I looked at the crowd levels both predicted for this year & what happened last year that same week & I think those are fair predictions & are not too far off from what you’ll see. Last year they predicted 5/6/7 and most days were either the same or less. They didn’t have any 8’s over that week last year. I am surprised they ever had predictions lower than they do now though (& very surprised that last year was as low as it was) as the Thur/Fri of that week is Fall Break for the majority of Utah public schools & in the past it’s been 7/8/9 if not 10 crowds. The fall break is scheduled at that time for teachers to attend the Utah Education Association Convention (UEA Convention). The convention was cancelled this year, but Fall Break was scheduled well in advance of that so schools will still be out (my kids included). And the love of Disney & Halloween is very big here in Utah so it’s a very popular place to be during UEA. We know many people who go regularly at that time.
That being said, as a Liner you know all about Rope Drop & I would encourage you to Rope Drop every single day that you can stand it (I know it gets harder as the trip gets longer, but even showing up close to rope drop will give you such an advantage). With a lot of local following it’s even easier to beat the crowds by showing up early as most come starting at 10-11am (with no place to midday break but restaurants or the park benches they rarely do a full day & so midday gets quite crowded. You on the other hand, will be able to knock out the majority of headliners you want to & when 1:30 hits (and it’s the most crowded/hottest part of the day) you can leave the parks having done a lot of what you set out to accomplish & come back refreshed for an evening of touring.
I would recommend keeping yours TPs flexible & with plenty of buffer space as TP is not as reliable in DL as it is in WDW (not enough user data is input to make it as reliable) so often times predicted waits in the TP are low after about the first hour or so. Also, Disneyland can make last minute changes/announcements that draw a large local crowd out for something special that can’t be accounted for in a CL (and rarely is the special offering something that even actually affects line wait times that crowd levels are measured off of, usually it’s food or a festival or rare character or some special guest at the start of the parade- we got to be there for Dick Van Dyke’s 90th & that was a lot of fun to see him ride past on a decked out Main Street Vehicle in front of the parade).
What I generally do is plan half the trip & then leave the rest of it to pick up what didn’t get done from earlier/repeat favorites & my favorite that is a huge part of Disneyland- to leave us flexible to do whatever impromptu moments that come up that just couldn’t be planned especially with characters. Disneyland has so many unannounced characters/offerings & my family just loves to stop for those things & I am happy to do it because they are so magical (and ever since I started planning I make sure to leave room in the plans for them).
I would also recommend that you double check the times on shows, especially if you made your TPs well in advance as a lot of times the show schedules can be different than the prior year (what TP uses to predict) & if you haven’t refreshed your plans you may have outdated info there.
And then if the humanity is just all too much even after that, here are some places that you can go to & at least have a break from things: ride the train in a loop, Winnie the Pooh & Little Mermaid dark rides hardly ever have longer than 10 min. waits & are a good 5-8 min. break in air conditioning, it’s a small world or Buzz Lightyear almost always have immediate FPs to pull & it’s a small world is a blessed 15 min of air conditioning, Disneyland Gallery (containing a short movie made for the 50th & hosted by Steve Martin which is just cute & fun) & Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln right next to it are always a good time, similarly if they still have it Blue Sky Cellar Preview center showing the plans for the newest/next additions to DCA along with a short film all about the making of Pixar Pier as told by the Imagineers who designed it, both the Sunset Showcase Theater in DCA and the Tomorrowland Theater in Disneyland should be showing some sort of preview/set of short films & are always a good way to get off your feet & still enjoy yourself. Along this same line of thinking Mickey & the Magical Map show in Disneyland (only done on weekends during off-season though) is a great show that you don’t need to plan in advance to get a seat for as the theater is huge. And my personal favorites to escape to, ride the Mark Twain in Disneyland, enjoy the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail in DCA or also in DCA the Animation Building (all of it is great including the lobby that plays clips/songs/shows digital images of concept art in 360 surround view of Disney animated movies; the Animation Academy where you can learn from a Disney animator how to draw a character; Turtle Talk with Crush; and Anna & Elsa character meet with the wait in the lobby enjoying the clips of Disney movies).
Hopefully I’ve helped put off some of the freak out & I hope that no matter what you & your family enjoy the charm & magic of the original park Walt built (there’s nothing that beats it for me) along with the fun & adventure at the DCA expansion.