Question on capacity/reservations - perhaps "unanswerable", but here it goes...

[Ayeegit]

Is the prevailing thought/assumption (or perhaps it's actually "known") that Disneyland will be more crowded next week, with it being Christmas, than this week? Obviously in the past, Christmas week is typically the busiest of the year.

OR - because of the new reservation system, are they running at the same capacity both weeks, and with no more reservations available, crowds won't be vastly different? I guess the other option is they offered more reservations next week than most weeks, and are staffing appropriately - so I'm curious what people are predicting for the Holiday crowds.

 

[DLgal]

I'm guessing it will be less crowded due to the AP blackouts and continued availability of reservations. I'll be there 20, 23, 26 and 28. I made most of those last week.

 

[dieumeye]

Interestingly enough, reservations seem to be available for Dream Key next week, at least when I looked just before responding.

As for crowd, it’s hard to say. But we can assume that Disney knows how many people will be in the park, and guess that that number will be less than in the past due to the reservation system, and that they will staff accordingly.

So, it’ll probably be crowded, but maybe not to the extent that it feels impossible to move through the park.

 

[bprwatson]

I've been keeping an eye on the reservation availability in case we end up cancelling our Christmas trip. And suddenly today there are openings for both parks for the week of Christmas and the week after.....Makes me wonder why and if they are trying to cram more people in. Or are people cancelling because of the weather? Who knows. It is out of my control so I should stop checking. Its just very interesting....

 

[Ayeegit]

I've been keeping an eye on the reservation availability in case we end up cancelling our Christmas trip. And suddenly today there are openings for both parks for the week of Christmas and the week after.....Makes me wonder why and if they are trying to cram more people in. Or are people cancelling because of the weather? Who knows. It is out of my control so I should stop checking. Its just very interesting....

That's disappointing - looks like the same in January, which when I looked yesterday, had limited availability for the first ~10 days. This can't be just people canceling, this is Disney trying to get more tickets sold...

 

[DLgal]

That's disappointing - looks like the same in January, which when I looked yesterday, had limited availability for the first ~10 days. This can't be just people canceling, this is Disney trying to get more tickets sold...

It could be that they finally have their staffing levels back up. They had said the goal was to get back to 100% staffing by the end of the year.

 

[dieumeye]

It could be that they finally have their staffing levels back up. They had said the goal was to get back to 100% staffing by the end of the year.

This is what I was thinking too. People forget that a lot of how crowded the park feels depends on staffing, not just how many people are in the park.

 

[V & S]

I believe I read that Disneyland (and hotels) is operating at 85% capacity; that was the original guideline for re-opening at the current level (well, the level a month ago) of spread. Since they are sold out for all of December, I'd guess it's going to be the same every week from here until after the holiday decoration period ends and they are no longer sold out.

 

[mel2014]

I believe I read that Disneyland (and hotels) is operating at 85% capacity; that was the original guideline for re-opening at the current level (well, the level a month ago) of spread. Since they are sold out for all of December, I'd guess it's going to be the same every week from here until after the holiday decoration period ends and they are no longer sold out.

They're no longer sold out for the rest of the year. Park Hoppers are available almost every day, including many DL start days and there is Dream Key Availability as well

 

[Malcon10t]

They're no longer sold out for the rest of the year. Park Hoppers are available almost every day, including many DL start days and there is Dream Key Availability as well

I think they are moving unused reservations from the hotel buckets to the other buckets.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I think it’s all of the above. Increased staffing, shifting reservations from other buckets, people canceling due to Covid fears or complications, or weather. And possibly Disney trying to find out how far they can push it in terms of park capacity. After all, Christmas is always the busiest time and people have expect and accepted the crowds in the past. Why not now?

 

[gelatoni fan]

This is what I was thinking too. People forget that a lot of how crowded the park feels depends on staffing, not just how many people are in the park.

It's most noticeable at quick service places. I've waited 40+ minutes to order when only half the counters were open.

 

[jordan13402]

mobile ordering is your friend

 

[DLgal]

It's most noticeable at quick service places. I've waited 40+ minutes to order when only half the counters were open.

This is by design. Most CS locations only have one owpn register at this point. Mobile order. It is how they better manage the crowds.

 

[BryANDJessMom]

Was at the parks for the last two days. Honestly it seemed more crowded than previous years. I think it was probably the same but the traffic flow was much worse because of how genie plus works and SO many rides were down! Indiana Jones was down most of the day, ROTR was only up for about 3 hours or less at half capacity, BTM was down a good part of the day (most of the afternoon) and even tiki room was down when we tried it! It was crazyl we still had fun but after two years of avoiding spoilers for Rotr I am salty that I didn't get on it still! I spoke to one couple that waited three hours, was at the preshow, it broke down again and they waited another hour for it to come back up only be told to leave. It never went back up.