Picking A Month To Go To Disneyland

The excitement continues to build for the biggest summer season of all at the Disneyland Resort. Will this be the biggest since the 50th Anniversary celebration in 2005? I think so. Calculating and careful marketing on the part of Disney has fans of the resort building to a fever pitch for the relaunch of DCA and especially Cars Land featuring the biggest most highly anticipated attraction probably since Indiana Jones - Radiator Springs Racers. Yep, this summer is going to be a monster. And as I have previously stated, getting trampled under foot is not my idea of a good time. At my age, being the first to do anything isn't all that important anymore other than maybe being the first one in the bathroom here at the old homestead in the morning.

So pick a month, any month, when would be good time to plan a trip? Going over my past trips as I do in writing this blog I can see for the last several years we tend to have made our trips in the spring March - April - May time frame or mid-September. That seems to have been the pattern since 2008. Time to shake it up a bit.

Now, this summer is out for reasons stated though Mrs. DisneylandTravel and I have made several trips in June and July over the years. A word to the Disney wise out there. If you want to go in June, watch the annual pass blackout dates. One of the worst times to visit the park are those days in mid-June right before the SoCal pass holders with summer blackouts dates kick in. All of them, thousands of them, hit the parks before they are kicked out for the summer. A 50 minute wait to get on Pirates is no fun at all. Surprisingly, we have had pretty good trips in July including the 50th Anniversary celebration. With a large segment of local pass holders kept out, you are dealing with primarily vacationers and those with high end annual passes. Not bad at all providing the weather remains comfortable (and we have been fortunate with our summer time weather I must say).

In this blog, I may have mentioned once or twice (or 20) that I am not a Halloween person. Why we have made so many September trips is beyond me as we seen to hit the park in mid-September right when the now named Halloweentime starts up. Nice to see, but enough already.

When I think of all our trips over the years, maybe our most special trips have been during Christmas. The week right before Thanksgiving when everything is decorated and the holidays are just getting started is a great time to go. Been there during this week maybe two or three times. It's really quite enjoyable. Even better are the first two weeks of December. The holidays are in full swing but it is still considered a low season before the Christmas school break starts. A great time to go if the weather cooperates. Yes, it does rain in Southern California and the first major rain storm seems to target sometime in December.

So that's what I am hoping for - a trip right before Thanksgiving week or the first two weeks in December. There's a lot going in the life the life of the Disneyland Traveler outside of Disney that could prevent this from happening but it is always good to dream, and hope, and plan, and maybe even scheme a bit to make that next trip to Disneyland.