1st day trip report from WDW vet

[disneyland_is_magic]

Did you get to see Paint the Night?

Just missing Patadise Pier is a bummer. I would love to hear your final thoughts!

 

[mom2rtk]

True however if I lived close enough that I could go weekly (and I hear a LOT of locals who do just that) I would certainly try to not pick the obvious hugely crowded times like holiday weeks, summer, etc. If I knew I could just pop over within an hour drive I would try and watch the trends, pay attention to the crowd calendars/conventions etc and go at what would normally be not quite as bad. Or pick a day when maybe the weather wasn't as favorable etc. I know there are a LOT of debates about this and I get it. If you live close and can go why not but I guess I just think that if I did live that close it wouldn't be fun to me either to be there when it is so crowded you can't move. Obviously not everyone is going to think to go on the exact same day or even be able to. Some locals may have jobs they can't miss whereas others may work nights or weekends or have days off during the week or whatever. I'm just saying that sometimes it seems that there are the most locals when there are the most tourists as well like weekends or holidays etc. I don't know what the answer is because obviously raising the prices isn't doing much. I can tell you we went from only going once every 5 years to actually having AP's ourselves for a few years in the early 2000's. We still weren't able to come for more than 2 or 3 trips a year but it was economically worth it to do so. We went from our entire family having AP's to just myself to now we are lucky to get to go once a year and sometimes have to go longer than that. And yet the people still pack the place. It is sad to me that for those of us that don't live close and can't amortize/rationalize an AP when we do go it is miserable. I totally get what this person is saying and while I don't blame locals for wanting to go as much as possible I just know that if you are only able to go a few times or even once it is really disappointing to be spending THAT kind of money to have it be so miserable. I agree that I love Disney and usually I could say the same about any day being better but honestly the last few times I have gone when it was miserably crowded weren't that worth it. When it is so bad you fear for your life if god forbid there was a fire or some other emergency and you can't even go to the bathroom because the lines are so long then it becomes not so fun. I know this is an age old argument and I honestly don't know if there will ever BE a solution but I def feel the orig posts pain.

It's almost impossible to try to plan for a lower crowd time of year. This week should have been reasonable, and many people chose days specifically because some of the APs were blocked, but Disney changed the blackout calendar at the last minute.

 

[kelmac284]

It's almost impossible to try to plan for a lower crowd time of year. This week should have been reasonable, and many people chose days specifically because some of the APs were blocked, but Disney changed the blackout calendar at the last minute.

Yea that last minute change was bull. I would be ticked if I had planned a trip for a year purposely around what was supposed to be blockouts and then they changed at the last min. We always used to go around this time of year. My kids usually get out of school the first or 2nd week of June and we always tried to go like a day or 2 later hoping that some other schools may not be out yet or whatever. Summer is ALWAYS busy but there are def days where it is not quite as insane as others. Obviously I think once you hit later June when all the schools are out and all of July esp prob around the 4th or the 17th (anniversary) etc. Then in Aug I am sure it somewhat tapers off as more and more schools go back earlier and earlier. My girls started on Aug 10 last year when they used to start as late as the 22nd or 23rd but for the last few years it has been around the week of the 15th and is again this year (they start on the 16th). Starting on the 10th was really weird and I realize that there will always be schools that start later, some even still after labor day although that is getting more rare. I just mean that obviously you can never know 100% even with all the info but certainly there will always be times that are obviously WAY more crowded and my point was if you are a local why would you want to go during THOSE times if you can help it. I know for me we try to stay away from weekends unless there is a big AP blockout and try to go in what would usually be considered down times. Like Jan right after school goes back or early march etc. It doesn't always work but there are certainly times that are LESS crazy than others.

 

[Lm3js]

Try to time a ride on BTMRR during fireworks. One word: magical!

We just got to do that and I felt like I was in a DL commercial!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

We just got to do that and I felt like I was in a DL commercial!

We just did it again tonight -- the magic never gets old!