SHUT DOWN

[SSG]

Just posted:

Disneyland Today ‏@DisneylandToday 3m3 minutes ago
Many Guests are enjoying the Parks today. Disneyland park is not currently admitting new Guests. (1 of 2)
As of 12:45 p.m. Disney California Adventure park remains available for your enjoyment. Updates to follow. (2 of 2)

 

[Travel Junkie]

Welcome back AP's!

 

[Curious Constance]

Welcome back AP's!

Phew!!!! That was a LONG two weeks!!!!

 

[drizgirl]

Welcome back AP's!

No joke!

 

[TP2000]

I always avoid the last days before AP blockouts and the first days back after AP blockouts. Early June and late August, but especially the weeks around Christmas and New Year's.

What is sad is there are tens of thousands of clueless tourists who chose their vacation times very poorly and are now stuck in that mess.

 

[mickEblu]

I always avoid the last days before AP blockouts and the first days back after AP blockouts. Early June and late August, but especially the weeks around Christmas and New Year's.

What is sad is there are tens of thousands of clueless tourists who chose their vacation times very poorly and are now stuck in that mess.

Why are some tourists so clueless though? The internet and just a tiny amount of research can go a long way.

EDIT: I understand that some people however, have no choice in what time of year they can visit.

 

[Stevek]

My daughter and her friends went yesterday and DL was a zoo. 145 min wait for Space. DCA was a bit more manageable. Thankfully, she was signed in so not a total waste of money or the day.

 

[Curious Constance]

Why are some tourists so clueless though? The internet and just a tiny amount of research can go a long way.

EDIT: I understand that some people however, have no choice in what time of year they can visit.

Normally this is a good time to go though, after the holidays in January. It used to be dead! And I don't know what kind of average tourist would think to check the AP black out schedule, but they must be pretty special if they go that far.

 

[TP2000]

The public high school in town, Villa Park High, had their XMas Break from 12/19/16 until 1/9/17, which is three full weeks off. Villa Park High tends to mirror most other public school calendars in Orange County, and thus I would assume the rest of SoCal.

You have to wait until the schools return to service later in January before the crowds die off. Although the following weekend is MLK Jr. three-day weekend and a Star Wars Marathon weekend, so that will be busy too.

It's overcast and 65 degrees today. Looking at the Disneyland App this afternoon, there are no Fastpasses left for anything and both parks look absolutely destroyed;

Radiator Springs Racers = 180 Minutes
Hyperspace Mountain = 150 Minutes
Indiana Jones Adventure = 150 Minutes
Soarin' Around The World = 120 Minutes
Matterhorn Bobsleds = 95 Minutes
California Screamin' = 95 Minutes
Star Tours & Midway Mania = 90 Minutes
Pirates of the Caribbean = 80 Minutes
Peter Pan's Flight = 75 Minutes
Autopia & Alice In Wonderland = 60 Minutes
Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters = 45 Minutes
Heimlich's Chew Chew Train & Golden Zephyr = 30 Minutes (Seriously)

 

[mickEblu]

Why are some tourists so clueless though? The internet and just a tiny amount of research can go a long way.

Normally this is a good time to go though, after the holidays in January. It used to be dead! And I don't know what kind of average tourist would think to check the AP black out schedule, but they must be pretty special if they go that far.

I see what you re saying but for example I'm a tourist when I go to Hawaii. I google things like typical weather, crowds, rates depending on the time of the year etc. If one would google something like "Disneyland crowds" or "best time to go to Disneyland" I have to imagine it wouldn't take them very long to stumble upon the whole AP blackout schedule thing. I could be wrong though.

When I went to Kauai a couple years ago I found some amazing places that I (or the average tourist) would have never found had I not down just a little bit of research.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

Why are some tourists so clueless though? The internet and just a tiny amount of research can go a long way.

EDIT: I understand that some people however, have no choice in what time of year they can visit.

The one time I went during Christmas as an adult we were visiting family (clueless locals apparently) and we thought it would be fun to visit Disneyland for the day. We expected big crowds, but nothing like what we were confronted with. Easily the worst visit to Disneyland I ever had.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

I see what you re saying but for example I'm a tourist when I go to Hawaii. I google things like typical weather, crowds, rates depending on the time of the year etc.

You might do that for Hawaii in general, but not necessarily for a casual visit to a specific location while you're there. I get that people should do their research, but not all tourists visiting Disneyland are in the area specifically for that one thing. There's a lot more to see and do in Southern California than DLR.

 

[Stevek]

The public high school in town, Villa Park High, had their XMas Break from 12/19/16 until 1/9/17, which is three full weeks off. Villa Park High tends to mirror most other public school calendars in Orange County, and thus I would assume the rest of SoCal.

Corona-Norco school district, a pretty large district, is off as well through 1/9

 

[Darkbeer1]

It really is the parents controlling the school districts.

Since schools don't get paid for unexcused absences, the parents have voted for the dates they want with their feet.

For the Christmas Break, many new immigrants celebrate Three Kings Day, aka the 12th day of Christmas on January 6th. Many families return home and spend the 12 days with family and won't return until after that date, no matter what. So the schools in the South West of the USA have responded by shifting/expanding Christmas Vacation to end shortly after the Religious Holiday.

Also, many school districts time their "Teacher Instructional Days" (days where the Teachers work, but students get the day off) to cover other religious holidays, to avoid the fact that they are promoting the holiday, but still understand a lot of a specific religion will not attend that day, no matter what.

So if the schools are off, then the parks respond. All the major Theme Parks in Southern California have extended hours and remained open days they are normally closed through January 8th in response to the expected larger crowds.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

Good to know. If I ever dare try to visit during the holiday again when would be the best time to visit?

 

[mickEblu]

You might do that for Hawaii in general, but not necessarily for a casual visit to a specific location while you were there. I get that people should do their research, but not all tourists visiting Disneyland are in the area specifically for that one thing. There's a lot more to see and do in Southern California than DLR.

Good point. I was referring more to bigger trips where Disneyland is the highlight or primary destination and not a spontaneous day trip when I get there. Although personally I would do a little research for that as well. For example: which luau to go to or which day trip is best. By researching, I'm talking maybe 30 minutes worth of googling while at the pool, knocking back drinks.

In the case of Disneyland being a spontaneous trip, depending on a tourists schedule etc., the difference in quality of going to the park on a Wednesday vs a Friday or a Sunday vs a Monday could be huge just by moving a couple things around on their schedule if possible and if they have enough of a heads up.

With that said, I would imagine that most tourists that end up at Disneyland had an idea that they would go, even if it's not the reason for the trip or primary destination. I understand what you re saying though. There is also something left to be said for being spontaneous, which I also try to do on trips as well. I think a nice balance of planning and spontaneity can make a great trip. However for something like Disneyland or a trip highlight I would probably do some planning.

I guess it comes down to what we value as a highlight or must do.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

I look at it like this: the day after Christmas I'm sitting at my sister's house in Arizona and we're all wondering what to do, so we agree to go see Fences at the local multiplex. The movie starts in about an hour when we leave for the theater.

When we arrive the show is completely sold out except for a few seats in the front row. We decide to skip it and come back the next day. No big deal, but had we "planned" our day and thought things through we probably would have realized that theaters tend to be very busy at that time of year and bought tix online, arrived earlier, or chosen a different activity. Now picture this scenario happening thousands and thousands of times every day at Disneyland for the two weeks after Christmas.

 

[ght]

The public high school in town, Villa Park High, had their XMas Break from 12/19/16 until 1/9/17, which is three full weeks off. Villa Park High tends to mirror most other public school calendars in Orange County, and thus I would assume the rest of SoCal.

You have to wait until the schools return to service later in January before the crowds die off. Although the following weekend is MLK Jr. three-day weekend and a Star Wars Marathon weekend, so that will be busy too.

It's overcast and 65 degrees today. Looking at the Disneyland App this afternoon, there are no Fastpasses left for anything and both parks look absolutely destroyed;

Radiator Springs Racers = 180 Minutes
Hyperspace Mountain = 150 Minutes
Indiana Jones Adventure = 150 Minutes
Soarin' Around The World = 120 Minutes
Matterhorn Bobsleds = 95 Minutes
California Screamin' = 95 Minutes
Star Tours & Midway Mania = 90 Minutes
Pirates of the Caribbean = 80 Minutes
Peter Pan's Flight = 75 Minutes
Autopia & Alice In Wonderland = 60 Minutes
Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters = 45 Minutes
Heimlich's Chew Chew Train & Golden Zephyr = 30 Minutes (Seriously)

A lot of Phoenix area schools are out this week as well and I know a lot of people who went this week. I was planning on going as well but circumstances have made us change our plans to June, which I am now very glad we did.

 

[ght]

I always avoid the last days before AP blockouts and the first days back after AP blockouts. Early June and late August, but especially the weeks around Christmas and New Year's.

What is sad is there are tens of thousands of clueless tourists who chose their vacation times very poorly and are now stuck in that mess.

That is why we are waiting until closer to the end of June to go. Between Grad Nights and local APs we decided it would probably be better to go the third of fourth week.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I was in DCA today, and then I hopped over to Disneyland. Due to scheduling conflicts, this was the week I could go, otherwise I might have chosen next week. Truthfully, I didn't think it was horrible, but this is just me.

It was definitely crowded, but I still got on California Screamin', RSR, and Soarin'. Fastpassed Soarin' and Screamin', 60 minutes in singles for RSR (yikes). At DL, I did Hyperspace Mountain at the end of the night, as well as Matterhorn twice through the singles line. In between, I did a bunch of other rides.

For those checking the app, some of the wait times are being exagerrated. Yesterday, PofTC was posted as 50 minutes. It was more like 20. Same thing happened today. Luigi's was posted as 50 and was really 30. Most striking example was Space Mountain. Posted at 95 minutes. Actual time: 20 minutes. It was the end of the night, but you see my point. I saw an earlier poster who said that no FPs were available. I got my FP for Soarin' right away, and then later for Screamin'. I noticed there were FPs for certain attractions still available, namely Sky School, Screamin', and Astro Blasters, very late in the day.

I was in Epcot last year over a holiday weekend. It. Was. Horrible. We were basically able to ride what we had FPs for. The boat ride in Mexico was a 60 minute wait. Just my opinion, but here, it's kind of a functional crowd. It's messy, but you can still do a good bit. Keeping it open until midnight was also helpful.

Disclaimer: I've been here four times before and WDW WAY more, so I'm not an inexperienced theme park goer. I can definitely see how it could be overwhelming if you don't know what you're doing.