A family vacationing in June 2019 - Absolute lunacy or a manageable chaos?

[Santtu1982]

Hi!

We are vacationing in California (plus Zion, GC etc.) for three weeks starting June 20th. We are planning for two days in Disneyland starting the 22nd. I’ve learned that there is a real possibility that the new Star Wars area will be opened right before that weekend. I’m aware that a premiere of that scale will ramp up the visitor count way up from a normal weekend (with summer already being busy) so I was wondering about how manageable do you think the rest of the park (and California adventure) will be? We are thinking of getting park hopper tickets and utilizing MaxPass as much as possible to combat the crowds but we’d love a few expert opinions on if it’s possible to still have a good experience staying on other parts of the parks and be able to ride most of the popular rides despite the added crowd brought in by the opening?

We (especially myself) would love to see the new Star Wars area but are more than willing to ditch that if it meant ww would be able to get around and ride the other rides and experiences instead.

Edit. I mistakenly typed July instead of June..

 

[Didi8367]

Hi! Following this post because we'll be at DLR in July of 2019 and I'll take any tips I can get.

Also, thought you might find this thread helpful, as well.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/surviving-summer-2019-at-disneyland.3699171/

 

[RE1333]

Will you be there starting June 22 or July 22?

Where are you planning on staying? If you can stay at a Disney hotel, that’s going to help in managing the situation successfully. Early entry, not dealing with parking, and other possible yet to be announced perks will help you get a leg up.

Otherwise, staying at one of the off site hotels within walking distance would also help eliminate having to deal with the parking situation.

 

[HydroGuy]

The standard advice applies and you should have no problem having a great time if you can get buy in from the whole family.

1. Stay at a walking distance hotel if possible - "HydroGuy's Hotel Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862

2. Get to the gates early every day - GET UP EARLY

3. MaxPass is likely a good idea but the cost/benefit depends on how big the family/group is

4. Take afternoon breaks

5. Have at least a loose game plan for each day

See "Getting The Most Out of a Summer Visit To DLR" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1345319

 

[smartlabelprint]

Exactly what Hydroguy says.

I am here now. Well, I’m in bed on my 4th day. Lol But I was at the parks early 2 days in a row. It’s amazing! I got so much done those 2 mornings. Especially with a family. Our family’s sweet spot is 4 days but a couple could hit the parks hard for 2 days and rush around for the highlights or 3 days with breaks and taking it slow.

I will highly recommend minimum 3-4 day tickets even if you can’t get hoppers because of it.

My kids will be preschoolers the next time they come with me. I will force them up early just for the relaxing feel of the parks on those early mornings.

 

[Nonsuch]

We are vacationing in California (plus Zion, GC etc.) for three weeks starting July 20th. We are planning for two days in Disneyland starting the 22nd...

Is your trip in June or July?

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge could bring 200,000 people to Disneyland on opening day, say theme park experts

 

[Santtu1982]

Will you be there starting June 22 or July 22?

Where are you planning on staying? If you can stay at a Disney hotel, that’s going to help in managing the situation successfully. Early entry, not dealing with parking, and other possible yet to be announced perks will help you get a leg up.

Otherwise, staying at one of the off site hotels within walking distance would also help eliminate having to deal with the parking situation.

Hi!

I noticed that my original post said July when in fact I meant June :/

We are staying at Best Western Plus Stovall's Inn. All the Disney hotels were way out of range for our budget unfortunately.

 

[Santtu1982]

Is your trip in June or July?

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge could bring 200,000 people to Disneyland on opening day, say theme park experts

Yeah I mistakenly said July when I meant June....

If the opening day is the 20th like it's rumoured we'd atleast avoid the rush of 200000 people on opening day..but I doubt the numbers will go down too significantly the following weekend?

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

The standard advice applies and you should have no problem having a great time if you can get buy in from the whole family.

1. Stay at a walking distance hotel if possible - "HydroGuy's Hotel Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862

2. Get to the gates early every day - GET UP EARLY

3. MaxPass is likely a good idea but the cost/benefit depends on how big the family/group is

4. Take afternoon breaks

5. Have at least a loose game plan for each day

See "Getting The Most Out of a Summer Visit To DLR" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1345319

@HydroGuy not to hijack this thread but I noticed you also have a summer trip listed in your sig line. I remember reading your last trip report and you had cool a bit on Disney, (well that and the fact there is a great big world out there to explore.) I'd love to hear more about what your itinerary and mindset is going into the summer.

I think you and I view things very similarly so I am interested where your head is at now a few months after your last trip.

 

[HydroGuy]

@HydroGuy not to hijack this thread but I noticed you also have a summer trip listed in your sig line. I remember reading your last trip report and you had cool a bit on Disney, (well that and the fact there is a great big world out there to explore.) I'd love to hear more about what your itinerary and mindset is going into the summer.

I think you and I view things very similarly so I am interested where your head is at now a few months after your last trip.

LOL, you have a good memory. And I do have mixed feelings.

In the end, I have a business trip to central Florida at the end of February and decided to stop by WDW. I have some mixed feelings there as well but am looking forward to it. If not for that business trip I would not be thinking about WDW in 2019.

For DLR, frankly I would probably not go this summer if not for the D23 Expo. The 2017 Expo left me feeling a bit mixed. But in the end, I think I need the change of pace that the Expo brings. 2018 was a really busy year for me. Further, like zillions of other folks I have been looking forward to SWGE. So doing the D23 Expo allows me to see SWGE too.

I think Disney has a product that people want more of than Disney can easily deliver. They are having to make some hard choices. But I still think that the choices they are making reflect a level of arrogance, and a lack of respect for their customer's intelligence, that got them into trouble in the Eisner years.

 

[Cal-Pie]

Living a stone's throw from Zion, I'd actually worry more about that leg of your trip than the DL portion. That time of year you can expect horribly oppressive crowds and 110°+ heat

 

[MillauFr]

Yeah I mistakenly said July when I meant June....

If the opening day is the 20th like it's rumoured we'd atleast avoid the rush of 200000 people on opening day..but I doubt the numbers will go down too significantly the following weekend?

Won't Disney be charging and extra $1,500 per day just to get into the Star Wars area? I'm sure that will cut down on the crowds.

 

[dotfurio]

I think my concern would be DL reaching capacity - although I guess if you get locked out of the park by taking an afternoon break or going to DCA you could always hang out in DCA with a hopper.

 

[lalasmama]

Won't Disney be charging and extra $1,500 per day just to get into the Star Wars area? I'm sure that will cut down on the crowds.

Not sure if you were really asking, or just being rhetorical. So, if you're seriously asking a question, they have not announced a hard-ticket (separate from the park) entrance for the early days of opening. Would/could it be $1500? Maybe. I'd be surprised, but I know people would willingly pay it!

 

[lalasmama]

I think my concern would be DL reaching capacity - although I guess if you get locked out of the park by taking an afternoon break or going to DCA you could always hang out in DCA with a hopper.

I have no doubt that is what will happen. DL will reach capacity, and do their periodic closures for crowd control. I think it's going to be a "once you're in, don't leave" scenario for sure.

 

[lalasmama]

Yeah I mistakenly said July when I meant June....

If the opening day is the 20th like it's rumoured we'd atleast avoid the rush of 200000 people on opening day..but I doubt the numbers will go down too significantly the following weekend?

I've seen that 200,000 estimate brought up multiple times in the last week or so. Could the resort area have 200,000 people there? Sure. But, currently, it's estimated that DL's capacity is somewhere around 80-85,000. And if someone has gone on a pilgrimage to see SWGE, they aren't going to head to DCA as a runner-up destination. And SWGE isn't going to going to get the park's capacity up much past 100,000, so the 200,000 flocking to the area isn't going to matter with the park's capacity.

 

[MillauFr]

I have no doubt that is what will happen. DL will reach capacity, and do their periodic closures for crowd control. I think it's going to be a "once you're in, don't leave" scenario for sure.

Why on earth would Disney not have an extra charge to get into the Star Wars land? It would be a huge public relations disaster if they had people vacationing at Disney and not be able to get into the park. They are going to have to charge an extra $1,000 to $2,000 over and above the regular entrance fee to get into Star Wars land until the demand died down. They need to really keep a lid on the crowds.

 

[HydroGuy]

Why on earth would Disney not have an extra charge to get into the Star Wars land? It would be a huge public relations disaster if they had people vacationing at Disney and not be able to get into the park. They are going to have to charge an extra $1,000 to $2,000 over and above the regular entrance fee to get into Star Wars land until the demand died down. They need to really keep a lid on the crowds.

Why on earth would Disney not do something it has never done before? Uhh, because they have never done it before.

Could they change that now? Sure, they can do anything they want. But I suspect they will apply lessons learned at Pandora in WDW's Animal Kingdom and follow that model. Really, I am not sure they learned any lessons there because they had learned their lessons beforehand and applied those and implemented an absolutely brilliant strategy of handling opening day crowds. I was shocked out how well they handled things.

My recent experiences at Disneyland Resort, however, including experiences at the D23 Expo, leave me concerned that DLR will blow it. I highly suspect WDW will handle things just fine when SWGE opens. But I want to see DLR prove they can really handle this.

For those not up to speed about Pandora, which opened Memorial Day weekend 2017, it has has two entry points. Normally those are both two-way traffic, but Disney made them each one-way. One way in. One way out. During opening day crowds anyways.

They restricted traffic in and formed a line outside Pandora - which was well marked with tape on the ground and enforced by CMs - to hold people who wanted to enter Pandora. They only allowed people into Pandora when others left. If you had an active FP for a Pandora ride (there are two, like SWGE) you could skip this line outside Pandora and go straight in. Otherwise you had to wait.

Inside Pandora they had lines and ropes and well trained CMs everywhere giving consistent and clear directions. They had CMs with signs held up high (on sticks) so everyone could see them that said things like "Flight of Passage Queue This Way". At the end of the queue, there was a CM with a sign that said something brilliant - "End of Line". So guests knew where to go. The lines would break across walking paths so people could walk around Pandora and not have to cut through a queue of people. The breaks in the line were managed by CM's. Sort of like how Disney manages parades and people who want to cross over. They get held up and then let through at key times.

I hope Disneyland can be as well organized as WDW was.

 

[lcp9]

I think part of this depends on your current familiarity - have you been with your family before? Were you there during a holiday season? If you've never been before, and you have kids that have high expectations for DISNEYLAND!!!, and you don't know the park well...the thought of going makes me absolutely cringe. Any of our friends that have gone for the first time, during a holiday season (usually October), have come back absolutely hating it and feeling like they wasted a ton of money. Being able to navigate through parks and have an efficient "schedule" is key to enjoying yourself when it's busy. And I suspect it's going to be busier than the worst Halloween time day, ever. I feel so terrible for people when I overheard conversations grumbling about how they got on one ride or how the wait was 45 minutes or whatever, because I know for a lot of those people they saved money for a long time to come and didn't have the tools/knowledge to manage well.

Anyway. We usually come 1-2x/year from out of state when it coordinates with business trips, and we've already told our kids there is zero chance we're going next year. Not going to be worth it I'm afraid.

 

[Santtu1982]

Living a stone's throw from Zion, I'd actually worry more about that leg of your trip than the DL portion. That time of year you can expect horribly oppressive crowds and 110°+ heat

Wow...110 degrees sounds pretty harsh I guess it’ll be crowded no matter where we go at that time of the year. Initially we had planned this vacation for April but my wife was not able to get time off anywhere else but June/July so we had no choice.

I think part of this depends on your current familiarity - have you been with your family before? Were you there during a holiday season? If you've never been before, and you have kids that have high expectations for DISNEYLAND!!!, and you don't know the park well...the thought of going makes me absolutely cringe. Any of our friends that have gone for the first time, during a holiday season (usually October), have come back absolutely hating it and feeling like they wasted a ton of money. Being able to navigate through parks and have an efficient "schedule" is key to enjoying yourself when it's busy. And I suspect it's going to be busier than the worst Halloween time day, ever. I feel so terrible for people when I overheard conversations grumbling about how they got on one ride or how the wait was 45 minutes or whatever, because I know for a lot of those people they saved money for a long time to come and didn't have the tools/knowledge to manage well.

Anyway. We usually come 1-2x/year from out of state when it coordinates with business trips, and we've already told our kids there is zero chance we're going next year. Not going to be worth it I'm afraid.

We have been to Disneyland once about four years ago. It was at the end of January so things were pretty quiet on Disneyland standards. Our kids will be 7 & 5 years old during our trip and for them the California Adventure park will probably be more interesting since they have grown up watching Disney Pixar movies instead of the Disney classics.

It's starting to sound like not so good of an idea to go to Disneyland at that time...it's just that us living in Finland we are not going to have the chance to visit all too often, so we don't want to make that decision too lightly..