SHUT DOWN

[Witchy Chick]

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)

I've been checking the app (getting a feel for wait times for our upcoming July trip) and was horrified to see 240 minute wait for Soarin'. OMG. I'm so glad this craziness appears to be due to holiday crowd, and locals still being out of school.

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.

Glad to hear the app times were inflated a bit. Wow.

I'll be posting a separate thread (if that's OK) looking for advice and suggestions for our July trip. Thanks in advance!

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I've been checking the app (getting a feel for wait times for our upcoming July trip) and was horrified to see 240 minute wait for Soarin'. OMG. I'm so glad this craziness appears to be due to holiday crowd, and locals still being out of school.



Glad to hear the app times were inflated a bit. Wow.

I'll be posting a separate thread (if that's OK) looking for advice and suggestions for our July trip. Thanks in advance!

My biggest piece of advice is to just expect the crowds and not get irritated by them. If you go with the flow, make use of Fastpasses and single rider lines, and hit popular attractions either early or late, you'll still end up getting a lot done and having a lot of fun in the process.

 

[Witchy Chick]

My biggest piece of advice is to just expect the crowds and not get irritated by them. If you go with the flow, make use of Fastpasses and single rider lines, and hit popular attractions either early or late, you'll still end up getting a lot done and having a lot of fun in the process.

Thanks for the advice. Single rider is likely not happening with us, we'll be with our kids DD8 and DS7. No splitting us up unfortunately.

It's going to be weird going back to paper FPs at DLR since our last 2-3 trips to the World have been with the pre-booked and online (in park) FPs. My husband is a marathoner, though, so I'll make him the FP runner.

We're planning on 3.5 days (and weekdays at that, Mon - Thurs), so I'm hoping for the best.

 

[truecoat]

Thanks for the advice. Single rider is likely not happening with us, we'll be with our kids DD8 and DS7. No splitting us up unfortunately.

It's going to be weird going back to paper FPs at DLR since our last 2-3 trips to the World have been with the pre-booked and online (in park) FPs. My husband is a marathoner, though, so I'll make him the FP runner.

We're planning on 3.5 days (and weekdays at that, Mon - Thurs), so I'm hoping for the best.

Park opening till lunch will get you on many many rides no matter when you go. That's the best strategy for a good visit. Don't sleep in.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Thanks for the advice. Single rider is likely not happening with us, we'll be with our kids DD8 and DS7. No splitting us up unfortunately.

It's going to be weird going back to paper FPs at DLR since our last 2-3 trips to the World have been with the pre-booked and online (in park) FPs. My husband is a marathoner, though, so I'll make him the FP runner.

We're planning on 3.5 days (and weekdays at that, Mon - Thurs), so I'm hoping for the best.

Understood. I know every parenting situation is different, but I know when I was 7, my parents let me do TT in singles. I know that yesterday the CM at RSR was making efforts to put people who were together in the same car. Just a thought, but they would likely be okay on RSR. Of course I know every parent is comfortable with something different.

Completely understand the weird factor. I am actually on my college graduation trip and am going to WDW next week, so it'll be weird going to paper FP this week, and back to FP+ next week. We usually have a runner, but I'm here with a friend, so we both just go. Runners are great.

Weekdays sound good, although the price difference between a four day pass and a five day pass is $15, so you might want to consider an extra day.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

For those wondering, today has been MUCH better crowd wise. I have to wonder if people saw the rain in the forecast and stayed away. But it rained until about noon and cleared up and was beautiful the rest of today.

 

[Curious Constance]

Thanks for the advice. Single rider is likely not happening with us, we'll be with our kids DD8 and DS7. No splitting us up unfortunately.

It's going to be weird going back to paper FPs at DLR since our last 2-3 trips to the World have been with the pre-booked and online (in park) FPs. My husband is a marathoner, though, so I'll make him the FP runner.

We're planning on 3.5 days (and weekdays at that, Mon - Thurs), so I'm hoping for the best.

By summer, I'm hoping they implement the electronic FastPass system where you can reserve with smartphone and not have to walk to the physical machine. I think that is the plan currently.