Crowd At Parks And Resorts Past Two Weeks

[wee-haggis]

We were in a position to pick and choose when and where we wanted to stay. So, based on the advice of numerous Crowd Calendar websites, we went at a time considered by most as the second ,quietest time of the year (the past 2 weeks). This proved to not be true. I'm beginning to think that there is no such thing as a "quiet time" any more. As a side note, this trip was the first visit in which we were able to experience the latest Fastpass method and I have to confess that I hate it. Being able to book them in advance only encourages laziness and favours onsite guests. (Overheard many in lineups grumbling about this).I didn't see any problem with the old method of Fastpass distribution.

 

[sscott87]

What is your definition of quiet times, or slow crowds? I ask because it sounds like you haven't been in some years (from the fast pass reference). Wife and I first went in 2010, last week of July. Second visit was this past May, last week of the month if I recall correctly.

Just got back from a last-second planned trip, spent December 11-15 in the parks. Crowds were impressively slim. Sunday (the 11th) was fairly crowded but by Monday and the remainder, I was in awe at how few people were there. Most rides averaged probably 30 minute waits at mid afternoon, but mornings and late evenings were great. We rode Toy Story Mania around 11 am on Wednesday with a 10 minute wait (initial morning crowd had it at 60+ after a delayed opening, but cleared out by the time we got on it). That was after RnRc at rope drop, followed by two rides on ToT, and once on the Great Movie Ride.

Epcot rides were largely 20 minutes and under in the afternoon/evenings (obvious exceptions but even Test Track and Soarin were less than normal).

FP+ is definitely some different from the old system, but the "lazy" don't use it to the fullest potential. Doing a little research and having a plan, you can really maximize rides with the app. We were on our 8th FP one evening before we left the parks. We rarely ride anything without a FP, but it takes a little work and luck.

 

[sscott87]

But in short... you're right... there really isn't a "slow" time of year to go. That was the indeed a slim crowd.

 

[Cee]

We went this past Sept. 10-17 and there were crowds for sure. I've been at that time before(about 5-6 years ago) and it was dead. Ah, well.......

 

[Nancyg56]

I just got home last night. I found the crowds to be reasonable, and the SB times to be manageable. AS to the current FP method, there are folks who love it (I am one of those people) and many who do not care for it. I am not lazy, but I dont have a "runner" so I would be in the SB queue for every attraction that was popular.

I think that a little research would have gone a long way,becuase while there is a bonus for staying onsite, there are plenty FP available for those who do not.

 

[wee-haggis]

What is your definition of quiet times, or slow crowds? I ask because it sounds like you haven't been in some years (from the fast pass reference). Wife and I first went in 2010, last week of July. Second visit was this past May, last week of the month if I recall correctly.

Just got back from a last-second planned trip, spent December 11-15 in the parks. Crowds were impressively slim. Sunday (the 11th) was fairly crowded but by Monday and the remainder, I was in awe at how few people were there. Most rides averaged probably 30 minute waits at mid afternoon, but mornings and late evenings were great. We rode Toy Story Mania around 11 am on Wednesday with a 10 minute wait (initial morning crowd had it at 60+ after a delayed opening, but cleared out by the time we got on it). That was after RnRc at rope drop, followed by two rides on ToT, and once on the Great Movie Ride.

Epcot rides were largely 20 minutes and under in the afternoon/evenings (obvious exceptions but even Test Track and Soarin were less than normal).

FP+ is definitely some different from the old system, but the "lazy" don't use it to the fullest potential. Doing a little research and having a plan, you can really maximize rides with the app. We were on our 8th FP one evening before we left the parks. We rarely ride anything without a FP, but it takes a little work and luck.

Indeed it has been a few years (2014) since we were last there, and having been at this exact time of year (23 visits in total), i can say with some certainty that the crowds have increased substantially. Our first was 3rd December and it was absolutely packed ( so much so that we gave up and walked back to Boardwalk Villas where we checked in). we have Annual passes and up to today we were at the parks every day (other than the 3 days at Universal.....who's Front Of the Line method is far superior to Disneys,by the way) and 90% of the visits were for rope drop we had one walk on to Soarin, one walk on to the Safari and one walk on to RnR.R.....other than that it was all fast passes and bypassing the ride due to wait times.Maybe my memory is not so good now, but i saw a huge difference in crowd numbers compare to previous years at this time.

 

[wee-haggis]

We went this past Sept. 10-17 and there were crowds for sure. I've been at that time before(about 5-6 years ago) and it was dead. Ah, well.......

Yes....i agree with you. I think there are several reasons. Emerging, economies (being more affordable for them),more Americans staying close to home due to fear of travelling to other countries.....as well as more Americansnow being able to afford it (compared to previous years)

 

[wee-haggis]

I just got home last night. I found the crowds to be reasonable, and the SB times to be manageable. AS to the current FP method, there are folks who love it (I am one of those people) and many who do not care for it. I am not lazy, but I dont have a "runner" so I would be in the SB queue for every attraction that was popular.

I think that a little research would have gone a long way,becuase while there is a bonus for staying onsite, there are plenty FP available for those who do not.

This was our 23rd visit and we plan for months in advance (in fact I am often accused of going a bit overboard using Excel spreadsheets etc). I had annual passes and stayed at Boardwalk Villas setting up the Faspasses 60 days in advance. the limit of 3 per day and limits of the number you can reserve over the duaration of our stay did not work out well for us (I can only imagine how bad it is for off-site guests). I honestly couldn't see fault with old Fastpass method. As another side note, over the years I have been going to WDW I am getting bit annoyed to see how much gouging goes on (whether it be Hotel costs,park entry tickets,food and merchandise)

 

[caliope]

We were at MK December 10-13. We found the crowds on Saturday the 10th to be the worst, though that was generally expected. It eased up the rest of the days but was certainly never empty. Tuesday the 13th was probably the lightest crowd. We had no trouble getting the FP we wanted and planned other attractions for rope drop to minimize waits. Since we were with our 4 year old, we focused our park time from opening-12:30 or so, then back later in the evening (6:00-7:00) on the two non-party nights. We never stood in line longer than 20 minutes at most and we saw and did everything we wanted to see/do, in many cases multiple times. This was our second trip on 2016, the first being end of January/early February and I'd say this trip seemed about the same in terms of crowds in the park and at the resort (we stayed Poly both trips). I think there are probably a lot of reasons why the formerly "slow" times are busier, but with planning we found it still manageable and enjoyable.

 

[Missyrose]

the limit of 3 per day and limits of the number you can reserve over the duaration of our stay did not work out well for us

1. The limit is three per day IN ADVANCE. You can add more each day once you've used the three.
2. With an annual pass, you can make FP+ reservations for every day of your resort stay. The only issue comes in if you have an offsite stay. Then it's seven days with an Ap.

 

[loves to dive]

We will be there next week, it's our first Christmas season stay but we have been going for over 30 years at other times - Summer, fall, spring. I think crowded might be subjective since I've come back from trips thinking it was pretty easy only to read how horrible the crowds were. As far as the FP system, we rarely used the old system. I'm not about to run with the bulls to get a FP and if you have to wait in line for one, why not just wait in line for the ride. We use the new system but certainly not in the way some people do. We don't book until the night before or even the day of while standing in line, so we could be considered off site even though we always stay on site. We never have any problems getting rides and if we have to wait in line, no big deal. The advantage of having been going for so long is we remember when there was no FP and if you wanted to ride a ride, you stood in line.

 

[wee-haggis]

1. The limit is three per day IN ADVANCE. You can add more each day once you've used the three.
2. With an annual pass, you can make FP+ reservations for every day of your resort stay. The only issue comes in if you have an offsite stay. Then it's seven days with an Ap.

Yes....you are correct.3 per day in advance. But, late morning (early afternoon) if we attempted to obtain more FP's (after 3 advanced were used), we were lucky if we got anything.....or late evening at best. Indeed we did did stay offsite for several days following the Boardwalk Villas stay.

 

[Nancyg56]

Yes....you are correct.3 per day in advance. But, late morning (early afternoon) if we attempted to obtain more FP's (after 3 advanced were used), we were lucky if we got anything.....or late evening at best. Indeed we did did stay offsite for several days following the Boardwalk Villas stay.

THe new system is not working for everyone, but we find that it works well for us. I like knowing I have three FP set up for every park, and that I do nto need to beat feet to teh FP kiosk hoping that the window that is offered will be in a timeframe that i want. I bet you a buck that if it is crowded in the parks, those of us who do not want to open he parks would have the same experience that you are describing.

 

[TeamH5]

Yes....you are correct.3 per day in advance. But, late morning (early afternoon) if we attempted to obtain more FP's (after 3 advanced were used), we were lucky if we got anything.....or late evening at best. Indeed we did did stay offsite for several days following the Boardwalk Villas stay.

This was the problem I ran into this week as well. I personally can't stand the new FP system. Our last visit I was able to walk up to the kiosks and get a FP for times I wanted. No issues.
Matter of fact, this visit, I had made a FP for splash for when I THOUGHT we'd be in Frontierland. Well our 2 yr old had much different plans and we ended up over there much earlier. I tried like hell to change our FP and couldn't. Posted wait time was over an hour, so we ended up wasting time in FL waiting for our FP time. In hindsight, we should've just hoped in the standby as we wasted just as much time waiting for our FP.

But, we are also a family of currently 5 riders for the headliners, and will be 6 next visit. It's hard to get a FP period for all of us. But then again, under the old system the 5 of us never had a problem getting one together..

They need to get rid of the FP+, along with the picture system at 7DMT where you HAVE to have a MB in order to get your ride pic. That was the only ride we weren't able to tap our card and have the pic added to our Memory maker acct.

 

[Accident]

We were in a position to pick and choose when and where we wanted to stay. So, based on the advice of numerous Crowd Calendar websites, we went at a time considered by most as the second ,quietest time of the year (the past 2 weeks). This proved to not be true. I'm beginning to think that there is no such thing as a "quiet time" any more. As a side note, this trip was the first visit in which we were able to experience the latest Fastpass method and I have to confess that I hate it. Being able to book them in advance only encourages laziness and favours onsite guests. (Overheard many in lineups grumbling about this).I didn't see any problem with the old method of Fastpass distribution.

You didn't mention exactly when you were there. I see 12/2016 and the first week is traditionally quieter, but it's also traditionally a week without discounts, when they film the parade for xmas, etc. This year it had discounts, including free dining and they filmed in november and it was packed as a result.

Crowd levels are very subjective depending on personal past experiences. Someone that comes on xmas week would find the first 2 weeks of december to be lower crowds. The problem is lower crowds doesn't mean uncrowded. There's just different levels of crowded and you can count on your fingers the days of the year that are actually low crowd. It just doesn't happen much more and the more people that talk about the same weeks, the more people that target it.

I actually think crowd calendars have become so popular that everyone uses them for when to come so what should be a quieter week (note I didn't say uncrowded) becomes a very crowded week. The same with what park to do on what day.

The short is, since frozen came out, the place isn't crowded and even with peopel saying it's lower crowds this year, it's only 4% lower than last year when everyone packed the place tight for the last osbourne lights so it's still much higher than it was 3-5 years ago. Pandora is going to pack the place next year, toy story the year after (assuming it opens in 2018), and then star wars and that leads us into other changes we only have a hint about for epcot and getting ready for 2021 and the 50th anniversary..

Yes....you are correct.3 per day in advance. But, late morning (early afternoon) if we attempted to obtain more FP's (after 3 advanced were used), we were lucky if we got anything.....or late evening at best. Indeed we did did stay offsite for several days following the Boardwalk Villas stay.

my experience is it's about 2-3pm when the same day fastpasses start to show up but many of them are for dinner and then by 4-5pm it's all just before close fp+ that are left.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I was there Nov. 30-Dec. 14th and I thought the crowds were nuts! I wondered the same thing - is this the new normal? I was going to take some family during a quiet period sometime but really don't know if there is one and I know they won't enjoy feeling like a salmon swimming upstream. Is it time for Disney to build another park in the US? Even a small one I would enjoy and choose over a packed to the gills WDW - seems to be such high demand.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

The first of the past two weeks, when we were there, was also Pop Warner week. I'd expect that week to be somewhat crowded. (It was.)

 

[scard192]

during our November trip I was able to book 4,5,6...FP+ even got Test Track after we used our first 3 including FEA. I took whatever time I could get for the next FP+ and kept trying for a better time. Used the website, not the app - "refresh" was my friend. I was able to move every FP+ after the 3rd one to an earlier time; just took some persistence.

 

[subtchr]

As another side note, over the years I have been going to WDW I am getting bit annoyed to see how much gouging goes on (whether it be Hotel costs,park entry tickets,food and merchandise)

And yet you say that Universal's Express Pass works better than FP+ -- that's because they make people PAY for it! I appreciate the fact that every guest at WDW can use FP+.

...along with the picture system at 7DMT where you HAVE to have a MB in order to get your ride pic. That was the only ride we weren't able to tap our card and have the pic added to our Memory maker acct.

It's a bit of a pain, but you CAN get those pics by stopping at a Photopass desk, or calling, and giving them the time you rode and what your family was wearing. They can find the pics and add them to your account. Not ideal, but you can get them.

 

[TeamH5]

And yet you say that Universal's Express Pass works better than FP+ -- that's because they make people PAY for it! I appreciate the fact that every guest at WDW can use FP+.



It's a bit of a pain, but you CAN get those pics by stopping at a Photopass desk, or calling, and giving them the time you rode and what your family was wearing. They can find the pics and add them to your account. Not ideal, but you can get them.

I asked them that, they said 7DMT was the only ride you can't do that on. I asked several cast members at
The ride over the course of a couple of days, and got the same response each time.