Why are most Monday's usually busy at Disneyland?

[Matrixleos]

I've seen a lot of comments that always reference that Monday's are usually one of the busier days to visit Disneyland. As a non-local, I'm curious why that is?

Normally you would think Mondays are a school day during the school year but seen several reports that's its always busy. You would also figure Friday, Saturday, Sunday being the weekend would be busy, with locals who have season passes keys. Just was wondering what specially about Monday's that makes it busy.

 

[katyringo]

Flights are cheaper on Tuesdays.. at least that's the reason for my family. We almost always end on Tuesdays.

 

[Jonfw2]

Kids everywhere have Fridays and Mondays off all the time from school for no rhyme or reason. "Teacher in-service day" is a popular one. In the east, they sometimes over schedule the school year for potential snow days and then if they're not used, they will add days off later- always Monday or Friday.

 

[DLgal]

A lot of people begin their vacations on Sundays. Thus, Monday is a lot of people's first days in the park.

Plus:
Many annual passes are blocked Sat and Sun, especially the lowest tier so cal pass

Many So Cal resident ticket offers are good M-F only

Many schools and jobs have Mondays off as a long weekend/holiday

People *think* the weekend MUST always be busy, so choose Mondays unaware of how busy they usually are

 

[mom2rtk]

I think it's mostly about the APs. Unless it's peak season, go when the APs are blocked, especially the lower level ones.

 

[tobikaye]

I feel like SoCal is such a big area for the service industry where working weekends could be more the norm with days off being weekdays. Some business may even have their closed days be weekdays over weekends. So, I feel like more locals may be off to go on Mondays.

I live in the mid-west and I can name about a few local business that are closed sometime during Monday-Thursday than Friday-Sunday. When I worked at the local dinner theater, we were closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. When I did retail or food service, I rarely had a weekend off. Once I went to work in offices, if I wanted a 3 day weekend and my job worked well for it, I took Monday off instead of Friday.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Given that Monday is weekend adjacent, it's the most convenient non-weekend day to go for most people. It's also better than the other weekend adjacent Friday for many people for a lot of reasons:

Imagine Keys are often blocked out from Friday to Sunday.

Single day tickets are almost always cheaper on Monday than Friday to Sunday. Sometimes Tuesday to Thursday is cheaper than Monday but not always.

Hotels are often cheaper for Sunday to Thursday night than Friday and Saturday night

Tuesday flights are often cheaper.

With fireworks often only going on the weekend, I'm often trying to go Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. There's no direct flights that leave late enough on Sunday for me to see the night shows so I end up taking the last flight out on Monday and going into the parks on Monday also. If shows and opening hours were more favorable during the week and/or there were better flight schedules, I'd probably go on different days.

 

[Wesley815]

Everyone in the park wonders why it's busy everyday, yet they all bought tickets (or Magic Keys/AP) too

 

[WonkaKid]

I’m a longtime AP-holder (or MK-holder, if you insist) and I don’t think I’ve ever been to the park on a Monday. I’ve always presumed that larger-than-expected crowds on those days were due to families/groups coming for three-day weekends and expecting that few people would be there on a Monday. It doesn’t take too many people to think that way before the park becomes full. I do have friends that often go on Tuesdays and the park is busy because those are the cheapest days to buy tix. I believe they’re $104 on Tuesdays and closer to $154 for Saturdays/Sundays.

 

[Matrixleos]

Thanks for all the feedback. Makes a lot more sense now on why Mondays seem to be so busy at DLR.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Many people still think that Mondays are low crowd days, so they show up at DLR having done minimal/if any research -- and are shocked/outraged/overwhelmed by the crowds. (And many people also still think that October is a low crowd time in the parks!)

 

[Jrog92]

So, If you guys had to plan a 3-day park visit and were trying to bank on lower crowded days... which days would you pick? Trying to figure out the best days for mid to late January. We could skip possibly one day of the week and use it to rest. Would something like Thursday, Friday, Sunday be a good choice? or would it be better to do Thursday, Saturday, Sunday since imagine key holders are blocked on the weekends? I've also heard Tuesdays can be bad too... does that make Sunday, Tuesday, or Wednesday not a viable option? Really confused and overwhelmed at the moment! Any advice is appreciated.

 

[gelatoni fan]

So, If you guys had to plan a 3-day park visit and were trying to bank on lower crowded days... which days would you pick? Trying to figure out the best days for mid to late January. We could skip possibly one day of the week and use it to rest. Would something like Thursday, Friday, Sunday be a good choice? or would it be better to do Thursday, Saturday, Sunday since imagine key holders are blocked on the weekends? I've also heard Tuesdays can be bad too... does that make Sunday, Tuesday, or Wednesday not a viable option? Really confused and overwhelmed at the moment! Any advice is appreciated.

I would go for Thursday, Friday, Sunday. Saturday tends to be the busiest weekend. I would not do Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday because of the show schedule. Most nighttime entertainment will be Friday-Sunday only and Tale of the Lion King does not show on Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

[WonkaKid]

I think it's mostly about the APs. Unless it's peak season, go when the APs are blocked, especially the lower level ones.

Mondays have been busy for several years now. I’ve suspected for some time that it’s because people come for three-day weekends, expecting the park to be dead on Mondays. Moreover, park tickets are often cheaper on Mondays than other days.

 

[mom2rtk]

Mondays have been busy for several years now. I’ve suspected for some time that it’s because people come for three-day weekends, expecting the park to be dead on Mondays. Moreover, park tickets are often cheaper on Mondays than other days.

Mondays being really busy has been going on longer than there was variable date pricing. APs move traffic in ways no other group can at DLR.

 

[WonkaKid]

Mondays being really busy has been going on longer than there was variable date pricing. APs move traffic in ways no other group can at DLR.

Mondays being busy also predate variable date pricing.

 

[acerry]

So, If you guys had to plan a 3-day park visit and were trying to bank on lower crowded days... which days would you pick? Trying to figure out the best days for mid to late January.

Thank you, Jrog, for posing this question, because this is the exact question I have been so much struggiling with since hanging around here and seeing that Monday is the opposite of what I would expect. Deciding on my park days is more of a struggle than deciding on and getting dining reservations, probably!

It's nice to see gelatonifan's answer line up with what my research has led me to lean towards at the moment: Thur, Fri, and Sat park hoppers, and Sun for my jaunt to Universal Hollywood.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Many annual passes are blocked Sat and Sun, especially the lowest tier so cal pass

Many So Cal resident ticket offers are good M-F only

These are the main reasons.

 

[AustinTink]

We'll be there on a Monday. It was the only way we could work out the Disney days as part of our Southern California trip. Oh well, I'll expect the worst but remain hopeful it won't be totally unbearable.

 

[mom2rtk]

Mondays being busy also predate variable date pricing.

Which is what I said.