crowds had appeared). So, if you have flexibility to go on very short notice, I'd watch the weather reports for a day when it's supposed to rain steadily all day long.

Otherwise, you'll need to look for a time when there are not holidays, no special event, and no special ticket deals happening. I would nominally guess that mid-week (Tue to Thu) in Jan (outside of MLK week) and Feb (outside of President's Day week) might be your best bet. If you wait to long into March, you'll have to content with Spring Break season (mid-March through mid-April, pretty much whenever F&W is happening). There might be a small window after Spring Break season and before summer starts (late-May), but there are often ticket deals that bring in the crowds.

Once Star Wars Land opens in the summer, I'd guess that there aren't really going to be any low crowd periods for the remainder of the year. There may be random days when the crowds are lower, but no days when there are no crowds.

 

[cruisehopeful]

After hours special ticket events are usually good. There is one in Feb and one in March. The Halloween parties are also good for short line wait times.

Other than that, middle of the week at unpopular travel times (when schools are in session) can get you days where you only have about 20 minutes in most lines. My friend and I went last week on Wednesday and managed 10 rides, 2 full meals and good seats for the parade all in about a 9 hour visit. If you didn't do full meals and skipped the parade (we sat on a bench over an hour before the parade), you could probably have done 15+ rides in the same amount of time.

 

[dairyou]

We could try January February midweek sounds like our best chances then

How lucky that is right now!!!

 

[azdisneylover]

...go when the lines are at their shortest and the park is at its emptiest..

When would that be?

deb

It would be MM/EE every day. This does mean staying on site, but, that is fine with me! (My wallet does throw a temper tantrum, however). I do love being in the parks first thing and after a few hours, have a late breakfast or early lunch, rest, hang out in the GCH lobby or draw in the Animation Building.

 

[j9isawesome]

It would be MM/EE every day. This does mean staying on site, but, that is fine with me! (My wallet does throw a temper tantrum, however).

Alternatively whichever park doesn’t have MM/EE has much short lines for those not staying onsite. For ex if Disneyland had EE that day then it is usually at 50-80% capacity within an hour or two if being open while DCA would be at 10-40% capacity during that same time. Also for people that can’t do super early mornings, big EE crowds, or don’t want to wait in lines for an hour to skip lines once in the park- stay late instead of coming early. Once fireworks are done the parks empty out. Nights that Disneyland are open til midnight are usually peaceful for the last couple hours & most rides are walk-ons.