Busy Parks all?

[Peter Pirate]

Our good friend gcurling just got back from WDW and told me it was it was PACKED! Especially MK. Now, it makes sense to me that a lot of locals (Floridians) have finally decided to get back to "having fun" as lets face it, it's easy for us, we don't have to fly.

I'd be interested to know from anyone just how busy US/IOA was this weekend (did they share in the wealth) and also how about DL & particularily DCA? Do we have any Californians who were out this weekend?

One last question, is there anyone who has been to any of these Parks during the last week (to verify that it is, in fact, locals filling the Parks on the weekends only)?

 

[Kotar]

USF and IOA were likewise packed with up to an hour wait on some of the rides. SW had 2 or 3 days of over 15000 people, which is extremely good for them this time of year. Some of what helped fuel Sea World's bump up in numbers, was the new EZ Pay system, and that they are letting all Fire Fighters, Police Officers,and other types of emergency people and their families in for free one time, then after that the Heroes still get in free for the rest of the year, but the rest of family have to pay for their admission but recieve a 25% off admission. The heroes get special neck laynards and I think they may get discounts for food and for merchandise( however I'm not 100% sure about the food and merch).

I've seen alot of British tourists in the parks and I-drive area lately.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Can't tell you about Disneyland or DCA, but I went to SF Marine World this weekend and it was fairly crowded. Of course, they've got a Halloween event going on.

 

[cindyfan]

We just got back yesterday, were there for 5 days.
And from what I saw.......it wasn't just "locals"......or Florida residents. Most of the people we talked with were from up north, like PA, NY and OH. Some from TX, and west too. Quite a large foreign crowd too, like Australia and far east countries.
And the parks were alot more crowded than we expected!!!!
The parks were more crowded this time than what I remember from Oct '99. My family says that in '99 there were 2 hurricanes that kept people away during the same week. I do remember the hurricanes, but there was just alot of rain the first and last days of a 10 day stay then. The other days were perfect weather.
I think everyone was caught off guard with the crowds this week.
MK announced on Sat morning they were staying open later and they added another showing of the Spectro Magic Parade. The MK was just wall to wall people!!! Bus lines were crazy that night!!!
So from what I saw, if anyone thinks that attendance is down........WRONG! not the days we were there!

Do want to add that the security checks went really smooth and fast!!! But do take that into consideration when planning to be somewhere at a certain time.

 

[HBK]

Just a quick post....I'm fresh off of the plane after spending 10 days @ Disney. The park was EMPTY during the week, and in my opinion, the weekends were busy, but not packed. The longest posted lines were 45 minutes, but I found the times to be inflated. Splash was listed at 45 minutes, but it took approx. 20-25 to get to the ride.

I'll be back with more....

 

[Safari Steve]

We haven't seen any drop in attendance from our UK guests (except for the initial week).
Of the people I've spoken to while working over the last 4 weekends, I'd say a third were local (we consider FL, AL, GA, SC local), one third were from UK, and one third were from NY/NJ, with a few from other places (two families from France, even). I did not, by any means, speak to every guest, but that's my general impression. HOP has had great attendance. I don't know if they've filled the auditorium, but the rotunda has been pretty well packed for each show, with most shows at least close to half full.

 

[HBK]

I really noticed a TON of british accents, and a ton of Jersy license plates in the parking lots.

HOP was PACKED when we saw the show....and suprisingly enough so was COP!

 

[Kay1]

We were at Universal Columbus Day weekend and thought it plenty busy, but a lot of the lines were created by opening only one side of attractions. It's one thing for the parks to curtail employees, operating hours, etc. during unusually slow periods, but if things are picking up the way people say, I think they need to adjust to that as well.

 

[HBK]

We were at Universal Columbus Day weekend and thought it plenty busy, but a lot of the lines were created by opening only one side of attractions. It's one thing for the parks to curtail employees, operating hours, etc. during unusually slow periods, but if things are picking up the way people say, I think they need to adjust to that as well.

While I wasn't at Universal on Columbus Day (I was at Magic & Seaworld) when I did make it to IOA on Tuesday the only thing not open was Triceratops encounter. And yes, the dragons were dueling.

The parks seemed to be the most crowded on the Columbus day weekend (which I kind of expected) they were dead for the rest of the trip. (Our honeymoon was from Oct 6-Oct 15)