Anyone know why it's so busy right now?

[Haley R]

Right? My kids caught a little cough bug, oldest had a mild fever for a day so nothing major. She stayed in that day, then came out the next day which was the freezing cold Thursday. Still amazes me that we all didn't get the flu. My kids are handsy, and my son, well he LICKED a pole on the monorail. Kids are so great!

Licked a pole...? Did he see some gum he just had to have?

 

[Katie Dawn]

We were supposed to be there this week. And while I'm still sad we didn't get to go, these reports make me feel just slightly less sad. It sounds like it's a combination of higher than usual crowds plus fewer CMs so there are fewer rides running per hour for some rides, fewer staff at QS, etc. It just seems unbelievable that there could have been a 9 on a non-holiday weekend in January! I'd rather have been there than not been there, but this is not the type of January we had in mind.

Since Orlando schools were closed on Friday, do you think CMs being out for illness could be part of the cause? Though, seems like it wouldn't be impacting the entire month...

 

[hllb]

For the record, nothing I saw yesterday was running at half capacity.

 

[Katie Dawn]

For the record, nothing I saw yesterday was running at half capacity.

Interesting. I guess that's good and bad. Hope you're having a wonderful trip!

 

[hllb]

Interesting. I guess that's good and bad. Hope you're having a wonderful trip!

So far so good. Other than it absolutely poured for HEA last night. That show was amazing though. It was supposed to rain all day and didn’t rain much until after 6 sometime.

 

[fiasco32]

For the record, nothing I saw yesterday was running at half capacity.

ToT was running at half capacity all last week. And TSMM is until it shuts down temporarily in April, isn’t it?

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

ToT was running at half capacity all last week. And TSMM is until it shuts down temporarily in April, isn’t it?

Both those rides are at lower capacity because of refurbishment/upgrade. They’re known construction, not Disney choosing not to staff them for full capacity.

Edited to say that for TOT that was the case late last year. I guess I don’t know if that’s still the case.

 

[rinnythepooh]

We just got back Saturday from a 6 day trip. This was the most crowded I have seen in January. Just husband and myself we spent most of our time at EPCOT. We had one our our best trips ever. Talked to a few couples who said they did last min trips because of weather. AK was packed because of FOP. Latin tour groups were huge but less rude than cheerleader groups coming later in the season. Felt really sorry for people who didnt plan ahead. Would have given my second FOP FP to a couple if it was still a paper FP but cant with magic band. I think the three main reasons its crowded are:
1. Latin tour groups
2. Weather up north/last min trips
3. Pandora bring in extra people

 

[randumb0]

The beginning of September is the last slow period that I'm aware of

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I’m wondering if I go the week before schools get spring break 19-23 will it be safe?

 

[Haley R]

I’m wondering if I go the week before schools get spring break 19-23 will it be safe?

I think from now on you have to go when it works for you and your schedule.

 

[hllb]

MK seems more crowded today, but wait times aren’t horrible. We got 2 anytime FPs so that helps. One was for a FP that we didn’t make it to. Apparently it was down. The other was because Space mtn was down during our FP time, apparently. Except it wasn’t lol. We scanned in only about 3 minutes after the start of our window and it was running.

 

[fiasco32]

Edited to say that for TOT that was the case late last year. I guess I don’t know if that’s still the case.

I don't think this was scheduled refurbishment. My understanding was it was malfunctioning, confirmed by the fact that they took the ride offline several times and made announcements to the lines that the ride would be running slower than normal for the next short period of time.

 

[hllb]

Today felt more crowded in MK. But, we didn’t really do standby so it was fine. I saw space mountain pop up several times as a FP for 5 today. I didn’t see it come up at all yesterday. I’m very curious to see the crowd levels.

 

[North of Mouse]

Like for real, is this normal? Its like Disneyland times 2, I was expecting much lower crowds from all the research I did. The schedules I made on touring plans have barely been accurate. I'm discouraged, but still having fun.

The 'new' normal!! Disney has made sure there are very few (next to none) slow times anymore!

 

[katherine52478]

Epcot was great today! Standby times were a bit high but we had our FP and were able to get everything done that we wanted. The countries were a lot calmer than on Saturday and counter service waits were manageable! It’s definitely more crowded than January 2011 but it’s been pretty easy to navigate so far.

 

[hllb]

Epcot was great today! Standby times were a bit high but we had our FP and were able to get everything done that we wanted. The countries were a lot calmer than on Saturday and counter service waits were manageable! It’s definitely more crowded than January 2011 but it’s been pretty easy to navigate so far.

Epcot was a 4 instead of a 5. MK and HS were both 1 level above predictions. And AK, well, it got trounced again. 5 higher than predicted.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Epcot was a 4 instead of a 5. MK and HS were both 1 level above predictions. And AK, well, it got trounced again. 5 higher than predicted.

TP has been very consistently 3-5 levels lower that actuals for AK lately. It's predicted to be a 6 on our day. So um .. 11? (and yes, I know there is no 11 ... yet).

 

[Animal]

I’m wondering if I go the week before schools get spring break 19-23 will it be safe?

No. Texas Spring Break is the week before.

 

[DISfirstTimer]

We were in AK yesterday. Our 1st park day of our 1st Vacaton. I didn't think the crowds were that bad. It got a little congested when shows let out but that is to be expected. We completed almost everything I wanted to do including time back at AKL for a swim! The things we didn't complete was only because we did extras like lots of Wilderness Explorers stops that my kids loved plus we saw Timon, Pochohantas, and Russell. I found everything to be clean, well staffed, and everyone including guests to be so friendly. We are headed to MK today. I expect us not to make RD because my gang is beat already!