A Question For Disneyland Locals
Disneyland locals, I have a simple question for you. What two things do you look for when you you are planning a trip to Disneyland or Disney California Adventure? Is it crowd levels? Wait times? The weather? Traffic?
Personally, I look to see if the date I want to go is un-blocked for the Southern California Annual Passes (these Annual Passes are low in price and have most of the year blocked out. The days when the passes are un-blocked can get extremely busy). I also check traffic before I leave because my 20 mile drive to DLR in LA/OC traffic can become quite an ordeal. Whatever your reasons may be, we’d like to hear them in the comments section.
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I too am a Preimier pass holder and live less than 20 minutes away. That said, the 2 things I look at are:
1) Crowd level (why go on a “10” day when I don’t have too?)
2) Special events (I may go regardless of the crowd level if I really want to see something special that’s happening, or avoid a low crowd day because I don’t want to deal with the spill-over from something special happening).
I don’t look for much. I have the premier AP, so I don’t need to check for blackouts.
I usually come here and check the crowd level, but I will go even if it is a 10, I just want to know what to expect.
I often go there for dinner after work, so I might check a few menus to see what I am in the mood for.
I will check the weather if it seems like rain.
I will check park hours. One year I showed up in December to find that the park closed at 6 pm for a special CM evening. I always check park hours now.
I will check if there are fireworks and/or Fantasmic, so I can anticipate how long I will want to stay.
I’m a parent who loves Disneyland and DCA, so I want to take my young kids to D-land and DCA as much as possible. One thing that makes trips very hard though for all children around the age of 2 or less is hot weather and crowds. I always make sure the weather is nice and warm, just not ridiculously hot. Also, we try to avoid crowds b/c it makes waiting for even the “kiddie” rides kind of unbearable.
1. Am I unblocked?
2. Temperature in context of crowd. I hate the heat, so if ride wait times are averaging 60-80 minutes, I don’t go.
3. What time I get home in context of park hours. If I come home late from work, do I want to drive to Disneyland only to spend an hour-and-a-half at the park riding 2 rides? It takes me only 10 minutes to get there using the 5 Freeway, but still, gas is expensive 🙂
4. Don’t care about crowds unless it is hot or grad night season, in which case I hate D-Land and DCA.
5. Did my boy nap?
Traffic isn’t normally a factor when I visit the park because I live 15 minutes away. Crowd levels and un-blocked annual passes play a big part in the planning process. When the crowd levels get high it becomes very difficult to do anything, so I try to plan my trips around that. I usually go on the weekends and evenings, on days when some of the lower level passes are blocked out.
We look at the entire resort. Sometimes we just go to chill at Trader Sam’s or someplace else with the right vibe. What we really miss is the Neon Cactus. We really need a cool dancing place with the Disney vibe. Our trips are usually escapes, so we don’t want to walk into something hotter or more hectic than what we’re dealing with in our real lives.
I live 10 minutes away from the resort, so typically the only things I check are the anticipated crowd levels/AP blocks – though neither changes my mind about whether or not I’m going. (This is the nice thing about having a Premiere pass!) They just give me a heads up as to whether it’s going to be a day for riding more rides or watching more shows.