**June 2016 check in**

[BadPinkTink]

I'm also trying not to worry about walls up and crowds...one thing that I'm having trouble with is determining what "crowded" means in Disneyland terms. I've experienced WDW levels of crowded, and we manage to make it work, but being unfamiliar with the California parks, I'm not sure what to expect! I've been reading threads where everyone says, "Oh, it's PACKED", and "we can barely move through New Orleans Square", but I know it's subjective - I've been in the Florida parks when people think it's unreasonably busy, but we don't find it that terrible, so here I am. Worrying about things I can't control and don't have a frame of reference for, haha!

One of the main differences between the two parks is the actual footprint. In California there is alot less space and the walkways and areas are smaller than in Florida. So 200 people in New Orleans Square in California for example may feel very crowded and squashed but 200 people in New Orleans Square in Florida and the place feels empty.

New Orleans Square gets crowded in California during the evening as alot of the walkway space is sectioned off for Fantasmic and they have a one way system for those who are going between Haunted Mansion and Pirates.

 

[AZMermaid]

We went last Feb and it was really crowded even mid-week, so we decided- forget it. The old saying of "the closures are worth it because the crowds are so low" just didn't ring at all true! We decided then that we would go in June. It may be crowded but at least everything (okay... not everything, I know) will be open to suck the crowds in!

 

[xlsm]

One of the main differences between the two parks is the actual footprint. In California there is alot less space and the walkways and areas are smaller than in Florida. So 200 people in New Orleans Square in California for example may feel very crowded and squashed but 200 people in New Orleans Square in Florida and the place feels empty.

New Orleans Square gets crowded in California during the evening as alot of the walkway space is sectioned off for Fantasmic and they have a one way system for those who are going between Haunted Mansion and Pirates.

I do understand the size issue. WDW is massive, and DL/DCA are very small in comparison - In my head I imagine them to be a lot like Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure in Orlando in terms of size and proximity to one another. Liberty Square in WDW is huge and wide open (where New Orleans Square is not), with only a few narrow (and I use that term VERY loosely - it's only narrow in terms of the other pathways in the area) places, so I get how size of an area and number of people correlate...What I wonder about - and what I can't know until I experience it for myself - is what it means to others when they say it's packed or crowded.

Like, Fantasyland in the MK at Walt Disney World can literally become a sea of people, but we've always found it manageable, even though it's annoying and other guests drive us crazy, LOL!

Or, in comparison, is it going to be like the crowds in Diagon Alley at Universal, when I decided I understood how fights break out at at theme park I've also felt that way during and after the Main Street Electrical Parade at the Magic Kingdom, because I swear, people just lose their minds!

So, I guess what I'm saying is, I am just hoping the whole experience isn't like my two bad examples, because that would make me crazy! If it's just the sea of people, I can handle that - it's the pushing and shoving and general insanity I don't like

And like I said, it's all subjective, so my "bad" might not be someone else's. It's just one of those things that I won't be able to figure out until I'm actually there, and it's annoying because I'm a control freak, LOL!! Knowing we have 5 day hoppers is a comfort, because we can take our time.

They way you describe the Fantasmic situation makes it sound like trying to work around a parade route at MK when the ropes are up, which to me is manageable even though it's a pain.

Thank you!!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

Same here! I'm clinging to the hope that they'll keep it going because of the Star Wars hoopla (I love star wars hoopla, lol!!), but I know I'm probably being delusional.
Heck, most of my Disney-self is delusional, LOL!!

I'm also trying not to worry about walls up and crowds...one thing that I'm having trouble with is determining what "crowded" means in Disneyland terms. I've experienced WDW levels of crowded, and we manage to make it work, but being unfamiliar with the California parks, I'm not sure what to expect! I've been reading threads where everyone says, "Oh, it's PACKED", and "we can barely move through New Orleans Square", but I know it's subjective - I've been in the Florida parks when people think it's unreasonably busy, but we don't find it that terrible, so here I am. Worrying about things I can't control and don't have a frame of reference for, haha!

I just read that they extended the Season of the Force through Summer 2016.

Also, crowded at Disneyland is much different than WDW. The walk ways are much narrower. So in the afternoon, it feels like you are swimming upstream no matter which way you are trying to go. Most similar to trying to leave MK at night parade. We routinely go single file and everyone has to grab onto the one in front, and 3 out of 4 of us are adults. Also, the last 2 times we have been was middle to end of July, so that could have something to do with it. The wait times aren't as bad as WDW, in my opinion. With rope drop and late nights and fastpass, we were able to ride and do most everything we had on our must do list and do them multiple times. The last 2 trips were only 3 days. We added 1 more day this time, just so that I could relax more. I am now imagining what it will be like without the train. Much harder to get around through the crowds. There were many times we wanted to go to the other side of park and didn't want to face the crowds, so would hop on a train. Without that option, you would be spending more time trying to get from point A to B.

 

[love2go2disney2]

Hi,
We are taking our annual Disneyland trip Disney June 19- 25th!! We are staying at the Portofino Inn and Suites! Our family favorite hotel. We cant wait to back to the Happiest Place on Earth!!

 

[xlsm]

Hi,
We are taking our annual Disneyland trip Disney June 19- 25th!! We are staying at the Portofino Inn and Suites! Our family favorite hotel. We cant wait to back to the Happiest Place on Earth!!

Welcome!! I'll log your dates on the first page!!

 

[xlsm]

I just read that they extended the Season of the Force through Summer 2016.

Also, crowded at Disneyland is much different than WDW. The walk ways are much narrower. So in the afternoon, it feels like you are swimming upstream no matter which way you are trying to go. Most similar to trying to leave MK at night parade. We routinely go single file and everyone has to grab onto the one in front, and 3 out of 4 of us are adults. Also, the last 2 times we have been was middle to end of July, so that could have something to do with it. The wait times aren't as bad as WDW, in my opinion. With rope drop and late nights and fastpass, we were able to ride and do most everything we had on our must do list and do them multiple times. The last 2 trips were only 3 days. We added 1 more day this time, just so that I could relax more. I am now imagining what it will be like without the train. Much harder to get around through the crowds. There were many times we wanted to go to the other side of park and didn't want to face the crowds, so would hop on a train. Without that option, you would be spending more time trying to get from point A to B.

The "leaving MK at night" visual works for me, thanks!!

I'm slowly feeling more comfortable with this trip

 

[xlsm]

We got our first piece of Disneyland Mickey Mail yesterday, which was super exciting!!

I have just a couple of general non-park related questions, that aren't important, but I'm curious anyway:

- Will they send our tickets or a voucher to exchange when we arrive?
- when do they usually mail the luggage tags, within the 30 day window?
- do we get our lanyards and pins when we check in?

I'm high on Mickey Mail, and I want to know when I another fix, LOL!!

 

[greewe]

We will be at Disneyland Hotel from June 26-July 2. We have a large family group consisting of myself and my husband, our 3 boys and their wives, and our 3 grandkids! My oldest grandson will turn 5 on our last day in the parks!

I forgot to say please add me to the list!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

We got our first piece of Disneyland Mickey Mail yesterday, which was super exciting!!

I have just a couple of general non-park related questions, that aren't important, but I'm curious anyway:

- Will they send our tickets or a voucher to exchange when we arrive?
- when do they usually mail the luggage tags, within the 30 day window?
- do we get our lanyards and pins when we check in?

I'm high on Mickey Mail, and I want to know when I another fix, LOL!!

We have never stayed onsite at Disneyland, so I know nothing about Mickey Mail from there. That would be exciting to get.

 

[xlsm]

We have never stayed onsite at Disneyland, so I know nothing about Mickey Mail from there. That would be exciting to get.

We aren't staying onsite either, but we DID buy our package through them and used our Disney Visa, which is why we get the lanyards and things. Our "Mickey Mail" was just a little booklet with Toy Story characters on it,personalized with our last name, dates, and hotel (HoJo). There was some generic info inside, and that's about it. It had the info about booking dining at 60 days out, but not the date, which means I have to do math, LOL!!

 

[jina]

We're thinking of going June 8-11 - DD6 gets out of school at noon on the 8th so we'd head straight to the airport. We went last year the week leading up to the 4th of July (I think we left the 2nd) and it was crowded but not ridiculous. I recall reading threads last year that June in general was much busier than they expected. Has anyone on this thread done June 8/10 last year and what were the crowds like? I'm trying to decide whether to book this or wait and go on a Sun/Mon in late Oct when DD has a random Monday off from school.

I rate the crowd-levels based on how Adventureland feels crowd-wise in the morning. If it's wall to wall people by 10:30am then I consider it a ridiculously busy day (Christmas season crowds). If it's wall to wall at 11:30 then it's just busy. If it's bearable at 11:30am then it's a decent day crowd wise where we can still enjoy ourselves as well as we take advantage of FP's. I think we'll go if it's 11:30am busy but not 10:30am busy then I'll probably book it.

We experienced 10:30am busy when we went in '14 a few days before Christmas - we had a wonderful time but we really only focused on rides from park open (8am for us) until 10:30am then spent the rest of the day having lunch, going back to HoJo's and stopping back to DCA around parade time so we could hit the Paradise Pier rides during the Parade when they are empty. Now that we don't have AP's any more I want to spend more time at the parks but can't handle the super busy times - if I can't walk at a normal pace I get very stressed out very quickly. I'm from NY originally and just can't handle walking slowly!

If we don't do Disney we may head down to Universal to check out Harry Potter but I was planning to use our Sept 2 day window then since we'd only need 1 day for Universal and there can never be enough days for DL.

 

[luulu1999]

So excited!! Our original plan was June but my boyfriend didn't know if he could get off work so I was having to look at July over the 4th week but he gave the go ahead for June!! So we are going June 18-26th it will be me him and our 2 kids DD7 and DS8 we have a reservation at Homewood Suites right now but I am seriously considering going back to Park Vue Inn again because I have heard about big charges they hold on your card and Homewood and it makes me a little nervous and I am debating on if we will rent a car the whole trip or just on days we will be doing other stuff so parking fees plays a part also!!

 

[jadelsp]

I am happily following this thread because it appears I will be making a trip June 13th to 17th. I am a bit concerned about both the heat and the crowds and am hoping they are manageable.

 

[xlsm]

So excited!! Our original plan was June but my boyfriend didn't know if he could get off work so I was having to look at July over the 4th week but he gave the go ahead for June!! So we are going June 18-26th it will be me him and our 2 kids DD7 and DS8 we have a reservation at Homewood Suites right now but I am seriously considering going back to Park Vue Inn again because I have heard about big charges they hold on your card and Homewood and it makes me a little nervous and I am debating on if we will rent a car the whole trip or just on days we will be doing other stuff so parking fees plays a part also!!

Hooray for getting to stick with the June dates!! Good luck deciding on your hotel situation
I'll add your dates to the log!

I am happily following this thread because it appears I will be making a trip June 13th to 17th. I am a bit concerned about both the heat and the crowds and am hoping they are manageable.

Hello! I'll add your dates to the list!

As for the weather, I'm kind of looking forward to it! I looked up last years' temperatures for Anaheim in June, and even with a couple of days at 90 degrees, it's cooler than home or Florida! If the temperatures stay around average, it'll be 80s in the day and 60s in the evening, which sounds about perfect to me - my family and I might not want to go back home, LOL!!

Our trips overlap, so fingers crossed we get lucky and have beautiful weather

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

We aren't staying onsite either, but we DID buy our package through them and used our Disney Visa, which is why we get the lanyards and things. Our "Mickey Mail" was just a little booklet with Toy Story characters on it,personalized with our last name, dates, and hotel (HoJo). There was some generic info inside, and that's about it. It had the info about booking dining at 60 days out, but not the date, which means I have to do math, LOL!!

I didn't book through them, because I can get the tickets cheaper through my work (program called Working Advantage) and we are not staying at a good neighbor. I did order the Disney Parks dvd, just so I could get a little Mickey Mail.
You don't have an excel spreadsheet that of all your plans? Excel will calculate the dates for you. Ha ha.

 

[jadelsp]

Thank you for adding my dates and alleviating some of my weather worries. I have not decided where we are going to stay yet it is between the Tropicana and the Paradise Pier. I want the PP for the emh we are early risers and having that extra hour would be great but the saving for staying offsite would be nice as well.

 

[ddwlms]

We will be there from June 26 - July 2. Flying in from northern California are me, DH, DD(14) and DD(11). Staying at DLH.

I would really like to take my DGD(6) as well, but so far her mother is balking. She thinks it's not fair to DGS(4) because DGD went with us last year. DGD was a year older than DGS will be, and much better behaved. Since I still have 2 little ones of my own, I don't want to dedicate the effort that DGS will take. I'm thinking his first trip with us won't be til age 5 at the least, but maybe not til 6 or 7. So, all that to say, not sure if we'll have DGD or not.

 

[Misskitty3]

I am happily following this thread because it appears I will be making a trip June 13th to 17th. I am a bit concerned about both the heat and the crowds and am hoping they are manageable.

Southern California is known for their "June Gloom" meaning overcast, gloomy type weather. We have been to DLR in June a couple of other times and have found that the mornings are overcast and cool and it isn't until around noon or later when the sun breaks through the clouds and it warms up. All that to say, I wouldn't worry about the heat.

 

[jadelsp]

I am coming from Oregon so I can appreciate the gloom and overcast. We were there in October and I was shocked at how hot it was. I will be looking forward to cooler weather.