October or November?

[martikus]

We had a fantastic DL visit last April with low crowds but almost all rides operational. We're now planning 2013 and think late October or November will be our best bet.

But I'm worried we'll find the Halloween or Christmas crowds too big.

If we go late October - how much will the Halloween nights impact us? Since we're from the East coast we found we were always there for opening and left by 4pm at the latest.

In early November - will we find a lot of the rides down? One of DS's favorites is Small World and looks like it is down for a couple weeks for the layover. Sigh....

I wish we could just do April again - but now that he is in real school and already gets a spring break we can't really leave again 3 weeks later.

Any advice?

 

[Eeee-va]

I have heard the last week or so of October isn't generally bad. We were at the parks the afternoon and evening of Halloween day and then November 1-2 (Wednesday-Friday), and crowds were fine.

It appears Disneyland itself was pretty dead on Halloween before the party guests could get in at 3 PM (party start time/park close at 6). We entered for the first time at 3 PM and were able to get 2 sets of FPs for Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy (maybe the most popular ride) before the 6 PM official closing time. So if you'll be leaving the parks by 4 PM, party days might be a good day to go to Disneyland. I imagine DCA may have been more crowded, since more people may be getting 1-park (non-hopper) tickets and would want to stay in the park that's open later.

DL and DCA were fine on November 1-2--I wouldn't say low crowds, but we had no problems. There were no fireworks at DL on Friday (probably not all weekend) due, I think, to the Christmas parade filming. If you're leaving the parks by 4 PM then that won't affect you! In lieu of fireworks, Toontown was open until park close, with no crowds at all.

This year, Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy only went down 1 day to remove the overlay, if I recall correctly (it may be down for a few days BEFORE the Halloween season starts, to install the overlay). It didn't go down for that removal until after our trip; I think maybe the Monday after Halloween? The previous year I thought I'd read it went down the day after Halloween for just part of the day to remove the overlay. I prefer the original Space Mountain to Ghost Galaxy so I would have loved to catch it without the overlay, but there's always next time! The only major refurbs I recall were Indiana Jones, Casey Jr. Circus Train, and Storybook Land Canal Boats. (Also, Goofy's Gas Station was under tarps.)

Historically, the week after Thanksgiving has been light crowds with few refurbishments, though it sounds like this year the secret may be out, as I read reports of higher crowds. (Plus Indy was still down for refurbishment!)

Have a great trip, whenever you go!