Are the crowds less than usual due to the war??

[disneyworld-lover]

I see on disneyworlds wedsite (as of this past weekend), there is an abundance of rooms avail. at virtually every resort!!! Ususlaly by this time of yr due to the upcoming Easter holidays, there is limited or even NO avail. on the website to make a reserv. We are going 4/16-4/23 and I was just wondering if anyone has any feedback on if the crowds will be or are already less than expected due to people cancellign their reservations and not traveling because of the war................

 

[mickey4ver]

Someone I know was there just last week and said it was VERY crowded indeed, with long waits for rides and fastpass being filled by 4 p.m. Also hotels were at 90% capacity. Doesn't sound to me like anything is keeping people away from the magic!

 

[All Aboard]

Reports on the Theme Park Board are mixed. Some are reporting very heavy crowds, others light. I think it might be a matter of perspective on the part of the posters. FWIW, WDW has found itself in "last second add-an-hour" mode lately to accomdate the bigger than expected crowds. I'm not going to stay on that soap box long, but that strategy is not really good for anyone - guests, CMs or stockholders.

 

[Bstanley]

The war did not seem to have much of an effect last week. I was there (3/24 - 3/28) and it was most definitely crowded.

Not only typical Spring Break folks/families were there, but also large crowds of High School Chorale groups (some kind of competition). The AKL was at about 80% full according to the desk staff.

Wait times for E-tickets were 45 minutes to an hour (thank goodness for the change to the Fast Pass system that allows you to get a second Fast Pass before you've used the first). The crowds were similar at all the parks, and were also similar to the crowds at Universal. Fast Passes at the popular rides were used up by 5pm the days that we were in the MK.

I recall that one day they did add an hour to the MK closing time (from 7 to 8) - there may have been other days/parks, but that's the only one I recall.

 

[gatorcamper]

We were at AK on 3-29 and by noon there were 10 minute waiting times for all the major rides. I thought being a Sat. and spring breaks going on there would be more.

 

[eeyore0062]

Yes, it was crowded, yes the resorts were reporting 80-90% capacity. Yes, the waits were no less than one hour, and fastpasses were gone by 4 pm. I don't know what it was like at AK, because we didn't hit that park, but believe me, it was very crowded at MGM and MK, and Epcot was no slouch, either. We weren't there on the weekends, either. AK is usually not as busy on Saturdays for some reason, though... that is usually when we choose to hit that park.

 

[GeorgeY]

We were at Epcot this past saturday (3/29/03)

The park seemed rather empty. I don't know if everyone was at different parks, but they didn't have trams running at all. The line for Test Track at 12:45 was 20 minutes. and Fast pass return was for 3:30, at 4pm, Test track line was 30 minutes and Fastpass return was 6:30.

However the line at the restaurant in Future World (Electric Umbrella) was very long at 1:30, and very few seats to be found.

George

 

[Planogirl]

Two weeks ago or so, MK was quite crowded but the other parks less so particularly Epcot. Everything was pretty much walk-on at Epcot except Test Track while we spent our FastPasses avoiding 15-20 minute lines at the most at the other two parks. We were even seated immediately at the SciFi Cafe (a mixed blessing ) Again, the exception was MK which had much longer wait times at the Mountains and Peter Pan!

 

[Crazy Hakim]

I think this is due to the late date of Easter this year.
It seems like there are so many different Spring Break dates across the country. I was speaking to a family from Wayne, NJ last night. I asked if their kids were on Spring Break this week. They told me yes, but that different towns had different weeks off, some as late as the week after Easter. Very strange.
They also told me that the parks were empty yesterday and that they hardly waited on any lines at the Magic Kingdom.

 

[Ratpack]

Originally posted by Bstanley
Wait times for E-tickets were 45 minutes to an hour (thank goodness for the change to the Fast Pass system that allows you to get a second Fast Pass before you've used the first).

What is this about a change to FastPass???

 

[BrianD]

Originally posted by disneyworld-lover
We are going 4/16-4/23

Well, Disney has just changed the MK park hours again around Easter for the BETTER. The hours are now pretty much 8:30 to 11PM or midnight with 2 Spectromagics every night!

 

[MulanMom]

Crazy Hakim...we were in MK the afternoon of 4/2 and I assure you, the crowds were very healthy. At 3:30pm we got a fastpass for BTMRR for about 5:45-6:45 and were not allowed to get another fastpass until 5:50!!! (Yes, longer than 2 hours!) When we went on the ride around 6:35, the stand-by line posted a 15 minute wait time, but the queue was quite full and much longer than 15 minutes. As we went past the point where the CMs controlled the stand-by/fast pass guests, I heard a stand-by guest complain he had already waited in excess of a half-hour when the posted wait time was 15min. The park closed at 7pm that night with fireworks at 7:15.

It used to be that within an hour of closing time, lines would dwindle at the more popular attractions. On 4/2, that was not the case. It seemed like everyone was trying to make sure they were getting their money's worth.

 

[DNSDisney]

According to the CM I talked with today, they are just as busy as ever. People seem to be waiting from 4-6 weeks before there vacation to book instead of 4-6 mths he stated.
I for one hope the travel industry turns around for everyone concerned. But doesn't sound like Disney is doing too bad.

 

[phorsenuf]

Do you think any of it has to do with the fact that many people couldn't cancel because it was to close to their trip so they went anyways, versus people who are booked a little further out that can cancel with no penalty. (Did I explain that right??)

 

[wdwguide]

There are very few people who are directly affected by the war, and of those, it's mainly those who would have stayed at the Shades of Green (which is still closed). The drop in foreign visitors is much more dramatic than that of domestic ones. That's like a double-punch, because they also tend to spend more money.