Why were the parks so crowded this week (6th-10th October)?

[WestMom2two]

My main thing was to go after Columbus day and the Monday after Utah's break. Which fell on the 21st. That insured that we missed all or most school breaks and the holiday. We only do week days. We had a CM tell us how lucky we were because the parks had been absolutely insane and we were hitting calm days for some reason. Make sure you check for any conventions too but just waiting for after Columbus day week will benefit you a lot!

 

[TreeDharni]

We were there on Thursday and it was crazy and horrible. We had 5 rides break down while we were in the lines. The worst was Splash Mountain after waiting over an hour. By 5 pm we had only ridden 3 rides (one of them Indie with fast passes). I could not believe it. We were so upset that we went to City hall. They were super nice and gave us 3 fast passes to any ride. They said it was such an odd thing for so many rides to be down at the same time and they did not expect the crowds. The evening was much better and I believe we rode 8 rides by the end of the day thanks to our fast passes. If this was my once in a life time trip I would have insisted on a refund of my ticket. Friday was so much better. We ever recited some magic from a cast member. We asked him for directions and he volunteered to escort us to where we needed to go and stopped at Peter Pan on the way and took us to the front of the line. It was magical and made up for the bad day we had the day before.

All of this was totally different from our Oct 2012 trip. We were there the 29-31st. Very manageable crowds. A lot of rides were walk on or little wait.

 

[Pinocchio #1 Fan]

My wife and I are APs, and when we pulled into the Toy Story lot on Thursday, we saw how full it was and drove right to the exit. We go often enough we can tell what the crowds are loke just from which areas of the lot are full, and Thursday looked like a holiday weekend crowd

 

[scrapshappen]

I've been a few times in October too (taking advantage of our Utah fall break) and it gets a little more crowded each time we've gone. This year, my kids go off track at Fall Break so we are hoping by going next week instead, we'll miss the worse of it. (Although we are headed to Southern Utah for Fall Break so I'm sure we'll see the crowds down there as well.) We were there in August right after the local AP's could start going again and I'm just hoping it isn't any worse than that.

 

[Spacepest]

We used to go every year in October. It was a nice, easy-going family time.

Since the school holiday crowds have increased along with the popularity of Halloween in the parks, we decided to give it up. October just isn't worth it to us any more. I'd rather go during Christmas time anyway and I find the crowds in the earlier parts of the Christmas season to be more manageable than the October crowds.

Our family has experienced the same thing. We used to go every October, and it was great. Quiet, relaxed, low crowds, with Halloween decorations. We'd ride everything, and spend alot of money shopping and eating in the parks. I remember days we went with a park hopper and managed to do all the rides once in a single day in both DL and DCA! Now that is no longer true, we've actually been on summer days that have been less crowded.

Our family has decided to give up on Halloween at Disney, except for the Halloween after hours parties on the weekdays. Those have been the only thing manageable for us crowd wise. And if we are only doing say, a single party a season instead of a multiple day trip like before, we are definately spending minimal cash on in park activities (like shopping and dining, not to mention hotel rooms).

Part of the problem I have is with the way Disney has been handling operations in what it considers "off season." We've gone on a October weekday, wall to wall people in the parks, only to see the rides run at half capacity (like only one side of Matterhorn open, etc), restaurants understaffed. It just makes me mad, and I feel bad for the cast members that tell us "its off season, we didn't expect it to be this crowded" because its clearly the fault of management if they can't call in back up. Really, a company starts seasonal events to increase business, and then fails to provide the proper staffing when the business actually increases? It just irritates me.

 

[DizMe]

Our family has experienced the same thing. We used to go every October, and it was great. Quiet, relaxed, low crowds, with Halloween decorations. We'd ride everything, and spend alot of money shopping and eating in the parks. I remember days we went with a park hopper and managed to do all the rides once in a single day in both DL and DCA! Now that is no longer true, we've actually been on summer days that have been less crowded.

Our family has decided to give up on Halloween at Disney, except for the Halloween after hours parties on the weekdays. Those have been the only thing manageable for us crowd wise. And if we are only doing say, a single party a season instead of a multiple day trip like before, we are definately spending minimal cash on in park activities (like shopping and dining, not to mention hotel rooms).

Part of the problem I have is with the way Disney has been handling operations in what it considers "off season." We've gone on a October weekday, wall to wall people in the parks, only to see the rides run at half capacity (like only one side of Matterhorn open, etc), restaurants understaffed. It just makes me mad, and I feel bad for the cast members that tell us "its off season, we didn't expect it to be this crowded" because its clearly the fault of management if they can't call in back up. Really, a company starts seasonal events to increase business, and then fails to provide the proper staffing when the business actually increases? It just irritates me.

Oh, you are so right!! I've wondered why they bother calling it off season now. They pushed it hard and were tremendously successful in attracting people but failed to increase hours or staffing. For many people the hours actually decreased due to the Halloween parties.

I miss the way it used to be in October. I also remember wondering why they revived the Halloween party in DCA and not DL. Now I sort of wish they'd kept it in DCA

 

[disneydadazut2]

In thinking a lot about this, it is counter productive for Disney to take actions to lower the crowd levels (more blackout dates for APs/eliminate discounts for CA residents/stop Holiday decorating). Eliminating the people, eliminates the revenue gained from food courts/merchandising. However, I do believe they are concerned about 'the experience' those people have while in the park. But consider this, as a father with kids that "Have to go to Disneyland", the crowds and/or our experience dealing with the crowds hasn't driven us away from attending... in fact, it has had the opposite effect - we now book more days to stay in the park.

For me, the crowds don't ruin the experience - the fact my girls entire experience will be based upon meeting two princesses in which I will have to get there at the crack of dawn and fight several hundred other fathers for the ticket to see them - ruins my experience. I can't wait until my kids are old enough to see that the magic of Disneyland has nothing to do with the princesses.

PS... Sorry to be a downer. I'm headed there in a couple of days from Utah, and I have learned over the last month or so that if my girls don't see Anna & Elsa - their world will end. Due to other commitments, I will have exactly one day to make that happen - Saturday Morning. Wish me luck.