What’s up with Mondays?

[TikiTroll]

I’ve been noticing a big spike in wait times the last few Mondays. It usually tapers of Tues-Thurs, but Mondays tend to be worse than the weekends.

Why is this?

 

[FireflyTrance]

I noticed the crowds were very high today and also found it strange. My guess is that’s it a combo of things. Families that go for the weekend will often go on Friday and/or Monday as well. Also there is the perception that crowds are higher on the weekend, even if it isn’t true. So people may be going on Monday to try and avoid crowds, which just ends up backfiring.

 

[TikiTroll]

That’s a good point. If people are heading home on Monday evening/Tuesday morning they’re going to try to squeeze in the big rides again before they go. That would explain why Matterhorn/Hyperspace/MFSR were all around 120 minutes around lunch time.

 

[poptart90]

I always thought it was a result of the 5 day pass. Arrive in Anaheim for your vacay Sunday night, check into your hotel, and get ready for 5 days of Disney starting Monday morning! Which is also why I think the Tuesday morning MM at DL is always NUTS. Families who've bought a 5 day pass seem to use that MM first. So sometimes Monday and Tuesday are far worse than Saturday or Sunday.

 

[dieumeye]

On the few Mondays I've been in the park this year, they were definitely busier than the previous weekend days. I always thought that it was due to some APs being blocked on weekends, at least that seemed to be the conventional wisdom to explain it.

It's interesting that the busy Monday phenomenon seems to still be happening, even though there aren't any APs that are currently blocked weekends but unblocked weekdays (and Flex is in "reservation" mode for all days so there's no difference between weekends and weekdays).

I guess what this means is that the root cause of busy Mondays may NOT be AP blockouts. That's interesting.

 

[TikiTroll]

On the few Mondays I've been in the park this year, they were definitely busier than the previous weekend days. I always thought that it was due to some APs being blocked on weekends, at least that seemed to be the conventional wisdom to explain it.

It's interesting that the busy Monday phenomenon seems to still be happening, even though there aren't any APs that are currently blocked weekends but unblocked weekdays (and Flex is in "reservation" mode for all days so there's no difference between weekends and weekdays).

I guess what this means is that the root cause of busy Mondays may NOT be AP blockouts. That's interesting.

It is. I find the dynamics of large groups like this very fascinating. I'm not qualified to research it, but I'd love to hear the results of such a study.

 

[midnight star]

Mondays where it’s a holiday aren’t horrible. But regular Mondays are not fun! Went last year on a regular Monday and will not be doing that any time soon if I can help it! It was total insanity!!

 

[cuteinnocent]

I felt like this has usually been the case when we have been there for the weekdays in the past, and crowds got better and better during the week with Friday feeling very empty. I guess if everyone does trips like us, checking in on Sunday since it is cheaper than Fri and Sat stays, it makes sense.

 

[Summer2018]

I’ve been noticing a big spike in wait times the last few Mondays. It usually tapers of Tues-Thurs, but Mondays tend to be worse than the weekends.

Why is this?

Before I went to Disneyland, I was told that unlike in WDW, Mondays are very busy because it’s a locals’ park and many people take 3 day weekends there. We purposely went to the beach the Monday we were there and went to the park Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I avoid Mondays if at all possible, too crazy!

 

[DLgal]

We have talked about this phenomenon on these boards numerous times.

Monday = ALWAYS busy

 

[dieumeye]

It is. I find the dynamics of large groups like this very fascinating. I'm not qualified to research it, but I'd love to hear the results of such a study.

I was in the park all day on Tuesday two weeks ago and it seemed way busier than this past Sunday. If it's not AP blockouts (which would not explain the current crowds), I can't think of any good reason for it.

Unless it's really as simple as people assume that the weekend is crowded so they avoid it and go during the week... and enough people do this that it has the opposite effect. Maybe that's it, but that explanation just seems so dumb it makes my brain hurt.

Although... now that I'm typing it out, it kind of seems like that explains the park crowds this summer... so many people thought it'd be crowded that they stayed away... so the park wasn't crowded after all. There's someone somewhere whose job is to look at all the guest data collected by Disneyland... I'd love to chat with them sometime.

 

[guynhawaii]

We have talked about this phenomenon on these boards numerous times.

Monday = ALWAYS busy

Aloha,

Amen!

It has been my family's experience (we stay on property and RD every day while touring the parks) that Mondays are one of the busiest days of the week. So much so, we now plan Mondays to be an off-day from the parks and either enjoy the resort or go shopping.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Unless it's really as simple as people assume that the weekend is crowded so they avoid it and go during the week... and enough people do this that it has the opposite effect. Maybe that's it, but that explanation just seems so dumb it makes my brain hurt.

Although... now that I'm typing it out, it kind of seems like that explains the park crowds this summer... so many people thought it'd be crowded that they stayed away... so the park wasn't crowded after all. There's someone somewhere whose job is to look at all the guest data collected by Disneyland... I'd love to chat with them sometime.

Yes, that is absolutely a huge part of it. I think there are other factors, but that’s probably the primary one.

People will show up when they anticipate “light crowds” - which is now why the parks are picking up again. Go walk around Disneyland right now and ask people why they’re there - “we heard it was empty!” is the answer I keep getting. It’s why I’ve had several out-of-state friends bring their families this month - they heard there were light crowds.

Christmas attracts its own crazies, but outside of that time, AP calendars and “when people expect low crowds” (which they’re often wrong about) are the best prognosticators at this point, IMO.

 

[Karin1984]

My own little additional theory to already mentioned above: when you go on a 3-day weekend trip, and have to take a day off work, it's more fun to take Monday off than Friday. Mondays are busy days at the office. On Friday everyone thinks TGIF, everyone and everything is more relaxed, so taking that day off doesn't feel as much as a vacation day as taking off a Monday.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Other discussions on this topic:
Why are Mondays so busy?
Mondays at the park are bad. Bad!

 

[2Gma]

Went for the first time yesterday (Monday) and it was busier than the wait times I had been "watching" for a few weeks. I knew Monday could be busier because of theories mentioned above but that was our planned day so we made the best of it. Didn't get to ride MFSR though, that was a bummer! Didn't want to wait 90+ minutes. Even the woman working the line stated how much busier yesterday was. I was thinking the ride would drop to 60min in the afternoon as I had seen on app prior to my trip but it never did. We were there at 7:50am and I figured we weren't there early enough to beat rope drop so we didn't even try and went to Space/Matterhorn instead, kinda kicking myself for that.

 

[SL6827]

Thank you all for all this info, I SO appreciate it. I am just going to wait till another time to go to Disneyland. This trip to Cali will focus on other things.

 

[Federalist45]

Mondays where it’s a holiday aren’t horrible. But regular Mondays are not fun! Went last year on a regular Monday and will not be doing that any time soon if I can help it! It was total insanity!!

Did Lincoln’s B-Day Monday in February 2018, it was much worse than the prior Friday - Sunday (DLR capacity closure, 20 minute line to enter DCA).

 

[midnight star]

Did Lincoln’s B-Day Monday in February 2018, it was much worse than the prior Friday - Sunday (DLR capacity closure, 20 minute line to enter DCA).

Oh man! I've never gone on President's day. I've gone on MLK day and Labor day and those both weren't bad at all.