Surviving Summer 2019 at Disneyland!

Well I’ve drunk the kool aid and bought Signature AP’s today. We were already visiting in December and as WDW’s GE is slated to open during our visit there in December 2019, we decided to do opening day at DL’s as well. Visiting from the UK. We were also AP holders during 2017 and did 2 trips. Feeling very lucky to say I’m a AP holder again. So excited for the madness!
 
Marking my spot... My husband has an annual conference at the DLand Hotel in early August. My girls & I usually accompany him & hit the parks. We’re likely to do the same in 2019.

We were there in the year Carsland opened, and it was an absolute zoo in the new land & the area close to it, but relatively moderate crowds in the other park, so we just checked out Carsland during early admission (we did & will again stay on site) and then avoided it the rest of the day, which was working well for us.

My strategy (honed in about a decade of yearly trips): figure out what the crowd patterns are beforehand (through trip reports here on the Disboard, Touringplans data, and nowadays the app’s wait time predictions) in the week’s leading up to our trip, paying particular attention to day-of-the-week patterns, FP-run-out times, and, if applicable, capacity-related closures. Then I use that information to craft a rather detailed plan that goes against those crowd patterns & tries to hit my kids’ favorites when they’re the least impacted. Both my girls are huge Star Wars fans, so there’s no way of skipping it altogether—they’d be heartbroken...

I would be shocked if they didn't make access to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge a separate ticket or, at a minimum, an expensive add-on to existing tickets.
I don’t think so, based on my experience with newly opened, high traffic attractions (no insider knowledge here, just educated guesses). My predictions: a super-expensive soft-opening event with special souvenirs for hard-core fans with disposable cash; a substantial price hike for Maxpass; a (hopefully disconnected) Fastpass type system, similar to WOC, to manage crowds. Perks for resort guests, if we’re lucky (e.g. after hours access to Star Wars rides).

Either way, I figure it’ll be quite intense, at least for the first couple of years.
 
Do you think the touring plans crowd calendars are correct for next summer?
I don’t think they’re anything to go by, until the actual opening dates are out—maybe not even until the rush on the new land has already started. Until the it’s pretty much guess work. In my experience, Touringplans isn’t always in target when special events hit—I was using it during the Diamond anniversary celebration summer, and all their wait times estimates were far too low, so I had to make plenty of adjustments while we were touring (though they are obviously aware of the huge buzz around the new land & are likely to adjust their estimates up due to it).
 


I have not bought plane tickets but we are looking at going mid august 12-17. What are the odds the park is going to hit max capacity?? We always leave in the hottest part of the day. It would be pretty lame to get locked out. I am pretty nervous about the crowds.

I would honestly rather go at Spring Break, but I am having a grandbaby in Feb so that will not be good timing for us to go away.

I personally don't foresee closures into August when the APs are still blocked out.
 
I guess my trip is technically just past summer, but I’m following along. I really have my heart set on DL Halloween, so I’m heading down mid-September of 2019. I would gladly avoid SWGE completely, just hoping it doesn’t make every aspect of the park crazy.
 
Do you think the weeks leading up to SWL opening the crowds will be much lower? As much as I would love to see it right away thinking going before it opens might be best and then going after a year when it might calm down a little.
 


How far in advance are people making their hotel reservations? Where is everyone planning to stay? I'm wondering when some of the good neighbor hotels release their room rates and specials. I realize hotel deals might be hard to find but I'm still needing to stay on budget which is tough with a family of 6.
 
How far in advance are people making their hotel reservations? Where is everyone planning to stay? I'm wondering when some of the good neighbor hotels release their room rates and specials. I realize hotel deals might be hard to find but I'm still needing to stay on budget which is tough with a family of 6.

We rented point for a DVC stay so we booked at exactly 11 months but if we were going to book a motel then I would book as early as possible at somewhere with a decent cancellation policy.
 
Those of you reserving onsite rooms, are you adding park tickets to those when booking or purchasing them separately? I’m trying to split my July 2019 trip between an DL resort and a homeaway rental.

Thanks!
 
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Do you think the weeks leading up to SWL opening the crowds will be much lower? As much as I would love to see it right away thinking going before it opens might be best and then going after a year when it might calm down a little.

My guess (just a guess) is that crowds will be even higher than normal spring crowds as passholders try to get in one last visit before the blockout. When the blockout lifts next fall the parks will be absolutely overrun with cheaper APs, so I think a lot of people will look at it as an extra-long blockout and try to go early.
 
Those of you reserving onsite rooms, are you adding park tickets to those when booking or purchasing them separately? I’m trying to split my July 2019 trip between an DL resort and a homeaway rental.

Thanks!
I booked the Grand Californian in September for the end if July and did a package including tickets, I usually do our tickets separately but with all the craziness of the new land I just wanted it easy this trip.
 
How far in advance are people making their hotel reservations? Where is everyone planning to stay? I'm wondering when some of the good neighbor hotels release their room rates and specials. I realize hotel deals might be hard to find but I'm still needing to stay on budget which is tough with a family of 6.

I’m going to sit down this weekend and make a bunch of cancellable reservations all throughout June and July. I know it sounds a little selfish but the prices are already showing very high for me here in the UK and I’ve been priced out of my preferred hotel already. The flight prices are looking good for us so I have a bit of leeway on hotel price but I can’t risk the opening date being announced and hotel prices shooting up even more. I’m already looking at paying double to what I am this December.
 
And I'm not going anymore :( The friend with who I was supposed to go bought a house a month ago, and I already told her, if she wanted to cancel I fully understand. First we looked at a cheaper time to travel, but in the end this morning she said she would rather postpone the trip to 2020.

A little disappointed, but now I get to look into a new vacation destination :)
 
I booked the Grand Californian in September for the end if July and did a package including tickets, I usually do our tickets separately but with all the craziness of the new land I just wanted it easy this trip.
That’s a sound idea!
 
I never even thought about going to Disney the next two years, but after visiting DL this fall for the first time, we totally fell in love. So last week we booked four nights in the GCH for June 8 to June 12. One part hopes SWGE is not open, but the other is excited.I didn't think the crowds were too heavy in our visit, compared to the WDW experiences for the last years. So with Rope drop, a good planning and max pass I hope we will have a good time. We also considered a VIP tour if SW is open. We did one this time and it was a wonderful day. Do you think Disney will/can change rates for hotel or tickets after booking if SW is open?
 
Wow, I recently booked June 9 -- 15 at the GCH as well. I would guess you have school age children (as do we) and came up with the same math as we did.
 
Wow, I recently booked June 9 -- 15 at the GCH as well. I would guess you have school age children (as do we) and came up with the same math as we did.
Great we will have so much fun. You nearly guessed right, except I'm a teacher so I can only travel during vacations, too.
 
We are also considering a VIP tour. My thinking is it will be worth it only if SWGE is open; I don't think there will be a need for it otherwise. I am leaning towards booking it and then canceling it if the dice do not roll the right way (SWGE not open yet).
 

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