Trying to talk my husband into a DL trip ~ need help!

[DisSarahK]

During our last Disneyland trip, we promised our daughter that we would go back to Disneyland before she turns ten...you know, that "magical" age of Disneyland adulthood. Well, I recently (today) realized that is one year and one week away. Yikes! Now I'm on a mission to visit DL--not that it took much to convince me!

Our previous visits to DL have all been in September, so I have no experience with any other time of year (or any other crowd level) in the parks.

I think late January is probably the best time for us. My younger child doesn't do well (at all) with crowds and I think school vacations start picking up in February--but I'd love to hear of any time periods in February that might work.

March and April are out because of the spring break crowds. What is May like?

The summer is out. The combination of warm weather and the crowds will result in a completely miserable experience for my younger child.

Then comes the fall. We *love* the fall at Disneyland--except we are booked (shh! don't tell the children!) on a Thanksgiving Disney cruise. Ideally I'd like to spread out the Disney love (and school absences) a bit.

Sooo, is late January really the best time? We will have to fly, but right now there are decent rates. As for hotels--I'd love the DLH again, but it is looking pricey.

 

[coaches24]

Jan is a good time for crowds but also has a lot of closures/ refurbs so there is a payoff.

We went this past May starting on Memorial Day and had a great time. It got crowded as the day went on but in the mornings we had a great time doing rides and collecting fast passes and rarely had any lines of more than 10 minutes.

This was right before carsland though.

The other thing to think about with May is grad nights. Now we didn't think Grad nights were an issue at all after being there for 3 of them in 5 days. The parks still stayed open till 10 or 11 and opened at 8 I believe. Others have said they had some issues with grads being unruly and such but we never saw anything like that. The worst we saw was an excited teen yell out a cuss word in excitement and then immediately realize her mistake and apologize to all around. So I don't worry at all about grad nights with the current format but it is something to be aware of as everyone is different in what is and is not a nuisance.

 

[mouseymommy]

We really like the crowd levels in February. As long as you stay away from President's Day, the crowds are usually low. The trade off is that they do lots of refurbs. We also really like the bginning of March. The crowds are bigger than during February, but quite manageable. And I really hate crowds!!

 

[lsulindy]

refurb list. FYI
http://media.disneywebcontent.com/S...c/pdf/D-MailPDF/IntlDmailDLRefurbishments.pdf

 

[Rememberingthe70s]

, is late January really the best time? We will have to fly, but right now there are decent rates. As for hotels--I'd love the DLH again, but it is looking pricey.

I go every year, and I despise crowds. There are two times a year I will go - just before Thanksgiving, or the last week in January. Crowd levels 1 or 2 weekdays, maybe 4 on Saturdays. Most times, I walk directly onto rides multiple times, or have a wait of a few minutes except for the big headliners. Those, I Fastpass and then also have little-to-no wait. I'm going The last week in January 2013. Wouldn't do it any other way.

 

[Sammy Cat]

Whats the weather like end of January? Is it warm enough to swim outside?

 

[specialks]

Keep in mind the Tinkerbell marathon. Last year (inaugural) it was the last weekend of Jan, but his year they moved it up to MLK weekend. I didn't feel like it impacted crowds too much (there are around 12,000 runners + some 5k'ers), however it has a great effect on hotel pricing and occupancy. I'm headed back this year for the 2nd one during MLK weekend and I'm curious how the parks will feel compared to last year. However, CL wasnt open last year, so it's not a total equal comparison.

 

[DisSarahK]

Thanks for all this info. Yes, I definitely would avoid MLK weekend. If we went in January, it would likely be the *very* last week of the month. February and May are kind of intriguing me too though--but not the time around Presidents Weekend in February.

 

[pharmama]

Thanks for all this info. Yes, I definitely would avoid MLK weekend. If we went in January, it would likely be the *very* last week of the month. February and May are kind of intriguing me too though--but not the time around Presidents Weekend in February.

FYI- NAMM (which is a very large music industry conference) is the last weekend of Jan at the Anaheim convention center. It will have some impact on park crowds (they are offering specially priced tickets to conference attendees) and I would expect big impact on hotel rates and availability too.

 

[DisSarahK]

FYI- NAMM (which is a very large music industry conference) is the last weekend of Jan at the Anaheim convention center. It will have some impact on park crowds (they are offering specially priced tickets to conference attendees) and I would expect big impact on hotel rates and availability too.

Thanks for the info! I always appreciate knowing about conferences and such when I'm planning park visits. I had no idea about that one.

 

[wannagoback]

We are going the first weekend in February. I am disappointed about some of the closures but I am hoping it will discourage some people. We went in December a few years ago and we did use the pool once at the Disneyland Hotel and the hot tub another night. Wasn't warm but wasn't too cold.

 

[scoker]

I think anytime in February is ok except Presidents day week. My boss went this year the first week of March right before the spring break crowds hit and he said they walked on everything and refurbs were done in anticipation of spring break. I've been at the very end of April after the spring break rush and had nice weather and no crowds. If you can do a mid week trip and avoid holidays and spring break probably almost any time is good.