We just finished a week long trip to
Disneyland this past week
(9/17/12 - 9/21/12) and the parks seemed very crowded. However, I would like to point out the even though they were crowded they were
deceptively crowded.
What I mean by deceptively crowded is that
even though many areas of the parks were jam packed with people trying to maneuver through tight spaces the wait times for most of the rides were shockingly manageable. For instance, New Orleans Square was nearly bursting at the seams with people but the average wait time for the Haunted Mansion was about 15 minutes or so. There were times where it shot up to an hour but for the most part we got on it in less then 15 minutes even though we had to navigate the hordes just to get to the ride's entrance.
In Tomorrow Land it was quite busy as well. Trying to get from the entrance back to Space Mountain required nimble feet and quick reflexes just to avoid running into people, especially in front of Star Tours. However, the wait times for Space Mountain seemed to hover right around 15-30 minutes the whole week we were there. What was really surprising was that when Space Mountain was packed Star Tours was practically empty and vice versa. It was quite nice to be able to deviate from Space Mountain to Star Tours while waiting for the hordes of people to get off of the ride.
In California Adventure most of the people seemed to congregate in Cars Land which left the rest of the park almost empty. Several of the rides had 10 minute or less wait times the entire week. We spent hours at Pacific Wharf just going between the various rides over and over. In fact, we were allowed to stay seated on 'Mickey's Silly Symphony Swings' five times in a row because there was nobody in line. We were also able to ride 'Goofy's Sky School' three times in a row without getting off because there was nobody in line. Regardless, 'Radiator Springs Racers', 'Toy Story Midway Mania' and 'Luigi's Flying Tires' always seemed to be flirting with 60 minute wait times.
Another ride that I was surprised was so easy to get on was 'Tow Mater's Junkyard Jamboree'. I don't think we waited more then 10 minutes each time we rode it. In fact, I believe most of our wait times were right around 5 minutes or so. The 'Tower of Terror' was also surprisingly easy to get on. The wait times seemed to fluctuate between 15 and 30 minutes the whole week we were there. We rode it 4 times with less then 10 minute wait times.
Overall, we had a great experience with this trip and were able to manage the crowds very well. Not once did I get stressed out about the wait times or not being able to ride a particular ride. Maybe it was because we decided to use a 'path of least resistance' method when selecting which rides to wait for or maybe it was the fact that we just accepted the fact that we might not be able to ride certain multiple times. Regardless, we didn't paint ourselves into a corner with a predetermined plan and just rode the rides that the crowds
(or lack of) dictated we ride. If we were on our way to Splash Mountain and we saw that 'Pirates of the Caribbean' had a less then 5 minute wait we deviated from our plan and took advantage of that particular ride.
so they all planned trips AFTER summer was over...Sept. is typically a slow month and there hasnt really been many signs of a slowdown and here we are at the end of Sept already..now that halloween is coming you take those crowds plus everybody who decided to wait till fall, then add holiday crowds plus the fact they have added 20 nights to Candlelight processional (this may not bring more people but the fact that they will all be on Main St. it will be very congested which will make the appearance of more crowds) well then you have a formula for busy, busy parks from now till Jan at least...
