March or June?

[amym2]

I'm sure this question has been asked a gazillion times, but I'm new to the boards, so please bear with me! We'd like to go to DL next year in combination with a few days in San Diego. I was hoping to go in March to escape the never-ending midwest winter, but our Spring Break is the week before Easter. I'm guessing that is NOT the time to go because of crowds. Also, will El Nino (2010) likely affect the weather? I'd hate to think we were leaving the midwest winter behind only to find that CA is cool and wet.

Alternately we can go during the summer. Our kids get out of school at the end of May, so is it best for us to go in early June before much of the country is out? Or are we better off waiting until later in the summer? Is this June gloom thing I've read about in San Diego likely to bother us? I've also been reading something about AP block-outs but aren't sure what that means for us.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[HydroGuy]

Turns out this question was just asked a few days ago. Here is a link to all the discussion:

"Disneyland in March" http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2257228

Here is a summary of what it says: There is a lot happening in March 2010 that would make many of us lean towards a June trip.

 

[S. S. Columbia]

... Our kids get out of school at the end of May, so is it best for us to go in early June before much of the country is out? Or are we better off waiting until later in the summer?

FWIW, the night entertainment (fireworks, Fantasmic, and Disney's Electrical Parade) are not shown every night in early-June.

Here's some info from the last three years:

In 2009, the full entertainment schedule for the summer started on Friday, June 12, 2009.
No fireworks: June 1,2,4,7,9,10 (transitioning from RDCT to Magical)
No Fantasmic: June 1 – 11 (Fantasmic had refurb from March to June 2009)
No DEP: June 1 – 11, 2009

In 2008, the full entertainment schedule for the summer started on Friday, June 13, 2008.
No fireworks (RDCT): June 2,3,4,5
No Fantasmic: June 2,3,4,5 and June 9,10,11,12
No DEP: June 2,3,4,5 and June 11,12

In 2007, the full schedule for the summer started on Friday, June 15, 2007.
No fireworks (RDCT): June 4,5,6,7
No Fantasmic: June 1 – 14 (Pirate’s Lair install on TSI, Feb – June 2007)
No DEP: June 4,5,6,7 and June 11,12,13,14.

HTH

 

[PinkBudgie]

I would pick July. There is too much happening in June that makes it rather messy and crowded. I gave some of reasons in the June or July thread. The trend seems to be with many schools is to get out at the end of May and go back mid Aug. So you wouldn't really be beating anyone there. Not to mention Grad nights when the park closes early and also middle school 8th grade grad trips during the day. I went end of June this year, but next year will go back to July or early Aug.

 

[pinktink83]

Ive read that early June is better than July. A lot of school dont get out until the 1st/2nd week of June and most people schedule their vacations in July when the water at the beach has warmed up more.

Normally I wouldnt consider going in the summer, but I think in this case early June would be better than Spring Break/End of March. Especially b/c the Lake is going to be drained supposedly then. I imagine that might be stinky, if not unpleasant to look at.

 

[PinkBudgie]

As you can see in the above post though, shows and fireworks may not be running. Once you get past all the Socal AP blockouts at the end of June, summer is very nice. I'd pick it over Easter break. However, if I suddenly had a chance to go at any given time, I'd be there no matter what time of year!

 

[Amy&Dan]

I think it depends on what you are looking for with your experience. If you want minimal waits for rides, then early June will be better. Spring break time, esp., right around Easter is heavy on the crowd scale and therefore waits for rides will be longer.

Now if you want the full roster of entertainment (Electrical parade, fireworks and Fantasmic nightly) go with spring break or summer after say mid June. If it were me, I'd go in July because I like to go when the southern Californian AP's are blacked out. And they are blacked out all of July. There are something like 800,000 Disneyland AP holders, so going when many of them can't is a good thing!

If you go early June, you run the risk of off season entertainment schedules, grad night issues and school groups during the days. Lots of school groups. And the fireworks should run on the weekends, but the Electrical Parade won't be running at all and Fantasmic may be on weekends only. So if you go with early June, make sure you have a weekend in there. If you go in July, that stuff will run every night.

Honestly, if you are going during a time when school is out, its tough to beat the crowds. So seeing as how you'll have crowds in March, and you'll have them in early June (but with restricted entertainment), I'd opt for late June or July. I think those times would have fewer crowds than Spring Break, full entertainment, no grad nights, no school groups and not nearly as many AP holders. The hours will be long so if you go early, you can get a lot done, take a break, then go back for nighttime entertainment.

 

[amym2]

Hmm, didn't think it would be this tough to decide when to go. I'm still leaning towards March, but probably only because it means I won't have to wait as long to get there. If we're good about getting to the parks before they open (and we will be because of the 3 hour time change), use fastpasses, and follow the tour guides, will we be able to manage at the end of March? We'd probably go the W, Th, and F before Easter. If the river/lake whatever is drained, is there a chance that will keep the crowds away? Is the park likely to stay open late that week before Easter? I'd actually prefer if it didn't because our kids (will be 6 and 8) refuse to nap and need to get to bed at a decent hour. If we're going to drag ourselves through 3 full days at the parks, I'd rather do it in cooler rather than warmer temperatures. Again, I'm probably just trying to talk myself into going in March since it's only 7 months away versus almost a year. My fear about going in the summer is that we'll pick the week when scout camp or science camp is scheduled and we have no way of knowing now when those will be. But in order to use frequent flier miles and get us all on the plane together, I need to reserve soon. Ugh, thanks for the advice and keep it coming!

 

[PinkBudgie]

Hmm, didn't think it would be this tough to decide when to go. I'm still leaning towards March, but probably only because it means I won't have to wait as long to get there. If we're good about getting to the parks before they open (and we will be because of the 3 hour time change), use fastpasses, and follow the tour guides, will we be able to manage at the end of March? We'd probably go the W, Th, and F before Easter. If the river/lake whatever is drained, is there a chance that will keep the crowds away? Is the park likely to stay open late that week before Easter? I'd actually prefer if it didn't because our kids (will be 6 and 8) refuse to nap and need to get to bed at a decent hour. If we're going to drag ourselves through 3 full days at the parks, I'd rather do it in cooler rather than warmer temperatures. Again, I'm probably just trying to talk myself into going in March since it's only 7 months away versus almost a year. My fear about going in the summer is that we'll pick the week when scout camp or science camp is scheduled and we have no way of knowing now when those will be. But in order to use frequent flier miles and get us all on the plane together, I need to reserve soon. Ugh, thanks for the advice and keep it coming!

Daycare camps go all the time to DLR in the summer. I would never send my child to be watched at DLR with 20 other kids but... They aren't really a problem. Just try to avoid standing in line behind them. During the spring I believe you have other competitions there like cheerleaders and music. When we were there this summer there was a HUGE convention going on for Future Business Leaders (teens). We thought we might notice the impact, but we didn't at all.

Also, the new World of Color show is supposed to start this spirng. I can't remember the date, or maybe they didn't pin it down yet, but you might want to see if your trip can be planned after it starts. It would be a shame to miss it by a few days. I would hope they would get it going for Easter vacation, but I'm not sure.

 

[amym2]

Daycare camps go all the time to DLR in the summer. I would never send my child to be watched at DLR with 20 other kids but... They aren't really a problem. Just try to avoid standing in line behind them. During the spring I believe you have other competitions there like cheerleaders and music. When we were there this summer there was a HUGE convention going on for Future Business Leaders (teens). We thought we might notice the impact, but we didn't at all.

Also, the new World of Color show is supposed to start this spirng. I can't remember the date, or maybe they didn't pin it down yet, but you might want to see if your trip can be planned after it starts. It would be a shame to miss it by a few days. I would hope they would get it going for Easter vacation, but I'm not sure.

Oops, should have clarified... I'm not concerned about there being camps at DL, I'm concerned that I'll choose a week to go to DL and it will be the week of scout camp or science camp that my son wants to go to here.

Does anyone know when the World of Color show will start?

 

[HydroGuy]

Oops, should have clarified... I'm not concerned about there being camps at DL, I'm concerned that I'll choose a week to go to DL and it will be the week of scout camp or science camp that my son wants to go to here.

Does anyone know when the World of Color show will start?

March 2010 is what they are saying

 

[PinkBudgie]

Oops, should have clarified... I'm not concerned about there being camps at DL, I'm concerned that I'll choose a week to go to DL and it will be the week of scout camp or science camp that my son wants to go to here.

Oh! I get it now! I thought it seemed odd to worry about such specific camps being at DLR. Oh, no , not the science campers!

 

[MVBowers111]

In 2007, we went to DL the first week of June and found it to be fabulous. The complete summer entertainment wasn't running every night but we made sure we saw the fireworks on the nights they were running. The crowds were extremely manageable, the weather was gorgeous and we had a great time. This year, we went the middle of July and were expecting huge crowds but there weren't any. My sis and I kept looking at each other kind of confused because we were thinking we might regret our choice of weeks. But, it was awesome...we never even thought crowds got to be bad until after four or five on friday and saturday. We've never been in the spring but I think that the beginning of June would be a great time to go.