Is Saturday now the day to go to DLR?

[shannonkay]

I've been noticing these things myself. I'm a local with a PAP and a toddler. I do think that one thing that may be a crowd-changer is now that CarsLand is open and just DCA in general isn't under construction like it was for so long, the crowd is more spread out and it 's taking a lot of pressure off of DLP.

I also think the ticket price hike is helping. I know people are complaining about it, but I think Disney is well within their supply/demand to raise ticket prices and here is why. It seems like in the last year or so there have been almost no "slow days" like I used to see a lot of growing up. When I was in Junior High and high school we would go on Monday holidays all the time with very little crowd. It had been seeming like even the "off peak" days weren't slow at all.

But it does seem that since DCA/CarsLand is fully open and the ticket price is up, every summer day I go is less crowded than I expect. Sure, the lines for the new CarsLand ride are super long, but I expect that. The rest of the park in general was very manageable the last time I was there, which was this past Sunday. (A Sunday in July!)

 

[Argento]

I think the big take away from this is to enjoy it while it lasts. This thread will do a lot to spread the word furious: thanks a lot, btw ) so it's just a matter of time before the Saturday crush is back and better than ever.

 

[rsleleux]

So you have 2 trips planned, and you're trying to decide on a Sat for both? In general my experience with KBF is that their weekend crowds are literally 10 times or more larger than their weekday crowds. They have a much larger difference in crowd levels than DLR. I would want to avoid Saturday at KBF more than at DLR. However their Knotts Scary Farm is very popular and can affect crowds. I think this would make Saturdays even worse. I noticed when we would go in October during the week, the crowds were low because the scary farm didn't start until night on a separate ticket, and the guests did not come early.

Wow! I am seriously tired! I'm sorry, I have a trip planned in October To DLR and that is when we would like to go to KBF! I don't know why I wrote May??

There is a Knott's Scary Farm party on both nights, Fri and Sat, so the park closes at 5:30.

 

[BlackFlowerGirl]

I've just returned from over a week at DLR, we didn't go on a Saturday, made the mistake of going to Universal instead, but we did go the last two Sundays and they were both very pleasant, with plenty of FP's left, and neither day did we enter early, we are far too lazy on vacation for that. The day we thought was packed was this last monday.

 

[dnamertz]

Here are the "stats" I could find (some of these are estimates):

1.) There are about 1 million AP holders (according to an article about the recently announced price increase).

2.) That article also says that on average AP holders make 10 visits per year, which equates to 10,000,000 visits by AP holders in a year (assuming a "visit" is one day...so if they go to DL for a three day trip, that is 3 visits).

3.) Disneyland's attendance was 16,140,000 in 2011 (according to Themed Entertainment Association's annual attendance report). DCA's attendance was 6,341,000 but I don't know if there count park-hoppers as a visit to both parks in the same day if they park hop. So, I'll just go with the DL totals for now.

Assuming that 30% of AP holders have a PAP (mentioned in the original post...but not sure how accurate that is)...this means that 7 million (70% of all AP holders) of the 16 million visitors can not go on most Saturdays. That is a large number of visits that get spread across the other 6 days of the week. I would also assume that the 6 million non-AP holders visits are spread out pretty equally over the 7 days of the week (although some may try to avoid Saturdays because of years of warnings about how busy they are.

I can easily see how the blackouts might be resulting in lower crowds on Satudays.

 

[rtfelt]

I think the big take away from this is to enjoy it while it lasts. This thread will do a lot to spread the word ( thanks a lot, btw ) so it's just a matter of time before the Saturday crush is back and better than ever.

Yeah well, it's all about information--sorry to possibly blow your cover

I also think the ticket price hike is helping. I know people are complaining about it, but I think Disney is well within their supply/demand to raise ticket prices and here is why. It seems like in the last year or so there have been almost no "slow days" like I used to see a lot of growing up. When I was in Junior High and high school we would go on Monday holidays all the time with very little crowd. It had been seeming like even the "off peak" days weren't slow at all.

Yes, I remember when we first got our AP's the first time that there were A LOT of slow days (and that was when there were only 3 types of AP's and a PAP was less than $200--I think $170 or so), but that does seem a thing of the past. My only hope these days is to randomly pick a day when Disney thinks a lot of people will come, and for some reason, no one does. Maybe the price increase on AP's will make a difference in attendance, but the previous price increases hasn't seemed to make a difference. Also, in the last few years, when attendance started to dip, Disney came up with a program to increase the crowds--free admission on your birthday (according to a friend of mine who is in the accounting department at Disney CA--the most successful promotion ever) and then "give a day, get a day" which "sold out" by March. The crowds increased significantly each of these years after a year of seeing some lower crowds because so many people (we did it too, but we had already had them so it saved us money on the passes) upgraded their one day to an AP. I think this may have been the beginning of the huge increase in AP's seen in recent years.

 

[rtfelt]

Here are the "stats" I could find (some of these are estimates):

1.) There are about 1 million AP holders (according to an article about the recently announced price increase).

2.) That article also says that on average AP holders make 10 visits per year, which equates to 10,000,000 visits by AP holders in a year (assuming a "visit" is one day...so if they go to DL for a three day trip, that is 3 visits).

3.) Disneyland's attendance was 16,140,000 in 2011 (according to Themed Entertainment Association's annual attendance report). DCA's attendance was 6,341,000 but I don't know if there count park-hoppers as a visit to both parks in the same day if they park hop. So, I'll just go with the DL totals for now.

Assuming that 30% of AP holders have a PAP (mentioned in the original post...but not sure how accurate that is)...this means that 7 million (70% of all AP holders) of the 16 million visitors can not go on most Saturdays. That is a large number of visits that get spread across the other 6 days of the week. I would also assume that the 6 million non-AP holders visits are spread out pretty equally over the 7 days of the week (although some may try to avoid Saturdays because of years of warnings about how busy they are.

I can easily see how the blackouts might be resulting in lower crowds on Satudays.

Disney only counts the first entry when figuring attendance numbers, so the two figures can be added (16,140K+6,341K=22,481K) to come up with total attendance at the DLR. If AP's do make an average of 10 million visits total per year, then that means that only half of the guests throughout the year are AP's. I wonder how many of those visits occur on peak versus off-peak days.

 

[toodles2009]

We were in the parks this Sunday through Wednesday (today) and I echo the comment above. Sunday was by far the least crowded, and that is even considering we were only there in the afternoon and evening, rather than morning. Monday and Tuesday were incredibly crowded. Wednesday actually felt pretty close to Sunday to me, although we left midday so I don't know how the afternoon and evening were.

 

[dnamertz]

We were in the parks this Sunday through Wednesday (today) and I echo the comment above. Sunday was by far the least crowded, and that is even considering we were only there in the afternoon and evening, rather than morning. Monday and Tuesday were incredibly crowded. Wednesday actually felt pretty close to Sunday to me, although we left midday so I don't know how the afternoon and evening were.

I'm not sure why Sundays would be less crowded. The only AP holders that were blacked out last Sunday are those with the So. Cal. passes and they are blacked out all this month. Maybe the other passholders, even though they were not blacked out Sunday, still avoided Sunday because they assume it will be crowded?

 

[Jkpark]

I was only there Sunday and Monday and agree with PP, Monday was noticeably more crowded than Sunday. I'm not sure why...

 

[goodeats]

This is why I'm contemplating just skipping a year instead of downgrading to SoCal. Remains to be seen if the 1M number will decrease significantly.

 

[GrandBob]

If AP's do make an average of 10 million visits total per year, then that means that only half of the guests throughout the year are AP's. I wonder how many of those visits occur on peak versus off-peak days.

Only half??? That's huge! Can you imagine taking an average, or busy, park day and removing half the crowd? That would make a gigantic impact. If these figures and estimates are anywhere close to accurate, then it's no wonder that Saturdays are looking really good.

Thanks for the estimates, dnamertz and rtfelt!

-Bob

 

[TillyMarigold]

The last weekend in July of last year, we did Saturday in DCA and Sunday in DLR. They were crowded, but nowhere near what I would have expected from a mid-summer weekend as a WDW vet. On a scale of 1-10, maybe a 7 or so. Hoping this weekend's trip will be the same!

 

[dnamertz]

Despite these numbers, weekdays can still have some very low crowds (in my limited experience). We were at DLR last November on Tues through Fri the week before Thanksgiving and other than waiting 40 minutes to see Mickey in TT, and 20 to 25 minutes for Peter Pan and TSMM, most rides were 5 to 10 minute waits...except for late Friday when the crowds started to pour in. I don't know how this compares to previous years, but it wasn't bad.

 

[Jennifer2983]

we just got back and the wkdays were sooooooo busy... on sun we were walking on rides even splash and thunder... I wasn't there on sat but other people were telling me it was the same....we could have lucked out but I think a lot of people might go during the week

 

[toodles2009]

I'm not sure why Sundays would be less crowded. The only AP holders that were blacked out last Sunday are those with the So. Cal. passes and they are blacked out all this month. Maybe the other passholders, even though they were not blacked out Sunday, still avoided Sunday because they assume it will be crowded?

I'm not sure why either, but Sunday was clearly less crowded than Monday and Tuesday. As you note, it is not due to the AP effect. My theory, though pure speculation, is Sunday is a common travel day and so many summer guests are from out of town.

 

[HydroGuy]

Sundays are always more crowded than Saturdays. Except when the Sunday is followed by a Monday which is the 2nd or 3rd Monday of the month. In that case the Monday is even more crowded. Except when there are five Mondays in that month. Then it is Saturday which is more crowded. Except during months when there is a full moon during the first two weeks of the month. That would then have Thursdays and Fridays being more crowded. This goes for every month that has 31 days in it.

Now for the months with 30 days or less in them...

 

[fctiger]

OP I will agree with others that Saturdays have become the lightest day generally now. Of course, there are PLENTY of exceptions and doesnt mean its always light obviously and it does have super busy days but average wise it does seem to be the best day to go!

I even created a thread about DCA/CL and how its impact seems to either had made things feel less busy in general (since everyone was assuming just the opposite) since the crowds are more balanced out and like its mentioned the increased ticket prices has maybe kept others away even more.


And yes, I can also agree that the weekends are oddly slow while the week days are busier! I was there just last Saturday in the evening and even though it LOOKED busy most rides were 15-30 mins basically and after 9 p.m. it dropped to 10-20 mins average save for the bigger stuff like SM, Matterhorn, TOT, RSR, etc. It was great!

Buuut, I was there just this past Tuesday and I was shocked how BUSY it was!!! It was easily the busiest I seen it all summer. POTC was even 40 mins at one point. I figure maybe because it was DL 57th birthday a lot of people were around to celebrate it with other geeks like me! I been there about a dozen times this summer alone and that was the busiest I seen it. The only time I see it that busy was June 15th, DCA re-opening day. So I didnt know if it was just a fluke, the birthday, what, but it sounds like the weekdays are busier. I been going mostly weekends since I work on the weekdays and rarely go then.

DLR in general still feels MUCH lighter than last summer, but it still has its busy days, but oddly more on the week days now. It is a strange situation!

 

[lana772]

Sundays are always more crowded than Saturdays. Except when the Sunday is followed by a Monday which is the 2nd or 3rd Monday of the month. In that case the Monday is even more crowded. Except when there are five Mondays in that month. Then it is Saturday which is more crowded. Except during months when there is a full moon during the first two weeks of the month. That would then have Thursdays and Fridays being more crowded. This goes for every month that has 31 days in it.

Now for the months with 30 days or less in them...

ROTFLMAO!!!!!! Thank you! Some of these post get way too serious!

 

[fctiger]

OP, here is a GREAT example of how light Saturdays have been this summer:

http://mintcrocodile.blogspot.com/

Those pics was taken just this past Saturday by a great blogger who posts weekly pictures of the resort and had updates on the expansion. Granted, this is at park opening between 8-10 a.m. so it obviously wasnt like that all day. But the point is its not 'slammed' all day and being on a Saturday in the middle of summer shows how nice it is these days. Everything seem to be a walk on the first few hours except RSR of course.

Sundays are always more crowded than Saturdays. Except when the Sunday is followed by a Monday which is the 2nd or 3rd Monday of the month. In that case the Monday is even more crowded. Except when there are five Mondays in that month. Then it is Saturday which is more crowded. Except during months when there is a full moon during the first two weeks of the month. That would then have Thursdays and Fridays being more crowded. This goes for every month that has 31 days in it.

Now for the months with 30 days or less in them...

LMAO, yeah you said it!