Weekends vs Weekdays in summer

[beachteachlv]

Crowd calendars. While I know they aren’t a science, I’ve followed them in the past and it’s been pretty spot on. But for this summer.. weekends are showing as less busy than weekdays. Any insight in to why that is? Planning a trip for June or July and trying to pick our best bet!

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Crowd calendars. While I know they aren’t a science, I’ve followed them in the past and it’s been pretty spot on. But for this summer.. weekends are showing as less busy than weekdays. Any insight in to why that is? Planning a trip for June or July and trying to pick our best bet!

Several of the annual passes are blocked out on summer weekends - that is probably a contributing factor.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

It's been like that for a while. There are two things going on. The first is that a lot of the magic keys are blocked out. The second is that due to tier pricing, Saturdays, Sundays, and Fridays are usually the more expensive days of the week for single-day tickets.

 

[J_GN]

Yeah, we book based on the crowd calendars as well. Our last two trips were late May 2019 and early June 2022, and each time we did Fri/Sat/Sun in the parks. Crowds were relatively light in the mornings and manageable in the afternoons. Of course, rope dropping and Genie+ made a big difference, but as a previous poster mentioned, the passholder blockout dates on the weekend were a huge factor. We're in the process of planning another trip for this July, and we're sticking to our Fri/Sat/Sun strategy.

 

[beachteachlv]

Yeah, we book based on the crowd calendars as well. Our last two trips were late May 2019 and early June 2022, and each time we did Fri/Sat/Sun in the parks. Crowds were relatively light in the mornings and manageable in the afternoons. Of course, rope dropping and Genie+ made a big difference, but as a previous poster mentioned, the passholder blockout dates on the weekend were a huge factor. We're in the process of planning another trip for this July, and we're sticking to our Fri/Sat/Sun strategy.

This is great info! Thank you! Historically we go midweek (usually end of January) to beat the crowds but it’s looking like we may need to switch course for our summer visit. So, we should expect to pay more for a weekend ticket but *should* see slightly lower crowd levels? We will rope drop and have Genie+ too. I’m taking our kids who are 5.5 and almost 3, so most of the popular rides/longest waits aren’t on our radar which hopefully helps.

 

[DLgal]

Weekends are less crowded than weekdays year round.

 

[beachteachlv]

Weekends are less crowded than weekdays year round.

I haven’t found that to be true when we do our late January visits. We go during the week and it’s beautifully un-crowded. To be fair we obviously don’t go on the weekend too lol so can’t compare.

 

[J_GN]

So, we should expect to pay more for a weekend ticket but *should* see slightly lower crowd levels? We will rope drop and have Genie+ too. I’m taking our kids who are 5.5 and almost 3, so most of the popular rides/longest waits aren’t on our radar which hopefully helps.

Rope drop was great on our last two trips, but now that they've introduced early entry for guests staying in the 3 resort hotels, we're going to book one of those (currently trying to decide b/w PPH and DLH). We know they're all overpriced, but we're willing to splurge to get a jump on the regular rope drop crowd and enjoy 30 minutes of the limited EE rides during what should be really short wait times.

 

[MillauFr]

Weekends are less crowded than weekdays year round.

Agreed. Mondays have been an absolute disaster.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

So, we should expect to pay more for a weekend ticket but *should* see slightly lower crowd levels?

Just to clarify, multi-day tickets are not subject to tier pricing at Disneyland, just single-day tickets.

 

[DLgal]

I haven’t found that to be true when we do our late January visits. We go during the week and it’s beautifully un-crowded. To be fair we obviously don’t go on the weekend too lol so can’t compare.

Saturdays are blissful. All the time. We went last Thursday and it was the most crowded day I've been in the parks in more than a year. We typically go on Saturdays. We have Inspire keys. All the other key types are blocked out many Saturdays.

 

[MillauFr]

Saturdays are blissful. All the time. We went last Thursday and it was the most crowded day I've been in the parks in more than a year. We typically go on Saturdays. We have Inspire keys. All the other key types are blocked out many Saturdays.

Ditto. Some of the least crowded most blissful days are Saturdays when many tiers of annual passes are blocked. Worst days are when the Summer annual pass blocks end.

 

[Roughians_satchel]

Well now I'm starting to get nervous about our quick two days 3/4th of July with it being a Monday-Tuesday. We're at the VGC so we should be able to beat the rope droppers by 30 minutes right? Will the back entrance into DCA be open early or do we have to walk to the front?

 

[DLgal]

Well now I'm starting to get nervous about our quick two days 3/4th of July with it being a Monday-Tuesday. We're at the VGC so we should be able to beat the rope droppers by 30 minutes right? Will the back entrance into DCA be open early or do we have to walk to the front?

Don't worry about those 2 days. They will be relatively uncrowded due to the holiday. Locals stay away from the parks on the 4th, except for the ones who come to the Espalande at night to watch the "free" fireworks. Lots of passes are also blocked out those 2 days.

 

[KPeterso]

Saturdays are blissful. All the time. We went last Thursday and it was the most crowded day I've been in the parks in more than a year. We typically go on Saturdays. We have Inspire keys. All the other key types are blocked out many Saturdays.

Ditto. Some of the least crowded most blissful days are Saturdays when many tiers of annual passes are blocked. Worst days are when the Summer annual pass blocks end.

Agree with both of the above. We like Saturdays in the summer too. Usually some of our best days of the year!

Well now I'm starting to get nervous about our quick two days 3/4th of July with it being a Monday-Tuesday. We're at the VGC so we should be able to beat the rope droppers by 30 minutes right? Will the back entrance into DCA be open early or do we have to walk to the front?

Those 2 days may not be as bad due to the holidays. The Inspire will be the only pass open on 7/4 and only Believe and Inspire on 7/3. I have been on both 7/3 and 7/4 in years past and never found the crowds bad at all on those days. Just use the EE. And DCA entrance from the hotel will be open for EE. It actually will have the line starting almost an hour before it opens.

 

[Pluto468]

For the summer weekend crowds— Are they light Fri-Sat-Sun, or only Sat-Sun?

It still seems like weekend crowds would be so much worse! Back when I lived in LA I sometimes went on Sundays, but never Saturdays because it would be so busy.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

I keep seeing many say weekends are lighter then weekdays

I hope you are right, my upcoming trip in June has both 2 weekdays and 2 weekend days

So I'll be on the look out for which days feel more crowded/line times

 

[ktlm]

For the summer weekend crowds— Are they light Fri-Sat-Sun, or only Sat-Sun?

It still seems like weekend crowds would be so much worse! Back when I lived in LA I sometimes went on Sundays, but never Saturdays because it would be so busy.

I keep seeing many say weekends are lighter then weekdays

I hope you are right, my upcoming trip in June has both 2 weekdays and 2 weekend days

So I'll be on the look out for which days feel more crowded/line times

We have been in June and July many summers. We typically go Saturday through Wednesday. Saturday and Sunday are typically our best days. Monday and Tuesday are crowded, especially if you go that first week in June right before some of the annual passes are blocked out for the summer. Typically the Wednesday (which would be a park half day before we left around 3:00), was a lot better than Monday or Tuesday. When in June are you going? If your weekdays are June 1, or June 5-8, you can expect those to be a lot more crowded than your weekend dates because those are the days right before the enchant key is blocked out until the middle of August. June 1, is also the last day the Imagine key gets in until almost the end of August.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

We have been in June and July many summers. We typically go Saturday through Wednesday. Saturday and Sunday are typically our best days. Monday and Tuesday are crowded, especially if you go that first week in June right before some of the annual passes are blocked out for the summer. Typically the Wednesday (which would be a park half day before we left around 3:00), was a lot better than Monday or Tuesday. When in June are you going? If your weekdays are June 1, or June 5-8, you can expect those to be a lot more crowded than your weekend dates because those are the days right before the enchant key is blocked out until the middle of August. June 1, is also the last day the Imagine key gets in until almost the end of August.

Our Trip is Thursday-Sunday June 22nd-25th

We will also be back on Saturday July 1st.

 

[Pluto468]

When in June are you going?

We're going either June 27-July 2, or July 5-8. But now I'm considering changing to a Thur-Sun trip.