Crowds are crazy right now!

[jasmine91]

We are at MK and crowds today are almost as bad as they were last year over New Year's! So much for picking a week that was supposed to be "slow"...... Bummer! Anyone know what's going on? Hopefully it will get better as the week goes on.

 

[btk2333]

We are at MK and crowds today are almost as bad as they were last year over New Year's! So much for picking a week that was supposed to be "slow"...... Bummer! Anyone know what's going on? Hopefully it will get better as the week goes on.

MK is "not recommended" park for today- the other three parks are all recommended today. Even during slow season, if you go to the not recommended park it will busy.

 

[siskaren]

EasyWDW has MK as not recommended today - it sounds like he's right.

 

[jasmine91]

What makes a park " not recommended " ? Previous years?

 

[btk2333]

http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/01-january-2014-crowd-calendar/

Josh explains things for each park every day of the month here

Specifically for your day (Josh's words not mine)

"Magic Kingdom is occasionally recommended on Sundays with evening Extra Magic Hours because the early morning is an excellent time to tour and the late night evening Extra Magic Hours can also be good if you “tour smart.” However, the limited evening entertainment schedule this week means a lot of on-site and off-site visitors will be visiting specifically to see the Electrical Parade. While the morning will be an excellent time to tour, we’re looking at significantly heavier crowds than recommended days from 11am through 10pm. This past Friday would have been considerably less busy and this coming Tuesday and Wednesday will also be excellent."

 

[LilyWDW]

What makes a park " not recommended " ? Previous years?

Historical data. While not 100% perfect due to the nature of using the past to predict the future and the addition of variables that can not be accounted for, it can be done to an acceptable degree. It is called forecasting. I am sure Disney uses it as well for things like how much of something to order or how much staff to have on hand.

 

[pens4821]

We were surprised at the crowds Friday. We aren't regulars so not sure what to expect but it just seemed crowded. 25 minute wait for Aladdin, dumbo, small world, and 40 for pirates. While those were longer than I expected buzz was only 10 minutes 10 am and 7 pm.

 

[mm522]

I can guarantee you that it is not as crowded as New Years, is the park at a phase 3 closure with traffic backed all the way down World Drive? Didn't think so.

 

[daisy_77]

I always thought weekends were the worst times to head to the MK. I also heard that January is becoming a more and more popular time to head to Disney on vacation.

 

[wisblue]

According to MDE there is not one attraction at MK right now with a wait time over an hour, and even Space Mountain is listed at 45 minutes.

Definitely not as crowded as NYE.

 

[surferdave]

What makes a park " not recommended " ? Previous years?

Pretty much any desirable reason to be in it.

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

They probably are not running the rides to capacity which makes it feel more crowded.

But according to the ride time apps, it's not very crowded and waits are reasonable. Like previous poster said no ride more than 50 minutes and splash is closed........and this at 3 pm....that is great.

 

[johde]

According to MDE there is not one attraction at MK right now with a wait time over an hour, and even Space Mountain is listed at 45 minutes.

Definitely not as crowded as NYE.

I would agree, on NYE we would be 2 hours+ on multiple rides. That being said in the OP defense, FP+ may be making it feel as crowded as NYE. The backups at the first scanners, even if they aren't causing people to take more time to board, are causing more people to be in the pathways causing the parks to feel more congested.

 

[btk2333]

I would agree, on NYE we would be 2 hours+ on multiple rides. That being said in the OP defense, FP+ may be making it feel as crowded as NYE. The backups at the first scanners, even if they aren't causing people to take more time to board, are causing more people to be in the pathways causing the parks to feel more congested.

and here comes the first mention of FP+

These threads happened long before FP+ and they will continue to happen long after it's implemented- I don't get why people have the desire to blame everything on FP+

 

[DWillowBay]

Here right now. Sitting in Tutto Gusto in Epcot. No problem with crowds here. It is pretty sweet!

 

[GoOfyInDisNEy]

We were there this morning from 9-12. Rode everything we wanted and headed out. The crowds walking in looked heavier. It will thin out. Have faith.

 

[magicbob]

and here comes the first mention of FP+

These threads happened long before FP+ and they will continue to happen long after it's implemented- I don't get why people have the desire to blame everything on FP+

Because FP+ is the devil-spawn of Satan.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I think Saturdays are typically busy at MK.

If I'm not mistaken, it's warmer today than it has been as well.

I was there on Monday, which was busy due to the holiday (and it was fairly warm at 69 degrees).

I went back on Wednesday, when the wind chill was 36 in the morning and the high for the day was 52. Yeah...not nearly as busy.

 

[Laketravis]

We've always enjoyed going to MK first thing on Sunday morning but we'd typically leave by noon or so when it starts getting busy.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We were at the other 3 parks

according to Josh the recommendations for today went

HS AK EP / MK

We went to HS at RD - rode TSM (were in the first batch of cars - ie no 'high score for the day yet as nobody had gone all the way around yet). When we came out the wait was 35 minutes and out the door - that is more than usual (we like to start days at DHS and get TSM in early). So seemed more crowded than usual over there but then went over and ST had barely anyone over there - DH and DD rode twice in a row walk on (no wait - but 10 minute wait posted)

At Epcot we went by Anna/ Elsa at 12:15 and again at 12:35 (after riding Maelstrom) at both times they were lining people up for the 4:00 meet - the 4:00 meet didn't exist on Thursday when we waited to meet them so this must be one of the new times that Berlioz was talking about. I'm wondering if they are running it more continuously than they were before if you know what I mean.

We went over to AK around 2 pm and parked in PEACOCK! They fill Unicorn first, then Dinosaur, then Giraffe. We have never parked in Peacock even when arriving later in the day - when they've stopped bothering to park people - they're still filtering you into Giraffe. That didn't bode well but we felt confident since we had our FP arranged. Safari like was close to an hour - FP line was backed up to get in and then backed up when you walked in too!

Kali was a walk on (not surprising it was a bit chilly - I'm wet). To me the parade route looked a lot more crowded than we're used to.

Basically I thought it was a heavier crowd day than I was mentally expecting but not a huge deal we still had fun!