Least Crowded Day You Have Seen?

[disheadz]

Have you been to the parks when they were really empty? What was it like? Has anyone experienced the parks so empty that it didn't seem as fun?

My honeymoon was about a month and a half after 9/11- I have been 5 times since and have never seen the parks even half as empty.

 

[MichaelColey]

We went in off season (early February) and the lines were really short. Many things were "walk on" and Space Mountain was less than 5 minutes. I had Fast Passes and the CM asked "do you really want to use those?" (They weren't necessary.)

It rained on my birthday (Sunday, 3/22) and the park was almost vacant. The lines were shorter than our early February trip. The rest of the trip was pretty busy, though.

 

[dismsn]

Yes, about 9-10 years ago we went the week before Labor Day and had a wonderful time. I think a lot of schools around the country start back in August--in Washington State, we don't start until the Wednesday after Labor Day.

We stayed at the Paradise Pier (before CA was completed but it was being built) and on our first afternoon in the park we rode the monorail in, walked right on to Space Mountain and had the best time ever. I don't recall waiting for any of the rides. It's possible we waited for a few but if so, they weren't long at all.

The next visit was probably 6-7 years ago and we went at Spring Break . It was not nearly as magical but still fun. We are going next week and expect killer crowds but I read another post stating it might rain. Being from Washington State, we don't let rain stop us from much of anything so I'm hoping it does rain and the crowds will thin out a little.

We also went to WDW a few years ago when they had all the hurricanes. One caused us to stay in WDW a few extra days (sad, huh?) and definitely cleared out the parks. My kids missed the first day of school because of the hurricane so they had a fun story to tell their classmates--there are no hurricanes in Washington--just wind storms and small earthquakes (and volcanic eruptions every now and then). The hurricane didn't cause much damage (I think it was a level 2-3 so it was small) but that's most likely because of earlier hurricanes that did cause some damage--there wasn't much left to break or topple.

At the times we went when there were low crowds (end of August) it was still fun and there were longer park hours and plenty of shows to see.

 

[LavenderPeach]

We went to DCA the day before 9/11 and it was empty. We went on every ride (no waits on anything) and we still had extra time at the end of the day. We even had a great spot to watch the Electrical Parade (on a bench) without having to reserve our spot early. Of course, that was in the early days of DCA (I think it had been open less than a year at that point) and was getting some bad reviews but we had a great time.

 

[Huff]

Least crowded day was on New Years Eve in the mid 1980's. We were passing through town and noticed all the hotels had vacancy signs out the night before. We felt that was odd but decided to say and go to Disneyland on New Years Eve. It was supposed to packed as usual for New Years.

The park was dead all day. 5-10 minute lines on all rides all day. Late at night most rides were walk on. We rode around and around on Space Mountain late at night.

Live on Tom Sawyer Island was Maria Osmond. There was a small crowd watching.

Totally weird for New Years Eve.

 

[mechurchlady]

The week after 9/11 was so sad and empty.
The tornado hit Anaheim and it was empty that day as mom and I were in a show watching the window moving.
My birthday is always lonely and empty.
First week of February we got caught in a monsoon.
So many empty days.

 

[ScooterL]

Least crowded "regular" day I remember was a rainy day in September when I was about 14 (I won't tell you how long ago that was, but let's just say it was the 70s... ). There was almost no one there - we walked onto everything.

I was also there on a rainy day about 6 years ago in March, and we visited both parks. Pretty much no waits for anything that day, either.

There's been two times when I've been lucky enough to visit Disneyland during a private party - and with so few people in the park, EVERYTHING was a walk-on!!! I wouldn't say that it wasn't as fun (we had a blast), but it was a little spooky wandering around and not seeing hardly anyone.

 

[ratherbe@disneyland]

For me it was last year, the day after Labor day. The park was DEAD! There was no line for any of the rides, we rode ToT about 4 times in a row, just walking right back on...it was awesome.