Is it just me or does it seem the parks arexpacked?

[kymom79]

We went this month also and it did feel much more crowded that the same week of the year in 2010. This wasn't reflected so much in wait times (we had a plan and adhered to it like true park commandos), but in how crowded the trams, ferries, monorails, restaurants, and public areas were. We were also thinking, if this is September, what's summer like? So we didn't do anything "wrong" -- but we are in amazement that we had to basically execute the Plan for Disney World Domination to the letter at the lowest time of the year and it still seemed like there were crowds everywhere.

 

[sets14]

I am curious which set of recommended parks OP was using. Touring plans? Easy wdw? And for those who felt crowds were low, which recommendations did you use? Thanks!

 

[Blessedwithboys]

Those of you who found the parks to be crowded this past week are doing something wrong. We just returned from 8 days, Sept. 14-21 and never waited more than ten minutes, if that for anything. We do rope drop, rest in the heat of the day and return at night. We also use fastpass when needed. The only crowds we saw were Thursday night September 19 at MK when we went for parade and fireworks. With MK closing early a lot of nights that was expected. We only went for the nighttime entertainment, we saved MK for other less crowded days... Tuesday & Friday.

We had a similar experience. We got to the parks early, used EMH and took a few mid day breaks. I thought the crowds were heavier than last year at MK in particular. But it really did not effect our touring style. We actually commented on Tuesday at Epcot how slow it seemed, nearly dead. Yes Soarin had a 40 minute standby but honestly we walked in the the character spot and visited for 20+ minutes with no one else in there NO ONE!!!!

 

[GaBelle]

I am curious which set of recommended parks OP was using. Touring plans? Easy wdw? And for those who felt crowds were low, which recommendations did you use? Thanks!

I used easywdw. The only day that I didn't follow his recs were Sunday, the 15th. Even that at MK was extremely easy to manage.

 

[seashellmama]

We were there from Thursday, Sept 12 to Wednesday, Sept 18. We arrived late morning from Port Canaveral after a 4night cruise, stayed at AKL, had our colorful MBs in a sea of gray ones, had free DDP. We went to:
Thursday PM: AK (7pm Boma ADR)
Friday: MK (I had originally intended AK for this day, but we decided on MK the night before instead)
Saturday: Epcot (~noon Akershus ADR, Illuminations FP+)
Sunday: AM - DHS, PM - MK (had planned all day DHS, with 8pm Sci-Fi dine-in ADR, which I cancelled day-of)
Monday: resort day + 8:35pm CRT (originally planned MK all day)
Tuesday: AK (1pm Tusker House ADR made on Monday to replace Sci-Fi) (had not made a plan for this day)
Wednesday: resort day + leaving (Boma breakfast, no ADR, no wait)

We are (essentially) first-timers to WDW, Disneyland vets, with my mom and my two kids (8y/11y). Are goal was fun, not seeing Everything. The weekend stressed me out something fierce- I'd planned MK for Monday (had a BOG FP+ for lunch, even), but DHS was remarkably unpleasant and uninteresting to us (well, I mean, after TOT (twice for me and 8yo, once for 11yo), and EE (me + kids using FP+ once, then again using single rider)- LOVED it), and we loved the great movie ride. We then tried to go to the backlot tour but the rain had come in and was very threatening so the tour was closed- we walked through the Walt exhibit (love that stuff) and then decided to just bail. Four more hours there just for our ADR was not at all appealing.

So, we went to MK, where again, lines were not bad but the place just felt BUSY. We worked it out OK, used FP+'s for HM, 8yo went on Dumbo, we walked around a lot, but did things like the Hall of Presidents, um, twice (well, 11yo + grandma twice... 8yo had to do a bathroom trip RIGHT before it started, so she and I missed the first one- 11yo insisted we had to see it, so later in the day they went again with us). I think, honestly, we were just wiped out, but it did not feel like a place we could amble in the empty streets, you know? We'd just been to Disneyland the Wednesday before our trip and it was just gloriously empty. I was *very* impressed with traffic control when we decided to bail in the middle of Wishes (we were watching it from, um, the little, is it a bakery? near the Hall of Presidents, so not a great and grand view, and my 11yo does not like fireworks anyway)- we were able to move very comfortably from there all the way to the shops on main streets, through which travel was easy.

The next night we were able to get into MK and around to the back of the Castle easily, riding Small World on our way, going into the roped off area around 8pm, where we had a grand view of the MSEP and then the kids watched some of the fireworks with Cinderella (fantastic picture of Cinderella, like 10 happy shining little girls and one sitting a little to the side, curled over, hands over her ears.... did I mention my 11yo does not like fireworks much?) before we finally got seated.

I did, as a first-time visitor, have several moments of "this is clearly not packed, but holy cow how must it be when it is?!!"

 

[coopersmom]

We were there September 8-15 and have never seen such low crowds, including the same time period on our last visit in 2010.

Splash and Big Thunder had 10 minute posted midday waits that were really just the time needed to go through the queues. Soarin' with FastPasses at >2 hours out even at 2-3 PM. Peak waits at things like Test Track no more than 30 minutes, with FP still available.

After day one I didn't even worry about getting there for rope drop (usually my cardinal rule), as lines were always very manageable for all parks, and even the big rides were relatively easy to get Fast Passes for, though we rarely needed them.

We used easywdw.com's "recommended parks" to chose which day to go where and found them to be VERY helpful. The one day we deviated, intentionally, going to Magic Kingdom for a scheduled tour on a non-recommended day, we saw wait times that were more than doubled from the day before, when MK was recommended, for the same rides. While we had walked onto Splash, repeatedly, the day before, never waiting AT ALL, the non-reccomended day had waits of 30 minutes posted at about the same time (11 AM-1 PM).

On recommended days, Small World was sending empty boats, the Dumbo play area was closed because the whole ride was a walk-on (one side wasn't even spinning all the time), and we were the ONLY family on Star Tours one morning at about 10 AM at the Studios. And even without getting there right at opening, we did Tales with Belle with less than 15 minutes in line (posted was, I think, 20) after arriving at Maurice's cabin at about 9:25 AM. Got a noon-ish Jedi Training spot for our son after a 9:30 AM Studios arrival. Heck, we even walked on Peter Pan one day.

On the first Halloween party day we arrived at around 4 PM and managed to do all of this: ride 24 different rides (including all MK headliners, going on Splash 6 different times), all without any sort of waits; watch the Headless Horseman (first parade); score out a curbside spot for the second parade on Main Street, just walking up, 3 minutes before it began; get a spot dead center in front of the castle for the show and Hallowishes less than 10 minutes before everything got going; have dinner at Sleepy Hollow; trick or treat; get all the special "trick" Halloween PhotoPass photos (Hitchhiking ghosts, haunted carriage, etc.); and do the Monsters, Inc. dance party. Yes, we stayed until the end and the place was a literal ghost town as we headed out after a final Splash ride at 12:15 AM. It was probably the best day/night I've ever had in the Magic Kingdom.

We also totally lucked out with weather, having only a single, slightly rainy day ... And even then it didn't dampen our plans one bit.

Disney World in September is sublime. I never want to go any other time.

 

[tsme]

We just got back today from a week long stay & agree with OP. It was more crowded than usual. There were more people & there was even a line outside of Spaceship Earth, I've never experienced in September. In the past we never had to wait, we just walked right on. So it was more crowded. Even MNSSHP was more crowded.

 

[Rowanonfire]

Also to quote what Josh says on his site regularly, the only difference between a 1 day and a 9 day is thousands of people in line for the rides. Walkways and the parks are likely still going to FEEL crowded. Ride capacity does not increase during lower crowd times. There's always gonna be the same amount of people ever hour exiting one ride and wandering looking for something else to do.

 

[SDSorority]

Been here at disney world since the 17th. Came at a "slow" time of year and planned all the parks according to the crowd trackers. Magic kingdim is packed! Hollywoid studios too. It's 9:00 am and we're in line to toy story mania and it's already over 30 min. wait.
If these are 1or 2 crowd levels waht are 4,5 or 9 levels like?

Y.E.S. We were there the 14th through the 21st and we said the same thing! Much busier than we have ever seen in September. Seemed more like mid-October to us.

 

[mejo]

We have been here since the 12th and the parks are empty except at red day parks

 

[~Brandy~]

We went down for the weekend of the 14th and I was amazed at how quiet it was. Our last trip was in April over spring break and I bet there were easily 10 times more people in the parks. We went on rides multiple times, walked up to table service restaurants, you name it. Felt like we had the place practically to ourselves.

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

Seemed more like mid-October to us.

No way - we were there last mid-October & most recently today ....... it's not even close. DD & I had walk-ons through MK this morning right after rope drop until just after noon - we did Peter Pan, Small World, Ariel, Pooh 2x, rode the carousel with the Stepsisters, did the M&G with them all before 10 am; headed to Splash/Thunder & rode them each 2x using SB & FP- with each, then HM 2x & had a lengthy conversation with a stranger about HM & history facts about HM, took a 15 min phone recharge break by 11:30. There was the normal crowd/wait time increase by noon but still very manageable, no issues in restaurants or on transportation.

Yesterday we managed all of Epcot using only FP- (no MBs or FP+ for us) and got everything and then some done. (except Ellen & for the fact that we're never really done, we just keep finding more we want to do, but anyway....) I'm sure this won't last long with F&W right around the corner, lol!

We were there: mid-Oct, 1st week of Dec, President's Day Weekend, 1st week of May, 3rd weekend in May, the weekend after Labor Day & just returned from 2 days - These last trips in Sept have been hands-down the absolute lowest crowds we've seen. (and we don't do peak times obviously, I can't imagine what level 8-9-10's are like. )

Yes, these were definitely 1-2 crowd levels days to us.

The love bugs were awful today but the weather has been gorgeous!!

 

[Postal68]

 

[Mommy2Corinne]

We were there September 8-15 and have never seen such low crowds, including the same time period on our last visit in 2010.

Splash and Big Thunder had 10 minute posted midday waits that were really just the time needed to go through the queues. Soarin' with FastPasses at >2 hours out even at 2-3 PM. Peak waits at things like Test Track no more than 30 minutes, with FP still available.

After day one I didn't even worry about getting there for rope drop (usually my cardinal rule), as lines were always very manageable for all parks, and even the big rides were relatively easy to get Fast Passes for, though we rarely needed them.

We used easywdw.com's "recommended parks" to chose which day to go where and found them to be VERY helpful. The one day we deviated, intentionally, going to Magic Kingdom for a scheduled tour on a non-recommended day, we saw wait times that were more than doubled from the day before, when MK was recommended, for the same rides. While we had walked onto Splash, repeatedly, the day before, never waiting AT ALL, the non-reccomended day had waits of 30 minutes posted at about the same time (11 AM-1 PM).

On recommended days, Small World was sending empty boats, the Dumbo play area was closed because the whole ride was a walk-on (one side wasn't even spinning all the time), and we were the ONLY family on Star Tours one morning at about 10 AM at the Studios. And even without getting there right at opening, we did Tales with Belle with less than 15 minutes in line (posted was, I think, 20) after arriving at Maurice's cabin at about 9:25 AM. Got a noon-ish Jedi Training spot for our son after a 9:30 AM Studios arrival. Heck, we even walked on Peter Pan one day.

On the first Halloween party day we arrived at around 4 PM and managed to do all of this: ride 24 different rides (including all MK headliners, going on Splash 6 different times), all without any sort of waits; watch the Headless Horseman (first parade); score out a curbside spot for the second parade on Main Street, just walking up, 3 minutes before it began; get a spot dead center in front of the castle for the show and Hallowishes less than 10 minutes before everything got going; have dinner at Sleepy Hollow; trick or treat; get all the special "trick" Halloween PhotoPass photos (Hitchhiking ghosts, haunted carriage, etc.); and do the Monsters, Inc. dance party. Yes, we stayed until the end and the place was a literal ghost town as we headed out after a final Splash ride at 12:15 AM. It was probably the best day/night I've ever had in the Magic Kingdom.

We also totally lucked out with weather, having only a single, slightly rainy day ... And even then it didn't dampen our plans one bit.

Disney World in September is sublime. I never want to go any other time.

We were there the 13-21st, and spent that Sunday the 15th (the day you left) at AK. When I mentioned to the CM at EE that the wait times seemed pretty decent but the park still "felt crowded" he said, "You should have seen it last week...it was a ghost town."

So I wonder if the crowds picked up a bit mid-month?

Like I said earlier...it was a great trip for us and we didn't ever have to wait, but it was far from a ghost town most days (and yes...I did follow recommended park days most of the time). That said...I'll take September over peak/summer/holidays ANY day.

 

[LibertyTree]

We're in WDW right now. It is busier then usual for September. We had Dumbo all to ourselves for about an hour in the morning, so I wouldn't say its crowded, per se, but there have been long lines midday and the restaurants are far busier then usual for Sept.

WDW always gets a lot of foriegn visitors, but the percentage seems really high right now. A lot of people here are from Europe. I wonder if they are offering better deals abroad.

 

[Mommy2Corinne]

WDW always gets a lot of foriegn visitors, but the percentage seems really high right now. A lot of people here are from Europe. I wonder if they are offering better deals abroad.

I agree. My husband commented that we heard by FAR more foreign languages being spoken this trip than we did English. It was kind of crazy.

 

[dawgsgirl]

A CM in the MK told me once that it is not crowded if you can see the pavement!! I was there Sept 5-12. Not as crowded as other times, but still plenty of people, lots of them foreign. I am always amazed at the number of people that visit WDW. My first visit to WDW was in Sept 2003. Now that was really dead and I tend to judge all trips by that one. I also went in Sept of 2004 and that was a very pleasant trip. Free dining started in 2005 and Sept has never been the same!

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

I agree. My husband commented that we heard by FAR more foreign languages being spoken this trip than we did English. It was kind of crazy.

Definitely agree, we noticed this as well.

 

[Fratthouse]

We were there Sept 4 - 8 and go this weekend every year because my husband has to be at the NOJ event for his work. It definitely seemed more crowded this year than years past (we went in 2009, 2010, 2012, & 2013). Ride waits were still reasonable, but it definitely felt more crowded. And I made the mistake of going to DTD on Saturday night - it was insane!! Like Black Friday, but worse!! I should have known when they actually ran out of room on the bus on our way over and had to turn people away to wait for the next one.

I also noticed much more international visitors - it definitely felt like we English speakers were the minority

I think September is still one of the best times to go, but crowds continue to grow. We have a trip coming up first week of December, and I'm pretty nervous for how crowded it will be!

 

[ukool]

Here now, its our second week and its defo feeling more crowded this weekend. So far the longest que we have seen has been 80 mins for kali river rapids!