Best time to visit Disneyland.

[elisatonks]

Okay my husband and i are planning to go to disneyland in 2011. When when is the best time to go? (remembering if its peak at WDW we can't go, as my hubby is a WDW CM.)

 

[Mukta]

October is great for low crowds. You can see the HM done with Nightmare before Xmas. IASW will be closed though.

February is also good for crowds, but some stuff will be down for refurb.

 

[CaesarBoxFan]

^^^

I agree.

Hopefully "Celebrate Today" doesn't continue into next year, that way the crowd patterns can return back to normal. The B-Day promotion is really packing them in.

 

[TP2000]

Early May is also surprisingly great for low crowds. And the weather is great too.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I agree October and early May. The weather is beautiful and the crowds are low.

Try to concentrate your visit on weekdays and avoid the weekends as much as possible. Saturdays and Sundays are crowded year round at Disneyland.

 

[Blueliner]

As long as we are on this topic . . .

Can you guys give me your opinion on early December? My wife and I likely will be in La Quinta for a work-related seminar on December 3-4 and we thought we might try to go to the parks on December 5 and 6.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Can you guys give me your opinion on early December? My wife and I likely will be in La Quinta for a work-related seminar on December 3-4 and we thought we might try to go to the parks on December 5 and 6.

It will be a little more crowded because it's the weekend, but the parks are beautiful at that time. There's also a decent possibility that the Candlelight Processional will be that weekend.

On both our trips in early December we had great weather, maybe a little chilly in the evenings, but the days were gorgeous. The parks are all decorated and the parades are Christmas themed.

I would definitely recommend early December.

 

[Blueliner]

Thanks!

 

[Erika]

Can you guys give me your opinion on early December? My wife and I likely will be in La Quinta for a work-related seminar on December 3-4 and we thought we might try to go to the parks on December 5 and 6.

We were there early this past December and I agree with disneyfalcon. The weather was chilly, but not uncomfortably so, and the weekend was a lot more crowded than the weekdays, as would be expected. But it was a wonderful time to be there, especially if you are a holiday nerd like I am. The decorations were beautiful and I loved the Christmas version of IASW. I would definitely go back in early December again. Even if you are limited to the weekend, I think it's definitely worth putting up with heavier crowds.

 

[Blueliner]

Thanks. Maybe we'll try to move the Disneyland Resort days to the front end of the trip to avoid the weekend crowds.

 

[worldfanatic]

Christmastime, like at WDW is amazing. The Small World and Haunted Mansion overlays are amazing.

The Grand Californian lobby is also a sight to behold.

Whenever you go, have a magical time!

 

[TP2000]

Thanks. Maybe we'll try to move the Disneyland Resort days to the front end of the trip to avoid the weekend crowds.

Good thinking. Except for Fantasmic!, there isn't any major entertainment they don't do on weekdays that they do on weekends at Christmastime. The Christmas Fantasy Parade will perform one evening show every weekday, and the Believe In Holiday Magic will close the night by performing right at park closing time.

Disneyland's Fantasmic! is vastly superior to the WDW version, but at least it's something that kind of already exists in WDW.

All of the other Christmas themed stuff at Disneyland is Disneyland-specific; Haunted Mansion Holiday, Small World Holiday, park-wide decorations, Santa's Reindeer Roundup in Frontierland with live reindeer, Believe In Holiday Magic fireworks, Christmas Fantasy Parade performed daily, etc.

 

[Blueliner]

Thanks to everyone for the tips. We have been to WDW many times but never to DLR. We're excited about coming out, even if only for a couple of days.

 

[elisatonks]

Hey everyone, thanks for the advice it been really helpful, now for us to just do general research and we will prob go in October as my family have also annouced that they are planning a california visit that year (they live in the UK,) and my dad seems to find it easier to get time off in september and october, than any other month.

I do know we will def wanna see fantasmic! (both my DH and I have worked the DHS one to many times) and yet never seen the show which inspired it, so will def plan around that.

 

[TP2000]

I do know we will def wanna see fantasmic! (both my DH and I have worked the DHS one to many times) and yet never seen the show which inspired it, so will def plan around that.

You are in for a treat. You might consider splurging on the Fantasmic! Dessert Buffet they do, or just plan on getting a good spot down in front a few hours before showtime.

In October you will need to make sure your vacation falls on a weekend, as they only do Fantasmic! Friday-Sunday nights that time of year.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

You are in for a treat. You might consider splurging on the Fantasmic! Dessert Buffet they do, or just plan on getting a good spot down in front a few hours before showtime.

In October you will need to make sure your vacation falls on a weekend, as they only do Fantasmic! Friday-Sunday nights that time of year.

So is Fantasmic! a seasonal show, or was the recent downtime a "refurb," as it were, to make sure all the new show elements were ready to go?

I assumed it just wasn't shown at the time of year I visited, but now I'm starting to think I just had lousy timing. (Peter Pan's Flight apparently opened back up the weekend after I left, too.) :lol:

Oh well...I did get to see Remember right before it went down for the summer, so I guess it's a wash.

 

[Nicole220]

So is Fantasmic! a seasonal show, or was the recent downtime a "refurb," as it were, to make sure all the new show elements were ready to go?

I assumed it just wasn't shown at the time of year I visited, but now I'm starting to think I just had lousy timing. (Peter Pan's Flight apparently opened back up the weekend after I left, too.) :lol:

Oh well...I did get to see Remember right before it went down for the summer, so I guess it's a wash.

Don't get him started on that. He wasn't happy. :lookaroun

I loooove Disneyland in the fall. Sept/Oct. Also December/January and in between spring break and summer. Anything to avoid the crowds and heat. It's miserable right now. They really did a good job (good for Disney, not for the crowd level) with the birthday promotion. Lots of people are taking advantage of the free ticket.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Don't get him started on that. He wasn't happy. :lookaroun

I was THIS close to starting a thread saying my whole vacation was RUINED!

 

[TP2000]

So is Fantasmic! a seasonal show, or was the recent downtime a "refurb," as it were, to make sure all the new show elements were ready to go?

I assumed it just wasn't shown at the time of year I visited, but now I'm starting to think I just had lousy timing. (Peter Pan's Flight apparently opened back up the weekend after I left, too.) :lol:

Fantasmic! generally runs year round, on weekends in the off season and daily during busy times. But this past spring it was closed for about three months to do a refurbishment and install the new elements on the island, and then rehearse for a few weeks with the new stuff.

They also had two months of rehab in winter '08 when they installed the new digital projectors and replaced/upgraded all of the lighting and audio systems used for the show.

With this rehab in '09, Fantasmic! at Disneyland has pretty much been rebuilt from the ground up over the last three years. But if it's not closed for rehab, it's a year round show at least on weekends.

Looks like you just had lousy timing. :lol:

 

[Nicole220]

I was THIS close to starting a thread saying my whole vacation was RUINED!

Hee...I was looking for it! Ya should've done it.