Crowds for this past weekend (23-25)....

[Leshaface]

were HORRIBLE!!!

Pretty much the worst I've seen in a long time!

We didn't even want to be in the parks at all....so we toured right at 8am each day, and left at about 11am each day...

If you're considering going at all for Halloween weekend, be advised that there will be more crowds that weekend then what I experienced!

On the other hand, the fireworks show and ghost galaxy was really neat!

 

[jory29]

I know how you feel. We tried so hard not to let the massive crowds ruin our trip from the 12-19th, but it was such a different experience from what we had previously encountered in Sept. and Nov. months. I feel like now we will need to have a do-over trip before (instead of) our usual annual visit to the parks. I felt they simply let too many into the parks to make it enjoyable for anyone. We tried to stay positive about it, too, but wow - totally different park experience from low crowds. The gridlock was very difficult to handle when trying to get out of the parks,or during fireworks, fantasmic, etc. I could feel the fear and panic well up in my throat. I was actually glad to be out of the gates of the happiest place on earth, which didn't make sense to me.
I think there's a lot of us DIS'ers that feel the exact same way that you do.

Yes, the fireworks are the best, and GG was very cool, too.

 

[bardays]

I know how you feel. We tried so hard not to let the massive crowds ruin our trip from the 12-19th, but it was such a different experience from what we had previously encountered in Sept. and Nov. months. I feel like now we will need to have a do-over trip before (instead of) our usual annual visit to the parks. I felt they simply let too many into the parks to make it enjoyable for anyone. We tried to stay positive about it, too, but wow - totally different park experience from low crowds. The gridlock was very difficult to handle when trying to get out of the parks,or during fireworks, fantasmic, etc. I could feel the fear and panic well up in my throat. I was actually glad to be out of the gates of the happiest place on earth, which didn't make sense to me.
I think there's a lot of us DIS'ers that feel the exact same way that you do.

Yes, the fireworks are the best, and GG was very cool, too.

12-19 was when we were there too. I didn't find the crowds bad until Friday...that was crazy! We also were there early every day....but I was a little surprised by the big evening crowds.....is it b/c of Halloween? I didn't find the park THAT different with the exception of the 2 rides.

 

[DanT]

we were there on the 15,16, and 17th....
wasn't too bad until around 6-7 and then it got pretty bad around NOS and Frontierland, also on Main Street infront of the castle.
We just planned ahead for it, got FPs early in the day each day. Only ventured to Mainstreet on Thursday nite to see the fireworks. NOS on Friday nite to watch Fantasmic with reserved seating....
Rest of the time it was very doable, if you know what to expect and what to do.
Why so crowded?
1) hundreds of thousands of AP holders nowadays.
2)Big discounts for Socal residents
3)First time DL has had special fireworks for Halloween and done them all weeks of the season...
4)Lots of Arizona and Utah residents there because of fall school breaks.
5)First time for SMGG (which we were not overly impressed by)
6)Closing DCA relatively early with relation to DL for ToTP on many nites.


Will we go back in October next time...probably not. We have another plan for our next visit.

Been going to DL since 1955, seen lots of changes and lots of crowds...still rather be there than lots of other places, crowded or not.

Just be prepared for it, we were, and we had a great trip, you will too.

 

[CrAzY4DL]

We were there the 23rd and 24th and didn't think it was bad at all. Friday we didn't get in the park until after 5pm sometime and I had already prepared hubby for possibility of park being closed. Main Street was semi-packed, but I have been in worse, it moved quickly and no one ran into us. The entire weekend we avoided Fantasyland and only ventured into Tomorrowland once, to ride Space Mountain. SMGG was our #1 reason for this trip and both of us felt it was really weak. Now, as an EFFECT, it was neat and interesting and pretty cool. But I had read on here and another board about ooooh how scarrrrrry it was and I honestly felt it was less scary *** it was super bright. LOL. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Before we left I watched the Halloween Screams on YouTube to judge how die hard I was willing to get to see it and felt-meh. If I saw it, I saw it and if not, oh well. We ended up watching it from our reserved Fantasmic seats and that was nice but I certainly wouldn't have camped out for seats. What WAS nice was they turned water sprays on and projected on them. That was a really cool surprise!! For the most part we stayed in Frontierland and Adventureland and crowds there were pretty minimal. Good trip, went in expecting a LOT worse than we encountered.

Now, parking....THAT was psycho!!!

 

[sukhakuli]

We were there last weekend as well, and I didn't think it was bad. I've seen DL a lot worse. It was pretty packed on Friday night, because CA closed early, but it was fine on Saturday. I have noticed that there are more people at CA than there have been in years past, which is nice to see. But still the wait times for the rides weren't bad at all, and some of them were even a walk on. We almost never ride Peter Pan because of the long wait, but on Sunday morning it was only a 25 min wait, so we rode it. The hub was horribly crowded for the fireworks, but it always is.

My major gripe about the trip was that the Times guide was absolutely wrong for the street party parade. It showed it as coming by at 4:30, coming out of IASW, but it came at 5:30, from Main Street, so we waited a lot longer than we needed to for the parade (which was a bomb anyway. My 6 year old asked me when it would be over about 5 mins in).

 

[LVdisneyChick]

We were there this past weekend. Toured DL in the am then hung out at DCA late am and early afternoon. It was gridlocked around the fireworks, but i was prepared for that. All in all it went as good as could be expected.

 

[disfan07]

We were there the 24th-25th and we actually didnt think it was too bad. It was more crowded than we are used to at DL but we've seen worse at WDW (Re: Dec 24)

We got to DCA at opening on the 24th and walked on to TSMM and than waited about 15 minutes for soarin. We were able to go to Aladdin 15 minutes before they let people in and we sat orchestra seats.
We went to DL at about1:45 and it wasn't too bad. We just went to Tom Sawyer Island. We did go back to the Hotel and than went back to DL at about 5:15 and it was crowded. But we were able to get an ADR at carnation cafe the same day. We did sit and wait for an hour for the fireworks and did not stay for fantasmic.

Sunday, we did not get to the parks until like 10AM i think. I did not think that DL was that crowded. We used fastpass and never waited more than 30 minutes for a ride (that was for peter pan)....BTM was only 20 minutes, Splash was 30 minutes, and Buzz was only 25 minutes. What i did notice was that people were not using fastpasses. There were a LOT of fastpasses available. We were able to get fastpasses for HM, Buzz and Splash Mtn for within an hour of when we got them.

But, no matter what the crowds were....it was worth it just for the fireworks...WOW

 

[mybestieismickey]

I agree. I didn't think it was as crowded as I was anticipating. We usually don't ride too many rides, but we had some first timers and practically first timers with us so I had everyone at the gates for rope drop on Friday. By 11 or so, DH had had enough rides, so we backed off a wee bit.

Saturday we only rode 2 rides all day, but that's more our speed and not a reflection of wait times. We're mostly shows and atmosphere people. From what I saw, the lines for most rides were not bad. I think the longest line we waited in was about 10-15 minutes for Pirates and Buzz Lightyear and about the same for a Dole Whip due to my stellar commando planning--Which will never happen again if DH has his way.

I feel like Sunday morning was the most crowded, but we didn't get there until about 9ish. DH and I went on a whim just to wander for an hour before it was time to leave and we really found there to be a lot more people.

Also, I agree with the PP who thought SMGG was over rated. I'm glad we didn't wait for it and instead had the ride included in our tour. I don't know if I would have even waited in the Fast Pass line.

 

[Leshaface]

It might have appeared busier to me because friday afternoon, Indy AND POTC were both down at the same time, so we tried HM, and standby was already 75 minutes!!! So all the ppl that were planning on riding those two rides must have gone towards HM..

So we ended up grabbing FP's for HM and tried to make our way over to BTMR and the wait for that was 45!

The best times to tour was right at rope drop and head over to DCA which is never crowded!

 

[cari12]

If you are going, prepare for large crowds. Get there at rope drop and do the most popular rides and those that are most important to you first. Follow the tips on these boards such as for Fantasyland, at rope drop ride PP first and then Dumbo then any others. Go to either Nemo or TSMM first on another day if that is important to you. If you have MM - definitely use it! If you do most of your touring in the morning, then later when the crowds are unbearable, you can be sitting having a cool drink in DTD or having a relaxing swim at the hotel.