Best days of the week for lower crowds

Flamingomo

Jack Sparrow's Wench...and proud of it.
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Hi everyone,
My family and I will be taking the Route 66 road trip next summer in June and we will be going to Disneyland as part of our vacation. I am expecting it to be very crowded since most could not go this year. I just wanted to know what the least crowded days of the week would be or just the best days to go. We will be doing both parks. Thanks for the help!
 
I would also say Tuesday or Wednesday. But pay attention to the days you go. In June passes start getting blocked out, so if you visit right before they are blocked out, the crowds will be high even on weekdays.
 


Tuesday and Wednesday are usually good. Also, it's less crowded either the first week of June because schools are still in session or the last week in June because lower tier APs are blocked out. I don't think they'll happen next year, but in the rare event that things go back to normal at some point soon, you would also need to watch out for grad nites. Those days can be miserably crowded.
 
My personal preference is for Wednesdays. Tuesdays and Thursdays have extra magic hours, which put 1,000 people ahead of you once the park opens (provided you don’t also have it). They also seem to be better than Mondays or Fridays in terms of crowds. I presume that’s because many people come for three or four-day weekends.
 
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Sunday mornings! The afternoons get crowded, but we can ride most of the attractions before 2pm if we rope drop on a Sunday morning. Well, we could before 2020...who knows now. Have a great road trip! Sounds fun!!
 


... I don't think they'll happen next year, but in the rare event that things go back to normal at some point soon, you would also need to watch out for grad nites. Those days can be miserably crowded.
Dates for Grad Nites 2021 have already been published and posted on this board:
2021 Grad Nite Dates:
Overview | Disneyland Resort Grad Nite at Disney California Adventure Park | Celebrations & Field Trips
May 14,15,19,21,22,26,27
June 1,2,4,5,8,9,11,12,18

For the OP: keep watching this board once the parks reopen to see what kind of crowd patterns get established. The old patterns may settle back into place or new patterns may get established. We can't really know what the reservation system will do and how it will affect the local AP attendance. So stay tuned!
 
In my opinion, the crowds at DL are very hit and miss. Keep in mind that although the park(s) may have light crowds early on on a certain day, it can get very packed in the evening when AP holders come after work. I remember going in July one year. All day long I walked on quite a bit of rides. That was luck.
 
The only advice I would give is get there before rope drop. You'd be amazed at how many rides you can get in before noon. Take advantage of the extra hour if you can. DL Fantasyland rides can be literally walk on before the park opens.
 
The only advice I would give is get there before rope drop. You'd be amazed at how many rides you can get in before noon. Take advantage of the extra hour if you can. DL Fantasyland rides can be literally walk on before the park opens.
This crowd pattern changed once ROTR opened and crowds started building well before the gates even opened. After the mad BG boogie, the crowds were already in the parks, so people headed for rides. On days with EMH/MM, FL lines could be long in the morning. When the parks reopen with the reservation system, it will be interesting to see how DL handles ROTR. That will make a difference in the morning crowd patterns. People are not expecting EMH or MM during the reservation system period, so that will change the morning crowd patterns, too. We can only wait and see what happens!
 
So much in the air right now with unknowns: AP treatment, capacities, and of coarse ROTR.

Typical trends:
Best days in general: Tues/Wed
Avoid Grad nights if can - DCA mostly, but crowds swell anyways on both sides
Evening-Fireworks : AP tend to swell crowds for this. - we think it's our 365 day county fair
ROTR: rope drop is insane now - getting in takes 45-60min -- so they really need to rethink ROTR Boarding groups even more than the split times they are doing at HS.

--If feasible, would plan to stay on-site or along Harbor close in to allow for mid-day rest/evening if they have resumed regular hours -- the crowds really thin out after fireworks and can get a lot done between 10p-12mn -- except for Indiana Jones of course. :)
 
Most years, we travel to DLR in June. I think this is the first time in 4 or 5 years that we haven't been there in June. Sigh. At any rate, we typically find the best time, crowd wise, is the 3rd or 4th week in June--the first week whenever they block out the lower tiers of annual passes. We take that first week they are blocked, and typically do midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) with either Monday or Friday tacked on to make it a 4-day trip. Crowds are completely manageable at that point, the weather is nice but not sweltering, and the summer entertainment is in full swing!
 
We always do a 5 day pass in summer and do something like this
tuesday - DL
Wednesday - CA with a little DL
Thursday - off
Friday - Seaworld
Saturday - DL and CA
Sunday - beach
Monday - DL and CA
Tuesday - DL and CA

We do notice that the Saturday and Monday are significantly busier than the weekdays!!!
 
I would say that it won’t matter the day of the week when it opens. They will be limiting the number of people, so I would bet most days would be the same.
 

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