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TomorMatt
08-10-2004, 01:22 PM
I am trying to pick out some days to go in in late September or early October (a Sunday & Monday). Does anyone have some suggestions on when would be the least crowded. I recently posted asking about hotel rates on the first weekend in October and received a reply that the first weekend might be a little busy. The next weekend has a holiday Monday, but I am not sure if many people will go on Columbus Day. Any insight into unofficial happenings at the park that might make it busier than normal for October are helpful.

sediment
08-10-2004, 01:28 PM
Columbus Day will be surprisingly busier. All kids off.
The rest of those days are in a tie for second. Plus/minus 10,000 guests or so.
Beginning of October has the HM-NBC makeover opening. Brings out some extra people, but probably not nearly as much as previous years'. The hotels and DL have package deals for special events for it.

Dlandmom
08-10-2004, 01:35 PM
I would also say avoid the holiday. Kids, kids and more kids! Aside from that, I'd say maybe middle of the month on a Sunday/Monday should be less crowded.

eryn
08-10-2004, 03:59 PM
I did go at the end of oct in 2002 and i was a little upset as to how busy it was then. i am going this fall and was wondering about the difference in crowds the 2nd or 3rd week of october and the 1st or 2nd week of november. any avid goers your input would be great.

GrumpyUTboi
08-10-2004, 04:21 PM
Matt,

We are going to DL and to HISATA the last week of OCT and we are staying at the Ramada Maingate which is across the street we are paying $57.50 per night. If you got to www.getawaytoday.com they have a deal for like at the PP hotel $1069 for 4 nights and 5 days. With that you get two "free" adult 5 day hopper tickets with the hotel stay.

www.getawaytoday.com also has the 6 day hopper tickets for $159 adult and $129 for children. The hotel stay for us is going to be $471 for 7 day stay and the the hopper pass are $705 for a total of $1176. If we stayed at the PP hotel the cost for our 8 day 7 night trip would have been $1600, so we are going to stay at the Ramada Inn. I don't know if the motel is any good but I guess we are going to find out soon enough. We only need to sleep there.

Also we are going to Numero Uno's Pizza a couple of times while we are there. Can't wait for the pizza.

TomorMatt
08-10-2004, 04:57 PM
We actually have been surprised by the crowds the last few October days that we have been. I am committed to avoiding the holiday and have a job that precludes me from the back half of the month so I am leaning towards mid to late September. Any thoughts on those weekends?

GrumpyUTboi
08-10-2004, 05:02 PM
Tomor,

Last year we went the last week of Sept. WHat I didn't like is that the Haunted Mansion was closed to get it ready for Halloween and Christmas. That is why we are going this year in OCT. The crowds Mon-Thur were not bad at all. I think that the longest wait was with POTC and that was 30 min. The first day was over 90 degrees and the rest of the time it was 80 degrees. We were there when the fires were going on and there was some ash around. But it was not that bad.

Susan L
08-10-2004, 09:34 PM
We are arriving on Oct 22 and leaving Oct 29 hopefully by leaving before Halloween weekend we will miss the crowds. This our first time going in Oct. A friend of mine suggested to go at that time because they had gone around the same time and said it wasn't so crowded. Well, I guess we shall see.

mg194
08-10-2004, 10:09 PM
As long as we're talking about it. How busy is Halloween Day traditionally? We are taking the kids on Sunday Oct. 31 and Monday Nov. 1.

Thanks,
Mark

spectromen
08-11-2004, 08:06 AM
Halloween is delightfully uncrowded, at least the past couple of years. There's no special event like Mickey's Halloween Treat anymore, so most people are at Knott's.

Two things to watch for in Sept/Oct that you don't find in summer, though: all the SoCal passholders are unblocked which means they visit in droves, and discounting of tickets will no doubt begin again as soon as summer's over. Sundays in off season often appear much busier than a Saturday in mid-July lately.

sediment
08-11-2004, 08:29 AM
As long as we're talking about it. How busy is Halloween Day traditionally? We are taking the kids on Sunday Oct. 31 and Monday Nov. 1.

Thanks,
Mark
Being a Sunday, it might be crowded, but someone has to stay home for the trick-or-treaters.
Sunday, watch for the Disney Villains, especially some rare ones. It's a special treat for them to come out, get pictures and give autographs. If you're into that kind of thing.

LOYL2DZNY
08-11-2004, 09:33 AM
Matt,

We are going to DL and to HISATA the last week of OCT.......


.....Also we are going to Numero Uno's Pizza a couple of times while we are there. Can't wait for the pizza.


okay, so i'm lost...what is HISATA? my curiousity got the best of me and i've been trying to figure it out. at first i thought "honey i shrunk the audience" but there was an extra "A", and i didn't figure anyone would be going to DL just to see that.

oh yeah...the whole Pizzeria Uno thing...i just wanted to say, we used to have one here and it closed down...i sure do miss it! good stuff. eat some for me!!! ;)

sediment
08-11-2004, 10:13 AM
Pizzeria Uno <> ("does not equal") Numero Uno Pizza.

Numero Uno:
http://www.numerounopizza.com/aboutus.html
More of a SoCal place. NoCal's might not know about it.

Pizzeria Uno:
http://www.pizzeriauno.com/

LOYL2DZNY
08-11-2004, 10:23 AM
Pizzeria Uno <> ("does not equal") Numero Uno Pizza.

Numero Uno:
http://www.numerounopizza.com/aboutus.html
More of a SoCal place. NoCal's might not know about it.

Pizzeria Uno:
http://www.pizzeriauno.com/


ooooohhhhhhh! your'e right...never heard of them, then.

nevermind! :D

sediment
08-11-2004, 11:01 AM
Well, I do highly recommend Numero Uno over others. It's not CPK or Puck's, but for basic pizza they do a good job.
NOTE: they're not all the same in terms of service!! I have a mental list of which ones not to provide patronage. A couple in The Valley, for example, have turned downward. No idea about The OC's, though.

Pammer
08-11-2004, 01:08 PM
We are going to DL and to HISATA the last week of OCT and we are staying at the Ramada Maingate which is across the street we are paying $57.50 per night.

I don't know if the motel is any good but I guess we are going to find out soon enough. We only need to sleep there.

Also we are going to Numero Uno's Pizza a couple of times while we are there. Can't wait for the pizza.

I've stayed there twice: 1/2001 and 12/2001. We didn't have any problems with it...there are a lot of rooms, so the parking lot can get full pretty quickly.

We like the pizza from the onsite Saga Pizza place (north of the lobby)...good value and good food! We usually stay at the Del Sol Inn (behind Denny's) now, but will walk over to buy some pizza to take back to our room after a long day at the parks! :p

sleepyjeff
08-11-2004, 06:50 PM
okay, so i'm lost...what is HISATA? my curiousity got the best of me and i've been trying to figure it out. at first i thought "honey i shrunk the audience" but there was an extra "A", and i didn't figure anyone would be going to DL just to see that.



John Hisata is the Fish and Game Warden of Washington State.

Hisata is also the first name of the President of Sony.

4 pages of google turn nothing up :confused:

What is HISATA??? :confused:


Thanks, my world was fine until I ran ino your post questioning what HISATA was.....now I will be awake for hours trying to figure this out;)

:)

sleepyjeff
08-11-2004, 07:01 PM
Ok, there is no listing of HISATA at the Anaheim Convention center......pulling my hair out now.

:~D

LOYL2DZNY
08-12-2004, 06:50 AM
Ok, there is no listing of HISATA at the Anaheim Convention center......pulling my hair out now.

:~D

i am sssooooo sorry! i didn't mean to make your life crazy. :(

maybe GrumpyUTboi could clear the air for all of us!?!?! :)

hope you got some sleep last night, sleepyjeff! :(

tlovesdis
08-12-2004, 07:58 AM
Last year I was there Sunday September 28-Thursday October 2nd and it was awesome! There were no crowds. We walked right on eveything. I don't think we ever waited more than like 10 minutes for anything. It was great! The first Sat-Sun of October every year are Gay Days and it gets crowded. I purposely scheduled the trip to get out of dodge before then.

End of Sept is a great time to go!!!!

TomorMatt
08-13-2004, 08:36 AM
Thanks for all the input everyone. I have decided to go the September 26th and 27th. The only downside is that HM will be closed, which my daughter (and I) love. The upside is that I used this an excuse to set aside time in mid-December to go again to make sure we get to see it. The Disneyland Hotel rates are still a little steep ($225), but I am hopeful they will start to run some specials once Labor Day is over.

GrumpyUTboi
08-16-2004, 06:23 AM
I meant HISTA "Honey I Shrunk The Audience"

Last year we went to DL at the same time you are Tom. The first day was 90+ then the rest of the week was 75-80. We did find a nice place to cool down while at DL. When you get off POTC head towards the lake with Mark Twains river boat. You will find a brick wall with vents blowing out cold air. It is a vent for POTC and when it is 90+ degrees it sure feels good.

MommyTo3Boys1Girl
08-28-2004, 12:58 PM
We went the first week in October in 2002 and it was not crowded at all.