Back Home Yesterday - NO WAITING!!!

[blue_river]

We just got back yesterday and I am happy to report that we had absolutely no wait times for any rides except Soarin and that was only a 20 minute wait - was posted for 30. We never used FP at all. What we did notice was that many people were trying to get reservations for the restaurants we were attending and they were turned away. I shall thank the DIS Board for preparing me ahead of time and letting me know I needed to make my reservations in advance.

This was our first family trip to DW and it was the BEST trip we've ever had. We are already planning on coming back next year and deciding what we'll do differently.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

 

[EEYOREMAMA]

What a great report. I'm jealous that you had no wait time. That's fantastic!!!!!!!

I hope that I have that kind of luck in 2 weeks. Glad you had a truly magical vacation.

 

[ntsammy5]

​

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was hoping the crowds would thin out> Did I say thank you?

​

 

[The Mick]

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.

 

[daretodream]

Yipppeeee! We leave in just a few hours!

 

[blue_river]

I know how you feel...I was also worried after reading so many reports about it being crowded with the free dining but it just wasn't. Okay the restaurants were full but at least no waiting in lines and as long as you have ADR's you should be fine.

Speaking of the free dining - We were just amazed at the amount of food given away for FREE. We enjoyed all our dinners except for the CS meals at our resort - ASMo - they were just plain old cafeteria style.

 

[Viki]

Yes, we just got back this afternoon and I can confirm crowd sizes were very favorable all week. The word from various sources was that the parks were down to 40% occupancy and the resorts to 75%. Cast members assured us that this is not usually the case the 4th week in August (shucks, I thought I'd found our new favorite week!!!) and believed that "Ernie" (who created nothing but a few clouds with accompanying drizzles) was the culprit.

 

[english rose 47]

How was the heat? Just told DD that some many attractions are under ground. So that's why Disney never gets Hurricane hits she says but still wont consider going June thru Nov .!!!

 

[David R]

The temperature has been around 90 most of the week.

 

[zookeeper]

We were also there last week (AUg.26th -Sept.1st) and the crowds were great! No problems at all. We did use Fastpass a couple of times, but we probably didn't really need to. On the Wed. that Ernesto was supposed to come through they switched the AK EMH from evening to morning and opened at 7:30 am. I don't know if a lot of people just didn't know about the time change or were worried about the weather, but we walked in around 8am and there was nobody else around. We rode EE 2x in a row with 0 minutes wait time. We stayed on Kali River Rapids 7x without getting off (It's my DS's favourite so I gave in ) because there was nobody waiting to go onthe ride. The other days were fantastic also. The restaurants were still crowded and I did see people turned away at 50's PT Cafe as well as Donald's Breakfastosaurus (They should be thankful, but that's another story ) Anyone who has a trip coming up should be really excited because the crowds will be low and the rides will be great!!!

 

[zookeeper]

The temperature has been around 90 most of the week.

Just wanted to add that it was HOT, HOT, HOT for most of the week, but I think Ernesto took away a smidge of the humidity because it wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered from last year. It also might have been that I was expecting it to be horrible and it wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. The only day we found it completely unbearable was our day at MGM (last Tuesday) because we baked in all of the outdoor amphitheatres, especially Lights,Motors, Action. It was like a gigantic frying pan!!!! (Still a good show though!)

 

[wasabi girl]

Thanks guys! I leave Wednesday morning and hope to find the same lack of crowds. I'm glad you had a great time.

 

[Viki]

Yes, it was August HOT and humid up until Wednesday and then the humidity broke a bit.

 

[donac]

We were there from the 26th to the 29th and we had very little waiting also. Yes it was hot and humid but we had a great time. We only had one ADR for tea at the GF but it was not crowded and by 4:30 we were just about the onlye people in there. We had not problem getting places to eat but then it was just the 2 of us and we ate around 3 every afternoon except for the day we left and then we ate at 1 and had no problem getting in. We picked a place in the morning and called dining. A great time to go.

 

[SammieG]

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.

 

[maxaroni]

We were there from 8/25 - 9/2

I will also say that we did not encounter any lines either. Many rides were walk on and able to ride a 2nd time without getting off. If we did have to get off, we turned around got on the 5 min line and back riding again. The most we waited was 10 mins and that to us, is no line.

For us, we didn't feel the heat the same as usual...I don't know why but usually I am walking around feeling drenched from 8:00am all day. I was quite comfortable, for the most part, only a few times getting uncomfortable.

We were at MK on weds and it was virtually empty.

 

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

we have gone ,except last summer , in aug for the last 6 or 7 years. it was hot , but alot of days were misty.but it didnt seem as hot as alot of years. it was kinda weird. i know on tues 29th , we went to ak . got there around 930 or 1000 ish ,and i dont know if the tram just arrived or not, we came from asmusic, but it was PACKED trying to get in. we couldnt believe it. we thought maybe people thought the hurricane on wed. would be bad and they all came out. also ,that was the hottest day of all. and i mean HOT...i was so tired we went back to swim around 300 ish i told my dh i would meet him at the pool, but fell a sleep...........yep , i couldnt believe it. we ended up going to downtown ,shopping and snacking the night away. we ususally go to mk our last night.........but we were wiped out. i think the crowds wernt as bad as other summers, or i was worried about free diningl. we were not on food plan. we did use fp everyday. my husband waited one day 55 min. for everest, one day he did single ride and it was shorter. we still had a great time.....................

 

[ReneeA]

Chiming in to say that crowds were light. We just got home today...spent this morning in MK. It was light when we got there, but it was getting super crowded when we left. I would avoid MK on a weekend at all costs.

The weather was great, too. Not nearly as hot as it was last year at this time.

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

Wow! Ten minute waits? I can do that! I hope this trend continues throughout the week as I leave this coming Thursday!

 

[Hobbitmomma]

We were there the 24th to the 27th and we were very happy with the wait times. The longest we waited in line was about 1/2 an hour for the Jungle Cruise. We mostly waited about 10 minutes for things. We walked right onto Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Thunder Mountain and the Safari, as well as several shows. We fast passed a few things just to make our timing of some things a little more convenient. The only thing that didn't work out for us was Soarin'. We only got to Epcot one evening and by the time we got there (4pm or so) all of the fast passes were gone and the wait was over an hour. That's just too long with a 5 and 7 year old, so we had to pass on that.