Crowd Calendar - 4/4 - TouringPlans.com Blog

All photos copyright Disney (unless otherwise noted)

The world's attention turned to London this week, but that didn't stop heavy crowds from continuing to head to Disneyland Resort.

Crowd Calendar

Quietest Day: Friday 7/27 was a 9 out of 10 at the resort, with DCA crowds at 8.6 and Disneyland Park at 9.2.

Busiest Day: Tuesday 7/24 and Thursday 7/26 were both a 10 out of 10 at the resort, with DCA crowds at 9.8 and Disneyland Park at 9.7.

Subscribe to the TouringPlans.com Disneyland Crowd Calendar for details on predicted crowds for the next 30 days.

Read the rest of this entry »

All photos copyright Disney

A fan-favorite unheralded Disneyland attraction marked a quarter-century, while heavy rains visited the Anaheim resort last week. It didn’t keep the crowds away, but it did play havoc with Disney California Adventure’s hottest new ride.

Crowd Calendar

Quietest Day: Friday, July 13, was only a 5.1 out of 10 at Disneyland, and a 10.0 at DCA. Thursday, July 12, was the slowest day at DCA, at 8.2 out of 10.

Busiest Day: Tuesday, July 10, was a 7.5 out of 10 at Disneyland, and a 9.9 at DCA.

Subscribe to the TouringPlans.com Disneyland Crowd Calendar for details on predicted crowds for the next 30 days.

Read the rest of this entry »

Disney's flying dragon testing in SoCal airspace (photo by Tammy Zaninovich)

It was another busy attendance week, but a relatively slow news week, at Disney's Anaheim resort.

Crowd Calendar

Quietest Day: Crowds were smaller than anticipated on the 4th of July, with a 7.3 in Disneyland and a 5.2 at DCA.

Busiest Day: Friday 7/6 was a 7.3 in Disneyland at 10 at DCA.

Subscribe to the TouringPlans.com Disneyland Crowd Calendar for details on predicted crowds for the next 30 days.

Read the rest of this entry »

4th of July Fireworks over Sleeping Beauty Castle

As the excitement over June’s grand openings fades into memory, we are entering the first full month of regular operation at the new and improved Disneyland Resort, which is expected to continue to set new attendance records all summer long. The celebrities have gone home, but the crowds are still strong, so strap in for our monthly Anaheim update.

All photos copyright Disney.

Crowd Calendar

The Touring Plans crowd calendar pegs every single day in June as a “10 out of 10″ on our historical scale, so if you are visiting we advise arriving extra-early with your ticket and touring plan in hand.

Quietest Day: There will be no “quiet” days until after the summer, with peak crowds daily at DCA, but Disneyland Park will be “only” a 7.3 on July 7. Look for Saturdays to be slightly slower due to Annual Pass blackouts.

Busiest Day: Every day this month will be mobbed, but July 27 should be the busiest with a 10 in DCA and a 9.6 at Disneyland.

Subscribe to the Touring Plans Disneyland Crowd Calendar for full details on predicted attendance for the next 30 days.

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome once again to our mostly-weekly wrap-up of what’s been happening at Disney’s Anaheim resort. Deepest apologies to anyone left bereft by the absence of this column, but the Touring Plans team was obviously occupied by a teensy-tiny little Grand Reopening that you may have heard about. Fret not: we’re back to bring you the news of everything that’s happened in the week since Cars Land and Buena Vista Street were unveiled to public.

Crowd Calendar

The new attractions at Disney California Adventure have rewritten attendance rules at the resort, and redefined what “busy” means.

Quietest Day: Thanks to Annual Pass blackouts, Saturday 6/23 was only a 3.8 at Disneyland and 5.4 at Disney California Adventure.

Busiest Day: Tuesday 6/19 was unofficially reported by Al Lutz as the highest-attended day in the history of Disneyland Resort, until the record was broken again on Wednesday with a 4.4 in Disneyland and 9.9 at DCA.

Read the rest of this entry »

Greetings, and welcome to the latest edition of Last Week at Disneyland Resort. The resort is rapidly gearing up for the debut of Buena Vista Street and Carsland in less than a month, so there is plenty of activity all around!

Crowd Calendar

Look for the light May attendance to give way to Memorial Day crowds, which will then stick around most of the summer.

• Quietest Day: Resort attendance was lowest on May 15 (predicted 3 out of 10, actual 2)
• Busiest Day: Resort attendance was highest on May 13 (predicted 6 out of 10, actual 8 )

Subscribe to the TouringPlans.com Disneyland Crowd Calendar for full details on projected attendance for the next 30 days.

Special Events

• After-hours parties were held on May 14 & 15 for annual passholders to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Fantasmic. Two more parties will be held on May 21 & 22.
• The sweepstakes for annual passholders to win a preview of Cars Land continues through May 24.
• Grad Nights were held for high school seniors on the 16-18, and will continue on 23-25 and 30&31.
• In anticipation of Cars Land’s opening, “faces” have been applied to the monorails at Disneyland Resort. Look for Mandy, Mona, and Manny Monorail circling the beam all summer.
• A Cars Land walking tour “meet up” was announced on May 16 for readers of the Disney Parks blog. All 33 slots On the May 39 tour were quickly claimed.
• Annual Passholders, D23, and Club 33 members were also invited to purchase admission to special preview events on June 8 & 9, including VIP World of Color viewing and dinner at the new Carthay Circle.
• On May 18, Disney gave two days notice of a major price increase for Disneyland Resort admission tickets, effective May 20. Among the notable changes: 6-day park hoppers have been discontinued, and Premiere Passes have jumped an astronomical $100 to $850. Read all the details here.
• It was announced that Annual Passholders will have the opportunity to attend “early entry” events at both parks this summer (June 18 though September 13). Availability will be limited and advance registration is required.

Openings, Closings, and Refurbishments

Disneyland Park

• Disney announced that the Carnation Cafe will return to operation on June 13 with expanded seating and an updated menu.
• The Matterhorn Bobsleds reopen on June 15; check out this new time-lapse video of the massive scaffolding needed to complete its restoration.
• The Frontierland Shooting’ Exposition is closed through May 25.
• A new Brave-themed interactive meet & greet opened near it’s a small world.

Disney California Adventure

• Goofy’s Sky School had a brief refurbishment May 7-17.
• Construction on Buena Vista Street and Cars Land continues though June 15. Details of new Red Trolley Car-themed merchandise were announced.
• Pixar’s upcoming film Brave will join the World of Color show in a new segment starting June 15.
• More details were released about the Mad T Party evening street festival that begins in June.
• The Cove Bar at Ariel’s Grotto was closed for refurbishment, and is scheduled to reopen this weekend.

Downtown Disney

• The former home of Island Charter is being converted into the WonderGround Art gallery, to reopen on June 9.
• The former Compass Books is being turned into an Earl of Sandwich, opening date TBA.
• The UVA Bar is being renovated and will return in early June.

All photos copyright Disney.

Welcome to the first monthly installment of This Month at Disneyland, TouringPlans.com‘s regular round-up of upcoming events and operations in and around the Anaheim resort. If you are planning a visit to Disneyland in the next 30 days, this is your one-stop-shop for imminent information that may impact your vacation.

In addition to Disneyland.com and the Official Disney Parks Blog, much of the following news and photography comes courtesy of our friends at MousePlanet and MiceAge. Visit those sites for more images and up-to-the-minute updates.

Crowd Calendar

May may be your last best chance for crowd-free touring at Disneyland in 2012, since we expect the resort to be packed following California Adventure’s relaunch in mid-June. Weekdays this May should be especially low-key, with growing wait times on the weekends building towards Memorial Day.

• Quietest Days: Resort attendance should be lowest (1 out of 10) on May 3 and 7-9.
• Busiest Days: Resort attendance should be highest (8 out of 10) on May 25-28.

Subscribe to the Touring Pans Disneyland Crowd Calendar for full details on predicted attendance for the next 30 days.

Special Events

• Disneyland celebrates Cinco de Mayo on May 5. Look for decorations around Rancho del Zocalo, and a special menu at Tortilla Joe’s in Downtown Disney.
• AIDS Services Foundation of Orange County holds a charity walk at Disneyland early on the morning of May 6.
• On May 10, Disney Legend Alice Davis will receive a long-deserved tribute window on Main Street USA. The Imagineer was responsible for the costume designs of classic attractions including Pirates of the Caribbean and it’s a small world. Her window will be next to the one honoring her husband, late Imagineer Marc Davis.
• To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Fantasmic! on May 13, Disneyland is holding after-hours parties for Annual Passholders on May 14, 15, 21, & 22.
• Grad Nights return on May 10 & 11, 16-18, 23-25, 30 & 31. Expect large platoons of busses delivering hordes of teenagers to the resort for all-night parties on those evenings.

Opening, Closures, and Refurbishments

Disneyland

• The candy store, Penny Arcade, and Gibson Girl ice cream parlor on Main Street USA reopen on May 2 following a major refurbishment. Carnation Cafe remains closed until June 2.
• The Carnation Plaza Gardens closed forever on April 30, to be transformed into the Princess Fantasy Faire in 2013. Saturday swing dancing will be relocated to Downtown Disney in the interim.
• Beginning May 2, the Frontierland Festival Arena stage will become home to the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree, with characters and crafts Friday-Sunday. This will also be where school musical groups perform.
• Matterhon Bobsleds remain closed for a major overhaul until June 15.
• Indiana Jones Adventure is closed for a quick refurb on May 1&2.
• Enchanted Tiki Room is closed May 7-10.
• Frontierland Shooting Exposition is closed now through May 25.
• A new summertime sandcastle sequence featuring “Phineas and Ferb” will be added to the Magic, Memories, and You show starting May 25.

Disney California Adventure

• Ariel’s Grotto restaurant is closed through May 3, and the attached Cove Bar is closed through June 1.
• Ariel’s Undersea Adventure is closed through May 3.
• Goofy’s Sky School is closed May 7-17.
• Buena Vista Street and Cars Land remain under construction until June 15, though some soft-openings are possible later in the month.

Downtown Disney

• The large LEGO Imagination store is under refurbishment, with no exact reopening date announced. The temporary LEGO store in the former home of Island Charter will become the WonderGround art gallery on June 9.
• Compass Books and Coffee is permanently closed, and will be replaced by Earl of Sandwich later this summer.
• The Sunglass Icon store is being remodeled and will reopen later this summer.

Other Area Attractions

• Transformers: The Ride officially opens on May 25th at Universal Studios Hollywood. The new 3-D dark ride is currently running in soft-opening; read the rave reviews on MiceChat here.

With the season of giving approaching quickly, we here at TouringPlans.com are doing our best to give you even better tools to plan your Disney vacations. Following on the heels of our Optimized Touring Plans, we are proud to announce that our Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar has just gotten better, too, by utilizing projected park hours.

One of the most common criticisms we receive about the Crowd Calendar is that it changes too darn much. The reason it changes is that Disney adjusts park hours (for details, see this blog post) at least once per month based on attendance estimates generated from internal data. Although TouringPlans.com also predicts crowd levels, we do not have access to all of the information that Disney uses for its estimates. Therefore, to be as accurate as possible, we use Disney’s park hours as factor in our crowd level predictions. So when Disney changes park hours, our Crowd Calendar generally changes. Those of you that utilize our Crowd Tracker have probably noticed.

Over the past few months we have been collecting and analyzing years of Walt Disney World park hours. The result is a full projection model that predicts all elements used in the Crowd Calendar. While it will not totally eliminate changes to the Crowd Calendar, it will even out many of the fluctuations, making the Crowd Calendar more reliable looking into the future.

You may have noticed many changes to our Crowd Calendar numbers since this change has just gone into effect (especially if you had signed up for our Crowd Tracker). Please rest assured that all of this is done solely to increase our accuracy and increase your knowledge as you plan your Disney vacations.

If you have questions or comments, please let us know.

Finally, note that we plan to allow you to see our totally unofficial, projected park hours, but we are not quite at that point yet.  We will certainly let you know when that happens.