Less busy in October or beginning of November?

[lindsey harrison]

Trying to take my then 2 yr old twins for their first time to Disneyland but want to go when least busy! Is the Halloween party worth going or too busy? Beginning of November better? Thanks!!

 

[mom2rtk]

Almost all of the Halloween parties sell out. And most of October is fairly busy in the parks.

But there are things in early November that busy up the parks as well. Veteran's Day weekend, marathon weekend, start of the holiday season. We were there the week prior to Thanksgiving last year and it wasn't terrible but it certainly wasn't slow. I still think it's better than October though.

 

[lcp9]

We went right after Halloween last year and it was great. It was the only week sandwiched in between the craziness of Halloween and the double craziness of veterans day + marathon weekend. Trade off is that IASW is closed, Jungle Cruise is closed, and space mountain is closed for a day after Halloween. Usually Dapper Day is that weekend, but it only got busy Sat afternoon and Sunday (day of. We weren't there but I gather it was pretty busy.) Edit: Last year the second week of Nov was ALSO the opening of the holiday season, which made it EXTRA crazy. So we saw half of the Halloween decorations and half of the Christmas decorations. Whatever. haha

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I also have a 2 year old and I am dying to go to the Halloween party since I've never been. It starts and ends pretty late though so I don't think I'll do it this year. Maybe in a few years when he's a little older and can stay up later.

 

[figment_jii]

I'm of two minds about taking little ones to the MHP. Tickets are expensive and it's hard to justify the cost if you aren't going to get to stay the entire time (either until midnight or 11:00 pm depending on the party night). There is so much to do during the party (e.g., the parade, fireworks, trick-or-treating, characters, along with attractions). I went with an almost three year old several years ago and it was fun...but he did start to struggle to stay awake about the time that the fireworks were slated to start. He made it through those, but he crashed soon thereafter. So one adult ended up having to stay with him, while the others (and his older sister) went off to do more fun stuff. We were lucky because we had enough adults that we could rotate through who stayed behind so no one really missed out on much, but if you only had one other adult, I could see where it would be tough to justify the cost.

In terms of timing, as others have mentioned, HalloweenTime is very popular in Disneyland. They have not yet announced the starting and ending dates for 2017, but I think it's a pretty safe guess that it'll go through at least Halloween night. They haven't announced the start of the Holiday season, but that could potentially start as early as Veteran's Day weekend (based on recent history). I do think the weekdays (Tue-Thu) stand a chance of being okay, but I kind of doubt there will be a "low crowd" weekend from mid-September (or whenever HalloweenTime starts) through mid-January (when the Holiday season ends).
Nov 4/5: Dapper Days
Nov 9-12: Super Heroes Half Marathon, Veteran's Day weekend (potentially the kick-off to the Holiday Season)
Nov 23/24: Thanksgiving

 

[lindsey harrison]

We went right after Halloween last year and it was great. It was the only week sandwiched in between the craziness of Halloween and the double craziness of veterans day + marathon weekend. Trade off is that IASW is closed, Jungle Cruise is closed, and space mountain is closed for a day after Halloween. Usually Dapper Day is that weekend, but it only got busy Sat afternoon and Sunday (day of. We weren't there but I gather it was pretty busy.) Edit: Last year the second week of Nov was ALSO the opening of the holiday season, which made it EXTRA crazy. So we saw half of the Halloween decorations and half of the Christmas decorations. Whatever. haha

Is IASW always closed Nov 1st? That's one I want to do with the kids. We were thinking of doing the day after Halloween cause it's a Wednesday but we would be going for 2days so it would be the 1st and 2nd

 

[lindsey harrison]

Almost all of the Halloween parties sell out. And most of October is fairly busy in the parks.

But there are things in early November that busy up the parks as well. Veteran's Day weekend, marathon weekend, start of the holiday season. We were there the week prior to Thanksgiving last year and it wasn't terrible but it certainly wasn't slow. I still think it's better than October though.

We are thinking mid week first week of November if we don't go the week before Halloween. I just want the least busy and I heard last year was crazy all of October too. But not usually if you go to the actual party it's not as busy is that true?

 

[lindsey harrison]

I'm of two minds about taking little ones to the MHP. Tickets are expensive and it's hard to justify the cost if you aren't going to get to stay the entire time (either until midnight or 11:00 pm depending on the party night). There is so much to do during the party (e.g., the parade, fireworks, trick-or-treating, characters, along with attractions). I went with an almost three year old several years ago and it was fun...but he did start to struggle to stay awake about the time that the fireworks were slated to start. He made it through those, but he crashed soon thereafter. So one adult ended up having to stay with him, while the others (and his older sister) went off to do more fun stuff. We were lucky because we had enough adults that we could rotate through who stayed behind so no one really missed out on much, but if you only had one other adult, I could see where it would be tough to justify the cost.

In terms of timing, as others have mentioned, HalloweenTime is very popular in Disneyland. They have not yet announced the starting and ending dates for 2017, but I think it's a pretty safe guess that it'll go through at least Halloween night. They haven't announced the start of the Holiday season, but that could potentially start as early as Veteran's Day weekend (based on recent history). I do think the weekdays (Tue-Thu) stand a chance of being okay, but I kind of doubt there will be a "low crowd" weekend from mid-September (or whenever HalloweenTime starts) through mid-January (when the Holiday season ends).
Nov 4/5: Dapper Days
Nov 9-12: Super Heroes Half Marathon, Veteran's Day weekend (potentially the kick-off to the Holiday Season)
Nov 23/24: Thanksgiving

I was thinking that too about them not being able to stay up for the party. We are going to do 2 days so if we miss October it would be Nov 1st and 2nd which is a Weds/Thursday. I'm unsure of ride closures and if it's different every year though. Someone I know said they saw a post about them announcing party dates that start even in August which is crzy if it's true.

 

[Geemo]

Trying to take my then 2 yr old twins for their first time to Disneyland but want to go when least busy! Is the Halloween party worth going or too busy? Beginning of November better? Thanks!!

The first weekend of November or so Disney use to film the holiday parade....
Not sure when they are filming these days....

Taking kids that young I think I'd choose a time in January or February. Be sure to avoid the holidays.

Geemo

 

[Glynis4]

I'm going with young kids (2 & 5) this year - we chose the first week of November (nov 2-7). "Low" crowds was a top consideration when choosing dates. So I think November would be a great choice for you!

 

[lindsey harrison]

I'm going with young kids (2 & 5) this year - we chose the first week of November (nov 2-7). "Low" crowds was a top consideration when choosing dates. So I think November would be a great choice for you!

I agree! I'm hearing and seeing it to be the lowest I can find for the timeframe that fits our schedule.

 

[goooof1]

Yes, IASW and Jungle Cruise are closed to add the Holiday overlays in early Nov. (before the "official" start of the Holiday Season.)

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... Someone I know said they saw a post about them announcing party dates that start even in August which is crzy if it's true.

Your friend saw the announcement for MNSSHP dates at WDW. MHP dates won't be announced until summer, usually in July.

 

[mom2rtk]

The first weekend of November or so Disney use to film the holiday parade....
Not sure when they are filming these days....

Taking kids that young I think I'd choose a time in January or February. Be sure to avoid the holidays.

Geemo

It's impossible to avoid parade filming because there's no way to know far enough in advance when it will be. We didn't know until about a week out that it would be taping on one of the weekdays we thought would be a low crowd day last year. I think it was Wednesday November 16th? We also had no way of knowing they would have Small World closed to the public for a while that night (because Mariah Carey taping) and the next night (for some sort of local promotion for the anniversary of the attraction).

 

[lcp9]

It's impossible to avoid parade filming because there's no way to know far enough in advance when it will be. We didn't know until about a week out that it would be taping on one of the weekdays we thought would be a low crowd day last year. I think it was Wednesday November 16th? We also had no way of knowing they would have Small World closed to the public for a while that night (because Mariah Carey taping) and the next night (for some sort of local promotion for the anniversary of the attraction).

We were there over the weekend of Nov 5th last year, and there was some taping going on Sat morning but not the actual parade...it all cleared out within an hour and we didn't even notice until it was already done.

 

[lcp9]

Is IASW always closed Nov 1st? That's one I want to do with the kids. We were thinking of doing the day after Halloween cause it's a Wednesday but we would be going for 2days so it would be the 1st and 2nd

Yes - it's always closed for a week or so prior to Halloween until the opening of holiday season (last year, second weekend of November)

 

[mom2rtk]

We were there over the weekend of Nov 5th last year, and there was some taping going on Sat morning but not the actual parade...it all cleared out within an hour and we didn't even notice until it was already done.

That was some of the acts they were taping around the parks. The parade taped on 11/16. I will say it wasn't awful. Other parts of the park were pretty decent. But Main Street was really bottled up for a while. And it completely changed how we hoped to experience our first day in the parks. The tapings at IASW bottled things up a lot more.