Crowds: I'm no expert, but......

[deanimal]

Here today in the crazy heat, and it sure doesn't look like a one out of ten crowd day to me. I know not to trust Touring Plans too much, but I was at least hoping for moderate crowds on a non holiday Monday in October. We were at DCA for EMH and the fastpass lineup started building at 9:30. I took one look at the wall of people waiting for rope drop at 9:55 and I went and dragged my husband and kids out of a shop in cars land and said we had to get out before the mob hits or we won't get out! We went to go into the playhouse Disney show at 10:30 and there was a line for RSR fast passes snaking all the way past the theatre.

This is my second visit, so I don't have much to compare it with, but I'd say it's as least as busy as my last visit on New Year's Day. Anyone else here now with an opinion?

 

[goodeats]

I've found that when the parks have limited hours the crowds feel heavier because everyone crams their day into them. Where if they were open at 8:00 everyone's arrival would be more spread out. We were there Saturday night (when the SoCal passes were blocked out) and I thought the crowds were heavy, but managable. Lots of people there late into the night due to the weather I think. With SoCal passes being open I bet there will be more crowds.

Sorry about the heat. I can't imagine being in the parks today. I would be on a loop on GRR over and over!

 

[pipervali]

We're going for just the day this Thursday and I'm hoping for lighter crowds. But looking at MouseWait today, it looked like the crowds were pretty heavy. I would have expected the heat to keep people at home.

 

[Mitzicat]

We're going for just the day this Thursday and I'm hoping for lighter crowds. But looking at MouseWait today, it looked like the crowds were pretty heavy. I would have expected the heat to keep people at home.

Well weather channel is showing low 80s this weekend, so I'm guessing its gonna be a little crazy. But a crazy day at DL is better than crazy day at work!

 

[goofyfordisney]

It was more crowded than I thought it would be on Saturday 9/22 evening. We are pretty 'seasoned' visitors & we normally travel during busy times, as we used to be only able to visit during school holidays.

Since we stayed at GCH, we were able to get in DCA early on Sunday - which was great. We rode RSR, TSM, Soarin and were able to get fastpasses for a few rides at DCA before leaving for ESPN at 9:20 to catch the morning NFL games! Afterwards, we caught the momorail to DL and rode a few rides and collected a few more fastpasses for SM and StarTours. When it got too hot, we decided to get some pool time. Sunday night we were able to ride a few rides and catch the DL fireworks and walk over to WOC - we just walked into the preferred seating area - it wasn't crowded at all! I thought that it was more crowded Monday than Sunday. I couldn't believe the shortened hours too. Sorry, but they really should have opened before 10:00 and closed at 11:00 (instead of 8:00).

Now, Monday was another story...the parks didn't open until 10:00. The lines to get into DCA at EMH were super long. We decided to forego waiting with the crowd to get in early and instead, went to Jazz Kitchen Express for a quick breakfast. We headed back into the park at around 9:45 (using the DCA entrance in GCH) and went straight to the FP line for RSR. We got FP return time for 11:15! I even went to grab my Starbucks mocha while my DH stood in the FP line - I was able to meet him in line before the park opened!

We already had made plans to go to DLR in December so, we decided to take a different approach to our touring plan this time. Typically, we use the 'commando' approach...since this trip was just the 2 of us, we decided to just 'go with the flow' & it worked great!

 

[guynhawaii]

Aloha,

RSR was down until 8:40 AM Sunday. Glad you were able to be so quick after the ride started.

As for the crowds. The TP and other predictions have been off since CL opened in June. Plus, DLR reduces their ride capacity during their so called "off-season" which makes the lines longer. Lastly, with late openings (10 AM) the vast majority of candidates can easily make the 9 AM MM entry which makes a big difference. Far fewer people can make the 7 AM MM entry.

 

[Mary09]

Here today in the crazy heat, and it sure doesn't look like a one out of ten crowd day to me. I know not to trust Touring Plans too much, but I was at least hoping for moderate crowds on a non holiday Monday in October. We were at DCA for EMH and the fastpass lineup started building at 9:30. I took one look at the wall of people waiting for rope drop at 9:55 and I went and dragged my husband and kids out of a shop in cars land and said we had to get out before the mob hits or we won't get out! We went to go into the playhouse Disney show at 10:30 and there was a line for RSR fast passes snaking all the way past the theatre.

This is my second visit, so I don't have much to compare it with, but I'd say it's as least as busy as my last visit on New Year's Day. Anyone else here now with an opinion?

Is it busy everywhere or just CL/RSR?

 

[bumbershoot]

Here today in the crazy heat, and it sure doesn't look like a one out of ten crowd day to me. I know not to trust Touring Plans too much, but I was at least hoping for moderate crowds on a non holiday Monday in October. We were at DCA for EMH and the fastpass lineup started building at 9:30. I took one look at the wall of people waiting for rope drop at 9:55 and I went and dragged my husband and kids out of a shop in cars land and said we had to get out before the mob hits or we won't get out! We went to go into the playhouse Disney show at 10:30 and there was a line for RSR fast passes snaking all the way past the theatre.

This is my second visit, so I don't have much to compare it with, but I'd say it's as least as busy as my last visit on New Year's Day. Anyone else here now with an opinion?

They were saying that the FP distribution wasn't going to start until 10 yesterday. The CMs were telling people this as they got into the FP line at 9. It's astonishing how many people were willing to give up their EMH for that line. Anyway, we did luigis at around 9:20 (after being stuck in a park entrance line from hades despite lining up at 8:30 and only having maybe 20peoplein front of us) then had done two rides on RSR using the single rider line (and being in three different cars each time just as it should be) by 9:40.

We got to see the front side of the 10am rope walk n drop, which was interesting. Lots of people came in at 10, that's for sure!


By when we went to the other areas of the park, it was quiet. Everyone was there or in line for TSMM.

Now, Monday was another story...the parks didn't open until 10:00. The lines to get into DCA at EMH were super long. We decided to forego waiting with the crowd to get in early and instead, went to Jazz Kitchen Express for a quick breakfast. We headed back into the park at around 9:45 (using the DCA entrance in GCH) and went straight to the FP line for RSR. We got FP return time for 11:15! I even went to grab my Starbucks mocha while my DH stood in the FP line - I was able to meet him in line before the park opened!

IMO the lines were long because they waited until 9 to let people in. Maybe that's normal for DCA EMH, I don't know, but I didn't expect it! Once the gates opened all lines but mine went quickly. Oh, and except for the line people got in despite the red lights at the sign and it saying entrance instead of extra magic hour .... That one didn't open, the gamble people made there didnt pay off, and then they annoyed the line next to them by asking to get in, in front of people who had been there longer than they had been, but I digress.

And since the FP line for RSR was, according to the CMs at around 9:10, not giving out FPs until 10, it makes sense that the return time was so soon.

For the future, I really recommend the single rider line for a party that doesn't mind being split up!