Hey there Kellen,
Welcome to planDisney and thanks so much for your question! It's always fun getting to answer a question from a fellow Arizonan.
To start, I'm sorry to hear your first visit didn't pan out as you planned or expected that it would - I'm hoping you still were able to make some fun magical memories. From my experience, larger disruptions to standard park operations are extremely rare.
While VIP guests visits are not announced or publicized at the parks, they typically don't impact the park in a large way like it sounds happened during your visit.
Typically, my go-to planning tool to get a better idea of events, park hours, and rides that are planned to be closed for refurbishments is the
Daily Events Schedule on the Disneyland Resort website. This schedule is available about six weeks out from the current date, so you'll be able to view it by around early September for your mid-October trip.
The only other major events that will impact park hours that have been announced around the time of your trip are the
Oogie Boogie Bash - A Disney Halloween Party events held on select nights throughout the
Halloween season. On event nights, Disney California Adventure Park closes at 6:00 PM but Disneyland Park is typically open late for its standard park hours.
When I visit during this season, I like to purchase the
Park Hopper option for my ticket so that I can have some added flexibility to hop between the parks. That way, I can hang out in Disney California Adventure Park and then when it closes I can hop over to Disneyland Park for the rest of the evening.
Thanks again for your question, Kellen! I hope you have fun on your trip to the Disneyland Resort this fall.
Have a Magical Day,
Greg