Crowd levels and strategy? 1-2 September

[Kitty-chan]

Hi everybody,

My DLRP trip is getting very close now!

We'll be arriving DLRP Thursday 1 September, and departing Friday 2 September. We'll be coming from Paris on the RER, in the middle of a longer trip, and staying at the Hotel Cheyenne the night of 1 September.

Our usual strategy at Disney parks is to arrive as close to opening as possible (often well before what WDW calls "rope drop"), rest at the hotel around noon (in large part to miss the worst of the crowds, which tend to be early afternoon at WDW and DL/California), then return to the parks around 17:00 to enjoy the rest of the day. But with the parks closing at 20:00 during our visit, I'm starting to wonder if I should reassess the strategy.

Could anyone offer predictions of crowd levels on those dates, and recommend strategies accordingly?

 

[raptor1982]

Expect crowds to be low, to very low.

 

[nicola]

I agree with Raptor, I don't think it will be busy and therefore I don't think you will need any strategies. I would skip the Studios as you are only there for one day. Perhaps you could do a Fantasyland breakfast if you wanted to get into the park earlier. I've never noticed crowds higher in the afternoons so I wouldn't worry about that. If you really need to rest then take a rest whenever you need it but if it were me I would just keep going the whole day until 8:00 and then do dinner after the park closes. Have a great time. I prefer DLP over WDW anyday!!!

 

[Kitty-chan]

Yay, this is good news! I figured the crowds wouldn't be horrible since it's late enough in the summer that there are no fireworks, but I didn't know to expect them to be that low.

We'll be staying the full two days actually -- we depart from the hotel the morning of 2 September, but don't get on the RER until the parks close. And we've got a Good Morning Fantasyland breakfast the morning of the 2nd, just for good measure.

 

[eileds]

I've been to Disneyland Paris on those dates, although a while ago now and I was there Friday to Sunday (busier days I know). the crowds were definitely manageable but I wouldn't say they were low. I've recently returned from a short break there this month and I would say the crowds were very similar.

If you get in early you'll really have no problem - as for rest you can do that when the park closes.

 

[Kitty-chan]

Hmm, for DLRP, what constitutes "low" vs "moderate" crowds?

Based on WDW and DL/California experience, I tend to think of "low" crowds as not waiting for more than 15-20 minutes per ride. Moderate would be lines of up to 45 minutes for popular attractions (say, Peter Pan's Flight), and "heavy" would be waits of 60-90 minutes or more.

Now on the other hand, I also once had the excellent opportunity to visit DL/Tokyo, and it was at a very off time -- as a result, we literally walked onto most rides with no waiting whatsoever. I'd call that lower than low -- I'd say that meant we had the park to ourselves, though that wasn't literally the case of course.

I also find myself asking what I'd change based on crowd expectations, since it's not an option to change our travel dates. If the crowds are expected to be fairly low, I think I'd be less strict about making sure we're there half an hour before the park opens on the first day of our trip; I'll figure our time in the parks will be productive enough that an hour or so won't make a huge difference. And regardless of the crowd conditions, I'll be reading up ahead of time so I know what attractions to hit, what times the shows/parades are, etc. (Also, my son has a disability, so I have to plan our visits carefully so as not to end up on rides that trouble him.)

(Or maybe I'm just obsessing about crowd estimates because I'm so excited about the trip and it's a good excuse to talk about it. )

 

[Cyrano]

I'd be surprised that the crowds have much effect. If you aim for opening you'll get most of the rides completed in the morning. Get FP for Peter Pan as these are normally gone by midday.

Reid

 

[Kitty-chan]

I'd be surprised that the crowds have much effect. If you aim for opening you'll get most of the rides completed in the morning. Get FP for Peter Pan as these are normally gone by midday.

Reid

Oh, that would be beautiful! Leaving us lots of time for shows, parades, and wandering around aimlessly enjoying the architecture, and looking for CMs with pin-trading lanyards.

 

[eileds]

We only had one day at DLP this summer - Wednesday August 3rd.

We walked through the gates at 8.55am, we stopped for a handful of photo opportunites and by 10am we had done:-
Dumbo, Peter Pan x 2, Carousel, Snow White, Pinnochio.

Admittedly we are not big ride fans.

We got fastpasses for Peter Pan, which we rode twice more throughout the day, by lunchtime queues for PP were 45mins or so and rising and fastpasses had run out by about 3.30pm (although in summer fantasyland closes at 10pm so they can ready for wishes)

Although we did not ride BTM fastpasses were still available at 4/5pm