January crowds

[Tinkerbell19672]

I've never been to DL around the holidays to see all the decorations and I'd love to go. We were there when the 60th started and I don't want to deal with the crowds again . Does anyone know if the first week of January is still super busy? Thanks in advance!

 

[figment_jii]

I would expect that the parks will still be fairly busy the first week in January (1/3/16-1/9/16). The official end to the Holiday Season is January 6, and the SoCal/SoCal Select AP Holiday season blockout ends on 3rd and 4th, respectively. So, some of those folks will be coming to the parks to see the holiday offerings one last time (and for the first time since mid-December). Additionally, some school districts are also still out on break until January 11th.

I would expect moderate-to-high crowds, but probably not quite like it was for the kickoff of the 60th (Memorial Day weekend). My guess is that the parks will be busiest in the first half of the week, see a decline when the Holiday Season ends, and then pick-up again on weekends (because weekends in general are busy).

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Thanks! School here goes back on the 4th and I assumed most schools did. 11th seems late! I was thinking we could catch the last couple of day of decorations. Seems like DL is more crowded the past few years than it used to be. Recession is over I guess. I really want to see Aladdin one more time before it's gone

 

[figment_jii]

I've been tracking some of the school breaks in the second post of the 2016 Calendar of Events & School Breaks and DLR thread. In terms of the local crowds, LAUSD doesn't go back until the 11th.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

I've been tracking some of the school breaks in the second post of the 2016 Calendar of Events & School Breaks and DLR thread. In terms of the local crowds, LAUSD doesn't go back until the 11th.

Thanks. Bummer

 

[agamble]

Most schools around the country do go back to school around the 4th, but some places have an extra week. My daughter has 3-weeks off in central CA. I've heard it's because a lot of families visit Mexico for Christmas and would miss school days so the districts began giving an extra week. Makes sense for LA too. I know when I taught year round in Las Vegas the track that was off for 4-5 weeks around Christmas was the most popular as many of my students did go to Mexico for Christmas.

That week will still be less busy than the 2-weeks before. It's not a horrible time to visit, just don't expect a dead park. We'll probably visit that week in 2017.

 

[figment_jii]

When you say you were in the parks for the kickoff to the 60th, do you mean the 24-hour day itself? I just ask to get a better sense of the crowd levels that you're trying to avoid. To me, the 24-hour day is a tough metric to use. The park's parade route and fireworks viewing areas, along with the dining locations, were very busy with guests, but some of the outer lying areas of the parks weren't that bad. So, the wait times were moderate-to-high, but it was the parade and firework viewing areas were crowded to capacity.

I think if you're main goal is to see the decorations and just soak in the holiday atmosphere, you can do that the first week of January (before the holiday season ends). As long as you go with realistic expectations regarding attraction wait times and crowds for the various shows, you'll probably be okay. Attractions aren't going to walk-on, but I don't expect crowds to be at the same levels as they were during Christmas to New Years either.

 

[Sherry E]

If it's just decorations you are interested in (trees, wreaths, garland, window displays, etc.), I think those will be up in the 2 parks and probably at the hotels through January 6th. As for the ride overlays, It's a Small World Holiday will be running until (most likely) somewhere in the range of January 24th.

I have a strong hunch that Haunted Mansion Holiday may stay open through Sunday, January 10th -- although it has not been officially posted anywhere, it is likely that it will repeat what happened this past January. January 10th is also the last day for Aladdin, as you know, and (reportedly, though not announced by Disney publicly) the last day of the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ and the Ranch in general. So I suspect there will be some folks coming in for one last hurrah at the BBQ and to see Aladdin.

I have no information to support this, but I also have a strong feeling that the "Season of the Force" event (featuring Hyperspace Mountain) may begin right around that 'first week of January' time frame. This past January, Frozen Fun officially launched immediately after the holiday season (officially) ended (although HMH and IASWH remained open), so I have a feeling that Disney may try to do the same thing with Season of the Force, just to bring in people when the holidays end.

 

[figment_jii]

I have no information to support this, but I also have a strong feeling that the "Season of the Force" event (featuring Hyperspace Mountain) may begin right around that 'first week of January' time frame. This past January, Frozen Fun officially launched immediately after the holiday season (officially) ended (although HMH and IASWH remained open), so I have a feeling that Disney may try to do the same thing with Season of the Force, just to bring in people when the holidays end.

They also don't seem to be terribly shy about starting things on marathon weekends, so I could see the start of the "Season of the Force" thing tying into the Star Wars Half Marathon in mid-January. Can you imagine starting a Star Wars themed event on the Star Wars Marathon Weekend!

 

[Sherry E]

They also don't seem to be terribly shy about starting things on marathon weekends, so I could see the start of the "Season of the Force" thing tying into the Star Wars Half Marathon in mid-January. Can you imagine starting a Star Wars themed event on the Star Wars Marathon Weekend!

That would actually make a lot of sense, now that you mention it (though. the crowds might be... above average ). And... it would mean that they could keep Space Mountain open during the entire holiday season and not have to close it to get it into "Hyperspace" mode before January 7th or whatever. Yeah... the marathon weekend sounds like a good target date for it to launch.

 

[brianerickson]

I'm glad I saw this; I chose January 9 - 13, and I feel a lot better about my choices now; though, I can't be the first person on the planet that's chosen Disneyland dates based on Isitpacked.com...

 

[RedheadRinger]

Hi. I just started a Face Book group, "Disney January 2016 Planning Group". Come join us if you're on FaceBook. Its just starting out but hopefully we can get others to join.

 

[agamble]

They also don't seem to be terribly shy about starting things on marathon weekends, so I could see the start of the "Season of the Force" thing tying into the Star Wars Half Marathon in mid-January. Can you imagine starting a Star Wars themed event on the Star Wars Marathon Weekend!

Isn't it supposed to start in the fall? Or is that just the reopening of Innoventions?

We were also there for the 24-hour party. We found the park was CROWDED, but the wait times for most attractions were shorter than they had been the whole week. We stayed the extra day so we could see the parade/fireworks, and then ended up leaving early because we knew there was no way we'd be able to see the shows.

 

[Sherry E]

Isn't it supposed to start in the fall? Or is that just the reopening of Innoventions?

We were also there for the 24-hour party. We found the park was CROWDED, but the wait times for most attractions were shorter than they had been the whole week. We stayed the extra day so we could see the parade/fireworks, and then ended up leaving early because we knew there was no way we'd be able to see the shows.

The Star Wars Launch Bay (in the Innoventions building) is most likely starting next month -- though it has not been announced yet. October 11th was the date that looked likely. Season of the Force is supposed to begin "early" next year, so I am guessing Disney will try to have it ready to bring in some crowds when the holiday season ends, just as they did with Frozen Fun this past January. If they can't get Season of the Force up and running immediately after the holidays end, then the Star Wars Marathon weekend seems like a good bet for when it would start.