Disneyland Crowd Tracker

I think Sunday will be better. Grad Nite has been making Fridays and Saturdays very crowded. Sundays tend to be more manageable.

Disneyland use to be a really great place to go, however the park is always so crowded these days at (any time) of the year, it has taken away my love and obsession with it. I finally realized it was becoming a negative experience, when it hit me that i was obsessing on many things (that I should not be) before going to Disneyland like: what day to go to beat the crowds, then what the best time to get there was to ride attractions before the lines formed, then to make sure I had a reservation at my favorite restaurant because it will be packed. Then what time to get there so i would not have to park way the hell out in that far parking area. Then Having to wait in a line for everything, from rides to coffee, to corn dogs, In my last trip there (3 days ago) it dawned on me “a trip to Disney was going to be an irritating day”. It’s like a great drug, we all are so frigging addicted to that place that it can’t be healthy for us or our well being in the long run. Even on a horrible day there at the park, you come back to work and after a couple of days you start to think about planning to go back again…to hit that magical day when no one will come…that “Ghost Town” day where you can go from ride to ride with no wait time! It’s like jonesing for that drug you crave! The only time you can really experience this anymore is if you stay at the Disney Hotel and get in on the “Magic Morning” where you get in earlier then the rest of us chumps, or if you get to the park just as the gates open on a week-day and haul ass to fantasyland, you have a short window to ride almost every ride there (except) Peter Pan of course, for about 1 hour before it gets slammed with guests. As a side note, Petter Pan never has a short wait time… ever, unless it breaks down and you are first in line as they re-open it, just crazy! The weird thing is, it’s not Disney’s fault, they are providing us all with such a unique fantasy experience that we are drawn to it like a moth to a flame. It’s our faults we pack it there each day I guess? I think there is only one way to stop the overflow and that would be to get rid of Annual passes. As a passholder myself, i hate to admit it, but I believe that is the main culprit of the crowds. Those of us that have a lower pass we tend to pounce on the park on the off days because we know we can’t go during peak times or week-ends, especially a couple of days or weeks just before our pass won’t let us in for summertime. The Fix: their should be one pass, an all access days pass and it should not be cheap…it should be about $1500.00 to $3.000 bucks, that is the only thing to thin the herd folks. Then (we would all have to pay a day rate) to get into Disneyland and it would be a wonderful relaxing experience again. That would mean most of us could only go maybe once or twice a year….I’m fine with that, how many times have you rode pirates 100-200-1000 times? I know I am going out on a limb here, I know most of us are so far gone with our lovely addiction we could not even fathom this right? Don’t worry Disney will never implement this idea, they love our money too much!

The MAIN reason Disneyland is so over crowded is due to the monthly AP payment plan for SoCal residents. Trust me. If they were ever to return to the days where you had to pay upfront in full for the annual pass, the parks would go right back to the times where you could go on a weekday and it was always a ghost town. I will never forget the shock and horror back in 2008 when they established the payment plan for the APs. I knew that it was the beginning of the end of the magic that once was Disneyland. In 2007, before the payment plan was implemented, there were less than 80K pass holders. Now, it 2016, that number has hit the 2 million mark. That’s great for the shareholders and the people that are “new” to Disneyland.(they never experienced the days of no crowds, to them, insane crowds are normal because they don’t know any better) I have been an annual pass holder for well over 20 years.(and have been going to DL on a regular basis for 40 years) But, I am done with the place for a while. The fix is no longer worth it to me. I let my premium pass expire for the first time in two decades last week and I feel sad but also relieved.

They are all crowded Alysha…good luck

It’s expected to be crowded on that day, but it usually isn’t extremely full then. Get there early!