Should we forgo a rest day to take advantage of the lighter crowds?

CAlvares

CAlvares

Member
Original Poster
Hi! Husband and I are bringing our almost 3 year old for a 7 day trip, from November 14th to the 21st with 4 park days. 2 at each park with Genie+ for all 4 days.

15th Tuesday - Disneyland
16th Wednesday - California Adventure
17th Thursday- Rest Day - Pool/Beach
18th Friday - Disneyland
19th Saturday - California Adventure

1) We want to have a “break day” on Thursday, so that we can rest, but according to the Crowd Calendars the Saturday is going to be an 8 crowd level, so super busy while the weekdays are at a 4/5 crowd levels.

Should we forgo the rest day to take advantage of the lighter crowds?

This is going to br her first ever trip, so we imagine the parks will be a little overwhelming/ over stimulating

We plan on rope dropping and taking mid day breaks at the hotel - which is a 15 minute drive - every park day.

Any input/suggestions are more than welcome :) Thanks for the help!!! :)
 
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
I would not forgo the rest day. Its hard to predict crowds at DLR these days. 4 days at DLR is more than enough especially when you are rope dropping. I'd say to upgrade to park hoppers though. Its so convenient and you may find you do not need 2 whole days at DCA. Not sure how tall your child is but if she's 40 inches or under there's literally like 6 rides she can do at the park and they re mostly flat rides. I also find DCA works best when you just hop over for a quick ride or three and head back to DL.

One thing to keep in mind, they now do Christmas parties at DL so that may impact the crowds on the dates you have chosen (maybe for the better). With that said they haven't announced if they are bringing Merriest Nights back let alone released a schedule.
 
waltography

waltography

Well-Known Member
What mickEblu said, plus that you are going during the holiday season so it's going to be busy regardless. I would keep your schedule as is in terms of breaking up your park days with a break day right in the middle.

mickEblu said:
One thing to keep in mind, they now do Christmas parties at DL so that may impact the crowds on the dates you have chosen (maybe for the better). With that said they haven't announced if they are bringing Merriest Nights back let alone released a schedule.
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I wouldn't worry about Merriest Nites coming back, if only because they would be announcing it super late this year; last year they announced the parties on September 10ish, and it didn't sell out the 5 nights until mid-October I think, so they'd be really cutting it close. I think they understood there wasn't really an appetite for an after hours Christmas party without considerably more investment.
 
Vegas Disney Fan

Vegas Disney Fan

Well-Known Member
If it were us we’d get 5 day park hoppers and take afternoon breaks everyday, I think that would be more relaxing than taking one day off completely, the price difference is about $150 but it makes the whole trip more enjoyable when you have some time away from the chaos everyday.

DL can be chaos (and hot) in the early afternoon so it’s a good time to head back to the hotel to swim, nap, relax, etc. and then head back to the parks in the late afternoon/early evening to enjoy lower crowds.
 
S

shambolicdefending

Well-Known Member
Personally, I would sacrifice the rest day to avoid what will likely be a very busy Saturday (beginning of Thanksgiving break for many people). We've done five days straight with multiple young kids and possible to do it and still enjoy it. Breaks in the afternoon (between 1-5P, give or take an hour) are a good thing, and should be enough.
 
CaptinEO

CaptinEO

Well-Known Member
I disagree on hoppers. It's not needed at all if you are there multiple days. A lot of extra money and walking for no reason. 1 park tickets are the way to go IMO. You'll be more relaxed and it'll be easier on everyone to stay at one park at a time.
 
GiveMeTheMusic

GiveMeTheMusic

Well-Known Member
CAlvares said:
Hi! Husband and I are bringing our almost 3 year old for a 7 day trip, from November 14th to the 21st with 4 park days. 2 at each park with Genie+ for all 4 days.

15th Tuesday - Disneyland
16th Wednesday - California Adventure
17th Thursday- Rest Day - Pool/Beach
18th Friday - Disneyland
19th Saturday - California Adventure

1) We want to have a “break day” on Thursday, so that we can rest, but according to the Crowd Calendars the Saturday is going to be an 8 crowd level, so super busy while the weekdays are at a 4/5 crowd levels.

Should we forgo the rest day to take advantage of the lighter crowds?

This is going to br her first ever trip, so we imagine the parks will be a little overwhelming/ over stimulating

We plan on rope dropping and taking mid day breaks at the hotel - which is a 15 minute drive - every park day.

Any input/suggestions are more than welcome :) Thanks for the help!!! :)
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I would not advise spending two whole days in DCA with a 3 year old unless your 3 year old is over the 40" height threshold (preferably 42" to get Goofy's Sky School in the mix as well). DCA is not a great little kid park.
 
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
CaptinEO said:
I disagree on hoppers. It's not needed at all if you are there multiple days. A lot of extra money and walking for no reason. 1 park tickets are the way to go IMO. You'll be more relaxed and it'll be easier on everyone to stay at one park at a time.
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You never know if a ride goes down or what may happen or what you may feel like doing on a given day. Upgrading to a park hopper is not very expensive in the grand scheme of things and provides you with some insurance and extra convenience. I figure they ll be relaxed anyway since they re taking afternoon breaks in addition to a down day. Plus it’s so convenient to park hop between DL and DCA. That doesn’t really take a lot of energy. I think the option is nice but I wouldn’t advise hopping back and forth all day long between parks. I’ve done that and it’s not fun but I was trying to get people on one day parkhoppers to see all the headliners.
 
CaptinEO

CaptinEO

Well-Known Member
mickEblu said:
There’s something un-Christmasy about putting all your best Christmas stuff behind a paywall.

I hope the experiment crashed and and burned. If it was a success I’m sure they would find a way to move more of the currently free Christmas stuff at the park to the after hour parties.
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I agree with you. Picking holiday dates at Disney World is like avoiding landmines due to the parties.

Glad Disneyland isn't following this trend.
 
CAlvares

CAlvares

Member
Original Poster
Thanks everyone for your suggestions and opinions :)

It seems like there’s not a united front on this subject and I’m left with more doubts than when I wrote the post 😅

Which is great cause it gave me more things to consider, such as adding park hopper or not doing California Adventure for 2 days.

Really glad they are not doing a Christmas party though!
 
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
CAlvares said:
Thanks everyone for your suggestions and opinions :)

It seems like there’s not a united front on this subject and I’m left with more doubts than when I wrote the post 😅

Which is great cause it gave me more things to consider, such as adding park hopper or not doing California Adventure for 2 days.

Really glad they are not doing a Christmas party though!
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There’s no doubts. Just listen to me
 
PiratesMansion

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
CAlvares said:
Thanks everyone for your suggestions and opinions :)

It seems like there’s not a united front on this subject and I’m left with more doubts than when I wrote the post 😅

Which is great cause it gave me more things to consider, such as adding park hopper or not doing California Adventure for 2 days.

Really glad they are not doing a Christmas party though!
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The easy solution is to go for the hopper. That way you're covered if you feel you need to go back to DCA another day, even if just for a moment, for any reason.

Definitely don't do two DCA days in your situation.
 
CAlvares

CAlvares

Member
Original Poster
Yes! We’re probably gonna go for it, even if we only end up using it on the last day. I’m very frugal so was hoping to save those $120, but like @mickEblu it’s kinda like insurance. I would hate feeling like I wasted a day, the whole reason for the trip is visiting the parks! 😊

But as far as taking the rest day or not, I’m still not sure. I can’t imagine the parks won’t be busier on a Saturday the week after the Christmas decorations are up.

I’ve been reading how the parks have been busier on weekdays than the weekends, but I think it might be because it’s summer and schools are/were on break?
 
PiratesMansion

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
CAlvares said:
Yes! We’re probably gonna go for it, even if we only end up using it on the last day. I’m very frugal so was hoping to save those $120, but like @mickEblu it’s kinda like insurance. I would hate feeling like I wasted a day, the whole reason for the trip is visiting the parks! 😊

But as far as taking the rest day or not, I’m still not sure. I can’t imagine the parks won’t be busier on a Saturday the week after the Christmas decorations are up.

I’ve been reading how the parks have been busier on weekdays than the weekends, but I think it might be because it’s summer and schools are/were on break?
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Busier weekdays can also be attributed to...
1. Seasonal discounts to entice locals (these, I believe, have expired) that often were valid weekdays only
2. Magic Keys are much more likely to be blocked out on weekends than weekdays.

It sounds counter-intuitive, and perhaps the holiday season will muck up things, but the vast majority of my visits have been in July, and in each instance, the weekend days were a bit less crowded than weekdays. Even this year, the first day I visited was Sunday-and it felt less hectic than the subsequent days turned out to be.
 
truecoat

truecoat

Well-Known Member
CAlvares said:
Yes! We’re probably gonna go for it, even if we only end up using it on the last day. I’m very frugal so was hoping to save those $120, but like @mickEblu it’s kinda like insurance. I would hate feeling like I wasted a day, the whole reason for the trip is visiting the parks! 😊

But as far as taking the rest day or not, I’m still not sure. I can’t imagine the parks won’t be busier on a Saturday the week after the Christmas decorations are up.

I’ve been reading how the parks have been busier on weekdays than the weekends, but I think it might be because it’s summer and schools are/were on break?
Click to expand...

Here's Disneyland 2 days ago on a Monday.

 

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