It Is Busier Than I Remember!!!

[mm1971]

I have to say that we have been here since Saturday and it is a lot more crowded than I remember... We are having a great time and were loving the weather..

Yup. This is the new landscape. With all of the DVC properties (and more being built) and the discounts and free dining, it has increased the attendance in the slower times. If you look at Disney's annual reports the last few years, it shows an increase in attendance at the parks each year. Marketing is doing it's job. It's kind of a double-edged sword. Disney is more successful and has more $$ to update and bring better experiences. Crowd levels are increased and the rides need more maintenance due to increased activity. Overall I believe it is a very positive sign. Vacation wise, I miss my slow seasons where we enjoyed being with less vacationers.

We are targeting late August 2013. It's hot, but crowds are still manageable and we don't want to pull my 7th grader out of middle school.

 

[KimBeano]

Yup. This is the new landscape. With all of the DVC properties (and more being built) and the discounts and free dining, it has increased the attendance in the slower times. If you look at Disney's annual reports the last few years, it shows an increase in attendance at the parks each year. Marketing is doing it's job. It's kind of a double-edged sword. Disney is more successful and has more $$ to update and bring better experiences. Crowd levels are increased and the rides need more maintenance due to increased activity. Overall I believe it is a very positive sign. Vacation wise, I miss my slow seasons where we enjoyed being with less vacationers.

We are targeting late August 2013. It's hot, but crowds are still manageable and we don't want to pull my 7th grader out of middle school.

I take no exception with anything above but the free dining. Wasn't it more prevelant in years passed and now it appears to be getting phased out?? I never got to take advantage of it when it seemed to be everywhere (recession hit us hard) now that we are seeing the light I don't know if we'll be able to get it next year.

 

[KimBeano]

I wonder how many people are following a crowd calendar? I am going the last week in January and we have 2 days that we are going to a park that is not recommended. I follow easywdw. THe overall crowd level is 2 on both days, so I am hoping that I am not making a mistake.

I'm new around these parts, not as new as I seem as every year I forget my name and start over, lol. But, imo, those of us who do crowd calendars are in the minority. Ive heard many dis'ers say they don't go by them (I only do half way) so I don't think crowd calendars are driving crowds to the park.

 

[pjew]

Hi did any of yall there this week go to MK yesterday, wed?! Or to Ak on tuesday...if so how was the crowds?

 

[bauer1168]

Hi did any of yall there this week go to MK yesterday, wed?! Or to Ak on tuesday...if so how was the crowds?

Was at MK yesterday and crowds were low and very manageable. Only ride that had a big wait was BIg Thunder Mountain at 70mins around noon but went down after that. It was busy at night for Electrical Parade and Wishes, but that's to be expected.
Attended AM EMH today at 7am and it was very quiet. From 7am -10am I managed to ride:
PP
Pooh
Voyage of Little Mermaid
Dumbo
Barnstormer
Astro Orbiter
Fp for Space Mountain
Buzz (twice)
Ride Sm
Photo with Stitch
HM
Jungle Cruise
POTC
FP for Big Thunder Mountain

Big Thunder was down when I picked up FP. Lines have been fine. Left MK just after 11am. Space Mountain had a standby wait of 10mins

 

[pjew]

Wow awesome

 

[shalom]

But, imo, those of us who do crowd calendars are in the minority. Ive heard many dis'ers say they don't go by them (I only do half way) so I don't think crowd calendars are driving crowds to the park.

There's also the fact that the crowd calendars don't always agree. I scheduled my January vacation with easyWDW; signed up with touring plans out of curiosity and they disagree with crowd levels, which parks are best, or both, pretty much every day I planned on going.

 

[jneally]

I am new here. We were at Disney this past week. The crowds while were were walking were more than I anticipated but the wait time was not that much. Does that make sense?

 

[ttfn3]

I was at MK on Wednesday until a little bit before 3. I got there before opening & got a lot done before I left. It was awesome - except for the falling temps. Definitely best to go to a park during the day that does not have evening EMH.

Today (Thursday) I went to the Studios. They opened the turnstiles at 8:45 and the mad dash was on to TSM. I picked up a fast pass for 9:45-10:45 and rode the ride twice - once a walk on & once had a 20 minute wait. If you want to ride TSM you must get there before the posted opening time.

The new Pirates attraction is a must do - as long as you don't have little ones that get easily frightened. I saw two families that had to leave early because of scared small children.

 

[st225]

They keep adding vacation club and other hotels. Then they cut the price as necessary in the off times to make sure they're full. It means there are people everywhere. The low season isn't as low as it used to be.

 

[ktlm]

It was nice meeting you and your family as well. Did you get to go to the Enchanted tale with Belle?

We did and we loved it! We only had a 15 minute wait during MVMCP ( it was posted at 30, but was only half that). DD got picked to be the Beast, so she got to dance with Belle which was really special! I still wish they had a traditional meet and greet with Belle somewhere in MK though and we really missed her and Beast in their Christmas clothes at MVMCP.

 

[AndyFL]

The new Pirates attraction is a must do - as long as you don't have little ones that get easily frightened. I saw two families that had to leave early because of scared small children.

It was pretty cool wasn't it! You are 100% correct about it possibly being alittle overwhelming for tots.

 

[jaysmom4285]

It's funny that there are couple of other threads on this page talking about how empty the parks are and how little time people are waiting in line. I guess it all depends on how people did their touring plans.

 

[MDChris]

From what I've read on Easywdw, a low crowd number (i.e. - 1, 2 or 3) may still feel crowded in the park. This is because lines are short and guests are able to get on the ride and then quickly be out wandering for their next stop. So pay more attention to the line times as opposed to the crowds walking around. Less people waiting in long lines means more people walking around the park.

 

[Neelloc]

It's busier than I expected. We usually go in early September. We arrived yesterday and got to the MK at 3pm. Btmrr and SM were at 60 minute waits. People were everywhere. I knew it would be more crowded because of the night time entertainment but to me it was busy.
Today we went to Epcot because we got the CP package specifically to see Neil Patrick Harris. Again, it felt like there were more people than we were used to. Soarin was at 50-60 minutes all day We stayed from 10:30am thru 10:15pm and it felt busy. I'd rate Epcot a 5 today.

 

[KimBeano]

From what I've read on Easywdw, a low crowd number (i.e. - 1, 2 or 3) may still feel crowded in the park. This is because lines are short and guests are able to get on the ride and then quickly be out wandering for their next stop. So pay more attention to the line times as opposed to the crowds walking around. Less people waiting in long lines means more people walking around the park.

This is really smart!!!

 

[AndyFL]

We did and we loved it! We only had a 15 minute wait during MVMCP ( it was posted at 30, but was only half that). DD got picked to be the Beast, so she got to dance with Belle which was really special! I still wish they had a traditional meet and greet with Belle somewhere in MK though and we really missed her and Beast in their Christmas clothes at MVMCP.

Wish we could have seen Megan be the beast! Hope you guys make the most of the rest of your trip. After we met ya'll we went to Epcot and caught Illuminations, the new ending was simply unreal.

 

[PJ]

We've been here since Sunday, and for the most part crowds have been light. I think it was Tuesday that we walked right on to both Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain. Some things have still had consistent waits, like Soarin and Toy Story Mania.

I've been looking at EasyWDW for crowd levels, and it seems to be right on target. We don't follow any actual touring plans - our days of getting up early to get the parks are over so all we look at are crowd levels.