Choose a week for me...

Poppins2010

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
My family is looking to replace our cancelled March trip this fall. We can be flexible with dates, and don't really care about any special events or certain decorations. Our # 1 priority is low crowds! I realize that all bets are off this year, as far as what is going to happen for the rest of 2020, but I'd love everyone's suggestion as to which week will have the lowest crowd level.
The crowd calendars are saying the last week in October, but that doesn't make any sense to me. DIS folks know everything.... what do you think?
 
As you said, all bets are off, but if I had the choice to go anytime, I would choose mid September.
 
My family is looking to replace our cancelled March trip this fall. We can be flexible with dates, and don't really care about any special events or certain decorations. Our # 1 priority is low crowds! I realize that all bets are off this year, as far as what is going to happen for the rest of 2020, but I'd love everyone's suggestion as to which week will have the lowest crowd level.
The crowd calendars are saying the last week in October, but that doesn't make any sense to me. DIS folks know everything.... what do you think?
When I planned our trip last year, Touring Plans said our mid-week days in the middle of October would be low to medium crowds in October. The crowds were so bad by noon that we left. And that was a normal year.
 
I don’t have a specific date suggestion, but some general guidelines that get shared a lot:

1. Don’t go by what any crowd calendar says. They are totally inaccurate. Don’t factor them in. Don’t even look at them. Don’t let them sway your decision.

2. If your main goal is avoiding crowds, then avoid any holiday weekend where people will have Friday or Monday off for a 3 day weekend because those will have higher attendance.

3. Generally speaking, aim for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday on a week that doesn’t have a holiday on either end for lowest crowds. However, note that entertainment availability may be less on these days.

4. If you have to go over a weekend, Saturday and Sunday aren’t necessarily bad, as long as you are prepared for a decent sized (but not necessarily insane) crowd. (I visit most weeks almost exclusively on the weekends).

5. I can’t explain this but Monday’s often seem very crowded regardless of whether it’s a holiday or not. They can feel even more crowded than weekends.

6. Any special promotions, festivals, holidays, or celebrations that Disney is running will bring people to the park, especially if it’s the first day of the special event, or the first weekend of it.

7. major conventions in Anaheim can increase park attendance. That may not be as big of a factor this year though.

8. Regardless of the day you go...

Getting to the park for rope drop (or early entry) will be the best way to avoid crowds. You’ll feel like you are ahead of the crowd all day long.

Understand how to use FastPass, and even better MaxPass. And Mobile Order!

And the most important tip of all: attitude is everything. If you go in expecting low crowds, then even medium size crowds will feel unbearable. If you go in expecting a huge crowd, armed with good strategies to deal with them, then even the most crowded day can be stress free and fun.
 


Go when passholders are blocked out.

Usually 3 days around 4th of July are blocked out great time to go.

But with everything in the air this year idk
 
Thanks for all of this help. We are definitely rope droppers, and we will try to aim for mid week as well.
This is a strange time we live in, for sure, so we'll swing the bat with a reservation and hope for the best.
 


As you said, all bets are off, but if I had the choice to go anytime, I would choose mid September.

Agree but be aware of Yom Kippur. I didn’t realize that was during our vacation years ago and local schools were out and crowd levels soared!
 
We were there in early September this year. It was ridiculously hot but the parks were empty. If you don’t care too much about the weather and you like the water rides, I suggest going then. But wear sunscreen!
 

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