Anyone know why it's so busy right now?

[WillowRain]

I think during our 8 day trip I saw something cleaning the bathrooms twice.

And it’s not like the bathrooms were packed. I never waited in line for the bathrooms the whole time we were there.

SOmething, or someone?

I saw attendants every time, but only sweeping paper from stalls, not doing actual cleaning of counters or refilling soap or paper towels. The floors were groooooooossssssss.

 

[Elle23]

SOmething, or someone?

I saw attendants every time, but only sweeping paper from stalls, not doing actual cleaning of counters or refilling soap or paper towels. The floors were groooooooossssssss.

Ha....someone! Need to proofread better!

 

[Buckeye218]

Just back from a 5-day stay from 1/22 - 1/26. Been going to WDW since 2004. I'm generally pretty skeptical and I took most threads complaining about heavy crowds with a grain of salt. Not anymore. Now, I'm not saying it was shoulder-to-shoulder from open to close, but these were much heavier crowds than usual for this time of year. Lots and lots of BTG's-- guess the South American economy has rebounded. But I didn't notice any aberrant behavior. The rudest thing we encountered other than the odd case of line-cutting was external lighting being used during nighttime shows. But cast members were usually nearby to address this.

1/22 - Epcot
1/23 - MK
1/24 - AK
1/25 - HS
1/26 - MK/Epcot

MK was the worst as far as overall crowds (not unusual), but pretty much every park was at least a 7 or 8. My wife and I are pretty seasoned WDW travelers so we were able to manage our schedules and get pretty much everything done we wanted to, but it was more challenging than normal. Rides with usual near walk-on waits were significantly elevated. Transportation at peak times was also pretty strained.

As for upkeep, we noticed restrooms regularly out of paper products and soap, but overall cleanliness of the parks didn't seem out of line. I would still visit in late January in future years, but my expectations will certainly be tempered.

 

[MermaidMommy]

The reassuring thing to me from this thread is that our next chance to go is going to be mid-March next year, which I was not thrilled about because spring break (the entire province of Ontario will have that week off). But if this year is anything to go by it doesn't sound like crowds that week will be significantly worse than Mardi Gras. And we will have more park days on that trip to spread things out, and probably get to stay at a monorail resort, and be planned further ahead, etc. So I'm more optimistic about that one now! (Also that takes the pressure off for this trip, so win-win)

The thing you have to watch for during mid-march far more than Ontario’s spring break is Texas’ spring break. With twice as many people as Ontario and (obviously) much closer, Texas spring break usually makes mid-March the third busiest spring break week, after the week before and the week after Easter. Crowd are usually a 9 that week, which is what they’re predicted to be this year. If you’re talking about the week of March 10, 2019, most public schools in Texas will likely be on spring break that week, so be have a good plan and be prepared for very large crowds.

 

[WaterLinds]

The thing you have to watch for during mid-march far more than Ontario’s spring break is Texas’ spring break. With twice as many people as Ontario and (obviously) much closer, Texas spring break usually makes mid-March the third busiest spring break week, after the week before and the week after Easter. Crowd are usually a 9 that week, which is what they’re predicted to be this year. If you’re talking about the week of March 10, 2019, most public schools in Texas will likely be on spring break that week, so be have a good plan and be prepared for very large crowds.

I just realized I was looking at the wrong dates for march break, oops. It's always fallen the week of my birthday before but looks like next year it isn't, so yeah, it would overlap with Texas. However now I wonder if I had the wrong dates for DH's conference (the reason we are looking at that week despite crowd levels--our lodging expenses would be covered, so we can get a villa with more space, etc.). Off to check that! Will be planning the next trip pretty quickly after getting home from this one!

 

[TropicalDIS]

Arrived yesterday, spent the day at AK. It was busy. TP had it at a 4, it was an 8 apparently. Dinosaur 45 mins all day until after RoL, Everest 55 until then. FoP was at 195 when we went, luckily had a fast pass. River Journey was at 95, didnt bother waiting.

Not only that but the food places were jammed.

First time at AK, Everest is amazing. My fav ride at that park.

 

[Mousey0324]

Was in MK yesterday...figured with it closing early and no EMH it wouldn’t be busy. Welp I was wrong. Nothing during the day was under a 30-40 min wait. Added to the fact there were numerous private vip tours didn’t help matters. I’m convinced magic kingdom is always busy now. The other parks not so much, I still think there are good days. Especially Epcot. We were there Thursday and it was dead. We were standby for frozen it was 30 mins. Not bad. Test track at some points was 20. We are in animal kingdom today. Can’t imagine what magic kingdom will be like today given it’s saturday and open until midnight.

 

[WillowRain]

Arrived yesterday, spent the day at AK. It was busy. TP had it at a 4, it was an 8 apparently. Dinosaur 45 mins all day until after RoL, Everest 55 until then. FoP was at 195 when we went, luckily had a fast pass. River Journey was at 95, didnt bother waiting.

Not only that but the food places were jammed.

First time at AK, Everest is amazing. My fav ride at that park.

ME TOOOOOOO!!!! Like, LOVE that park the most of the 6 American parks! And LOVED Everest. They told us to ride the back next time for the ultimate G's! And Na'vi, we waiting when it said 95 and it was only an hour, including the ride. I firmly believe they add 15 to even 30 mins to rides at times, not sure why, or they just fluctuate that quickly.

Was in MK yesterday...figured with it closing early and no EMH it wouldn’t be busy. Welp I was wrong. Nothing during the day was under a 30-40 min wait. Added to the fact there were numerous private vip tours didn’t help matters. I’m convinced magic kingdom is always busy now. The other parks not so much, I still think there are good days. Especially Epcot. We were there Thursday and it was dead. We were standby for frozen it was 30 mins. Not bad. Test track at some points was 20. We are in animal kingdom today. Can’t imagine what magic kingdom will be like today given it’s saturday and open until midnight.

Nice! Epcot seems to be less busy but it also seems so much larger than the other parks too. I hope Frozen is that low when we return as I hear we must wait in Standby! Test Track, man I wish there was a way to bypass the building room, that just takes so much freaking time!

MK was ALWAYS busy. We didn't go Saturday or Sunday until after Fireworks, since they were open until midnight. I can vouch that it was LOVELY after 9. 9 To midnight we would just hang out, ride Thunder 3 or 4 times each night, night jungle cruise, even got to shop with no one in the Emporium. But that 330 min wait for Space on Sunday....Noooooope

 

[Linkura]

ME TOOOOOOO!!!! Like, LOVE that park the most of the 6 American parks! And LOVED Everest. They told us to ride the back next time for the ultimate G's! And Na'vi, we waiting when it said 95 and it was only an hour, including the ride. I firmly believe they add 15 to even 30 mins to rides at times, not sure why, or they just fluctuate that quickly.



Nice! Epcot seems to be less busy but it also seems so much larger than the other parks too. I hope Frozen is that low when we return as I hear we must wait in Standby! Test Track, man I wish there was a way to bypass the building room, that just takes so much freaking time!

MK was ALWAYS busy. We didn't go Saturday or Sunday until after Fireworks, since they were open until midnight. I can vouch that it was LOVELY after 9. 9 To midnight we would just hang out, ride Thunder 3 or 4 times each night, night jungle cruise, even got to shop with no one in the Emporium. But that 330 min wait for Space on Sunday....Noooooope

You bypass the building on TT if you do single rider!

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

@hllb i think you’re leaving this weekend so if you have time to check in let us know how it is! Also wondering how Poly is bc I’m right behind you! Have fun!!!!!

 

[momimouse27]

We were stuck with the last week of February/first of March, due to my daughter's spring break-her college has weird break dates that are way off from the normal school breaks-they finish up school by the last week of April.

If I keep reading this thread I'm going to work myself into stress. I have to keep reminding myself I have been on Easter weekend and in the middle of July and August and that it can't beat that...

 

[rznhal]

We were at mk today.....nothing under 40 minute standby.....worked the fp all day.....rode pirates, space mountain, buzz, laugh floor, Winnie the Pooh, barnstormer, dumbo, did two shows and the parade. It was a great day we never waited more than 10 min

 

[MermaidMommy]

We were stuck with the last week of February/first of March, due to my daughter's spring break-her college has weird break dates that are way off from the normal school breaks-they finish up school by the last week of April.

If I keep reading this thread I'm going to work myself into stress. I have to keep reminding myself I have been on Easter weekend and in the middle of July and August and that it can't beat that...

That should be a great time to go! As long as you’re gone by the second week of March, you should miss the heavy spring break crowds. Unless there’s something new I’m missing, I wouldn’t worry about that time frame at all.

 

[Nutmeg2016]

Just curious, was anyone else in MK on Friday, Jan 19th?

We really didn't think crowds were that bad. Granted, we hardly did any standby (just alternated FP+ w/ shows & Tiki room-type attractions), so my sense of wait times isn't too sharp. But I can say our general touring experience was very pleasant, e.g. we sauntered up to watch FoF at the last minute and found a great spot; bathroom lines were fine; we breezed through FP+ lines; walkways didn't seem overwhelmed, etc. It certainly wasn't empty, but again, we managed to do a lot and still move at a relaxed pace.

I don't know, maybe my sense of crowds is warped by our 2014 Easter trip (yikes), so now anything better than that seems pretty peachy (!?!).

My only negative comment- as others have noted, some of restrooms were in a pretty bad state. Disney really needs to get its act together on that one.

 

[mom2shayleeandlogan]

Bathrooms were gross all week for us
The herds of people made it very hard to navigate around as well as the amount of people walking and staring at their cell phone. I can’t believe how many people are unaware of their surroundings while walking. I made sure to not walk and use my phone at the same time. I think that adds to the congestion in the crowds. We had a good trip but the crowds got to us.

 

[Haley R]

We were stuck with the last week of February/first of March, due to my daughter's spring break-her college has weird break dates that are way off from the normal school breaks-they finish up school by the last week of April.

If I keep reading this thread I'm going to work myself into stress. I have to keep reminding myself I have been on Easter weekend and in the middle of July and August and that it can't beat that...

We’ve been at that time of year two years in a row and are going again this year at that time. It’s warm but not too hot, didn’t rain at all both times we went, and the crowds are very manageable.

 

[belledreamer]

Just got back from our week trip today. Maybe it was just the bathrooms I went into or maybe it's my own perception of them but I didn't find any of the bathrooms to be especially dirty until our last evening at Disney Springs and we didn't wait in line for a bathroom until our last park day at AK. I did however find it much more crowded than we were expecting and by the trip's end, I felt ready to come home.

That being said, we had a good time, rode every ride we wanted and saw every show, but it was not the 3/10 crowds that we were hoping for. At its best, 5/10 at HS and Epcot and at its worst, 8/10 at AK. Being strategic about when we ate lunch and when we planned our FP was a massive help to us and the weather was some of the best we've ever had at Disney. In fact, I think the weather was what kept me sane because had I been sweating hot in that crowd, I probably would have reached my limit much sooner.

Would I go in January again? Absolutely. But if Disney is going to be having events, promotions and specials to bring people in during the slow months like this, they need to rework their strategy since this was moderate to high level crowds with (what felt like) low crowd level staff.

 

[fiasco32]

Just checked Touring Plans...all our days were supposed to be 3s and 4s. Turned out to be 7s and 8s. Sure felt that way, although we had a great trip and got to do (almost) everything we planned to. I just counted and we rode 7DMT a total of 14 times! Okay, okay, granted we shelled out extra for both EMM and DAH.

I noticed a LOT of South American tour groups this year. Like, a lot. And they were HUGE. I'm talking hundreds of teenagers all moving around in packs wearing bright t-shirts or sweatshirts. I didn't notice that last year.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

MK yesterday didn’t feel any worse to me than an average MK Saturday.

Which is why I almost never go to MK on a Saturday. Yikes.

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

MK yesterday didn’t feel any worse to me than an average MK Saturday.

Which is why I almost never go to MK on a Saturday. Yikes.

Yesterday MK was predicted to be a 7 and ended up being a 9. I guess either feels crowded!
It’s crazy because I checked April 2017 (our spring break week) and the crowds were generally around a 7. I thought spring break crowds would have ended up being around 9’s. So with how things are going lately our trip next week may feel even more crowded than our most recent spring break trip!