My Disneyland Trip Turned Out To Be A Bit Of A Disaster

[Chili327]

Just goes to show you that two people can experience the same thing and have different opinions. I was there Wednesday - Friday and thought the crowds were crazy, especially in the evenings.

Definitely. It's all personal experience (different parts of the park at different times) & expectations too.

 

[KimberMama]

Just goes to show you that two people can experience the same thing and have different opinions. I was there Wednesday - Friday and thought the crowds were crazy, especially in the evenings.

It could also depend on what part of the park you’re in. Crowds on Main Street and around the castle are usually packed because of fireworks, and that makes it feel busy to me. This trip we mostly stayed away from that, choosing not to watch the Christmas fireworks which we’ve seen 25+ times (skipping them wasn’t an option when our kids were young).

Thursday night we watched fireworks in GE then rode RotR, and standby was 15 minutes. It was super chill, we got to the viewing area at the Millennium Falcon about 25 minutes before fireworks and there were maybe 15 people waiting at that point, but even at starting time people could get into the area. Friday night we were at DCA, so maybe DL was busier. At DCA the crowds were waiting for World of Color, but having seen it several times we chose to avoid that area.

Both of those nights, the website I check for how busy things are had it at “alright” and then a little later, at “ghost town”. I know those numbers are based on wait times and not crowds, but I can feel the difference between the various crowd levels. I also consistently was checking wait times in the DL app. I don’t expect crowds to be what they were in the 2000s, we were lucky then, and I don’t think we’ll ever see that again, short of days it pours rain. I do think the dynamic pricing has helped correct crowd levels during the busiest times of year. My last December trip before this year was 2018, midweek the same week of the year, and it was much busier that trip. But we had MaxPass back then, which helped.

 

[disneychrista]

It could also depend on what part of the park you’re in. Crowds on Main Street and around the castle are usually packed because of fireworks, and that makes it feel busy to me. This trip we mostly stayed away from that, choosing not to watch the Christmas fireworks which we’ve seen 25+ times (skipping them wasn’t an option when our kids were young).

Thursday night we watched fireworks in GE then rode RotR, and standby was 15 minutes. It was super chill, we got to the viewing area at the Millennium Falcon about 25 minutes before fireworks and there were maybe 15 people waiting at that point, but even at starting time people could get into the area. Friday night we were at DCA, so maybe DL was busier. At DCA the crowds were waiting for World of Color, but having seen it several times we chose to avoid that area.

Both of those nights, the website I check for how busy things are had it at “alright” and then a little later, at “ghost town”. I know those numbers are based on wait times and not crowds, but I can feel the difference between the various crowd levels. I also consistently was checking wait times in the DL app. I don’t expect crowds to be what they were in the 2000s, we were lucky then, and I don’t think we’ll ever see that again, short of days it pours rain. I do think the dynamic pricing has helped correct crowd levels during the busiest times of year. My last December trip before this year was 2018, midweek the same week of the year, and it was much busier that trip. But we had MaxPass back then, which helped.

I am sure crowd level perception also has a lot to do with how often one goes to the parks. I know vloggers will mention how uncrowded the parks are and I look at the crowds and think they are nuts. Being that I go to the parks every 5-7 years it gives me a different perspective than someone who goes more frequently.

I was expecting and prepared for crowds, so it didn't effect my trip negatively.

With people sitting waiting for parades for 90 minutes - 2 hours and same for fireworks, it definitely makes the ride times less.

 

[KimberMama]

I am sure crowd level perception also has a lot to do with how often one goes to the parks. I know vloggers will mention how uncrowded the parks are and I look at the crowds and think they are nuts. Being that I go to the parks every 5-7 years it gives me a different perspective than someone who goes more frequently.

I was expecting and prepared for crowds, so it didn't effect my trip negatively.

With people sitting waiting for parades for 90 minutes - 2 hours and same for fireworks, it definitely makes the ride times less.

Oh, that makes sense. We had passes pretty consistently from 2000 - 2013. We took a break due to high school sports, and when we got passes again in 2016, everything about the parks seemed much more crowded — this was the first time we ever saw the parks just insane for Halloweentime. We had passes until December 2018, but with the combination of MaxPass and usually going on Saturdays from rope drop to about 2 or 3, we never felt the parks were terrible on a consistent basis — it seemed more related to holidays. We went back in May 2021, when capacity was limited, and then again in 2022 and things were much busier for sure!

Christmas, however, seems less busy overall. We were in the parks December 2018, and not again in December until last week, so December 2024. This year was definitely more pleasant and less busy than 2018, for us.

And you’re right, we’ve adapted to crowd levels as they’ve increased. What I didn’t consider that bad last week would have seemed crazy 20 years prior. I remember going on NYE in 2002, and leaving because it was just shoulder to shoulder packed along the RoA — we had never seen it so busy! By 2018 that was par for the course on a really busy day. People are more affluent now, it seems, and Disney has adapted to changing culture with the addition of so many IPs, plus they create a lot of hype with social media. I would say we’re different now — at my age my parents only went to Disneyland if it was with the grandkids, but DH and I go by ourselves. Then again, what goes around comes around, as my grandparents used to do Date Night at Disneyland.

 

[LKing]

Yesterday was probably best of all, although we left around 8 and did see a lot of people arriving.

According to FoodatDisneyland, the system went down yesterday evening and people couldn't enter either park. They have a video of the lines on their IG story from 9:10 pm last night.

 

[KimberMama]

According to FoodsatDisneyland, the system went down yesterday evening and people couldn't enter either park. They have a video of the lines on their IG story from 9:10 pm last night.

I didn’t notice that when we left, which was probably no later than 8:15. But IIRC, we exited Disneyland to the left, closer to Harbor, and we might not have been paying attention to the entrance gates. Based on what we saw when we were leaving, the parks were going to get very busy. There were long lines outside of security on Harbor, and I have never seen so many people waiting to get on the shuttles at Toy Story, although the line might have looked longer because they weren’t doing security so it was basically one long line with hundreds of people in it. I think they might have closed Toy Story parking by then — I had heard the driver say something about it, and when we were exiting there weren’t any cars coming in. I noticed cones because we considered turning left, but I don’t know if they were blocking the entrance or just the left turn.

 

[juxtapose]

Yep, totally on board with you, Porsche and so sorry that you came such a long way to be so disappointed. I only came from CO but was greatly disheartened, expecting lower crowds due to block outs only to find they shipped in another 4,000+ of those stupid dancers on Saturday! I read a lot of posts prior and never saw a thing about that. Im sure Disney made a billion dollars off of that nonsense..That place was jammed...totally miserable. Sunday was better,
Monday even better, more normal.

Gave me some new perspective, back to not renewing key this year. Think Ill go to Iceland instead or maybe Europe.

I think everywhere is packed now. We just got back from Italy in November, what should be off-season and we ended up several places that felt like the most packed parts of DL. I wouldn't go to Europe to escape crowds even in the off-season.

 

[Wesley815]

Guests complain it's too crowded yet also upset when no reservations are available. It's hard to please everyone.

I agree with others the cutbacks in Entertainment seem un-Disney like and hope they start to turn things around. The big theater shows and daytime parades are huge people eaters allowing attraction lines to calm down.