ScottJayhawk
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2004
- Messages
- 282
A primary (although not only) factor in my planning our week at Disneyland was low crowds (thus weekdays in early Dec my grand plan).
My original thought was the Monday (arrive early afternoon) - Friday (depart late afternoon) the week directly after Thanksgiving weekend but it costs more to fly the Monday after Thanksgiving than the following weeks up until x-mas.
So the decision then became Dec 6 - 10 or 13 - 17, both Mon - Fri for those scoring at home. Same plan, arrive at SNA about 115pm and on depart day have a 4:30pm flight for 3 full days, 2 half days in parks.
We picked Dec 6-10 thinking the further away from actual X-Mas the better. We then hit the cast member party issue as common thinking on this board was it would be Dec 6 and 7. But I was okay with that, actually thought it would be good - I didn't mind shorter park hours if it meant lower crowds (locals avoiding short park hours).
Now it seems cast member parties on Dec 13,14, so that's fine.
We have a DVC 1Bdr Villa booked so we're fine, however I was curious.
Now to my point (thanks for sticking with me here)....
I just checked on Disneyland.com for a reservation package ("special offers") the 6th - 10th.
NONE available at any DLR hotel, only 1 good neighbor hotel was shown as an option.
Same search for 13-17 and all 3 DLR hotels are available as options with several room type choices shown.
Should I be worried? Is there going to be some kind of crazy crowd spike while we're there during what is supposed to be very low attendance???
Of course, nobody knows for certain but ugh.
I tried to another search for just hotel thinking maybe it was "special offers" causing it to show no availability and just rooms would show availability. However, right now when I try hotel only searches the system tells me there was an error and I should try again later.
Now, full disclosure on those dates. There is a HUGE conference (20k attendees needing a peak of 9000 rooms plus an overlap with another conf = 1500/295) at the Anaheim Convention Center that week. So this could be overflow for that conference grabbing up nearby rooms that may or may not affect crowds.
Also in my head - is did the cast member parties move due to expected crowds 6-7 and also DL open until 9pm not 8pm that week,
So a few of my theories:
"I'm screwed, it will be like a Saturday in July with only cooler weather for the huge crowds"
"The Disney hotels always sell out, even during low season, very normal"
"It is the convention and the convention goers families will take over the park"
"It is the convention but that actually works to my advantage - they took all the rooms but they aren't going to Disneyland"
Not trying to be paranoid or a worry wart (yes, grandma I said worry wart) and certainly know I'll have a great time no matter what - touring plan in hand being more necessary perhaps but as much as anything I'm curious and would greatly appreciate thoughts from the wise minds of DISboards!
Thanks in Advance!
My original thought was the Monday (arrive early afternoon) - Friday (depart late afternoon) the week directly after Thanksgiving weekend but it costs more to fly the Monday after Thanksgiving than the following weeks up until x-mas.
So the decision then became Dec 6 - 10 or 13 - 17, both Mon - Fri for those scoring at home. Same plan, arrive at SNA about 115pm and on depart day have a 4:30pm flight for 3 full days, 2 half days in parks.
We picked Dec 6-10 thinking the further away from actual X-Mas the better. We then hit the cast member party issue as common thinking on this board was it would be Dec 6 and 7. But I was okay with that, actually thought it would be good - I didn't mind shorter park hours if it meant lower crowds (locals avoiding short park hours).
Now it seems cast member parties on Dec 13,14, so that's fine.
We have a DVC 1Bdr Villa booked so we're fine, however I was curious.
Now to my point (thanks for sticking with me here)....
I just checked on Disneyland.com for a reservation package ("special offers") the 6th - 10th.
NONE available at any DLR hotel, only 1 good neighbor hotel was shown as an option.
Same search for 13-17 and all 3 DLR hotels are available as options with several room type choices shown.
Should I be worried? Is there going to be some kind of crazy crowd spike while we're there during what is supposed to be very low attendance???
Of course, nobody knows for certain but ugh.
I tried to another search for just hotel thinking maybe it was "special offers" causing it to show no availability and just rooms would show availability. However, right now when I try hotel only searches the system tells me there was an error and I should try again later.
Now, full disclosure on those dates. There is a HUGE conference (20k attendees needing a peak of 9000 rooms plus an overlap with another conf = 1500/295) at the Anaheim Convention Center that week. So this could be overflow for that conference grabbing up nearby rooms that may or may not affect crowds.
Also in my head - is did the cast member parties move due to expected crowds 6-7 and also DL open until 9pm not 8pm that week,
So a few of my theories:
"I'm screwed, it will be like a Saturday in July with only cooler weather for the huge crowds"
"The Disney hotels always sell out, even during low season, very normal"
"It is the convention and the convention goers families will take over the park"
"It is the convention but that actually works to my advantage - they took all the rooms but they aren't going to Disneyland"
Not trying to be paranoid or a worry wart (yes, grandma I said worry wart) and certainly know I'll have a great time no matter what - touring plan in hand being more necessary perhaps but as much as anything I'm curious and would greatly appreciate thoughts from the wise minds of DISboards!
Thanks in Advance!
