We came home a week ago from our trip & I'm missing Disney already. We had a wonderful time, but the crowds & lines were a lot longer than expected. We were there from Feb 19-March 3, so President's day week crowds, half marathon, mardi gras and the start of spring breaks all contributed to the crowd levels. I also think the weather this winter, lots of cold & snow has many families escaping to the south for a break. When I made our reservations, the cast member mentioned that she had a talked to a lot of people in snowy areas that day.
The only time we were able to walk on rides was our MK evening from 9 - 10 pm (no parade, 8 pm fireworks). We arrived at park opening but by 9:15 toy story mania, Soarin, Peter Pan and Kilimanjaro Safari all had 45 minute stand-by wait times. On our AK days, we didn't use out fast passes for Everest, because the fast pass lines were so long. Single rider lines were MUCH shorter. I think things will get better with FP, but its still so new, it takes time to scan the bands or cards twice and many visitors are still learning. Lots of times people were in line, but had to step aside because they were too early or even, in some cases didn't have a FP. Something different with the new FP, is that visitors are using it at park opening. With the old system, the earliest return times were 9:30 - 9:45. For our trip, anyway, that first hour window with relatively short stand by wait times seemed to disappear. We followed touring plans and easy WDW's advice for the most recommended parks. But days when crowds were expected to be a 2 or 3 (on touring plans), they were a 5 or 6. We had a great trip and were able to do most of the things we wanted to, just experienced longer wait times and bigger crowds.
The only time we were able to walk on rides was our MK evening from 9 - 10 pm (no parade, 8 pm fireworks). We arrived at park opening but by 9:15 toy story mania, Soarin, Peter Pan and Kilimanjaro Safari all had 45 minute stand-by wait times. On our AK days, we didn't use out fast passes for Everest, because the fast pass lines were so long. Single rider lines were MUCH shorter. I think things will get better with FP, but its still so new, it takes time to scan the bands or cards twice and many visitors are still learning. Lots of times people were in line, but had to step aside because they were too early or even, in some cases didn't have a FP. Something different with the new FP, is that visitors are using it at park opening. With the old system, the earliest return times were 9:30 - 9:45. For our trip, anyway, that first hour window with relatively short stand by wait times seemed to disappear. We followed touring plans and easy WDW's advice for the most recommended parks. But days when crowds were expected to be a 2 or 3 (on touring plans), they were a 5 or 6. We had a great trip and were able to do most of the things we wanted to, just experienced longer wait times and bigger crowds.
