Interestingly, I think the crowds now have mostly everything to do with whether there is a "special event" going on at Disneyland. On days where the parks are just in "standard mode", it's very low crowds.
I know this is a small sample size. But I went to the parks Tuesday of last week and also yesterday. Tuesday was INSANE. DCA was the most crowded I've seen it since the Holiday time. It was the last day of the Food and Wine festival and it was PACKED. I didn't even ride anything that day. I ate some lunch, did some shopping, and bailed out.
Yesterday, by contrast, was WONDERFUL. Crowds were low, wait times were moderate (under 30 minutes for several major attractions throughout the day) and walkways were nice and open. We were at both parks between noon and 10:30pm. It was a flawless day. We sailed right into the Mickey and Friends parking structure at 11:45 and drove right up to the booth. This is NOT typical. We did a TON of rides, no
Genie+. We barely even used our
DAS because ride lines were manageable. There was absolutely nothing special happening this weekend.
Next weekend starts the Star Wars "month" so I'm betting on much larger crowds.
I feel like DL will slowly adopt the Epcot mentality of "must always have a festival or special themed event" and we will start to see more and more extended periods where something "special" is happening if attendance takes a nosedive in response to economic issues.