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View Full Version : Why was the park sooooo crowded this weekend with dual blackouts on Saturday?



HeavenOnEarth
10-14-2013, 08:55 AM
It seems everyone I asked at the park, including cast members had no idea. Well they did but didnt make any sense.
My family and I went Saturday, knowing that there were double blackout days for AP's. But noticed through out the day, it was getting increasingly crowded (ie... HM 80m, Pirates 45m, Matterhorn 85m) I cant even remeber the last time I had to wait longer then 15m to board Pirates. So we asked 3 different cast members what was the deal today. The first one said...oh its because of some book signinig (from one of the characters from Glee)...and I was thinking naaahh. Then asked another CM...and they said..."ohh you think it's crowded?" really?? And the third CM said..well its the holidays....I still wasnt buying those answers, because it still didnt make sense. As we were there opening weekend when all the Holiday overlay was put up and the crowds and lines were not even half of what we expereinced this last Saturday. And sadly we left around 4pm because it just gets to point of ridiculious!!

Any ways...does anyome know what was going on at Disneyland and California Adventure that would warrant such high crowds?

Thanks everyone!

Malcon10t
10-14-2013, 09:26 AM
Its Columbus Day weekend, many schools had it off, so they were making 3 day weekends. Add to it, the Choc walk weekend, with a lot of people coming to town for that. (Hotels were sold out.) It was expected to be a VERY busy weekend.

HeavenOnEarth
10-14-2013, 09:35 AM
ok...now that makes more sense. Wish I would of known about the CHOC walk before going. Is there a listing of what unoffical and official gatherings are happening at the park, so I can avoid going or expect the un-expected :-)?
Thanks

3Princesses1Prince
10-14-2013, 09:42 AM
Choc walk dates have been on the mp park update for awhile. I think AZ schools had fall break too.

Malcon10t
10-14-2013, 09:44 AM
ok...now that makes more sense. Wish I would of known about the CHOC walk before going. Is there a listing of what unoffical and official gatherings are happening at the park, so I can avoid going or expect the un-expected :-)?
ThanksI would suggest reading the MousePlanet updates, posted every Monday. They give this information. CHOC Walk was in the news for a couple of months.

Here is this weeks (http://www.mouseplanet.com/10512/Disneyland_Resort_Update). They go back several years. You can read last weeks, where Disney had park tickets for $48 for CHOC participants. There were 15000 participants, plus their families.

HeavenOnEarth
10-14-2013, 09:46 AM
ok cool....thanks everyone

adriennek
10-14-2013, 10:01 AM
ok...now that makes more sense. Wish I would of known about the CHOC walk before going. Is there a listing of what unoffical and official gatherings are happening at the park, so I can avoid going or expect the un-expected :-)?
Thanks

Backing up Mal's recommendation: The CHOC walk is an annual event that has been about the second week in October for several years. Also, October weekends have been rather busy for several years as a general rule of thumb. Some school districts in the western states have fall breaks in October, most notably, Utah's Education Association has a break this week: October 16 and 17 and many families take advantage of this to plan trips to Disneyland, even extending beyond the days of the UEA break itself.

I'm intrigued that the CMs were caught off guard because this topic comes up rather regularly every October. :) Reading the Disneyland Update Archives can give you a good idea of 'regular' patterns that vacation planners may not always know about otherwise.

Rapunzelthorn
10-14-2013, 11:50 AM
I am in AZ (Metro Phoenix area) and the Washington School District (BIG district) had their fall break last week. Peoria School District ( another large district) does not get a fall break, but they have today (Columbus Day) off. Lots of breaks happening on dif. weeks in October. We used to go in October, but could never find a slow time because of Halloween promotions, various fall breaks and special days.

adriennek
10-14-2013, 11:52 AM
I am in AZ (Metro Phoenix area) and the Washington School District (BIG district) had their fall break last week. Peoria School District ( another large district) does not get a fall break, but they have today (Columbus Day) off. Lots of breaks happening on dif. weeks in October. We used to go in October, but could never find a slow time because of Halloween promotions, various fall breaks and special days.

A friend of mine in the Metro Phoenix area (Chandler,) had a two-week plus 2 day long fall break, the first two weeks of October, as well.

disneyobsessed
10-14-2013, 12:25 PM
I'll also point out that maybe there weren't as many block outs as you thought. Yes, the so cal aps were blocked out, but the deluxes weren't, and that's got to be pretty hefty chunk of the AP population too.

Princess of Pi
10-14-2013, 12:58 PM
You can add Canadian Thanksgiving weekend to your list of possible crowd bumps. Every student in the country has at least a three day weekend, most employees have the day off except most store workers, and almost every school in BC had a 4 day weekend so many people do a quick vacation.

TTFN92
10-14-2013, 08:06 PM
AZ fall breaks make a huge difference in crowds. Most of my friends that go at this time of year say it's more crowded than summer. We avoid it. All of the districts around me (Chandler, Gilbert and Higley) had last week off. Plus, Chandler has today and tomorrow off too.

shna
10-15-2013, 01:55 PM
We figured out that the CHOC Walk was a factor because we saw so many tshirts from the event in the park. Sunday was ridiculously busy. We gave up at about 5pm and headed home. Luckily, we had covered Disneyland pretty well during the Halloween Party on Friday night. Saturday was pretty busy at DCA, but it didn't seem as bad as Sunday.

pcrazy99
10-16-2013, 09:30 AM
We didn't think Saturday was very crowded but Sunday was just terrible. We came for fall break from Az but forgot about Columbus Day. My employer doesn't recognize it as a holiday anymore.

HeavenOnEarth
10-16-2013, 10:49 AM
We didn't think Saturday was very crowded but Sunday was just terrible. We came for fall break from Az but forgot about Columbus Day. My employer doesn't recognize it as a holiday anymore.

Not very crowded? Being AP's and going atleast twice a month...yes it was extremley crowded. When ever Pirates and Mansion are over 45m long...Yes it's crowded! Also at one point Matterhorn was 80 freakin minutes :-( This experience will definitly make me more aware of whats going on during the times I plan on going now.

Malcon10t
10-16-2013, 12:09 PM
We didn't think Saturday was very crowded but Sunday was just terrible. We came for fall break from Az but forgot about Columbus Day. My employer doesn't recognize it as a holiday anymore.
This is what I have heard from most people who were there this weekend. We were there for the Disneyland Half, and while Fri-Sat were a little busy, it was Sunday that was really busy.

currence
10-16-2013, 12:29 PM
This is what I have heard from most people who were there this weekend. We were there for the Disneyland Half, and while Fri-Sat were a little busy, it was Sunday that was really busy.

We were there Sunday looking for Princesses and ventured into NOS. The Pirates line was so long I don't think there was a place for Tiana to hold court if she wanted to appear. We were not there Saturday, but I can only hope it wasn't as insane.

Mermaid
10-17-2013, 01:17 PM
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Mermaid
10-17-2013, 02:01 PM
My Phoenix area district is off for Fall Break this week, so last weekend was a straddle weekend of the two biggest Fall Break weeks here. I think a lot of people go now, thinking it will be slow, but it really isn't!

Squinger
10-21-2013, 12:10 AM
I live in Nevada and I know that this past week all schools were on Fall break. Just about everyone that I know from here was at DLR for the week. I am not sure if other schools get a fall break and it may have fell around this time. But I heard that the past 2 weeks have been crazy busy in the park.

pcrazy99
10-22-2013, 10:44 AM
Not very crowded? Being AP's and going atleast twice a month...yes it was extremley crowded. When ever Pirates and Mansion are over 45m long...Yes it's crowded! Also at one point Matterhorn was 80 freakin minutes :-( This experience will definitly make me more aware of whats going on during the times I plan on going now.
We are APs and only get to head out every couple of months. We usually go during all the times when you would expect it to be crowded. I felt Sunday was ridiculous but Saturday was manageable. I'm sure at some point like any other day the wait times for some of the rides were high but not out of the ordinary. We rode Matterhorn a couple of times with under a 30 minute wait, Space with about a half hour.