Nov 8th or Nov 16th?

[Jaina]

My daughter and her best friend (who has never been to Disney; they're both 11) are planning and saving for a one-day Disneyland-only trip in mid November of this year. I will be working weekdays except Fridays, and the best dates I can see for us (we have a 6-7 hour drive out, so two nights at a hotel before and after) are either Friday the 8th (the beginning of Veteran's Day weekend, but lots of passes are blocked) or Saturday the 16th. We could do Friday the 16th too, but no passes are blocked, and Christmas season will probably start one of those weekends. We have like 4 different bookings that we don't have to nail down until a week before, but what does your collective wisdom guess about positives and negatives of those? And if it's the 1st weekend of "Christmastime," would it be better to avoid whichever weekend that is? Thoughts?

 

[mamapenguin]

I “think” the first weekend of Christmas time is the 8th. Deluxe and above are not blocked and Flex can get reservations. Either weekend should be busy, but The first one is a 3 day weekend so that might bring more crowds. We are going the first weekend because it’s a 3 day weekend. Have fun whichever one you choose.

 

[Jaina]

Any other predictions?

 

[tarheelalum]

They both will be very crowded but I'd go with the non holiday weekend of the two.

 

[BarlowFamily]

Of those two days I would go the 16th...the long weekend will be more crowed. I'd like to make a suggestion, if you purchase at Touring Plans Disneyland membership you could check their calendar for those dates AND create an awesome touring plan for the you and the girls. I grew up going to Disneyland, but am amazed that even a "pro" can benefit from the program. You can google mouse savers for discounts I think.

With a day to experience Disneyland, I highly suggest Max Pass. A little more for each of your tickets ($10 I think), but you'll get photos from rides and any characters/photo ops in the parks and reserving FP on your phone saves so much time. Unless they really want to see something in California Adventure, I'd save my park hopper money and just go to DL and buy Touring Plans and Max Pass.

If you decide to go over the 3 day weekend, would you consider Sunday the 9th? I find that Sunday mornings are this sweet spot at Disneyland. If you can rope drop on a Sunday morning, you'll get to see and do a lot before crowds start coming in at noon.

I know this is a lot of unsolicited advice. After working hard to save, I hope those girls have the best day ever!

 

[Jaina]

Max Pass is $15 more per ticket now, but we will definitely be utilizing it. We won't be hopping with just one day, since there will be plenty for a Disneyland newbie to see just over there. We won't do a Sunday, since we try to avoid big activities like amusement parks (and really anything that makes other people work) for religious reasons, but also because I have to be back on Monday for work. (I work M-Th mornings) Touring Plans isn't probably something we need. I have a lot of experience with one-day trips (even with park hoppers, and we have rocked it), and we like to stay pretty flexible. I totally appreciate all unsolicited advice though! I know it's really pretty impossible to accurately predict crowd levels, but I like to have as much info as possible to try to make my date decisions! (And just realize it might always end up super crowded...)

 

[smartlabelprint]

You can get free trip advice from Casey at Disneyland daily rather than touring plans. But no, you’re experienced you don’t need a tour plan!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I also vote for skipping the holiday weekend. It's not just the crowds per se, but what kind of crowds that can make a difference. When the crowds are made up of more newcomers to the parks -- guests who don't know their way around, don't know the FP system, don't know where to dine or where the restrooms are located, etc. -- the congestion in the parks can feel heavier and slower moving. We just went on July 4th, and the difference in the feel of the crowds was noticeable.

 

[Jaina]

You can get tree trip advice from Casey at Disneyland daily rather than touring plans. But no, you’re experienced you don’t need a tour plan!

Oh, I definitely spend time on Casey's site when I have any questions to see what's new when I'm about to go on a trip!

I also vote for skipping the holiday weekend. It's not just the crowds per se, but what kind of crowds that can make a difference. When the crowds are made up of more newcomers to the parks -- guests who don't know their way around, don't know the FP system, don't know where to dine or where the restrooms are located, etc. -- the congestion in the parks can feel heavier and slower moving. We just went on July 4th, and the difference in the feel of the crowds was noticeable.

How interesting! I never thought about it that way, but it makes sense! Do you think Friday the 15th or Saturday the 16th would be a better day to go, do you think?

 

[disneycat321]

First off, I love that your daughter and her friend are planning and saving for this trip together! So sweet! I think you're smart to do a one park ticket at DL with a newbie. I also agree with others that the 15/16 would be better than the 8/9. Many districts (including mine) have Thanksgiving week off, but you're lucky because Thanksgiving is very late this year, so you're not running into that. It's also better to avoid Veteran's Day weekend, though we've done a couple really great trips that weekend and had a fantastic time. You can do anything with a plan!

How interesting! I never thought about it that way, but it makes sense! Do you think Friday the 15th or Saturday the 16th would be a better day to go, do you think?

My gut feeling is that Saturday the 16th would be better, though they will both be pretty crowded. I know you mentioned the passes, so you already know that Deluxe is not blocked Saturday, but SoCal passes are. I have no idea how many people have those SoCal passes anymore, but it certainly couldn't hurt to go when they can't. The other reason I'd suggest Saturday over Friday is what we used to experience as local AP holders. We used to go on Friday evenings very regularly...us and half of southern CA, it seemed. The crowds would continually build throughout the night as people got off work. We still had fun, but we were locals and didn't need to hit everything because it wasn't a special trip. I'd also imagine that Saturday would be easier to navigate since you're driving and can probably leave earlier on Friday than you could on Thursday, it sounds like? To me, that would also be a huge benefit. We live in northern CA now and drive about 7ish hours to DLR, so I was just thinking about what would be easier.

Hope that helps a little. Again, it will be crowded, but you're going in prepared, so I'm sure you will have a great time. I hope you post a trip report!