Here now...crowd calendars WAY off!

[jlsmith376]

This week was predicted to be light crowds on every planning site when I booked this trip a year ago. I think there were outside factors that caught everyone off guard - last year of Osborne lights, great weather, free dining, etc. I subscribe to touring plans too and got a crowd update email the week before our trip but the revision was for 4 to 5 and 5 to 6 days. They were nowhere close to predicting 8 to 10 days at any of the parks which was what we experienced nearly every day of our trip. The signs were there that it was going to be very busy this week. When we couldn't get dining reservations at 180 days everyone said it was due to free dining and not to worry because the restaurants would be busy but not the parks. When they announced the Christmas parade taping many posted not to worry because it would only affect the hub. We still had a great time because we planned well but we definitely did not get as much done as we expected due to the crowds.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

they are not realistic. If everyone follows them, guess what, that park that was a 3 is now a 8. Go where you want to and enjoy your time versus worrying about how much can you get in.

 

[Sytrace]

Today (Tuesday) we were at MK where the longest wait for Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain in the middle of the day was 25 minutes.
At 7 dwarves it was posted at 70 minutes but there was NO outdoor line running...everyone was in the building winding they way around I guess.
And at E&A it was a 40 minute posted wait but no one was outside the building.

It was beautiful weather and the parking lot was practically empty when we arrived at Noon and left at 4:30.

 

[jimim]

Disney is a world wide destination. Lol. Everyone else keeps it busy year round. Us Americans are only a spec of the people anymore.

 

[notfrostyjosh]

Today (Tuesday) we were at MK where the longest wait for Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain in the middle of the day was 25 minutes.
At 7 dwarves it was posted at 70 minutes but there was NO outdoor line running...everyone was in the building winding they way around I guess.
And at E&A it was a 40 minute posted wait but no one was outside the building.

It was beautiful weather and the parking lot was practically empty when we arrived at Noon and left at 4:30.

Magic Kingdom today:

It doesn't get much better than that these days, though I'm sure someone will come back comparing it to Christmas.

 

[jlsmith376]

I don't want to go to the parks when I have to wait an hour for every ride - so yes I do worry about how much we will get in. JMO but Disney is a very expensive trip to only get in a few rides. In years past the crowd calendars were fairly accurate, but this year they seem to be off. It probably does have something to do with increased knowledge of the average guest on when and where to go. Hopefully the planning sites adjust their algorithms accordingly, but we won't rely on them as much after this trip.

 

[alopez926]

Magic Kingdom today:

It doesn't get much better than that these days, though I'm sure someone will come back comparing it to Christmas.

This is a thing of beauty. What a difference a day (or two or three) can make in a trip.

 

[notfrostyjosh]

This is a thing of beauty. What a difference a day (or two or three) can make in a trip.

Yeah for real. This is the day before:

Probably too wide so here's a direct link: http://i.imgur.com/6jvmZcD.jpg

You can still do okay if you're intelligent about it. You could get through Mine Train -> Peter Pan's Flight -> Winnie the Pooh -> Maybe one other thing during the morning EMH then move on to Big Thunder and Splash and then Jungle Cruise and Pirates and you'd be doing pretty well for yourself. But there is certainly a wall come 11am that's significantly worse than it used to be. There are only three or four things that have waits under 20 minutes.

Then you can do very well again in the late evening. By 8pm waits are dropping significantly at most attractions.

 

[mom2rtk]

This is a thing of beauty. What a difference a day (or two or three) can make in a trip.

It's not complicated. Visit during party season. Do the MK on a non-party day. BAM. Instant low crowd day. (Well, mostly).

 

[Spoiledraf]

Just think how crowded it would be if all those people who hated the new fast pass and said they were never coming back decided to come back! Cause there were a lot of haters who said Disney would chase people away. NOT!

 

[mom2rtk]

Just think how crowded it would be if all those people who hated the new fast pass and said they were never coming back decided to come back! Cause there were a lot of haters who said Disney would chase people away. NOT!

That's the real reason DL has been so crowded this year.

 

[Stubbzilla]

We were at AK today and it wasn't bad. 10 minutes for Dinosaur, 20-30 for the safari, 30 for Everest.

 

[canoe86]

Didn't want to make a new thread for this, so I'll try this one first. Does anyone have a video of the MK opening this morning? We were the opening family and would love to have a video of it. Thanks!!!!

 

[Sytrace]

Today was a party day and there were many people going into the park as we were coming out at 4:30 I just couldn't get over how empty the parking lot was though.

 

[notfrostyjosh]

Okay I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that easywdw has listened to your feedback and I have revised the crowd calendar accordingly. Bad news is that it's sort of last minute! Sorry! Good news is that the crowd levels and recommendations won't change no matter when you're visiting. So just plug these numbers into your week. Crowd levels now go from 7 to 17 and I've revised the recommendations to be in line with current trends:

Hopefully this will be the end of these sorts of threads.

 

[Princess Mulan]

Okay I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that easywdw has listened to your feedback and I have revised the crowd calendar accordingly. Bad news is that it's sort of last minute! Sorry! Good news is that the crowd levels and recommendations won't change no matter when you're visiting. So just plug these numbers into your week. Crowd levels now go from 7 to 17 and I've revised the recommendations to be in line with current trends:

Hopefully this will be the end of these sorts of threads.

Now this is hilarious!!! Thanks, Josh, for the best laugh of the day!

 

[leebee]

So we went to Disney World for the first time last week (Wednesday thru Sat the 14th). We loved loved loved the Disney hotel but will never return to a Disney World park. It was just too crowded for all of us (even though we specifically planned to come at a low crowd week), and the things that we thought were great (like the Christmas lights at Hollywood Studios and the Food and Wine booths) were too crowded to enjoy. We felt like cattle being herded to the slaughterhouse at the Osborne Lights. The Magic Kingdom on Thursday and Friday seemed crazy busy to us-they were filming a TV parade show on the main street so we couldn't really see what was on it, and my kids couldn't last more than a few (very expensive) hours in those crowds before begging to go back to the hotel pool. We had park days we didn't even use b/c my kids didn't want to go to another crowded place (and we were planning on Animal Kingdom Saturday as was apparently everyone else!) And to pay $500 for your family to go to a theme park and then see lines for 60 min+ to ride a two minute ride? That is insane. You are paying for admission with the assumption that you should be able to do most of the park activities, not stand in line all day or only get to ride your 3 fast pass rides.

I guess I really don't understand all the hype over the theme parks. DH claimed it reminded him of a Truman Show type human experiment. Wait in line for the tram, wait in line to get your bag checked, wait in line to pay to get in for the privilege of waiting in line for food, to ride rides or see shows, etc. Maybe lots of people will agree with me this year and it will be less crowded for the rest of you next year. But I do appreciate all the advice posted on here.

Maybe. I feel like back when I planned this trip last year, the weekdays were supposed to be 4s, and it was a recommended week on one of the websites. I think supposed to be the 4th or 5th best week to go all year (?). And even if they were "average" days (5/6), it seems like if they are taking your admission money there is an implicit obligation to provide entertainment value in exchange (and waiting in line isn't fun). Three guaranteed rides for the cost of a ticket is pretty expensive "per ride".

It didn't occur to me to check when the parade was being filmed when I planned our trip-that might be obvious to a hard core Disney person, but I would have thought the parade would be live, like the Macy's Day parade. We were completely perplexed with why the main street was closed down and thought maybe there was a medical emergency until an employee explained.

That's OK, its just not for us! I was pretty surprised at how miserable the theme park experience was! Like, why do people keep coming back for this?? Kwim?

The majority of posters here are uber-planners, so people don't want to believe it, but this is EXACTLY what folks have been projecting will happen with first-timers. Disney has gotten to the point that even when people think they've planned, they really haven't. These posts show how the average person approaches a vacation to Disney- and even when they think they've made plans, there's just no way to prepare people for the reality of a trip to Disney World. I think it's pretty sad that newcomers to a place we all love so much think that these parks are a "miserable experience."

 

[crewsn]

Didn't want to make a new thread for this, so I'll try this one first. Does anyone have a video of the MK opening this morning? We were the opening family and would love to have a video of it. Thanks!!!!

I do. Not sure how great of quality it is. File size either, my husband says my camera is now outdated hah. PM me your contact info and I can look into sending you something we get home. You'll possibly have my kids in too?? I think I quickly turned the camera to them as I had a chuckle of my son ducking in anticipation of the fireworks. He hates them, but I know I got you all in the shot. Recorded the whole show.

 

[crewsn]

By the way the last two days have been amazing crowds. We came last year this week too and loving it as the weather is much better so far than last year. I'll take a little heat over the 30s we had last year on our AK day. Though I have to say that made the park dead then last year as no one wanted to be out .

 

[canoe86]

I do. Not sure how great of quality it is. File size either, my husband says my camera is now outdated hah. PM me your contact info and I can look into sending you something we get home. You'll possibly have my kids in too?? I think I quickly turned the camera to them as I had a chuckle of my son ducking in anticipation of the fireworks. He hates them, but I know I got you all in the shot. Recorded the whole show.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU AND THANK YOU !!!!! I will PM our info.