Sounds Like WDW Is Crazy Busy Right Now

[justskip70003]

Does anyone have any idea how the week of April the 19 will be?? We are headed down for 8 nights... thanks

i was curious about the same thing. any help with the week of the 19th. touring plans has the 19th listed at a 7 right now. i am hoping tues, wed, n thurs slows down to about a 4. if anyone has any insight to the predicted crowd numbers please let us know.

thanks

 

[NHWX]

My niece is a high school student in Massachusetts and I believe that her spring vacation is the third week of April. I don't know how many other school districts have that week off also.

In addition, Grad Nights will April 23, 24, 30 and May 1.

NHWX

 

[Orangeandwild]

I do not have an ipod, is there any website with accurate wait times for the rides/attractions I can log onto and see what is goiing on in the parks??

Thanks so much for any help anyone can offer...

 

[M&C'sMom]

We arrived the afternoon of the 12th-left the afternoon of the 17th. It was VERY crowded, but we were able to do all the things we wanted to do multiple times. Having a plan is KEY. My teen and tween weren't keen on getting up early, but it made all the difference! We did have GAD FP cards that we used on 4 of our days. ( 2 times at DHS, 2 times at MK) We didn't use them on our Epcot or AK days, though. At Epcot, got there at rope drop, went straight to Soarin, got a fp and jumped in standby line. Wait was maybe 15 mins, were able to ride TT twice, M:S once, Soarin' later and the rest of our list. We arrived at AK early on the 16th, they opened earlier than posted time, maybe 8:45. Went straight to EE, got fps, and jumped in line. Got out and jumped in line again-maybe 20 min wait. Rode EE again using fp later that day. We got fps for safari and did Tough to be a Bug, Dinosaur (using fps), and FOLK. Since we were up early, we tended to eat early. We did counter service at Ep (ate in China) and AK (Pizzafari) around 11:15 with no wait. Lines later on were CRAZY for food! We've never gone this time of year before, but we had a blast! Weather was gorgeous, actually much cooler than we expected.

 

[g-dad66]

We arrived the afternoon of the 12th-left the afternoon of the 17th. It was VERY crowded, but we were able to do all the things we wanted to do multiple times. Having a plan is KEY.

Ditto. GAD Fast Passes also helped a lot.

We did Animal Kingdom on its early EMH day on Monday, and our two granddaughters were able to do Expedition Everest 13 times! (Wife and I let them use our FPs too).

I'm not surprised to read that Touring Plans updated the crowd levels to 10's. Most days, the parks were so crowded that it was very difficult to walk through them much of the time.

Some unusual wait times I observed:

EPCOT:
Seas with Nemo & Friends: 40 minutes
Misson Space: 80 minutes (and all Fast Passes gone by late afternoon)

STUDIOS:
Star Tours: 60 minutes

ANIMAL KINGDOM:
Kali River Rapids: 60 minutes

MAGIC KINGDOM:
Jungle Cruise: 45 minutes
but....Splash Mountain: 15 minutes at noontime! (One benefit of the cool weather. The highest temperature we saw in 8 days was 72.)

On Tuesday evening, the Fast Pass line for Toy Story Mania was all the way down to Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. It took my granddaughters about 30 minutes to use their FPs. (Interestingly, the Standby Line said 140 minutes, but there was no line outside the building for it. When we arrived there, we said, oh these poor people in this huge line, waiting for 140 minutes -- only to discover that the line was everyone with Fast Passes, whom my granddaughters would then be joining at the end of the line....
)


Comparing these crowds to the first week of August, they were definitely higher.

Still, if I had to choose between those two weeks, I'd take mid-March, because it's a lot easier negotiating crowds when you're not panting and dripping in sweat.

 

[joannalh]

I do not have an ipod, is there any website with accurate wait times for the rides/attractions I can log onto and see what is goiing on in the parks??

Thanks so much for any help anyone can offer...

You can use the Lines application on your computer, but you need to be a subscriber to touringplans.com

http://m.touringplans.com

 

[KBoopaloo]

I was there 3/14 - 3/18 and it was the most busy I have ever seen it as a guest. (I was a CP for a while and definitely saw a few busier days then).

We actually got to DHS on the morning of 3/18 (our departure day) saw the insane bag check line and the streams of cars still pouring into the lot and people coming off the buses and decided to skip DHS all together. We ended up at MK instead which was slightly less crazy but still incredibly busy.

Thank goodness the weather was coolish or it would have been a nightmare navigating those crowds with heat added to the mix. I will never go at peak spring break time again. We tried to go with the flow and just enjoy being at WDW without worrying about getting on attractions, but it was too crowded to even be enjoyable.

 

[DeniseinNS]

We were there from the 9th till the 17th and I didn't find it too bad, the longest we waited to get on any rides was 20 minutes and used fastpass as much as possible for the more popular rides. I did notice that fastpasses were usually gone by early afternoon and I did find the parades and firewords to be super busy.

 

[mickeymom55]

Just after rope drop 3/19

Around 2:00pm 3/19

Friday was the slowest day we encountered. Wait times exceeded 180 minutes at times for Soarin', TSM, SplashMnt all week long. Most rides were around 60-120 most of the day. MK stayed open until 1am the whole week as a result, we were able to hit all the rides that were impossible during the day. Did all we wanted to do - rides, parades, shows used FP whenever possible - sometimes sold out by 10 or 11am. Longest wait was TSM - ride broke down for a short period and it backed up like crazy! A very nice man gave us FPs for Soarin' on Thursday - he was leaving and couldn't use them!! SCORE!

We chose this week because our daughter's friend was on college break - I knew better, but this kid really needed a vacation and we really wanted to go to WDW - ha, ha.

It all worked out.

 

[g-dad66]

We actually got to DHS on the morning of 3/18 (our departure day) saw the insane bag check line and the streams of cars still pouring into the lot and people coming off the buses and decided to skip DHS all together. We ended up at MK instead which was slightly less crazy but still incredibly busy.

This is consistent with my conclusion that DHS on Fantasmic-days is the worst park of all. We were also at MK on 3/18, and it was the most crowded I have ever seen MK.

But our DHS day last year on 3/18/09 was much worse (and the most crowded I have ever seen any park). It was a Fantasmic-day (as was 3/18 this year).

So this year we did DHS on a non-Fantasmic but early EMH day (3/13), and it was much, much better. (We also went late to DHS on 3/16 just for Fantasmic and for using GAD Fast Passes, and that worked out very well for us.)

 

[MJonesMBA2001]

The crowds are quite large, but they do seem to ebb and flow. I also noticed some very high wait times, but I walked on some attractions, like Splash Mountain, during midday. The best thing I did was got on the Disney mobile website often, and I would hit all the "see now" attractions. That's where I saw Splash Mountain on Friday afternoon had a window where I literally couldn't get through the line fast enough to get on the ride; standby to boot!

But, there were times when it was so congested it was just hard to move around. It's really weird. Also, some restaurants were nuts, some you could walk right up and order. Whodathunkit? For some reason, the transportation was pretty crowded; I stayed off property this time.

I may be sold on staying off property from now on, even though it took all I could to not be on property. I found that I could drive from place to place much faster than taking the resort bus, and staying off property opened up a lot of variety of restaurants for breakfast and snacks.

I feel for y'all if the next two weeks are supposed to be higher crowd levels than they are right now. This is nuts!! Not quite like the year I came on President's Day (never again will I do that!), but every bit as crowded as a summer day.

Like a previous poster said, the saving grace of all this madness is that they weather is gorgeous! Still, a bad day at the parks is better than a good day at the office and stuff!

 

[Monkeyfeet]

The crowds are quite large, but they do seem to ebb and flow. I also noticed some very high wait times, but I walked on some attractions, like Splash Mountain, during midday. The best thing I did was got on the Disney mobile website often, and I would hit all the "see now" attractions. That's where I saw Splash Mountain on Friday afternoon had a window where I literally couldn't get through the line fast enough to get on the ride; standby to boot!

But, there were times when it was so congested it was just hard to move around. It's really weird. Also, some restaurants were nuts, some you could walk right up and order. Whodathunkit? For some reason, the transportation was pretty crowded; I stayed off property this time.

I may be sold on staying off property from now on, even though it took all I could to not be on property. I found that I could drive from place to place much faster than taking the resort bus, and staying off property opened up a lot of variety of restaurants for breakfast and snacks.

I feel for y'all if the next two weeks are supposed to be higher crowd levels than they are right now. This is nuts!! Not quite like the year I came on President's Day (never again will I do that!), but every bit as crowded as a summer day.

Like a previous poster said, the saving grace of all this madness is that they weather is gorgeous! Still, a bad day at the parks is better than a good day at the office and stuff!

Hi Can you provide a link to the Disney Mobile website please? I googled it but wait times are not coming up. We leave tomorrow so that would be great to have.

 

[tndisneyfan]

I just got back Friday night. We stayed five nights, from Sunday to Friday. We thought the parks were very busy. We even heard sever CMs commenting on how crowded it was for this week of the year. We always got to the parks at Rope Drop and found it to be very manageable. I wouldn't have wanted to get at the parks around 11. They were packed by then.

 

[bemery1963]

How were the parks at night during EMHs

 

[wisblue]

We arrived the afternoon of the 12th-left the afternoon of the 17th. It was VERY crowded, but we were able to do all the things we wanted to do multiple times. Having a plan is KEY. My teen and tween weren't keen on getting up early, but it made all the difference! We did have GAD FP cards that we used on 4 of our days. ( 2 times at DHS, 2 times at MK) We didn't use them on our Epcot or AK days, though. At Epcot, got there at rope drop, went straight to Soarin, got a fp and jumped in standby line. Wait was maybe 15 mins, were able to ride TT twice, M:S once, Soarin' later and the rest of our list. We arrived at AK early on the 16th, they opened earlier than posted time, maybe 8:45. Went straight to EE, got fps, and jumped in line. Got out and jumped in line again-maybe 20 min wait. Rode EE again using fp later that day. We got fps for safari and did Tough to be a Bug, Dinosaur (using fps), and FOLK. Since we were up early, we tended to eat early. We did counter service at Ep (ate in China) and AK (Pizzafari) around 11:15 with no wait. Lines later on were CRAZY for food! We've never gone this time of year before, but we had a blast! Weather was gorgeous, actually much cooler than we expected.

How are you able to get all of those FP's at AK. If you get one right at park opening for EE, I'm guessing that has a return time of about 9:45. So, if you ride EE a couple of times to get to KS, I can see how you would be able to get a FP there because it would be after the start time of your EE FP. How were you able to get ANOTHER FP for Dinosaur and ride that with the FP before lunch? Was the return time for the safari FP that early that you were able to get another at Dinosaur?

 

[hmcfall711]

What is the phone app saying for wait times toay?

 

[seadd67]

I know everyone is looking forward to small crowds,but I am for one so excited to see people coming back to Disney,but then again I am for large crowds. I think thats what makes Disney Its all the smiling faces and crowds and crowds of people.

 

[Goofy'slady]

^^^ ITA. While I'm not for jammed packed walk ways and long attraction waits I do like a little bit of a crowd. If I wanted to go to Disney and all the parks were empty or like walking thru a desert I would be a bit bummed to be honest. If I wanted almost near seclusion I would have pick a deserted island to vacation but I want to be at Disney enjoy and soaking up some atmosphere and you can't get much of that with next to no one in the parks.

With that said - I can't wait to experience it all in about 3 weeks when we're there.

T.

 

[mrodm]

We came home late last night from WDW. We arrived on Sunday the 14th and spent our last evening there on Friday the 19th.

We had a GREAT time! Granted, we did have GAD fastpasses for the entire trip, so we didn't have to rush to get regular FPs if we didn't want to, although we did take advantage of those too. We arrived at rope drop each day - MK on Monday, DHS on Tuesday, Epcot on Wed., no parks on Thursday, and AK in am on Friday, Epcot Friday night.

Re the crowds at Epcot on Wednesday, I think it's because it was St. Patrick's Day. There was a line of people to get into the Rose & Crown by 10:30am and multitudes of people walking around with beer cups all day.

DHS was the most crowded, IMHO. But we managed to get our son into the Jedi Academy for the first show and ride TSM 4-5 times. We didn't do ToT or R&RR, but that was because of our kids. We used our FPs for Star Tours a couple of times and watched a couple of shows before leaving for the afternoon.

We took it really easy in AK on Friday and followed the Pangani trails after our Safari. We staked out a shaded spot for the parade (very crowded in every park) and enjoyed some ice cream in the middle of the afternoon.

Overall, yes, the parks were crowded. BUT, not as crowded as we've seen during Thanksgiving weeks and Easter weeks in years past. We just relaxed about it and didn't freak out if we didn't see everything. Ultimately, Disney will still be there when we return.

 

[mrodm]

I did forget to mention that some rides were out of FPs by early afternoon, especially TSM at DHS and Soarin' at Epcot. The lines for FPs for these 2 rides were quite long, so be prepared for that if you arrive at rope drop.

Still worth the trip this week!