Back Home Yesterday - NO WAITING!!!

[BeckWhy]

I just want to add, to all you future go-ers (those going in the next couple of weeks), you should knock on wood and not jinks us!

 

[ks12066]

sounds good. we leave in 17 days.

 

[Msslaydbug]

We don't have too much longer !! I hope our luck is as good as yours !! 3 more weeks !

 

[miss missy]

Back last Thur. Same deal, no waits! We had a blast! I was alos able to change ressies a couple times too, but with 2 I think its easier.

We went on Soarin 4 times in an hour, which was going right back on each time, no waits! Thanks to Ernesto, no one was at the parks that day!

 

[Dorisk3]

I'm starting to think we were truly at some other Disney World!!! Magic Kingdom was deserted on the day the storm went through- but other than that there were tons of people walking around and the lines weren't really all that short. I wonder if there's a case of Disboards amnesia! Walk ons don't really count if its for the first hour of park opening- what I want to know is did you walk on at 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon- that is low crowds to me!

 

[MassMom94]

were we at the same place!?

We were there from 16th August and got back yesterday 2nd Sept..
The crowds were absolutely awful! The orlando sentinel said that the resorts were running at 93% capacity over all..

I will agree that on Thursday Epcot was absolutely deserted...but other than that I thought the parks were extremely busy compared to these weeks other years.

We went 8/23 - 8/30 three years ago (2004), and 8/25 - 9/1 this year (thanks, Ernesto, for the extra two days! Southwest cancelled all flights 8/30 and we couldn't rebook until 9/1) and we found this year MUCH less crowded. Also, the parks were open later (MK closed at 7 before, this year at 10) and MK ran Spectro and Wishes every night, as opposed to only once during the week we were there last time.

I am surprised you experienced such crowds last week...maybe you picked the wrong park on the wrong day? Did you get there early, and hop if a park got too crowded? We usually would leave MK by 11 AM so I don't know what the afternoon crowds were like there. We used the Unofficial Guide recommendations for the most part and only needed FPs for Soarin' (though we did standby once when the line was only 20 minutes) and TT. We did go to MGM (late) on a day not recommended, but that was because DS really wanted to see LMA and it was our only chance. We saw tons of people walking around with EMH evening bracelets - did anyone do that? Seemed to me it would have been a nightmare - didn't appear they had enough attractions open to handle that kind of crowd.

 

[blue_river]

I can't answer that question because we took the DIS boards advice and went back to our resort in the afternoons.

 

[miss missy]

I'm starting to think we were truly at some other Disney World!!! Magic Kingdom was deserted on the day the storm went through- but other than that there were tons of people walking around and the lines weren't really all that short. I wonder if there's a case of Disboards amnesia! Walk ons don't really count if its for the first hour of park opening- what I want to know is did you walk on at 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon- that is low crowds to me!

We don't get out until then each day. We are up till all hours when we go, so yes even at 2 and after... we usually get there when you all are leaving to rest or dry off. Walked on all day this day!

 

[lauritagoddess]

I agree with the OP, the crowds were fabulous. We walked onto Soarin and Test Track with no waits. At MK, my DS was thrilled because we were able on two different days to walk onto my Buzz Lightyear and then get right back on and ride again and again, and this was in morning and afternoon. We did make a point to avoid any park that was having EMH that day, opened the parks and tried to hit the rides we really wanted to go on right away. But I can't really recall any time that there were huge lines for anything. The parks seemed emptier to me than when we were there in early March.

 

[Gina35]

Spent the day at AK (9am-1pm), EPCOT (1pm-7pm) and MK (7pm-Wishes). Crowds were nil, except at MK for Spectro and Wishes. Went on the single-rider line for EE 3 times in a row and had less than 5-minute waits for each ride. Kilmanjaro Safari was walk-on. Soarin was a 20-minute wait, although they posted 40-minutes. Biergarten was literally no wait at all. Philharmagic was a sparse crowd. Pirates was about 10 minutes. Even rode up on the front seat of the monorail from Epcot to MK without having to wait for anyone before us (got our co-pilot licenses).

All in all, the crowds were very managable.

Was there a long wait in the regular line for EE? When we went 2 wks ago, we got there right after the park opened and EVERYONE RAN to EE. My kids got us FPs (time was 10:50, and they must've been at EE by 9:10). We stayed at the park until about 2 or 3, and the entire time EE was super crowded with standby lines of at least 45 minutes. We only went once with our FP b/c we didn't want to wait that long. By the time we went back to the ride, the FPs were gone for the day! All in all, the lines weren't bad; our longest wait w/out FPs was about 15-20 mins. However, we never got onto Soarin' b/c it was down 2 days and the timing didn't work out right on the other days for a FP. Lines for Soarin' were always quite long. We also wanted to do Peter Pan b/c my one DD always loved it, but we couldn't get onto that either. It was down one entire day when we were at MK, and the other days it didn't work out for us timewise.

MASS MOM 94: We got the EMH bracelets for the 1st night we were there and it was great. The lines were longer than they used to be when we paid for EMHs, but they weren't too bad. We got there about 8:30 pm and ran throught the park all night until 1 am. We got to ride Space Mt. twice, and POTC, Splash Mt, HM, and BTMRR once each. The longest we waited was about 15 mins.

 

[SammieG]

I am surprised you experienced such crowds last week...maybe you picked the wrong park on the wrong day? Did you get there early, and hop if a park got too crowded? We usually would leave MK by 11 AM so I don't know what the afternoon crowds were like there. We used the Unofficial Guide recommendations for the most part and only needed FPs for Soarin' (though we did standby once when the line was only 20 minutes) and TT. We did go to MGM (late) on a day not recommended, but that was because DS really wanted to see LMA and it was our only chance. We saw tons of people walking around with EMH evening bracelets - did anyone do that? Seemed to me it would have been a nightmare - didn't appear they had enough attractions open to handle that kind of crowd.

We were there for two weeks +...
16th August - 1st Sept

The first week was awful.. huge crowds...the second week could have been a little better and we didnt go into a park on the wednesday and Thursday was certainly deserted at Epcot.

No, for your information I didnt leave early and park hop! No way! Not ever! We never tour like that. That doesnt sound like much fun to me! In all my 15 trips to Disney I have never toured like that. We like to make the most of the sun in the morning by the pool (this is a vacation for us after all!) and then when the weather is not so good, we get into the parks. That way we can stay there as it gets cooler and much longer than the other way around.

This is the way we always tour, and we always go these two weeks in August, so I have a good bench mark of what the crowds are like.

Cast Members in the parks also said how crowded it was for this time of year.

 

[Tinkerbells mom]

We were also there last week and our experience was very low crowds all week. Most rides ran to about 10 minute wait or so. We only used our fast pass on soarin. This is very unsual for us as we go alot in October and I have to fast pass alot of attractions.

 

[DA' O's]

We were there August 19th to September 1st and found the crowds and wait time very low. The most we waited was approx 10 minutes. We usually go around fourth of July and wow what a difference. Yes it was hot but not that bad and very bearable. Wednesday when Ernesto paid a visit, MK was the greatest. We rode attractions over and over again. This trip couldn't of been better!!!!

 

[SammieG]

yes of course, compared to July, the rides and parks were empty..
but they were much busier than we have experienced this time the last 3 or 4 years.
There were some walk ons... but 25 minutes for Its a Small World is unheard of for us this time of year..
75 minutes for Peter Pan
40 minutes for dumbo!
55 minutes for Pooh..

We just wont wait those sort of times..

having said that on the same day we did walk onto CoP, Buzz (well we got FP's) but the wait was only around 20 mins..
Philharmagic was only about 10 mins (but we are used to just walking in with no wait)

I guess if Im really thinking about it, the crowds were not awful.. just more than we were used to for the time of year.

Quite honestly we didnt spend THAT much time in the parks this year.. we couldnt eat at the sit down restaurants and so we often left to get dinner elsewhere.

The only thing that keeps us going back that time of year is the low crowds as the weather is usually very oppressive.
It wasnt too had this year though... quite nice most days!

 

[Viki]

I'm starting to think we were truly at some other Disney World!!! Magic Kingdom was deserted on the day the storm went through- but other than that there were tons of people walking around and the lines weren't really all that short. I wonder if there's a case of Disboards amnesia! Walk ons don't really count if its for the first hour of park opening- what I want to know is did you walk on at 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon- that is low crowds to me!

LOL!!! Dementia, but no amnesia. In fact in order to prepare for my trip report I sat down in the parks every afternoon and wrote in my travel log so that I would not succomb to the pressure of either.

But, yes, of course, the first FEW hours - indeed right up until 1-2 PM, were much lighter than the afternoons. But that's all I do anyway - 5 hours in a park is plenty for us. Still, all that said, we were just there the first week in December and there was no comparison; this past week (NOT before) crowds were much, much smaller.

Beyond these anecdotal remarks, CMs were reporting 40% capacity at the parks and 75% at the resorts.

How I wish this were true every 4th week in August!

 

[MassMom94]

We were there for two weeks +...
16th August - 1st Sept

No, for your information I didnt leave early and park hop! No way! Not ever! We never tour like that. That doesnt sound like much fun to me! In all my 15 trips to Disney I have never toured like that. We like to make the most of the sun in the morning by the pool (this is a vacation for us after all!) and then when the weather is not so good, we get into the parks. That way we can stay there as it gets cooler and much longer than the other way around.

There you go...we have quite different park touring styles! My family wouldn't think of NOT park hopping, and we are usually at one of the parks at opening to take advantage of the (very relatively!) cooler morning temps and smaller crowds. This trip we did our pool time at night. We have never visited the MK between the hours of 12 - 3 PM...up until this trip, we were always out of there by 11 AM when the place really seemed to get crazy! One place I love to go in the afternoons is Epcot, since it never seems to get very crowded there... because it's so big, it doesn't feel crowded, at least. AK is also a good afternoon park as a lot of people leave in the afternoon. Or at least used to leave prior to EE.

 

[stitchgal]

We just got back yesterday, at the World 8/28-yesterday. Crowds were very light until we noticed some volume starting on Saturday at MGM and at the MK yesterday. The longest wait was Soarin' for about 20 mins and that was with fast pass. We went on Everest around 3 PM and DH and I rode it with a 15 min wait. It was very hot and humid most of the time, but crowds were great.