When do the holiday crowds start rolling in?

MagicalMomAZ

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Messages
918
We went in January last time....which was AWESOME. Very quiet & we did both parks in 2 days. But we missed rides that were out for refurbishing...so I was thinking maybe November before the holiday crowds spiked.

Is there a quiet time in November? Is there a Fall Break in October for CA residents?
 
We have gone the week AFTER Thanksgiving and it was really nice.. I hear that the week of Thanksgiving is crazy..we have also gone the 1st week in December and it wasn't too crowded.. I hear Veteran's Day weekend is nuts so I am trying to find out more about that..my DD is dancing at DL that weekend so I want to plan now! I am not for sure when the Christmas decs will be up but you will be certain that the week after Thanksgiving they would be...Good luck in your planning! That's half the fun :goodvibes
 
The week before Thanksgiving is nice; the week after Thanksgiving is easily one of the emptiest times of the year at Disneyland.
 
We went in January last time....which was AWESOME. Very quiet & we did both parks in 2 days. But we missed rides that were out for refurbishing...so I was thinking maybe November before the holiday crowds spiked.

Is there a quiet time in November? Is there a Fall Break in October for CA residents?

FYI, if this year is similar to previous years, IASW will be closed to install the IASWH overlay from Mon., Oct. 19, to Thurs., Nov. 5, and IASWH would open on Fri., Nov. 6. In previous years the official dates for IASWH have been announced in August.

In Oct. '07 we were in DL on Tues., Oct. 30. That Tuesday really felt like off-season. There were short hours and no night entertainment (and IASW was down to install IASWH), but it was a very nice time to visit. Unless there's some kind of school break that I don't know about, it looks like this year (Mon., Oct. 26, through Friday, Oct. 30) wouldn't be very busy. And DLR would have the Halloween decorations.

From what I've heard, the weekdays for the first week in November usually aren't very busy. Like the previous poster mentioned, I would avoid Veteran's Day if you're looking for a quiet time.

The Christmas holiday season (holiday fireworks and Christmas parade) should start on Friday, Nov. 20. Although I haven't visited DLR in November, I have heard that the full week before Thanksgiving (Mon., Nov. 16, to Fri., Nov. 20) isn't very busy. Friday night (Nov. 20) would be very busy, but staying on that day would allow you to see the holiday fireworks and Christmas parade.

HTH :earsboy:
 

week after thanksgiving to the first week of dec is the best time to go
 
My mom and I went were there on November 17th or 18th through the 20th (Thursday or Friday through Sunday) before Thanksgiving in 2005.

The park was nice early in our trip but started to get busier...by Sunday I was ALMOST glad that we were going home (not quite, though :) ). I wasn't prepared to do mid-afternoon breaks then, though.

So in 2005 at least, I'd say that the weekdays before Thanksgiving are probably nice but the weekend before Thanksgiving, not so much. Of course, this year every weekend seems to be crowded regardless, huh?
 












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