Anyone else go last week? Was that crowd level normal?

[wdwgirl03]

Where was this picture taken? I can't place it....

It looks like near the Splash Mountain bridge looking toward Adventureland. Maybe.

You guys are kind of freaking me out and we HAVE been during peak times several times before (both during spring break and winter break). We've never had issues with doing what we want to though. Maybe it'll die down in a couple weeks when we get there.

 

[tink713]

Where was this picture taken? I can't place it....

Looks like it's in Epcot World Showcase near Morocco?

 

[Shasta]

Looks like it's in Epcot World Showcase near Morocco?

BINGO! It was taken close to Japan while we were walking to Morocco.

 

[blackjackmark]

I was there as well March 13-20. On Monday we were back near Splash Mountain/BTMRR and the crowd simply came to a halt SEVERAL times. Looked a LOT like the picture. It was wall-to-wall people..nowhere to go. I will NEVER do Spring Break time again. Although having said that...we did have a good time. The key was rope drop and having three of the GAD fastpass certificates so that did work for us very well. If we didn't have the GAD passes it would have been a different story.

On the flip side I did the same week at Universal last year and LOVED it...stayed on their property and get the front-of-the-line access for EVERY ride as many times as we wanted. We slept in every morning and had a terrific, relaxing time...so we're back to Universal next year to see Harry Potter!

 

[kathy884]

We were in Orlando last week for just three nights/two days and only did Sea World. Crowds there weren't too bad in my opinion. While heavy (shows seats were pretty full even 20 minutes before starting time) were consderably lighter than a recent June trip and a recent Christmas trip we did. We didn't get a Disney Park in this time, but definately will next spring break when we go for a week long stay.

 

[tndisneyfan]

We were there last week. We have never been that time of year but we thought it was very crowded. It reminded me of Christmas.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

We were there last week as well. Sunday we felt like we had teh park to ourselves compared to the rest of the week. It really wasn't terrible except Tuesday when we were at the Animal Kingdom. That park does not seem designed for the crowd levels. But I did see Andy Pettit(Yankees) on the Everest Expidition, so that was cool anyway.

 

[lemondog]

The crowds last week were just like June and July, nuts...

No, they were WORSE! Our last trip was in mid July and last week was WAY worse than that.

Sunday 3/14 foot traffic was at a complete standstill trying to get thru Fantasyland. At one point on Tues. 3/16 the wait for RnR was 170 minutes!

Monday 3/15 Soarin was at an hour wait BEFORE 10am had hit!

Luckily, we used Ridemax and were at rope drop EVERY day so were able to do everything we wanted with minimal waits. CS waits, otoh, were INSANE! Took me 1 full hour in line to place an order at Pizza Planet on Tues. 3/16.

Next time we'll do summer again. It was less crowded and at least warm enough to swim. We froze last week, except for Friday when it finally went above 70 degrees!

 

[cjb71870]

Wow...... Ridemax...? I really need to start charging.......

 

[mikoiv]

I drove over to EPCOT after work on Thursday 3/18 arriving about 6:45. I was able to park easily in Journey 4. Parking lot was by no means full. As I approached the gates, a monorail was unloading and lots of folks were coming from the WDW bus area. This tells me that the hotels were probably way full and that offsite was a bit lighter. I drove down International Drive and it was very light. I guess some of the special offers have really lured more folks to the WDW hotels.
I thought EPCOT was moderately crowded, Test Track/Mission Space/Soaring all had about 90 minute (or a bit longer) wait times posted which seemed about normal for a spring break evening.

 

[Tiger926]

Like Sea-Donkey we will not be going back during Spring Break again either. We usually travel in Oct. or November.

The crowds last week were just like June and July, nuts...

I beg to differ - we are July experts as I'm a teacher. Have been going every July for 2 weeks for 10 years. We've entered a Disney park in every single day in July, including July 4th, and we have never seen crowds like these. The summer is honestly not that busy, but last week was busier than New Year's Eve! Not sure if the crowds had anything to do with it either, but rides and monorails were malfunctioning and closed for hours upon hours. It was very chaotic Sunday & Monday due to these malfunctions, and heavy crowds. Wait times for attractions were off too - there were the hugest lines ups ever, that were not moving, yet the wait time boards were showing 40 mins. We waited in front of an attraction while eating an ice cream that had a 40 mins wait time, and the line did not move at all. Noticed this the whole week.

As seasoned DVC members, we were overwhelmed at times with last week's crowds most of the time. When there are 30 mins waits for Carrousel of Progress or TTA, then you know it's bad. We walk onto these attractions each July (they are our favs), multiple times per day, and there was no walking on last week at all!

It was a madhouse - most CMs we spoke with and other DVC members like ourselves who have logged thousands of park hours, all agreed we haven't seen it this busy in a very long time!

Tiger

 

[Plucker001]

Was this on Tuesday March 16 at about 4:30 or 5:00?? We went to use our fastpasses at TSM about 3:00 and everyone was evacuating the building!! So we walk up to use our fastpasses and the CM tells us TSM has just shut down. At this point we see all the employees coming out and they are asking everyone to step away from the building. My DH asks a CM what is going on and he tells my hubby that some guy jumped off the ride and that they had to go thru all there emergency procedures. They told everyone that they would honor all the fastpasses when the ride starts up. So my family camps out there and finally at 5:00 the ride comes back up and we were the first ones on!! When we exited the building we saw that the wait in standby was 90 but we stop a CM and he said it was more like 20 minutes at 5:00. We were going to go on again but decided to head over to Epcot instead. I thought the CM over at TSM were so wonderful towards everyone during this time.

Actually, this happened about 5-5:30 PM on Wed March 17 b/c we had ADR's at Prime Time for 6 PM and I was worried we wouldn't make it.

 

[Tiger926]

Actually, this happened about 5-5:30 PM on Wed March 17 b/c we had ADR's at Prime Time for 6 PM and I was worried we wouldn't make it.

Like I said, we noticed ride/attraction/monorail malfunctions all week long. Not sure what was going on last week, but these problems combined with insane crowds, were causing absolute chaos in the parks.

Tiger

 

[jellydisney]

You guys are scaring me... we leave on Sunday. I can handle 2 hour waits on rides (we go early or FP them) but that picture makes it look like you can't even walk around!

 

[tinasmom8]

Like I said, we noticed ride/attraction/monorail malfunctions all week long. Not sure what was going on last week, but these problems combined with insane crowds, were causing absolute chaos in the parks.

Tiger

We were there last week and it was absolutely the worst crowd I've ever seen in March (we go every year). Long lines and many times impossible to get a FP. I heard that one of the malfunctions was Space Mountain because someone lost a flip flop. They had to shut the ride down to make sure the flip flop didn't fall on the tracks, and then had a problem syncing the cars back up. People were understandably frustrated after waiting 1.5 hours in line. I've decided that this will be our last year going in March. Unless there's a deal I can't resist, I'll probably wait a couple of years before we plan another trip.

 

[Tiger926]

We were there last week and it was absolutely the worst crowd I've ever seen in March (we go every year). Long lines and many times impossible to get a FP. I heard that one of the malfunctions was Space Mountain because someone lost a flip flop. They had to shut the ride down to make sure the flip flop didn't fall on the tracks, and then had a problem syncing the cars back up. People were understandably frustrated after waiting 1.5 hours in line. I've decided that this will be our last year going in March. Unless there's a deal I can't resist, I'll probably wait a couple of years before we plan another trip.

Being a teacher, we've gone one other time in March - our 1st trip home as DVC members and our baby ended up in hospital. Not a good trip...

We added this trip as we lost my aunt and grandma the past few months - very close to both of them, so we needed some family time together. It was a madhouse and we won't ever go again in March. We would rather go at Christmas/NYE because honestly, the crowds last week were the worst I've ever seen them. I do remember a July 4th a few years back, that was the same insane crowds, and we got out of MK quickly that day!

It was nuts last week with crowds and malfunctions, and hardly any Fastpasses available, but despite this, we had fun...some days. Other days were very frustrating and not fun at all...and this is from seasoned DVC members. I felt so badly for all of the First Trippers I saw...they looked utterly confused and overwhelmed.

Good luck to those going in the next couple of weeks, Tiger

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Being a teacher, we've gone one other time in March - our 1st trip home as DVC members and our baby ended up in hospital. Not a good trip...

We added this trip as we lost my aunt and grandma the past few months - very close to both of them, so we needed some family time together. It was a madhouse and we won't ever go again in March. We would rather go at Christmas/NYE because honestly, the crowds last week were the worst I've ever seen them. I do remember a July 4th a few years back, that was the same insane crowds, and we got out of MK quickly that day!

It was nuts last week with crowds and malfunctions, and hardly any Fastpasses available, but despite this, we had fun...some days. Other days were very frustrating and not fun at all...and this is from seasoned DVC members. I felt so badly for all of the First Trippers I saw...they looked utterly confused and overwhelmed.

Good luck to those going in the next couple of weeks, Tiger

Sorry for your losses, Tiger926. We lost both of my partner's parents in the six months prior to our March trip, and being away really helped.

 

[Tiger926]

Sorry for your losses, Tiger926. We lost both of my partner's parents in the six months prior to our March trip, and being away really helped.

Thank you so very much. My aunt was very young (in her late 40s) and although my grandmother was 90, they were both in the same family. My poor uncle lost his wife and mom all within a few weeks. It was a surreal experience...thank goodness for the closeness of our family and our faith.

We had fun last week as just the 4 of us as we've had a ton of family responsibilities due to their deaths, but with the crowds, it was difficult to get any alone time. We knew it would be busy, but holy crowds, Batman! We are glad we went though, as my aunt adored WDW as much as we do, so we had a few special moments while thinking of her.

Tiger

 

[GrayC25]

Yup, I'm getting nervous too! We leave 4/4 for our trip and I am the only one in my family who has researched and done the leg work. Everyone else is kind of flying by the seat of their pants. I know my husband will listen to what I've found out (Rope drop, early EMH, leave for a different park, etc.) but not sure anyone else in my family will.

Anyway, do you think the crowds will thin out at all (even just a tiny bit) since most of the Florida spring breaks will be done by (or after) our trip?

 

[Tiger926]

Yup, I'm getting nervous too! We leave 4/4 for our trip and I am the only one in my family who has researched and done the leg work. Everyone else is kind of flying by the seat of their pants. I know my husband will listen to what I've found out (Rope drop, early EMH, leave for a different park, etc.) but not sure anyone else in my family will.

Anyway, do you think the crowds will thin out at all (even just a tiny bit) since most of the Florida spring breaks will be done by (or after) our trip?

I'm sorry to say that you are going during Easter weekend, so your crowds will be very heavy. Unless you are arriving after Easter, but if you arrive on Easter Sunday (April 4th), it's going to be a mad house! Hopefully, you'll be ok, but if it's like last week, I wish you luck!

Tiger