Just back (8/2-8/13/03), crowds were much heavier than last year at the same time. When checking in at POR, CM said that the resort was fully booked....they were quite pleased to be filled up. As mentioned in as earlier post, on 8/5, MK stayed open until 11pm and there were 2 Spectro parades (instead of the 10 pm closing listed on the published 8/3-8/9 "times guide" distributed at the resorts and the parks) . CM at POR said that decisions to extend hours were made a day ahead...if the anticipated crowds were heavy (and if there was not an ENight scheduled), they would extend the hours....she also mentioned that since there had been quite a bit of rain during the days, she thought they were trying to add hours to accomodate the guests.
As expected, we found the crowds much heavier in the park that had EMH. On our first visits to MK, AK and MGM we went on EMH days and the crowds were heavy.....we were going to hop to another park, but thought the crowds would be heavy everywhere (since we were hearing that overall attendence was way up) so we stayed put. On our return visits, we went on non-EMH days and found the crowds much lighter. In retrospect, we should have gone for EMH and hopped to another park about about 10am.
