Just Back--crowded!!!!

[BurleyGirl]

Just returned yesterday from being at DLH on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday. Where did all the people come from?? It was the most crowded place I've ever been to!! Really had to concentrate on finding the magic (but we did). Don't ever want to go again when it's that crowded. Even the CMs were amazed at the crowds. One security CM told us she was certain the park was over capacity that day (Saturday). I just knew that when I got on the Disboards I would find all kinds of references to the crowds on Friday and Saturday (Thursday was bad, too, but not as bad), and I'm kind of shocked to find none. I had booked October in March thinking that we would be avoiding crowds (we went to WDW in October two years ago, and it was manageable), but unfortunately that was not the case. I must say that it did put a damper on our trip, but we still found some magic--we just had to look harder for it.

 

[All Aboard]

We made our first ever trip to Disneyland over Memorial Day weekend this year. It was a great trip, but since it was a holiday, it was quite crowded.

Upon arrival home in Florida, we decided that we really wanted to go back this year. So, we picked dates in the middle of October figuring it would be pretty light and the weather would be nice and mild. Well, temps hit the mid 90's and the crowds were even heavier than they were over Memorial Day.

It seemed to have taken everyone by surprise. I overheard many locals asking each other "what's going on, this is like summer crowds?"

We arrived at 8:00am for EE on Thursday, and the turnstile queues were already back to the Space Mountain Honda display. We got through at about 8:20am. We rode the Matterhorn once and Alice, then EE was over and the real crowds started pouring in. Friday was much the same, and Saturday was well, Saturday. The scene during the fireworks on Friday night was as chaotic as I have ever seen a Disney park. CM's were screaming at the top of their lungs at guests to get out of the walkways. Trouble was, there wasn't a square inch of space anywhere.

Does anyone know what caused this seemingly huge spike in attendance? I had been reading in the weeks leading up to the trip that things were normal, seasonal crowds.

 

[TLinden16]

It was crowded all week. I was there from Sunday to Friday, and it was a lot more crowded than I expected. Thank God for fast passes.

Karen

 

[Beth8266]

LA schools had Thurs and Friday off last week. We were there Weds and just about walked onto every ride!

 

[almostGoofy]

I don't think L.A. Unified School district being off those days completely explains the crowds. Year round schedules and staff development days have been around for a while. And not every school in that district is on a year round schedule. I think the 50th anniversary has something to do with it as well. It's bringing a larger number of out of state people to the parks. Columbus Day also occurred last week. California schools don't take that off (they did in my day but no more), but do other parts of the country take it off and for more than a day? That may or may not have anything to do with it but if they do, perhaps a lot of out of state people chose that week for their vacation at DL.

 

[vascubaguy]

I know several colleges have a "Fall Break" that was last week (or at least a couple days last week). The university I work at didn't have class last Saturday thru Tuesday. (Of course we still had to work though! )

Hopefully the crowds will be down this week... we'll be there on Wednesday!!!

 

[jonna30]

We just got back from being in the parks wed - fri. Arizona schools (some) had half of Wed and all of Thurs & Friday off. We saw 6 groups of people that we knew from school & church. We are really glad we went Wednesday and rode most of the rides we wanted to before the real "crunch" hit.

 

[Tink33]

Don't forget that the Angels were playing and that added to the crowds too.

 

[hambirg]

vascubaguy-We'll be there on Weds too! We're getting so excited. I hope the crowds are better. I read somewhere that Utah has school breaks this coming weekend. Does anyone know if that's true?

 

[Ginarella]

Just returned yesterday from being at DLH on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday. Where did all the people come from?? It was the most crowded place I've ever been to!! Really had to concentrate on finding the magic (but we did). Don't ever want to go again when it's that crowded. Even the CMs were amazed at the crowds. One security CM told us she was certain the park was over capacity that day (Saturday). I just knew that when I got on the Disboards I would find all kinds of references to the crowds on Friday and Saturday (Thursday was bad, too, but not as bad), and I'm kind of shocked to find none. I had booked October in March thinking that we would be avoiding crowds (we went to WDW in October two years ago, and it was manageable), but unfortunately that was not the case. I must say that it did put a damper on our trip, but we still found some magic--we just had to look harder for it.

Could have been some conventions going on thats why the crowds. Also, the Angels played here in CA so I'm sure Chicago brought in some of their families to have some fun!

Usually it's not that crowed in October.

 

[jobo]

I know what you mean about the crowds....we were there on Friday and Saturday and I didn't think Friday was too bad, Saturday was chulk-a-block. We went to CA Sat afternoon and even it was busy! I had to ask a cast Member if Fantasmic was still at 9:00pm because of all the people camping out at 5:30 3 1/2 hours before the show even started! Not a patch of pavement to be seen along the rivers of america. I agree with Karen, fast passes saved the day for us!

 

[BurleyGirl]

I'm glad it wasn't just me. I was beginning to think I had gotten stuck on the Tower of Terror in the Twilight Zone thinking I was the only one amazed at the crowds. And, yes, my husband was one of those staking a spot for Fantasmic at 6:00p for us. What a sweetie! He also staked out a spot for me on Friday at 4:00p (that's over five hours, people!) right in front of the castle for the fireworks. Boy, were we sweating it when they announced at about 8:45p that the fireworks might not happen that night! Needless to say, we were pretty happy that they did proceed. It was a madhouse--after 8:00p, you didn't even think of going to the bathroom or getting a snack as there was no way you were going to make it back through the crowd to your bench! My DS6 had a banana that I was able to snag at the food stand in Adventureland (for $1.75--I choked handing over that money when I knew I could buy a pound of them for $.39 back home!) for dinner. It was just crazy!

 

[philliplc]

we were there over the columbus day weekend through last tuesday and it was busy but not unmanagable, not really wall to wall like it sounds last weekend. early entry on columbus day monday surprisingly wasn't crowded at all - i think we did everything including space once in the hour except for matterhorn which broke down. tuesday the 11th was relatively quiet - only lines to speak of were for space and splash. we rode ToT 6 times in 2 hours that day.

 

[laura&fam]

I know some if not all Utah schools have at least October 21 off. I think most Utah schools have October 20 off too.

 

[SANDIEGOFAN]

I was there this past weekend, Thurs to Sun. It was more crowded this year than the same time last year and the year before. Still, the crowds didn't overwhelm us and we got on everything we wanted to each day we were there. Compared to this last summer, this was no where near to the crowds I experienced. DL wasn't bad Sunday morning and DCA was deserted in the afternoon - of course the weather played a big part.

 

[casiland]

Yes all Utah public schools have Thursday and Friday 20th and 21st of for UEA. All teachers go to SLC for special training. That is why we will be heading out on Wed.

 

[Califgirl]

I was there with Karen (TLinden) last Wed. and I couldn't get over how crowded it was. The waits weren't horrible, but there were a lot of people in the park. It was almost as crowded as a summer day mid-week. I was amazed.

 

[brenda1966]

WE were there OCt 6-9 and Oct 13. The crowds were staggering. EE barely gave you an advantage (and that was on a Thursday). The only time the park seemed quiet was early Sunday morning. Everywhere you heard people mumbling "it's never this crowded this time of year". I tried to think positively about what a boost this is for Disneyland and hope the extra revenue will be put to good use.

That said, we DID have a great time. We had to stake out Fireworks and Fantasmic spots early, but we had fastpasses we'd saved so people could go ride in shifts.

Thank goodness for Fastpass and a special thanks to Hydroguy for his great explanation on how to use them. Lines for Splash mountain were up to 85 minutes. 65 mintues for Space Mountain. We fastpassed as much as we could and avoided any long waits.

 

[BurleyGirl]

I agree about the fastpasses! The only downside to the fastpass was that my DS6 thought it pretty cool to walk up to practically the front of the line, missing all the waiting, and when we thought about riding something we didn't have a fastpass for, he would not want to ride it! We too did 90% of our riding in the EE time. That was the only time you were able to really soak in the magic of the park. What got me, too, was the amount of time you waited in the food lines (I waited in line longer for food than I did any of the rides, come to think of it.) Although I had read about the food service problems and was a little prepared for them (I really think the food servers were doing a fine job, it was just the volume of people that worked against you).

 

[stich626]

I had never been to DL before and I wan't sure if it was crowded this past weekend or not. There were quite a few people there. We were able to get onto most of the rides when ppl were waiting for fireworks and parades. We were there Fri-Sun. We still had a blast.