Crowds are crazy !!!

[LSUfan4444]

I am from New Orleans here right now and def not feeling the love from this thread. Here's my 2 cents. This is the busiest Mardi Gras I have ever seen and I have been coming almost every year for the last several years (not when overlapping with Presidents Day). I have been at many of the "best times" each year including the beloved week after Thanksgiving. And as others have said that is getting much busier as well.

That said, I was absolutely unprepared for the crowds this trip. There is no way that Mardi Gras is the ONLY reason for the crowds. Usually we run into many people we know and this time we ran into only 2 people and we have been here for 7 days. We also got stuck in the massive traffic jam due to the Marathon on Sunday and missed our ADR and all fast passes for the day (like everyone else). Not the best way to start a vacation! We expected the crowds to lessen on Tuesday after the marathoners and Pres day crowds left, but that didnt happen. As others have said we also experienced lots of malfunctions both on rides and the monrail. We stayed at a monorail resort and several times had to walk or figure out another way to our destination. That said we made the best of this trip even though it was not as magical as we had hoped. May be a while before we are back so thats one less family in the line for the rest of you! All in all we had a decent time.

All that being said, the wait times this week were pretty standard with a typical mardi gras week. Yes, the resorts and roads are more crowded because of the RunDisney event and seeing them in their medals make them an easy target but I don't think you can blame ride malfunctions and not seeing people you know on increased crowds when the wait times look pretty common.

 

[DSLRuser]

Mardi Gras is the reason. It is the reason every year during Mardi Gras week when these exact threads pop up.

No. Disney Marketing is the reason. They have an entire staff, whose only job is to make sure the parks, hotels, restaurants, and boats are filled to 100% capacity all the time. They get paid for it and their bonus is tied to it.

Mardi Gras is not a "thing" outside New Orleans and St. Louis. Maybe a few cities. But it does not have any impact on Disney crowds.

 

[LSUfan4444]

No. Disney Marketing is the reason. They have an entire staff, whose only job is to make sure the parks, hotels, restaurants, and boats are filled to 100% capacity all the time. They get paid for it and their bonus is tied to it.

Mardi Gras is not a "thing" outside New Orleans and St. Louis. Maybe a few cities. But it does not have any impact on Disney crowds.

Sweet...I'll tell Touring Plans they are wrong and I'll tell all the kids who don't live in New Orleans and St louis that have off school the entire week that it has nothing to do with Mardi Gras.

Look, the data is there. The info is there. If you choose to ignore it thats one thing, but to say it's wrong id borderline delusion. The same people in Disney Marketing have the same job the week of March 6 as they did the week of Feb 27 but the reason the parks are always busier the week of Mardi Gras then the week after is because thousands and thousands of families within a 10/12 hour drive or a short flight from Orlando are off of school and work and head to WDW. Other factors play a part as well (Presidents Day, RunDisney events, other school districts having off, etc) but eery single year Mardi Gras week brings crowds higher then the following weeks.


https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/crowd-levels

The end of February, first March can be a bit crowded in the parks. During the weekend of Mardi Gras, runDisney will be hosting the Princess Half Marathon. During race weekend, crowds can be very high and traffic around Walt Disney World is very congested.

I would suggest to visit just after the Mardi Gras weekend if you don't enjoy large crowds. The next week crowds will begin to get lighter and guest will begin to increase again as Spring Break approaches.

https://disneyparksmomspanel.disney...-crowds-during-end-february-beginning-324770/

 

[mommy_to_C]

We just returned from WDW (park dates 2/23-28). This was our 4th trip at the same time of year (the Thursday of President's Day week through the following Tuesday). Our first trip (in 2011) was over the *exact* same dates, with the same opening weekend for F&G - but with very different crowd levels on Sunday through Tuesday.

That leaves Mardi Gras (plus/minus the Daytona 500) as being different this year.

We use Touring Plans, so were prepared for increased crowds, and also used SDFP this trip, which was a huge help (especially on our MK day (2/28), when the internet was down through ~5 pm, and extra FP were only available at the kiosks). Even with the crowds, we had a great trip - but that being said, we're still hoping for lower crowds next time (in 2019)!

 

[Allison]

Disney even gave a shout out to the Louisiana visitors at the Move It, Shake It Street Party on Monday, so yes, it does have an impact on the crowds. If you were there, it was easy to see and must have been to Disney also.

 

[kandb]

Not sure if everyone saw, but I had a pop up on Facebook last night that said The View was going to be at WDW next week filming...

http://attractionsmagazine.com/abcs-the-view-at-walt-disney-worlds-animal-kingdom-on-march-6-10/

Sorry if it was already posted...

Yuk, Glad I won't be at WDW next week

 

[anniemae]

Yuk, Glad I won't be at WDW next week

Apparently they are there now. There are reports on FB of Whoopi working at the haunted mansion, in costume greeting guests.

 

[eastendlights]

We have never been here during the summer or Christmas but we have dealt with Easter, Jersey and Presidents week crowds and this has been the busiest we have ever seen it.
Since arriving last Friday it has been nonstop crazy. Another aspect to consider is that the park hours have been very short in comparison to the crowds. In past Easter and Presidents Weeks, closing times had been as late as 2am with EMH. The Magic Kingdom has been closing primarily at 9 with a very few 11:00 closings. This makes for a very frustrating trip.
Add to this the tapings for The View which have blocked off different areas of AK today and surrounded the front of the TOL completely destroying the view and we are just about ready to go home even though we have four more days.
We are sitting waiting for ROL to start and a very tall woman wearing Mickey ears moved in front if us and is effectively blocking most of our view. Someone's trying to tell us something .

 

[kandb]

We have never been here during the summer or Christmas but we have dealt with Easter, Jersey and Presidents week crowds and this has been the busiest we have ever seen it.
Since arriving last Friday it has been nonstop crazy. Another aspect to consider is that the park hours have been very short in comparison to the crowds. In past Easter and Presidents Weeks, closing times had been as late as 2am with EMH. The Magic Kingdom has been closing primarily at 9 with a very few 11:00 closings. This makes for a very frustrating trip.
Add to this the tapings for The View which have blocked off different areas of AK today and surrounded the front of the TOL completely destroying the view and we are just about ready to go home even though we have four more days.
We are sitting waiting for ROL to start and a very tall woman wearing Mickey ears moved in front if us and is effectively blocking most of our view. Someone's trying to tell us something .

Hope your trip gets better. I am not one for big crowds and can understand how it can deeply impact a fun vacation. Hopefully the crowds will lighten up.