Higher Disneyland prices have not reduced wait times

This is fascinating stuff, and the most analysis I've seen on the subject. I'm guessing that the tipping point for price vs. attendance out there is much higher (obviously, since they haven't found it). There's anecdotal evidence that maybe they've already found it in Florida. (Sidebar: my AP renewal this year is for 13 months, and food discounts are becoming more widespread.)

It doesn't matter one iota that Disney hates poor people. There's still too many rich people.

Disneyland is "local" for roughly 13 million. I think it stands to reason.
Theme parks are a more popular pastime than ever, Disney has lots of fans young and old, and they do things right. Let's throw all that on too.

We did 2 days at DLR last July and I was amazed at the volume of the crowds. We tricked ourselves into thinking we picked a good time to go (mid-week, very warm) by going to DCA on the first day. It wasn't slow, but the crowd was more than pleasant to manage. We ended up with Fastpasses for Soarn' and Radiator Springs. The only lines longer than 30 minutes that we had to deal with were Toy Story and the sun wheel. The rapids ride was longer, but we skipped it. We went into day 2 at Disneyland feeling pretty smug. It was the exact opposite. It wasn't wall-to-wall people, but it was very crowded. Long lines all the way around. We diligently played the Fastpass game and the only thing we missed that we were disappointed with was Space Mountain, but it took a nearly 16 hour day in the park to get it done. I can't imagine what the park would look like on a truly busy day like a holiday.

DL is quite possibly my favorite park anywhere...and my first trip to DCA was a little lackluster. That said, even without any movie background, Cars Land and esp. RSR made the parks wayyyy "more equal" in my eyes.

My ears, OTOH, have had enough of Larry the Cable Guy for a decade or more... ;~)

I have friends who went last year, the week between Christmas and New Years. They said at times the paths were so tight with humanoids it was actually frightening, like that suffocating, caught-in-a-crowd feeling. They also said thru judicious use of FP they managed to get it all in over two days, but no thanks.

And I know... friends don't let friends...

I went two years ago on random off-season weekdays in the middle of February.

It was a mad house.

Yes, the price point is high, but the value proposition is incredible. DLR is hands down my favorite place to do themepark stuff in the US.

RCMAC, humanoids? Like monsters similar to humans? Seems kinda scary to me. I don't want to go there without a witcher now.

The crowds are still lazy. I had an AP during the 60th and was there in October, mid December, June, and October again. As long as you rope dropped a park, used Fastpass, and Single rider lines you could get plenty done. There were many 8-midnight days where I could do all the E-tickets in a day at both parks. Heck in June I was able to watch Paint the Night, Disneyland Forever (from Main St by town square) make it just in time for World of Color: Celebrate and then make back to see the second half of Fantasmic! starting with Peter Pan all in one night.

I know I'm not a normal guest, but a normal guest who shows up at opening should be able to see most of one park in a day.

We went for a weekend to DLR earlier this year right at the beginning of the spring break window (March 23ish). Fri at DCA was very managable and Sunday at DL was tight but not oppressive, but Sat at DL was wall-to-wall. They had cast members at many major intersections directing people to walk on the right of the midways. What's interesting was that reasonable use of fastpass and going early, taking a mid-afternoon break, and staying late, let us do pretty much everything we wanted to do without waiting for more than 30 minutes ever.

More so than Disney World the early bird gets the worm at the Disneyland Resort. If you stay on Disney property you have to take advantage of the extra magic hours too. We went this past June and were able to hit up all of the marquee attractions at / before opening and get fast passes like crazy (we averaged over 5 a day). The longest line we waited in was to get into DCA at the Grand Californian.