Why were the parks so crowded this week (6th-10th October)?

[dollarmite]

This is the first time we have visited DL in October, and going by previous years' comments we were expecting fairly quiet, low level crowds. We've had the exact opposite. We visited on Monday (6th), Tuesday (7th), Wednesday (8th) and Friday (10th).

It's worse than any visit we've had at Thanksgiving or the July/August school holidays. It's absolutely horrible. We still have another week to go and I've heard it's supposed to be even worse for the week beginning the 13th due to some school holidays in a nearby state?

We wasted an early entry day as by the time we arrived at Peter Pan at 10 minutes after opening the line was already 30 minutes long. Fantasyland in general is a write off due to the long lines.

If this is the norm throughout the year now I doubt we'll be returning after this this trip. It's not worth the money to come all the way from Australia to get on just a few rides each day. Characters seem to be in short supply too. Overall this visit has definitely left a sour taste in our mouths.

The only bright side is that the cast members have all been extremely pleasant.

 

[WestMom2two]

You have to be careful in the beginning of October. A lot of schools have a break and Disneyland hosts Gay days every year then. This year it was Oct 3-5th so you probably got the tail end of that. We went for Halloween last year and I sure did my research before booking. We have young kids and for us its top priority to hit the parks at lower crowd levels as much as possible! I have to say I nailed it too. After all the reports of high summer like crowd levels we experienced September like levels when we went. We did Oct 21-24th. I feel like that 3rd week of Oct is the perfect!

 

[WestMom2two]

Also Halloween time is just a extremely popular time to visit now so doing a ton of research and picking the correct days is the only way to go if you want to hit some slower days. I'm pretty sure it's Arizona and Utah that have some sort of school break in October and then you have Columbus day.

 

[wdwfan22]

I can't really speak to the crowds in Oct, as I haven't been during that month. But I've been during a lot of other ones, and high crowds or low crowds, I've never seen Peter Pan not have a 30 min line 10 mins after opening. Lots of people go there first. The only way to not have a long line at PP is to get there right when the park opens.

 

[violentlyserene]

You have to be careful in the beginning of October. A lot of schools have a break and Disneyland hosts Gay days every year then. This year it was Oct 3-5th so you probably got the tail end of that. We went for Halloween last year and I sure did my research before booking. We have young kids and for us its top priority to hit the parks at lower crowd levels as much as possible! I have to say I nailed it too. After all the reports of high summer like crowd levels we experienced September like levels when we went. We did Oct 21-24th. I feel like that 3rd week of Oct is the perfect!

That is very helpful information. I'm leaning towards the 3rd week next year. My husband isn't concerned about the crowd levels but I think he seriously over estimates the patience level of 2 overstimulated 2 year olds.

 

[Fantaluminishes]

We went last Thursday. It was my 12th visit in 3 months. Fantasyland is becoming a joke where crowds are concerned. It's really getting ridiculous. MM has become a joke as well. Sure, some days are better than others, but they need to open more attractions during this time.

I'm still waiting for a low crowd time. We're going back this Wednesday, but I'm not confident the crowds will be any different.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

I think the Halloween party drives a lot of people to the same park on the same days too. For instance we only had Wednesday and Thursday at the parks and no hopper. Like many we spent Wednesday at DCA since DL was closing early that night for the party and also because DCA had early entry that day. The like many we spent Thursday at DL because of early entry and the fact that it was open so late that night. I also heard it was open especially late due to a passholder event but don't know any other details.
Even though it did seem more crowded than usual, we were able to navigate the parks and do all the major rides with little wait. Granted we were at the front of the early entry line and walked right onto PeterPan. I would have skipped it if not, and moves on to the other rides before they also got busy. We even ate lunch at Cafe Orleans without a reservation and only waited 15min to get in. Just lucky?
Our experience at DCA on Wednesday was very similar. Rode everything with little wait using FPs strategically. We even rode RSR three times. Once at open and twice through single rider line. We had a FP but gave them away because the FP wait was so much longer than the single rider line. Walked into a nice lunch there too at Wine Countrly Trattoria with no wait.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Lots of school systems out around the Columbus Day holiday.

 

[Geemo]

This is the first time we have visited DL in October, and going by previous years' comments we were expecting fairly quiet, low level crowds. We've had the exact opposite. We visited on Monday (6th), Tuesday (7th), Wednesday (8th) and Friday (10th).

It's worse than any visit we've had at Thanksgiving or the July/August school holidays. It's absolutely horrible. We still have another week to go and I've heard it's supposed to be even worse for the week beginning the 13th due to some school holidays in a nearby state?

We wasted an early entry day as by the time we arrived at Peter Pan at 10 minutes after opening the line was already 30 minutes long. Fantasyland in general is a write off due to the long lines.

If this is the norm throughout the year now I doubt we'll be returning after this this trip. It's not worth the money to come all the way from Australia to get on just a few rides each day. Characters seem to be in short supply too. Overall this visit has definitely left a sour taste in our mouths.

The only bright side is that the cast members have all been extremely pleasant.

Here's a link to a thread I started January 2014 regarding events/activities in the parks for the year. This is an unofficial list and I'm sure there are things happening I wasn't aware. It might be nice to see if it's about the same for 2015.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3221444

I was trying to get a sense of what happens through out the year. As you look, October has a few big events.

October 2014
Wed, October 1, 2014 AZ schools out first 2wks of Oct
Fri, October 3, 2014 Gay days weekend
Sat, October 4, 2014 Gay days weekend
Sun, October 5, 2014 Gay days weekend
Sat, October 11, 2014 Columbus day
Sun, October 12, 2014 CHOC Children's Walk?
Thu, October 16, 2014 Utah schools out UEA
Fri, October 17, 2014 Utah schools out UEA
Fri, October 31, 2014 Halloween - Final Party

We made a trip around Columbus Day in 2006. I didn't realize it was a holiday and so many had the time off work and school. The parks were packed on the weekend and didn't thin out much during the weekdays.

With the way the crowds are through out the year, if anyone finds a slow zone I'll be surprised.

Try and enjoy the rest of your Holiday here in the states.

Geemo

 

[oohykitten]

most modified year round schools and traditional year round schools start getting their first breaks the last week of Sept to Oct 12th…which makes it more crowded. I can say just from Facebook everyone in town leaves school and goes to Disneyland or Hawaii

 

[meg39]

Yeah we were here this week too and it's been awful. We had a lot of fun, but definitely won't be coming back around this time ever again. The heat and the crowds just aren't worth it.

 

[dlrmw]

In my area two different school districts had their fall break last week. Our district doesn't have fall break but we do have a long weekend this weekend for Columbus Day, so I'm sure there are a lot of school that do that same.

 

[meggles]

In my area two different school districts had their fall break last week. Our district doesn't have fall break but we do have a long weekend this weekend for Columbus Day, so I'm sure there are a lot of school that do that same.

Last year we went October 9-11 and it wasn't bad crowd wise or heat wise. It rained half a day, in fact. This year we went Sept 24-28 and it was blazing hot and way more crowded than our previous Halloweentime visit. I was lamenting going in Sept rather than Oct but now I'm not so sure.

Needless to say it's looking like any holiday period is pretty much out if you're seeking lower crowds. We're going sometime in the winter next time (not over the thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years holidays)!
If we have to pull our daughter out of school for a few days, so be it!

 

[bumbershoot]

I was trying to get a sense of what happens through out the year. As you look, October has a few big events.

Good list of stuff going on during this timeframe!

Yeah we were here this week too and it's been awful. We had a lot of fun, but definitely won't be coming back around this time ever again. The heat and the crowds just aren't worth it.

You have to see how all of the weekends fall with holidays etc. It's not always going to be awful the whole time.

In my area two different school districts had their fall break last week. Our district doesn't have fall break but we do have a long weekend this weekend for Columbus Day, so I'm sure there are a lot of school that do that same.

Yep.



OP, even though Columbus Day isn't really a popular thing anymore (Columbus wasn't really that great of a guy, and he discovered a place that already had people living on it LOL), many CA schools still have breaks around it.

I've found in the past that if the ONLY thing you're looking at is Columbus Day, you're going to see crowds increasing as the weekend approaches, builds more on the weekend, then Monday starts busy and slowly eases as people go home. The Monday is the holiday (the official date is the 12th, aka my birthday, but it's celebrated on the closest Monday, which is why tomorrow is the holiday this year). Since school starts again on Tuesday, people have to go home.

But if you're looking at Gay Days over the holiday weekend, it's going to be even busier. That was the situation in 2012.

With your trip starting with Gay Days then with crowds building into Columbus Day weekend (and the CHOC walk), it's no wonder it has been busy.

 

[Viva Las Disney]

I went from Oct 1st to the 3rd and it was as slow as I've seen it all year, walk-ons for most rides and headliners topping out at about 30 minutes, I probably got lucky because there were no Halloween parties, no Fireworks or F!, and short hours both nights but it was a blast.

My prior trip was for the half marathon weekend and it was insanely busy! The night I drove down I planned to meet some friends for dinner but it took me so long to get into the parking garage and was so packed in DTD I didn't even bother trying to get into the parks to meet them, I just went back to my hotel and ate at the lobby bar/restaurant. Needless to say that was not a very magical evening at all!

I love Disneyland but it's insane how crowded it gets at times, I've spent more than one afternoon drawing away in the animation academy or sailing and rowing around the Rivers of America to avoid the crowds and the heat. To me the biggest perk of an AP is you can have fun on even the busiest days by avoiding rides with long lines because you can always do them next time.

 

[DizMe]

We used to go every year in October. It was a nice, easy-going family time.

Since the school holiday crowds have increased along with the popularity of Halloween in the parks, we decided to give it up. October just isn't worth it to us any more. I'd rather go during Christmas time anyway and I find the crowds in the earlier parts of the Christmas season to be more manageable than the October crowds.

 

[Peace.love.mickey]

I was there this week too, Wednesday night was awesome and Friday morning was empty!!!!! Thursday was HORRIBLE!!!!!! Summer/holiday horrible!!!!! Main Street after the parade was like a mob scene! CMs were saying they did not expect the heavy crowds.... I guess lots of schools in AZ were off also.

I have to re think next year!

 

[AZMermaid]

I am an AZ teacher and we are off next week. Many districts were off last week instead. I have a ton of kids going to Disneyland this week. It looks like Utah is off too so I'd expect huge crowds this week!

 

[Pheran]

For reference, here are TP's observed (not predicted) crowd levels for last week. Normally I wouldn't post things like this but since it's after the fact I don't think they will care. Most of them don't look too bad but as Peace.love.mickey pointed out, Thursday in Disneyland was pretty crowded - in fact it was substantially higher than TP's prediction.

Monday Oct 6: DL 5/10, DCA 3/10
Tuesday Oct 7: DL 7/10, DCA 4/10
Wednesday Oct 8: DL 4/10, DCA 4/10
Thursday Oct 9: DL 8/10, DCA 5/10
Friday Oct 10: DL 5/10, DCA 5/10
Saturday Oct 11: DL 9/10, DCA 6/10
Sunday Oct 12: DL 7/10, DCA 6/10

 

[disneyobsessed808]

I have had a premium pass for 7 years, and 7 years ago when I would come to the parks in October, it was absolutely dead - perfect for touring. I went last Thursday, and it was absolutely insane! And I'm sure me being there (along with tons of other passholders) was really to blame for the crazy crowds.