Summer 2015 dates questions

[chabelita545]

I hope the experts can advise me as I chose dates for a summer 2015 trip. We are free July 7-16, August 3-14 and August 24-Sept. 5. We're looking to settle on a seven night trip.

The July and early August dates are blackout days for SoCal annual pass holders but the height of summer vacation. We'd like to avoid super busy times like July 4, July 17 and the half-marathon Labor Day weekend. I don't know of any other celebrations or traditionally more crowded than usual times besides those. Weather isn't a factor. We know there's a risk for a heat wave all summer and have been to DLR in 100 degree weather before and had fun anyway.

About park hours: I like to be at the parks just before opening, but we'll be staying a mile or more offsite this time (so only 1 Magic Morning) and will be driving/parking each day. We're traveling with six teens/tweens, so leaving the condo each morning before 7:30am is going to be tough, but that's our goal. The last few times we've gone in late August when so many kids are back in school and the parks don't open weekdays til 9am. It's less exhausting but then the canoes aren't running anymore, Haunted Mansion and Matterhorn go down for refurbishing/decorating and Fantasmic! is weekends only.

Our week will look like this:
Day 1: Travel day
Days 2-4: Disney Parks (staying at the parks til closing on day 4)
Day 5: Non-park day (relax and recharge)
Days 6-7: Disney Parks (staying at the parks til closing on day 7)
Day 8: Travel day

I have 3 questions:

1.) Which days of the week would you chose for the non-park and travel days? I thought we'd travel Wednesdays and take Sunday off but after searching the boards it looks like that might not be the smartest choice for avoiding the most crowded the days of the week. Whichever day of the week we chose for traveling, our non-park day will be four days later. (i.e. Mon-Fri-Mon or Thurs-Mon-Thurs etc.) *Looking at our dates, our travel days can only be weekdays.

2.) Does anyone know when the parks usually switch from full summer hours to a later opening and earlier closing? (from 8-12 to 9-12) I know it's sometime in the later part of August, but I'm not sure when.

3.) Do any of the dates on our list stand out to you as better or worse than others?

Any and all advice is much appreciated! Thank you!

 

[figment_jii]

2.) Does anyone know when the parks usually switch from full summer hours to a later opening and earlier closing? (from 8-12 to 9-12) I know it's sometime in the later part of August, but I'm not sure when.

HydroGuy has a thread that has links to the historical calendars (as recorded by wdwinfo). You can browse through the August calendars for the last few years to get a sense of when the change happened.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2291124

3.) Do any of the dates on our list stand out to you as better or worse than others?

Disneyland is going to be celebrating its 60th anniversary next year. The actually anniversary date is July 17th, so I would expect elevated crowds around that date. So I would anticipate high crowds during your July week.

Haunted Mansion will likely be closed for some or all of your August 24 to Sept 5 date. It usually closes in late August and will re-open with the start of HalloweenTime (early/mid-September). Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree area will also be likely closed. All of this assumes that next year will be similar to this year.

 

[DahliaRW]

Haunted Mansion *usually* doesn't go down until after Labor Day... So the late August date will probably be fine in that regards.

 

[mystic_path]

The last trip we took was the last week of August/early Sept and it wasn't bad crowd wise at all. Many days during the week we found very minimal waits and were never overwhelmed with the amount of people in the park. It was very pleasant. My family agreed we would go again at that time of year. Next trip is the first week of September due to work schedules but my recommendation would be for late Aug/early Sept.

 

[HydroGuy]

Haunted Mansion *usually* doesn't go down until after Labor Day... So the late August date will probably be fine in that regards.

Actually the last five years it has gone down before Labor Day in late August. Which will likely continue as long as DLR continues to open HalloweenTime in mid-September - which appears to be highly likely.

See the link Figment gave in post #2 - "Historical DLR Park Hours, Entertainment and Refurbs" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2291124

 

[figment_jii]

Haunted Mansion *usually* doesn't go down until after Labor Day... So the late August date will probably be fine in that regards.

As HydroGuy pointed out, the Haunted Mansion has been closing in late August (25th this year) for installation of the Holiday overlay for the last several years. Historically it takes about 18 days for the installation, so it has to close in late August if it's going to re-open in time for the start of HalloweenTime in early/mid-September. The dates for HalloweenTime in 2015 have not been announced, but the best guess is 9/11/15, which means HM will go down around 8/24/15.

 

[HydroGuy]

I hope the experts can advise me as I chose dates for a summer 2015 trip. We are free July 7-16, August 3-14 and August 24-Sept. 5. We're looking to settle on a seven night trip.

The July and early August dates are blackout days for SoCal annual pass holders but the height of summer vacation. We'd like to avoid super busy times like July 4, July 17 and the half-marathon Labor Day weekend. I don't know of any other celebrations or traditionally more crowded than usual times besides those. Weather isn't a factor. We know there's a risk for a heat wave all summer and have been to DLR in 100 degree weather before and had fun anyway.

About park hours: I like to be at the parks just before opening, but we'll be staying a mile or more offsite this time (so only 1 Magic Morning) and will be driving/parking each day. We're traveling with six teens/tweens, so leaving the condo each morning before 7:30am is going to be tough, but that's our goal. The last few times we've gone in late August when so many kids are back in school and the parks don't open weekdays til 9am. It's less exhausting but then the canoes aren't running anymore, Haunted Mansion and Matterhorn go down for refurbishing/decorating and Fantasmic! is weekends only.

Our week will look like this:
Day 1: Travel day
Days 2-4: Disney Parks (staying at the parks til closing on day 4)
Day 5: Non-park day (relax and recharge)
Days 6-7: Disney Parks (staying at the parks til closing on day 7)
Day 8: Travel day

I have 3 questions:

1.) Which days of the week would you chose for the non-park and travel days? I thought we'd travel Wednesdays and take Sunday off but after searching the boards it looks like that might not be the smartest choice for avoiding the most crowded the days of the week. Whichever day of the week we chose for traveling, our non-park day will be four days later. (i.e. Mon-Fri-Mon or Thurs-Mon-Thurs etc.) *Looking at our dates, our travel days can only be weekdays.

If it were me I would visit the parks Mon-Wed, take Thu off, then Fri-Sat.

2.) Does anyone know when the parks usually switch from full summer hours to a later opening and earlier closing? (from 8-12 to 9-12) I know it's sometime in the later part of August, but I'm not sure when.

You can look at the calendar link posted earlier. Your first two dates will have maximum park hours. Your final dates probably will not. The changover typically happens in the Aug 16-23 range.

3.) Do any of the dates on our list stand out to you as better or worse than others?

On average August is the hottest month so you will have a statistical chance of slightly cooler weather in July. Crowds will likely not be that different between July and early August.

Note that the D23 Expo happens Aug 14-16 next year which will bump crowds slightly the week before and after. I have done that and it is not worth worrying about IMO. Just be aware it will be happening.

Would the D23 Expo interest your family? Next year it is likely to have a strong Star Wars portion.

 

[chabelita545]

Thank you to everyone for all the replies.

The last few trips we've taken have been at the end of August and while we enjoyed slightly smaller crowds, we decided it wasn't worth it this time. In our late August trips, the canoes have always been closed, Fantasmic is weekends only, etc. We're braving the bigger crowds in exchange for fewer refurbs and more entertainment.

So, I finally decided on July 6-13, with our park days falling Tues. to Sun., July 7-12. I hope that it's just far enough away from the July 4 weekend and 60th anniversary to avoid any more than the usual summertime crowds. Mondays will be travel days with Friday our non-park day, putting us in the parks Tues-Thurs and Sat-Sun. If we did one day earlier I'm afraid we'd catch some of the 4th of July weekend people on Monday. It might not be the best time, but with summer camps and sports and school, it's the best for us.

Hydroguy, maybe someday we'd be interested in the expo, but we like to spend as much time as possible in the parks as we only make it to Anaheim once every year or two. My boys do love Star Wars, though...

 

[VandVsmama]

I vote for the early August dates. Being from Arizona, I can tell you that by the end of the first week of August, many Az schools are starting back at school. So a huge portion of AZ families will either be back home already or will be wrapping up their vacation and will want to head home in order to prep for the coming school year.

I have heard that this is often the case with Utah families but I don't know anyone who lives in Utah so this is just based on what I've heard through the grapevine.