June 8-12 Crowds

[KAT4DISNEY]

So I'm getting around to looking at schedules for my Birthday trip I booked many months ago for June 8th-12th. I figured WOC would have started several weeks before and now am trying to wrap my head around the crowds (and if I even want to deal with it all! )

If I'm understanding correctly, the reason that DL is open so late on the 8th & 9th is b/c there are expected to be heavy AP crowds before the blackouts begin for S Cal AP holders. And then WOC is expected to bring in lots of people on the 11th. Would that be correct for me to assume - the part about the AP holders? I had been thinking those would be slow days.

I went for my BD 4 years ago and don't remember crowds quite like these that are being predicted. It seems I may be going during the perfect storm and I hope I don't drown!!

 

[liska67]

sorry Kathy, what is WOC??? we too are arriving around that time....eek!

 

[HydroGuy]

sorry Kathy, what is WOC??? we too are arriving around that time....eek!

WOC is World of Color.

See DLR Abbreviations List and World of Color Superthread

 

[HydroGuy]

So I'm getting around to looking at schedules for my Birthday trip I booked many months ago for June 8th-12th. I figured WOC would have started several weeks before and now am trying to wrap my head around the crowds (and if I even want to deal with it all! )

If I'm understanding correctly, the reason that DL is open so late on the 8th & 9th is b/c there are expected to be heavy AP crowds before the blackouts begin for S Cal AP holders. And then WOC is expected to bring in lots of people on the 11th. Would that be correct for me to assume - the part about the AP holders? I had been thinking those would be slow days.

I went for my BD 4 years ago and don't remember crowds quite like these that are being predicted. It seems I may be going during the perfect storm and I hope I don't drown!!

I think you are misreading things, actually. WOC does not start until June 11. That is also when Summer Nightastic starts. June 11 and 12 will be very busy. June 10 is a grad night and will not be that busy. And June 8-9 are the calm before the storm. The long hours are because DLR is transitioning to peak season as it does every year in early to mid-June. June 8-10 should have moderate crowds.

 

[mom2rtk]

We were having the same issues trying to decide when to go. We chose June 11-12 a long time ago when WOC was supposed to premiere in late April. Once I found out that was the date, we bailed and moved it back a week to the 2nd and 3rd, only to find out Indy would be down for refurbishment. We just rescheduled AGAIN for the 7th and 8th, which are not blackout dates for AP's. I feel like we can't win long about now, but won't be changing again. We DID decide to use 2 of our family's Give a Day vouchers for the fast pass option to help out if it's crazy busy.

I don't think anyone knows what's best this year!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I think you are misreading things, actually. WOC does not start until June 11. That is also when Summer Nightastic starts. June 11 and 12 will be very busy. June 10 is a grad night and will not be that busy. And June 8-9 are the calm before the storm. The long hours are because DLR is transitioning to peak season as it does every year in early to mid-June. June 8-10 should have moderate crowds.

I hope you're right! I had been pleasantly surprised when I saw the hours for DL/DCA when I looked a couple of days ago. Then I started thinking that it only makes sense if they are expecting large crowds. In researching on the boards there seemed to be some concurrence that AP holders will be hitting the parks since those days are before all the blackouts begin.

We were having the same issues trying to decide when to go. We chose June 11-12 a long time ago when WOC was supposed to premiere in late April. Once I found out that was the date, we bailed and moved it back a week to the 2nd and 3rd, only to find out Indy would be down for refurbishment. We just rescheduled AGAIN for the 7th and 8th, which are not blackout dates for AP's. I feel like we can't win long about now, but won't be changing again. We DID decide to use 2 of our family's Give a Day vouchers for the fast pass option to help out if it's crazy busy.

I don't think anyone knows what's best this year!

Nice idea to get the fast passes! I guess I just need to go in with no expectations and adjust to whatever comes up. I got caught a bit off guard by the hours and some posts here when I was completely expecting it to be slow. I just couldn't believe the change to the WOC opening date though I've been aware of that change for a bit. I'm still debating dropping my night of the 11th to miss that expected madhouse.

I went last Oct and DL was repeatedly surprised by the crowds and kept extending park hours. Overall it wasn't that bad though it showed in some of the more popular attractions. The night shows were the toughest and I'm preparing for that again. The good thing is that I hadn't expected the opportunities to see Fantasmic or fireworks during the week so that's a bonus! I thought I'd be there right before the started the full summer schedule.

Other than adding WOC is there something else going on with the Summer Nightastic?

 

[Eeee-va]

I'll be there from 6/9 - 6/13, in a similar situation to others here. Actually, we decided we wanted to see WoC and this was the last weekend we could go before our APs expire, so we chose it, figuring it would give us the best chance of seeing WoC, and hopefully WoC would have been running for a month or two, so the crowds would be lower.

1 out of 2 isn't bad.

I think the evenings of 6/8 and 6/9 might be kind of hectic--particularly if they have further soft openings for WoC!--but hopefully not too bad. I don't think they'll be bad at park opening through early afternoon, so I'd suggest you grab your FPs and get everything done as early as you can. (We'll be arriving the afternoon of 6/9 so I'm just crossing my fingers.)

If they update the "Believe" show as rumored, then I'll honestly watch the videos and figure out if I want to try to convince my party that we need to see it, or not. If we need to see the fireworks, I'm thinking we'll try to do them on 6/9 and then try to get to the 10:30 Fantasmic! right afterwards. That's what we did last June.

If not, I might figure to do DCA (if possible) and then head over to DL to do the 10:30 Fantasmic! on 6/9.

For 6/10, Grad Nite, I figure the parks shouldn't be too bad (last year it was in large part Fantasmic! and new fireworks that drove the huge crowds to the park, so a day without WoC or Fantasmic! might not be awful).

I'm not sure what we'll do on 6/11 and 6/12. I'm figuring we'll probably use my GAD voucher for FPs on 6/11 (since I'm blocked out on 6/12 and not sure I can redeem it on 6/12?). I'm leaning toward getting to Disneyland park at opening at 6/11 so we can do the Fantasyland rides without the Magic Morning crowds, but I sure don't know yet. Without knowing if Showpass will even happen (and if it does, if it will happen for all shows), I can't really make any plans for how to handle WoC yet, so we're probably going to need to be flexible there.

 

[mom2rtk]

Well, I know we plan to skip any soft opening of WOC that happens when we're there on the 7th and 8th. I hate crazy busy mob scenes. We probably won't do Fantasmic either. But I DO want to photograph the fireworks. I don't know if that will be the 7th or the 8th, but I'm planning to stake out a spot really early to set up my tripod. Any suggestions on just HOW early I would need to be to get a spot up near the castle?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Well, I know we plan to skip any soft opening of WOC that happens when we're there on the 7th and 8th. I hate crazy busy mob scenes. We probably won't do Fantasmic either. But I DO want to photograph the fireworks. I don't know if that will be the 7th or the 8th, but I'm planning to stake out a spot really early to set up my tripod. Any suggestions on just HOW early I would need to be to get a spot up near the castle?

Last year during the crazy Hallowishes crowds I was able to get a spot in the hub approx 45 minutes ahead of time. It may have been pure luck but I don't think I've ever staked out a spot with my tripod much more than 30 minutes in advance for a good spot on Main Street.

I might try and take some pictures on the 8th so maybe I'll see you there!