Just Back - Clarification on Low Crowds

[listener 76]

Just got back (9/25 through 10/4). Yes, the crowds were low, but with very important exceptions. First, all headliners ran 50-75 minutes wait from around 11am till 7pm. Some days, they ran out of fast passes for Soarin and Toy Story Mania by 3pm. So, if you are looking for rides being a "walk on", anticipate that this refers to Small World and Ellen's Energy Ride, but not Peter Pan or Test Track (all of whom would run 45 minutes by late morning through the rest of the regular day). So, get there by 9am and get fast passes early if you want to ride these rides without a long wait. On days we made the rope drop, we could ride the headliners several times with 10 min waits until around 10:30, which is when the crowds came and things started acting like "medium crowd" days.

Secondly, Food and Wine was relatively empty on the week days/night but very crowded on Fri/Sat/Sunday. So, on a weekday you might have a line with three people ahead of you for a food stand but on the weekend there was a line of many, many people and the wait was 30 minutes for food or drink. DD wants to know why they don't have a separate "drink only" line, since she often found herself waiting 20-30 minutes for 15 people to order beer and wine only while only one or two people wanted food and drink. Is there a way to help out the folks there who came "for the food"? She pointed out that it takes a lot longer to serve a drink than to serve the food, which was backing up the line considerably. Just wondering...

It was a great trip overall, and we can't wait to get back!

 

[daisypaisyduck]

Wow, late September early October seems busier than earlier in the month. Was there Sept 10-20 and never at any point on the day saw anything over a 30min wait . I visited parks at various times of the day from early to late. Is it bc of the F and W festival?? I would think more adults would be there without kids??
I'm always careful when I read about wait times. I've never been during peak season so for me 30mins is alot. Others who post wait times "Not Bad 40-60min" I think wow!
I guess it's all what your used to. I like going just after Labour Day when crowd are Really low.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We were there Sept 23rd - October 2nd and I was looking for the 'low' crowds. We've gone in January in previous years and to me this trip felt like a lot more 'humanity'. As was mentioned many lines were short or walk up but the main attractions did have waits especially later in the day. Highest wait I saw for Toy Story was 50 minutes. I know at one point Splash Mt was 40 minutes and Big Thunder 30 min.

We talked to a few CMs who said that there were more people in the world than in previous late Septembers (one gave us a figure of 15% increase). Also the weather according to one of them was hotter/ more humid than usual.

 

[wendy1974]

We were there from September 27th through October 2nd and though I found it to be walk-ons in the first 2 hours after rope drop for most attractions, I also noticed the long wait times for popular attractions. We could walk on Splash Mtn. if we got there at rope drop but when we went back at 11 a.m. it was a 30 minute wait and between noon and 7 it stayed at a 45 min + wait. TSM was a 35 minute wait in stand by at park opening and fast passes were gone by noon last Thursday.

We did Epcot on Wednesday and I found it much more crowded than when we went in 2006 for Food and Wine Festival. It was very crowded in World Showcase and we had a hard time walking without dodging people to avoid bumping into them. All I can think is that Free dining is the reason for the increase because when we went in 2006 there was no free dining and the crowds were no where near where they were last week. It honestly reminded me of the 3rd week of May when we've gone in previous years.

 

[cassiez76]

we were there last week too. there was a lot more people than normal it seemed. the longest we stood in line was for toy story mania and that was 40 minutes. we had a 20 minute wait for splash and 10 for thunder mountain. hubby waited about 30 for everest. i think he walked on tot and rnrc. (i didn't do those, so i don't know how long the wait was, but he was done pretty fast).

the one ride in MK that had a long line was the astro orbiter. i think it rivaled peter pan with it's line.

i didn't ride anything except for the safari in AK and that was a walk on.

epcot, we didn't do soarin', test track or mission space, but when we were there friday morning, all fast passes were given out. that was around 10.30/11 am and the wait was 100 minutes (at least on the board for test track!!)

i was quite happy to ride it's a small world twice without getting off the boat!

oh and pirates was a walk on thurs 10/1, but a 10 min wait on saturday. one woman said i don't know about that ride (pirates), but it looks kinda cool. she was no older than 40, i guess she's been in a cave.

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

I have purposely planned a fall trip every year, due to always low crowd levels. Since 2002, we take our DD out of school for 3 days. It has always been worth it, the crowds have been so low.

This was the first year we are rethinking this plan. We were there from Sept 19-23...Sat-Wed. We were very disappointed in the crowd levels...and yeah, it was way hotter this year than the previous years.

We may do January again. Early to mid Jan was always good, I hope it still is!

 

[DisneyNic]

Wow, late September early October seems busier than earlier in the month. Was there Sept 10-20 and never at any point on the day saw anything over a 30min wait . I visited parks at various times of the day from early to late. Is it bc of the F and W festival?? I would think more adults would be there without kids??
I'm always careful when I read about wait times. I've never been during peak season so for me 30mins is alot. Others who post wait times "Not Bad 40-60min" I think wow!
I guess it's all what your used to. I like going just after Labour Day when crowd are Really low.

I was there Sept 18-27 and I didn't see very many waits over 30 min. In fact, the only one I can recall off hand is RNRC which was 30 min at around 11 AM on a Friday with a F!. We actually rode Splash twice within a few minutes (basically just enough time to get off the ride and run back through to the loading dock) at 4 PM. I was surprised by all of the people that were around though. It seemed like wall to wall people no matter where you were or when, yet the wait times for rides were really low or non-existant. I guess I would rather have it that way than the other way around.

 

[Mystic330i]

We were there last week as well and thought it was REALLY crowded - however most rides had little to no waits at all including test track, soarin, pirates, Toy story, etc.

What we DID notice was that the posted wait times were NOT correct at all!! Posted time for Toy Story was 50mins and I doubt we waited even 10mins...

I think the lines ebbed and flowed so often that they couldn't keep up with accurate wait times...

 

[I'mAlittleBitGoofy]

I personally would not consider last week a "low crowd" time. I guess we must be spoiled because we have gone in the past and had enjoyed hardly no wait times on many attractions. This time, the busses were mobbed as was the parks in my opinion. Keep in mind I have never gone during what's condsidered to be the busy season. We had a great time but I would say crowds were moderate. That's just me though...

 

[minnie1012]

We were there last week too and I totally agree about the crowds. I saw fast passes gone pretty early in the day for alot of rides. You could walk on a small world but Peter Pan was consistly 30 minutes day or night every time we tried. We had gotten a fast pass for Toy Story and my daughter wanted to ride it again and it had a 70 minute wait and no more fast passes. Test track was about 40 minutes when we were there and Tower of Terror I think was 40 minutes too. We waited 30 minutes for Dumbo but at times the line was shorter. We walked right on Haunted Mansion and Pirates the sign said 10 or 15 minutes. We joked that it wasn't a wait of 10 minutes but a 10 minute walk to get through to the actual loading! There was also a pretty consistent wait of 60 minutes to meet the Fairies. Epcot seemed pretty packed each day we were there. It was hard to get around the countries.

 

[jdb1232]

We go once a year, in the past 8 years, 6 trips have been in the fall. This was mostly because of the crowd levels. We've found the crowds during the fall have been steadily climbing for the past 2 years. Sure they are no where near the summer or Christmas, but WDW isn't like it was 3 years ago. (Can anyone say free dining) Nevertheless, the fall is an excellent time to travel, just as long as you don't have to dance around a hurricane.

We'll be at the VWL in 6 days, our first stay as a DVC owner!

 

[Hallowishes]

i agree. i was there sept. 21 - oct. 2nd and there were definitely wayy more crowds than the previous two years. the lines for rides such as soarin at their peak were around 90 minutes. the humidity was definitely a factor as well. overall i had a great trip but will definitely be chosing to go to wdw in october of this coming year!

 

[wgqual]

My wife and I were there 9/23-9/28 for our honeymoon. We did not experience long lines at all. In fact we rode BTMR 7 or 8 times in a row because no one was there after Spectro We also rode EE about 7 times in 30 minutes TSM was only 20-25 minutes. We follow Tour Guide Mike's suggestions for best park days so maybe that has something to do with it. After using TGM and fast passes I will never wait in line again. Best $18 i ever spent!!

 

[immachesnut]

We were there 9/20 - 9/27, it was our first family trip so I can't comment on crowds in the past but we followed Tour Guide Mike's plans pretty much to a t and did fine. To us the crowds didn't seem too bad and the longest wait time was 20 minutes for Toy Story Mania (fast passes were gone by noon). It was much hotter compared to my previous Universal experiences in September! I think our average wait time was 5 minutes if that long for pretty much everything!

 

[JT1962]

I think another factor (besides the obvious free dining) maiking crowds larger during this time of year is that more school systems are going to the modified or year round calendar and having fall breaks. I know that several school systems here in TN now have a one or two week fall break in early to mid October.

 

[Mitzicat]

Just back as well. 9/27-10/3 - Pop Century.

First two days were hot and humid...Tuesday wasn't too bad, and by Wednesday it started to get really nice.

I thought that there were a ton of people walking and was worried it was going to be really crowded. The wait times were hardly anything. Of course the big name rides were 50+ mins, but when you actually got in line it was like half the time. For example on Sunday 9/27 around 5 p.m. TSM had a wait time listed of 50 mins and we got in line and it was like 25 mins if that. Many people saw the time and walked right by which made the lines were short.

When talking to cast members you got different stories. Some said that they were really slow, others said that they were really busy. Again lots and lots of people around but the lines were hardly crazy.

 

[Cruz91]

If you look at touringplans.com's crowd calendar, the lowest day they ever show is a 4 (from what I've seen, anyway). Depending on the park, that means the average peak wait time on the 'biggies' is from 35 minutes to 60 minutes. So when they say 'low' crowd, you can pretty much expect that. We're heading down for our 8th trip in a week or so. I found touringplans after the first, and have used it every since then... and love it.

 

[Smokeyspawn]

Having only been in the summer and spring break, these 30-40 minute wait times get me really excited about my trip in two weeks. We are taking an adults only Mon-Thursday trip starting the 19th. I am giddy with excitement!

 

[LovinRafiki]

We were there last week as well, 9/23 - 10/1. We felt it all depended on the park we choose on a particular day. We went to AK on Saturday afternoon and had basically no wait for EE and dinosaur with FPs. We went to Studios on Wednesday and TSMM was a 60 minute wait with no FPs left. On Thursday when we went to MK, Buzz was a 30 minutes wait, Splash mountain had a 70 minute wait. We went back on Tuesday and I didn't see much of any ride over a 30 minute wait.
I do have to say, my one negative experience was that we stayed at POR for the first time. Rented a car, but chose to take the bus to MK, BAD IDEA! They had 2 bus ques open for POR and it was packed and crazy. Glad we had the car for the rest of the vacation!

 

[Seattle]

the big name rides were 50+ mins, but when you actually got in line it was like half the time.

That's what we found all over the place last week - lots of signs saying 30 minute waits that were really no more than 10. Also, the "big board" at Epcot saying all FPs for Test Track were gone, when they were not in fact gone...

We quickly learned to go ahead and "get in line" for anything that said 30 minutes as it was nearly always much less than that -- except for Pooh -- that one said, I think, 20 minutes and was actually closer to 40.