coastermaniac Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 I may be planning a trip to some California parks scheduled for the week of May 11th. The parks I want to go to are Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure, Universal Studios Hollywood, Knott's Berry Farm, and maybe Six Flags Magic Mountain. Has anybody been to these parks during the middle of May in previous years? How are the crowds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 May is generally a good month for visiting parks. Like always, avoid Saturdays and Sundays and you should be fine (everything will be open daily at that point). If you have to go to a park on Saturday or Sunday, make sure it is NOT the DisneyParks. This way, you can purchase a virtual queue system and still ride everything if necessary. Disney does not have that option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastermaniac Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 I thought Disneyland has a Fastpass system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterP Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 I thought Disneyland has a Fastpass system? They do. And it works fine if you are smart about it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 They do, but its available to everybody at the park. In the past you were able to keep them WAY past the return time. Now, they (rightfully) enforce the return time making it a little more difficult to take advantage of. Still, it's a great way to get the headliners all in in if you do it in the right order. Nonetheless, on a Saturday or Sunday, you will likely not accomplish everything you would like to, whereas on a weekday it's much more possible. There is no way to pay more and skip the lines at the Disney Parks like there is at every other So Cal theme park. By all means if you think a Disney Park is better on Saturday or Sunday than the other parks, please please explain. I'd like to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 By all means if you think a Disney Park is better on Saturday or Sunday than the other parks, please please explain. I'd like to know. Wow. Where is this attitude coming from?!?! The dude asked a simple question because you gave him very confusing information. He never even mentioned Saturday or Sunday anywhere in his response! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 My apologies, must be something in the water today! I read the reply as an implication that because of the FastPass system, the Disney Parks are good for the weekends, and I wanted to really push the point that they are not the best parks to visit over the weekend. Sorry if my reply was confusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 ^ Fair enough... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Saturdays are actually fairly light at Disneyland because it's usually blocked out for annual passholders. Avoid Fridays and Sundays though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcdude Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 You've picked a good week since it's before schools start getting out. In general, the parks will be light on weekdays and moderate to heavy on weekends. However, due to grad night events hours may be shorter and if a bunch of school groups happen to show up at a park it could be unexpectedly busy. A few notes for the specific parks: Disneyland Resort: Crowd levels can vary for these parks, but expect low to moderate crowds Monday to Thursday. Disneyland is rarely empty, so expect 30 minute waits for headliners (more for Radiator Springs Racers, Toy Story Midway Mania, and anything with reduced capacity). Although you could probably do both parks in a day, I highly recommend allowing 2-3 days if this is your first visit to the resort. Avoid Grad Night days if you can, but other than that specific days of the week won't matter much. The Disneyland Resort would be a last choice for a weekend visit, but if you must visit during a weekend go on Saturday, as the park is often packed with passholders on Friday and Sunday. Universal Studios Hollywood: This park is pretty small, so if you go on a weekday you'll probably be done with everything by mid-afternoon. Lines shouldn't be more than 15 minutes for any of the park's rides, and if it is unusually busy all Lower Lot attractions offer Single Rider lines. If your trip requires a weekend visit, I would do this park on the weekend simply because it is the smallest, but hour lines are not uncommon on weekends here. Knott's Berry Farm: As long as there aren't too many school groups visiting, this park will be dead during the week (aka max 3 train wait). Even on a weekend, Knott's usually isn't too crowded (expect 30 minute waits for headliners on weekends). Do not purchase Fast Lane at Knott's...it isn't worth it except on the most crowded days. Six Flags Magic Mountain: Like Knott's, it's unlikely you'll see waits longer than 3-4 trains here on a weekday. However, SFMM has a tendency to run only one train on coasters during low crowd days, so a station wait may still take 15 minutes or so on some rides. For weekends, Sundays are usually okay but Saturdays are often packed. You most likely will not need a Flash Pass for this park unless forced to visit on a Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
805Andrew Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Don't go to Magic Mountain on a Saturday. If you had to pick a park to go to Saturday I would probably pick Knotts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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