Can you remember the worst and best crowds you ever experienced...

[Wendybird55]

I've been to Disney many, many times, but fortunately have been able to plan trips that are not during peak or high crowd times. Usually the worst crowds I've encountered is leaving MK or EPCOT after last fireworks. Otherwise I can't recall a time when every ride seemed to have a line or the paths seemed over crowded with people. On the other hand, the best crowds I've encountered was during Labor Day week...the parks seem almost empty. Never had to go all the way down the end of a row when entering a theater, was able to ride Splash Mountain 4 times in a row with no wait and most every ride was a walk on.

So what do you recall as the most crowded and least crowded time you were at Disney?

 

[BigAlsGal]

I've been to Disney many, many times, but fortunately have been able to plan trips that are not during peak or high crowd times. Usually the worst crowds I've encountered is leaving MK or EPCOT after last fireworks. Otherwise I can't recall a time when every ride seemed to have a line or the paths seemed over crowded with people. On the other hand, the best crowds I've encountered was during Labor Day week...the parks seem almost empty. Never had to go all the way down the end of a row when entering a theater, was able to ride Splash Mountain 4 times in a row with no wait and most every ride was a walk on.

So what do you recall as the most crowded and least crowded time you were at Disney?

I don't really recall a good or bad crowd time. It always seems the same to me. I've been in february, march, may, June, August, October, November.

 

[GovieMom]

Best (least crowds) was 14 years ago. We were there the first week of November, the weather was gorgeous, and there was no huge F&W festival drawing the crowds like it does now.

Worst crowds were 5 or 6 years ago, first week of January. I had read on these boards that "the place empties out the day after New Years." Boy was that wrong, as we found out the hard way. Never that week again - whew!

 

[heybravo626]

Most crowded was New Year's Eve. A few days Christmas week were at park closed levels as well. We watched Wishes in the park one day and it was so crowded leaving that it was scary with kids. Smallest crowds was early Feb and early Nov trips. The best part of those trips was still doing rope drop and having some extended time with very few people in the park.

We have done trips in every month except May & October.

 

[ShannonMB]

Best crowds: Hands down, the full week before Thanksgiving. We had the place to ourselves the entire week. It was almost eerie barely having anyone there with us. Amazing!

Worst crowds: Hands down, Easter Week, MK on a Monday. Elbow to elbow, literally a line all the way back into Adventure Land to get up the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. Luckily, DD and I are veterans and had already been to MK twice before that trip. All we accomplished that day was the Tiki Room and Country Bear Jamboree (which we usually don't even bother with). We were laughing the whole time, in shock at how busy it was. Pandemonium! But I sure hope there weren't very many first-timers there that day, because I'm afraid they might be last-timers, too. Amazing!

 

[FiggieFan]

Worst crowds were 5 or 6 years ago, first week of January. I had read on these boards that "the place empties out the day after New Years." Boy was that wrong, as we found out the hard way. Never that week again - whew!

I have to agree with this. We were there January 2011 and our first day was Jan 3 which was supposed to be a low crowd today. We were at HS and it was beyond mobbed. Even all the cast members couldn't believe how crowded it was. After that we switched our dates to February, but we made the mistake of going during Mardi Gras one time, and that was crazy busy too.

 

[Kristina4109]

Least crowded: Week before (not OF) Thanksgiving. Owned the place. Actually walked by a ride and scoffed, "Fifteen minute wait? There's no way we're waiting 15 minutes!"

Most crowded: Spring break. That was a tough week. Plus, it was quite hot and humid.

 

[antmaril]

Least crowded -- Epcot on Super Bowl Sunday in 1991. The Game was held in Tampa, Florida that year and we had Epcot almost to ourselves. It was pretty sweet!

I have never been during any peak times, like Christmas or Easter, but I went once in the middle of the summer and it was very crowded. Never again!

 

[maxiesmom]

The worst was July 3 in the Magic Kingdom. My dad and I got our spot on Main Street to see the parade almost 2 hours ahead of time, as dad likes to sit on the curb. We were sardines, but it was well worth it. Awesome parade and fireworks.

The best? July 5 early morning in the Magic Kingdom. It was a ghost town!

I want to add the worst behaved people were during one of the Christmas parties. We were standing packed into the ropes for parade viewing. And so many people were yelling at CMs because they wanted to stop and block the sidewalks. It was ridiculous. I vividly remember one man with a stroller, who kept pointing at his child, and then pointing at the ropes. He was A N G R Y that there was no room left for him and his child. I've never seen so many people so badly behaved as I did during that party.

I would hate to be crowd control at WDW. Might as well wear a sign that says Kick Me.

 

[MissMaryQC]

2003 we went the weekend before Thanksgiving and the place was a ghost town. Idk if we just got lucky or what, but we literally had time to do every ride, see the parade, swim in the hotel pool and come back for more rides and fireworks. One of my favorite trips!

I had a dance recital in May 1994 (way back when!) and my mother was in MK for maybe an hour before she made us go back to the hotel. Mom doesn't do well in crowds, but she still references this trip as one of the worst. Pretty sure it was in the spring, but I was only 10 and don't really remember.

 

[chapie1968]

Not Disney, but I remember one November at Universal it was so empty I was sitting outside "Disaster" waiting for the rest of our party to get off and literally about 10 other people walked by me in the 15 minutes I was waiting. The place was empty. Every single ride we walked up and walked right onto a ride vehicle for the entire day.

 

[UncleMike101]

The worst crowd??
Our first visit to Epcot on the Fourth of July 1983.
It was the parks very first Fourth celebration and the fireworks were advertised to be the biggest and best that Disney had ever put on.
They closed the park around Noon because it was at capacity.
(The park had opened at 9:00AM)
You literally had trouble moving around because of the sea of humanity.
We waited in line over an hour just to get inside of The Land.
Once inside the line for the "Listen To The Land" boat ride was another two hour wait.
The other attractions were every bit as bad.
We almost always went to WDW over the Fourth Of July week and the crowds were always large.
The least crowded??
Our last visit during the last week of July 2012.
The crowd levels were 7, 8, and 9 all week but they were still the least crowded that we'd ever seen WDW.

 

[china mom]

Most crowded: July 4

Least crowded: Mother's Day

 

[Yellowstonetim]

Most crowded and unpleasant: Early 1980's Magic Kingdom on July 4th with 100 degree heat. The entire main street was shoulder to shoulder and the horse drawn trolleys could barely move. The rest is a blur. I just remember the smell of sweat not my own.

Least crowded and pleasant: 2000 in January before they started the race weekend. We went the full week after New Years. No lines anywhere any day. The only people were south American tour groups in T-shirts. Whenever we ran across someone who spoke English we stopped and chatted like long lost friends! It was a great trip.

Disney was smart, that period no longer exists due to the race weekend. The days around it are still pretty good though.

 

[JennyMP03]

After reading this thread, I now have the goal to go the week before Thanksgiving.

 

[SarahSummer]

We always go sometime in the first few weeks of September and it's dead. And we usually do our Christmas trip early to mid December and that's not bad either. We just got back from our spring trip a few days ago and other than the Magic Kingdom it was not very crowded at all.

I can't handle the crazy crowds. I have no idea how it can be fun for people to deal with that stress. We once made the mistake of going President's Weekend and I almost had a heart attack from the crowds. We didn't ride anything--just sat at bars and drank.

 

[DisMama5]

After reading this thread, I now have the goal to go the week before Thanksgiving.

Lol you read my mind! Seems like the time to go!!

 

[AJ1983]

Question: When is Thanksgiving?

 

[DisMama5]

We always go the end of September into the first week of oct, we love that time of year even with how hot it is still.

Worst.. Honestly I can't remember a "worst", if I had to pick it would be when we went in July one summer because of how crowded it was but even then we enjoyed as we are frequent Disney vacationers so we slept in, enjoyed the pool and headed to the parks later afternoon into the night till 1-2am some nights, it was kinda cool but I'm sure if we did the parks earlier then we did we might've had a different experience because there was a ton of people

 

[rapunzels]

Best - 3rd week in January

Worst - I think it was 2/3rd week of Feb. 2009, every single person from LA came to WDW, for Mardi Gras... They got Presidents week and Mardi Gras week off, so with 2 weeks off, it was slammed. EVERYONE was from LA, it was crazy. They could have called it New Orleans week.