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If You Want To Beat The Lines At Disneyland, Go On A Thursday
Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland (photo via Wikimedia Commons)
Nothing says "L.A." (or, more accurately, Anaheim) like a trip to Disneyland, but if you don't come prepared with a plan to beat the crowds, you could find yourself hiding out in the safety of Cinderella Castle and wishing you'd stayed home. A recent L.A. Times piece about Disneyland wait times offers a piece of wisdom that could be key to avoiding the chaos: shortest wait times are typically on Thursdays.
Wait times for rides have gone up 28% since 2015, the article points out, despite Disneyland's raising of ticket prices last February in an effort to shorten lines. Unsurprisingly, Saturday is Disney's most hellish busiest day of the week, with queue times totaling up to 25 minutes per ride.
Another pro tip: December, July and mid-May attract the longest lines at Disneyland, so schedule your trip for September or January if you want to avoid the throngs of drunk UCLA kids on spring break.
The L.A. Times reports that wait times are only expected to increase throughout the summer, with the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride drawing crowds to the Anaheim theme park. (RIP, Tower of Terror. Gone but never forgotten.) If you want to maximize your ride time at Disneyland, pick a Thursday in September—or, if you're willing to brave the madding crowd for a lightsaber churro, we salute you.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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