Subsonic Radio

Is it better to avoid the weekends, or is that when the locals come to visit?

The weekends are definitely the most crowded days at the parks. If you don't like crowds but must go on a weekend, I'd say be sure to get there early (as most locals don't arrive till mid-morning).

The only problem is that right now the weekends are the only time that the big shows are running. It also depends on what time of year we are talking. According to Disney fireworks and Parades will be back to full time in the summer. But right now things are dark during the week and go on for the weekend crowd.

I could almost do without the fireworks and parades if it meant a smaller crowd bu then that is just me, the people person that I am ... ha ha ha

If I were you, I would stick with a non-weekend since most of the kids/teenagers will be in school at that time. I think by the end of January, early February the park will be dead with the crowds being small.

I suggest going when the park is open late so you can see it with all the lights on. Disneyland at night is my absolute favorite place to be in the world.

Crowds are usually not as bad on weekends that don't include a school holiday, comparatively speaking. So, the weekend of the President's Day holiday will be more crowded than the weekends before and after.

The blackout day schedule for the low-end annual pass is a good way to figure out which days to avoid.

Weekdays are better, but I would avoid Fridays. Sundays are sometimes less crowded than Fridays, so if you must go on a weekend, I'd suggest going on Sunday. Saturday is the busiest.

I remember Super Bowl Sundays being very crowded.

Weekdays are by far better. But if you have to go on a weekend go on Sunday.

I agree with cap396, Super Bowl Sunday is very crowded if I remember correctly.

sockfire wrote:I suggest going when the park is open late so you can see it with all the lights on. Disneyland at night is my absolute favorite place to be in the world.

This is definitely true, but if you can make that a weekday evening even better. I used to like going on summer weekdays because the park would be open later and it was less crowded. Of course, nowadays the hours on weekdays, even during summer, aren't as great as they used to be.

Even better that the questions of weekend vs. weekeday is the time of year.
Since you want to stay long enough to really get to be able to see all of Disney, it may require both weekdays and weekend days. But if you go during an off time, then that will be somewhat less of an issue- of course that assumes that you don't have kids in school. That makes it a bit more complicated.