Alone in the parks....

[Boopuff]

Have you ever had that surreal moment where you're in one of the parks and yet none is around? My family encountered this a couple of years ago. We were in EPCOT in the middle of August. We were ready for lunch and ducked into the Japan pavilion eat at the QS there. We walked in and one family was eating. NO ONE was in line. We got our lunch and went out to the patio to eat. We were the only family on the entire patio! It was heaven! Another family came out but it was such a joy to find a quiet respite from the day!

 

[WEDWDW]

Have you ever had that surreal moment where you're in one of the parks and yet none is around?

Yes,on Stitch's Great Escape.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Yes. In December. We RDd Frontierland. I have a picture of my kids walking through Liberty Square without another person in sight. So many people head straight to Fantasyland at RD, so if you go in another direction, the place is absolutely deserted.

We were also the only guests on the Maharajah Jungle Trek in December (we entered the trail and they closed it behind us), but some CMs were trailing discretely behind and closing off the trail as we completed it.

 

[Brenda Kim]

Yes in MK by Pinocchio Village, a few years back in early September. We had just gotten off Pirates and were going to go to the front of the castle for Fireworks and since there was no one back there, we thought let's just sit here and watch the fireworks. You miss the projections on the castle, but standing there with no one but the CM for the Carousel ride and watching fireworks go off all around you is pretty cool.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

This is from 2007:


We were at the Magic Kingdom on Saturday, June 9. According the Disney website, there was only one parade scheduled for that evening at 9 pm. There was an 11 pm parade every other day of the week.

That morning, the tram driver reminded us that there was only one parade that evening and the daily schedule also mentioned that there was only one parade on Saturday night.

Just before closing time, we were alternating between Big Thunder and Spalsh Mountain and finished our final Splash ride at about 11:15 or so. We were heading for the exit when we noticed that the staff was rolling out the parade ropes.

We stopped right in front of Country Bear Hall when we saw the parade coming. It was weird as no one else, and I mean no one, was watching the parade for as far as we could see in either direction.

What an amazing experience. It was as if we had a private viewing of the SpectroMagic. Each and every walking character came over to greet the kids and all of the characters on the floats waved and/or blew kisses to them.

I guess we were in the right place at the right time again.

 

[Grandma G]

In 1997 ...

My husband, our two daughters, our son-in-law, our three grandchildren and I had a very early breakfast reservation at Cinderella's Castle. And, amazingly, because I am habitually late for everything, we were the only people at the gates. And the only people on Main Street. For it's full length.

And our oldest daughter, then forty years old, skipped that length singing an absolutely joyous (and very loud) Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah all the way. 'Your Mom's always wanted to do that', she told her daughter as we sat down to eat.

My husband and I didn't truly discover Disney World until our children were women with homes of their own. And it took even longer before we were finally able to gather the whole family in the "Happiest Place on Earth." But, watching my daughters' faces on a Main Street that seemed to belong to only us that morning, I finally felt ... forgiven.

 

[W.E.D.]

Two times:
Before I started my KTTK tour I was alone on Main Street, USA. VERY surreal.
We came out of the Biergarten at the Germany pavilion--seconds before Illuminations was to start--and there was absolutely no one in that area waiting for the show. We could not believe our eyes!

 

[BobC]

Yup!

Rode Pirates of the Carribbean all by myself. Boat all to myself. No boat in front of me or behind me. It was during extra magic hours right after the parade.

Very surreal and fun!

 

[Accident]

Our most surreal trip was the week of hurricane katrina. It was the first time I took my daughter to WDW and we even considered canceling.

The cast members that week far outnumbered the guests and local visitors for the entire week. Every ride was empty and alone, not just a little alone but the end of every ride wasn't please step off, it was do you want to go again? We even had our own side of main street for one of the parades. Ghost town empty. It was a very mixed emotional week with what was happening in the country at the same time but it's an experience that will never be repeated on a future trip. I envy some of the disney to yourself overnight events they do for some of the special needs guests because i'm sure it's a very similar experience and congrats to disney for making that same experience for others who can't do disney normally.

The closest we can get to this now is jump in a waiting line right as WDW closes, enjoy our ride and casually walk out with the rest of the park empty. We do meals and last rides this way every night, we love the parks to ourselves.

 

[skateshome]

Yes,on Stitch's Great Escape.

And BOOM!!!.....that's how you do it right there folks. LOL!!!

 

[tobikaye]

I have had a few of these.

2001: MVMCP, solo, I watched the first parade and then started hitting attractions. As the night got later, there were many times I would be in an area and never saw anyone. I basically walked the entire line of Splash without seeing anyone until I got to loading.

2003: Girls trip, we decided to start with Pirates for some reason and arrived just a couple minutes after rope drop. As we walked through to Pirates there were not that many people, but as we neared Pirates, we were the only ones around. No one in front of us and no one through the entire ride that we saw. As we got off, there was a large amount of people loading and in line.

2011: World Showcase, various countries, 2 different trips. I would be sitting down for a snack and notice that no one was in that particular country at that time that I could see other than myself and CMs. It was very weird and usually only lasted about 5 minutes, but it was very surreal.

 

[nilla]

Yes, but this is usually followed by someone saying, "sir - you're not supposed to be here. The park closed four hours ago!"

Kidding aside, we rode the Jungle Cruise last year, at night, and the only other riders were a Russian mother and her young son. The CMs greeted us and told us to laugh really hard at the skipper's jokes, since the mom and kid didn't speak English.

The ride was HILARIOUS, with our favorite part being the skipper telling the mother that "this is the Jungle Cruise, not the Jungle Gym" after she tripped climbing over the seating. He also made little comments to us during the ride about how the two had no idea what he was saying

 

[DeluxePrincess]

We RDed Epcot on Christmas Eve 2012. They opened the gates early and told us we could ride Soarin' before the park opened. We didn't want to do that so we walked out near the fountain area and had the entire space to ourselves. We had awesome pictures! Then we headed towards Test Track and nobody was there. The doors were opened so we walked thru the entire queue alone. We finally passed a CM and he just laughed and told us to keep going. We got as far as we could and another CM told us we were "opening" the ride and gave us a certificate. We waited there about 5 minutes and suddenly hoards of other guests were behind us. It was a surreal memory.

 

[TravelingTotMom]

This past May on IASW. Our son was afraid of fireworks and started crying during Wishes, so we ducked into IASW. We saw a few people down the ramp boarding, so we took our time walking down, and they were gone before we got to the loading area.

Not only were we the only people on our boat, but there were no people on the boats in front and behind us. We went through the rooms by ourselves, and it was fantastic b/c it was DS1's favorite ride.

 

[disnut1149]

MK was so empty during Tropical Storm Fay. We rode POTC completely by ourselves. There were empty boats behind us and nobody in front of us. It was kind of scary in there by ourselves.

 

[slickpoetry]

My first time at WDW was as a kid some time in the mid-1980s and there was a hurricane hitting florida's coast. Our day in the Magic Kingdom was marked by lots and lots of rain and no lines for anything. Like in the middle of the afternoon we literally would get off Space Mountain and run through the que to ride it again immediately. We did Space Mountain about 10 times in one hour, which must be some kind of record.

Last year, at MNSSHP, we ate dinner about 6 PM in the upstairs of the Columbia Harbour House. It was mostly deserted. Than we watch Hallowishes on the bridge that is near Tiana's M&G location and there was only one family standing about 30 feet away from us. For whatever reason the hub was totally packed with people and nobody was on the bridge.

 

[sunny_stace]

I've experienced it a few times!

The first time was probably...what? 1996? My mum and I were at MGM and there was a HUGE, NASTY thunderstorm and the park was almost completely cleared out! Once the lightening ended and we could leave our covered area I went on ToT over and over and over and over with no wait!!

My BFF and I visited in September 2006 to celebrate our 25th birthdays...no one!!! Crowds at Disney were SUPER light and when we went to Universal for a couple days it was eerie!! There was NO ONE!!! It was really muggy and rainy and so there were fog patches visible along the pathways...almost creepy! But kinda cool too! We felt like VIP's! We didn't wait to get on one single ride and many times we were able to ride things repeatedly without even getting off and going back through the queue!

At WDW I find that being around until the very end of the night is the time you're often on your own. Especially after an event like MNSSHP or MVMCP. I remember at MVMCP in 2008 it was quite cold and a lot of families left right after the fireworks. I had gone with a friend and she had gotten a nasty cold while traveling so she went back to the hotel early as well. By the end of the event (midnight) I was walking back to the front of the park and walked from IASW through Liberty Square, Frontierland and Adventureland down to Casey's before I saw someone who wasn't a CM!

And I like to wait to see the Kiss Goodnight at least once in a trip and usually by then there's only a small group or two left. I guess that's what I get for being a night owl!

 

[cigar95]

September 14, 2001. I had just arrived on one of the first flights out of LAX, after air traffic had resumed. We were in the middle of Tropical Storm Gabrielle - moderate rain, but strong winds.

After checking in at Yacht Club, I walked into Epcot via the IG for early entry. (It wasn't yet called "EMH".) And after passing the turnstiles, I'm not exaggerating to say I did not see another human until I got to MouseGear. I was soaking wet by that point, and my umbrella had turned inside out more than once.

A few hours later, at noon I think, was scheduled the national moment of silence for 9/11. I was standing in front of the German pavilion, at the water's edge. And believe me, I had a moment of silence. I couldn't see anyone for probably 150-200 meters. No doubt they were around, staying dry or eating lunch inside the pavilions, but World Showcase Promenade was as deserted as it will ever be at noon.

In many ways, it was a surreal week. How about walking up and getting breakfast at CRT - twice. (And this was back in the days when only breakfast was a character meal, so it was the toughest ticket in town.)

A few years later, I stayed late in World Showcase to watch the propane blow-off after Illuminations. I walked out at about 1045, and between Italy and the IG I think I saw two CMs. Even the exit was unattended - anyone could have walked in.

 

[Jfsag123]

We had one of these times earlier this year. We walked into the Liberty Inn for lunch and were the only people in there other than the cast members, who were incredibly nice. I joked with my kids about trying to find a table. This was in the 11am hour, but getting somewhat close to noon as, after the WS rope dropped at 11, we met Mulan, got the kids' faces painted, and got a snack for my husband and a slushie for the kids from one of the F&G kiosks, which we proceeded to eat/drink at a table by the kiosk before heading over to Liberty Inn for lunch. Some other people came in before we finished eating, but we definitely enjoyed finding a peaceful place in the parks during spring break time.

 

[dizneegirl]

DH and I had a whole Country Bears performance to ourselves, think it was during a MNSSHP last year. Best pictures I've even gotten!

We love the walk from the absolute back of World Showcase up to the Epcot exit after Illuminations is done, and the crowd has made the mad dash. So pretty and peaceful!