When to go to Disneyland

In a recent episode of The Big Bang Theory, Amy, Bernadette, and Penny planned a trip to Disneyland, and they decided to blow off work, because the weekends are too crowded, but they just went on Friday instead. Friday is part of the weekend.

I wish I had taken some pictures of the crowd to illustrate my point better. Yes, I am sure Saturday and Sunday are worse than any of the weekdays, and this is especially going to affect local attendees. However, for people who are traveling there, even if they are not traveling far, they are probably going to combine some days. So, it would be completely reasonable to expect that a lot of the people there on Saturday and Sunday either were also there Friday, or will be there on Monday, and maybe Thursday or Tuesday will factor in too.

Based on this, it seems reasonable to assume that Wednesday will be your least crowded day. Wednesday was so amazing!

Okay, generally no matter how good the time of year is, Tomorrowland will still always have lines, and it is just something that you expect. We started there Wednesday, and it was so dead. We didn't even strategize! We just went to rides as we came to them. Space Mountain said a 10 minute wait at the entrance, but I'm not sure it was even that. I mean, yes, we probably spent ten minutes making our way through the area of the line, which is set up to accommodate a much longer wait, but we didn't really find an actual end of the line until we were already inside the building.They were all like that. There was a brief wait for Autopia, but compared to what it normally is, that was nothing.

I know short waiting times is not the only thing to consider when planning a vacation. If you have children in school, that limits when you can go. There are special events at different times of year. We got to see special things for Mardi Gras and for Lunar New Year, and we chose that specific week simply because it was Julie and Maria's birthday on that Wednesday. On our last trip we had been asked many times if we were celebrating anything, and we got the idea that we wanted to say yes, and that's how they ended up with the birthday buttons. (Now everyone asks if you are an annual pass holder. Okay, perhaps next time we will be.)

For us, we look at crowds and weather. We are not warm weather people. In the past, that has led to us going in October. It was on the list of uncrowded times, and it's not too hot. We would die in August.

So, the problem with that is that the park would really rather not have times when no one comes. The last time we were there in October, they had started a new thing with Halloween parties, where people can come in costumes, and trick-or-treat and go on rides in the dark. Apparently the candy haul is pretty impressive, and it sounds great, but I don't think that week in October will still be one of the lower capacity times, because these parties are becoming quite popular.

So, February was supposed to be low, and it is, but Friday was really crowded, because the next Monday was going to be President's Day, and a lot of the schools had Friday as an inservice day, so parents took work off and were going for the four day weekend. It was packed.

So, I think the data on time of year may be changing, but I believe Wednesdays will continue to be the best days ever, so if you live there and are skipping work, skip on a Wednesday. If you are spending a week there, save your Wednesday for the longer lines. Tomorrowland tends to have long lines, as well as Toon Town and Fantasyland. New attractions tend to be more busy. The Magic Kingdom gets more people than California Adventure, but Cars Land and Toy Story Midway Mania get packed.

Really, we should have started in California Adventure from a line point of view, because Monday still has the weekend traffic, but we were anxious to get to the Magic Kingdom, plus, we got our picture with Louis, with everything working out right for that. You know, you're still in Disneyland, regardless of what else happens.

There is one more thing that we do that is worth mentioning. We go left.

Apparently psychology causes people to go right, so they will start in Tomorrowland, and then work their way over to the left. Knowing that, we do the opposite. It seems to be becoming more known, but we still do it and it still seems to work. Our other thing is that we pick up a park map at each entrance and mark things off, so we can be thorough. Some people just focus on the big ticket rides, but we know we want to ride everything, and if we see a good opportunity at any point we take it, and we stay organized. I can't even review the Fast Pass process because we never use it, and we never need to.