Crowds right now?????

[disneyjulie]

We are going on wed 28th.



Just wondering what wait times are like in MK.

 

[buzzriders]

we are leaving tomorrow and are wondering the same thing!!!

 

[DVC-Don]

I spoke with a friend at WDW (from Epcot) just this afternoon via cell phone. He said the crowds are heavy.

 

[disneyjulie]

Wow! so do you think it will be more crowded next week?

 

[robmary]

We just got back. Went 10 to 21. We thought the crowd were on the moderate to heavy side. Evening magic hours were very crowd. At EPCOT, we got on 1 ride. MK evening hours were the worst. Everyone seems to go there. MGM was bad at RNR and ToT. Saorin I would do a fastpass for. It was amazing. I would say the best ride. Everyone clapped at the end.

 

[twinmommyks]

We just got back and the crowds at MK were heavy the day we were there, especially in the afternoon and evening magic hour. MGM was very crowded, but that was on Sunday (Star Wars weekend). Epcot wasn't too bad, but the line for Test Track was long. Animal Kingdom was manageable.

We did several rides in the morning at MK and got fast passes as much as possible and actually used those in the evening when the lines were longer. Even though the times were past, they took them with no problem.

Bren

 

[TnKrBeLlA012]

We were there the 10-21 the crowds were really bad and with the heat I couldn't stand it.

 

[MSC]

Spent 6/11 - 6/16 there. Crowds at MK were fairly heavy, I guess, but I didn't think we waited too long for anything. The longest wait I saw was for SM, I think it was the UOG predicted 100 minutes. But we FPed it and spent the next hour on TS Island. We found a paintbrush, and rode SP and BTMRR back-to-back. Then waited for only 30 minutes for another ride on BTMRR.

Dumbo was the predicted 40 minute wait mid-afternoon, but so what? If you use the FPs wisely, the lines are no problem at all.

It's DisneyWorld. Go. Have fun.

 

[abca]

We got back last night. Stayed onsite from June 9th to the 16th. I thought the crowds were moderately heavy at all of the parks, but we never waited in line for more than 15 minutes at MK. We used fast passes whenever we could. We never went to a park on its EMH day. The best, least crowded day for us was Saturday morning. Maybe it was because of the tropical storm warning that day.

 

[picantel]

we went June 4-12 and I thought crowds were extremely heavy approaching thanksgiving level. Evening MK was the worst. The entire pathway was at least 10 deep waiting for the parade. It took forever to simply get to the castle and leave the park. Add the heat and the stifling humidity after a frequent rainburst(some days it drizzled the entire day about) and it was a pretty miserable trip for me at least. Good think I knew it would be crowded and turned it into an eating extravaganza

 

[drusba]

Just returned today from 12 night trip; some points and experiences:

1. I have gone many times in June (I have actually gone virtually every time of year going back to 1975). This year has the largest crowds I have ever seen in June in WDW. They are not quite Christmas or Eastertime size but they are huge and at least 20% larger than anything I have ever seen in June. Talking to manager at Boardwalk where we stayed: hotels have consistently been close to capacity and that should continue throughout summer, large number of foreign guests are returning, WDW seems to be experiencing an influx of a lot of people who are new and those who just haven't gone since 9/11 but are pouring in now. In other words, don't even even dream about the possibility of light crowds because it ain't gonna happen.

2. You want to eat dinner at a sit-down restaurant then make your PS in advance -- we did so but sometimes like to change once there but this year found that there was no availability at in park restaurants and limited at hotel restaurants; literally you could not get a time for any place in MK for numerous nights by calling day before.


3. Fast passes were running out for a number of things by early afternoon (and by noon for Soarin'). We noticed a particular problem we never experienced before and it calls into question what Disney is now doing with fastpass. We got fastpasses for an evening for Space Mountain. Went and discovered the following: standby line was 55 minutes and the fastpass line turned out to be 40 minutes -- yes, 40 minutes for the fastpass line. Thought it was a complete fluke but similar happened at Soarin' -- 60 minute standby line and it took us close to 40 minutes to get on with a fastpass. For most other things there was no real problem but that should not happen at all. In any event, Soarin's is a good ride, although too short.

4. Weather was fairly "normal" for this time of year -- low 90's with about a shower every day or every other day usually in late afternoon.

5. Ducks: there are always some ducks at Disney. However, this year for no lnown reason it was like the movie The Birds. Large numbers of ducks at many areas in the parks and many were simply walking the streets and right up to you.

6. The tragedies: most have probably heard that a 4 year old boy died on Mission Space. Cause still unknown. Not so greatly publicized but also occurring while we were there was a drowing in Old Key West of a 9 or 10 year old boy. That appears to be a failure of supervision -- child went with older brother and older brother's friend to one of the pools that did not have a life guard, older brother and friend wandered off to do something on their own and child drowned, apparently slipped or dove off edge and hit head on side.

7. Some return to meticulousness: Those who have been going for decades remember that Disney used to be meticulous about park neatness and upkeep -- fresh paint often, lightbulbs changed when out, restrooms always clean, street sweepers and trash pick-up almost constant throughout the day. In the mid 90's to 2004 a lot of that seemed to disappear -- still being done but noticeably on a much slower schedule and thus you could find the restroom messy and see a lot of lights burned out. This year, they seem to be making an effort to return to the past as streets and restrooms seemed to be continuously clean and we even saw workers changing lightbulbs and many things appeared to be freshly painted. Busses even seemed to be running more on schedule and CM's for the most part were at their friendliest best.

8. The new stunt car show at MGM: stunts are actually fairly tame but an interesting attraction particularly for the explanations of how the cars are built and work.

9. The Evening Extra Magic Hours: Those three extra hours at night for Disney resort guests in a chosen park are far from being Nirvana; crowds were huge at all of them and lines got just as long as day lines. The morning extra hour gives some definite advantage for getting on some rides.

 

[SorcererDonald16]

to echo previous posters, the crowds were pretty heavy but the wait times weren't all that bad. i was there june 11th through the 18th, and the longest i waited for ANYTHING was 20 minutes. here's the waitimes for rides i went on or remember the wait times for:

MK
WDW Railroad: 5 min
Pirates of the Caribbean: 5 min
Splash: 40 min (skipped that)
BTMRR: 40 min (didn't have a chance to go on that)
Jungle Cruise: 30 min (used a FastPass and walked on)
Tikki Room: 5 min or so
Country Bears: no wait
Hall of Presidents: no wait
Winnie the Pooh: about 8 to 10 min
Peter Pan: anywhere from 20 min during EMH to 70 min other times (used FastPass and walked on)
Small World: 60 minute wait at one point ; during EMH, walked on (looks AMAZING, btw -- queue part, dolls, sets, etc.-- so if you haven't seen it post-refurb, please do; you won't regret it)
Barnstormer: 3 or 4 minutes
Stitch's Great Escape: usually 20 min
Buzz: about 10 minutes towards the end of the day
Tomorrowland Transit Authority: Walked on
Carousel of Progress: Walked on

Epcot
Soarin: 60 to 80 minute waits; 40 to 60 minute waits during EMH (used FastPass and still had a 20 min wait)
Test Track: 60 min wait (used FastPass and had about 15 min wait)
Mission Space: 60 to 70 min wait
JIYI: walked on
Living Seas: 15 to 20 min wait to get in the hydrolatours
Living with the Land: 20 min
El Rio Del Tiemp: walked on
Maelstrom: 20 min
Universe of Energy: walked on
American Adventure (no wait, not including the time you wait to get in the theatre for the show as the current show ends)
Spaceship Earth: walked on

MGM
Tower of Terror: 40 to 60 min
RnRC: 60 min
Star Tours: 20 min
Great Movie Ride: anywhere from no wait to 30 min to 45 min (we waited 30 min during EMH)
Muppet Vision 3D: no wait
Backstage Tour: about 10 min
Animation: no wait
One Man's Dream film: no wait
LMAX: what a nightmare! hour wait for standby line, and by 12 only FastPasses left were for the last show at 6, i believe it was. even at 6, still had to wait in line almost 20 min and got stuck in a major downpour (and may i just say, sitting in Muppet Vision 3D's air conditioned theatre in sopping wet clothes is not something i recommend... it's a wonder i didn't get a major cold )
Fantasmic: no wait for second show, just walked in 10 min before it started

AK
Safari: from 1pm on, only 5 to 10 min wait
Tarzan: no wait; let us in 30 min prior to showtime
Tough to be a Bug: no wait

biggest problem: finding a place to eat! every sit down place we went, from 50s Prime Time to Epcot restaurants had a 3 to 4 hour wait. Chefs de France wouldn't even let people in without an AR, and we got there at 6:30 (were told they were "full for the night"). that's never happened to us before in 6 previous trips (4 in the summer and one at Easter), and it left us eating a bunch of sandwiches and pizzas all vacation. so i highly suggest you make reservations, if possible. even with them, i heard some people say they still waited 40 min to get seated. we couldn't do it because we never knew what time we'd get to the parks or finish certain shows or things (our top priority), but if you have a good idea of when you want to eat, save yourself a lot of trouble and make reservations! we finally got to eat dessert at Prime Time without much wait, but only because we were willing to sit at the soda fountain. otherwise we would've had to wait 4 hours.

 

[lovethattink]

It crowded. Take advantage of the afternoon rains. The rains seem to clear out the parks. So afterwards, the crowds are down.

 

[ksmarper]

we just got back and it was as crowded and as hot as we had expected....however, we thought it was bearable....the crowds at MK were huge at the beginning of emh....but they really thinned out by midnight or so....the wait at peter pan read 30 mins and we waited maybe 40 but that line moves so fast it make sit much quicker!
keep in mind, you will wait and it will be hot but planning will help!

 

[Tiger Fan]

We are here now and they are pretty heavy in my opinion. Most of the big attractions (Soarin', TT, The mountains, etc.) have 60+ min waits. The mornings are better in my opinion. We arrived at MK on Saturday (only day I could get Cindy's not my choice, but how it played out) and we arrived at 8:25am. It was wonderful. Ate a great breakfast and hit FantasyLand by 9:30am and everything was great until about 1pm. We were able to ride about 9 rides with minimal wait. The rest of our week we've not been able to get to the parks at opening (I just physically can't make it some mornings) and it's much worse. Monday's EMH at MK was a nightmare!! Epcot has been the best to manage with MGM coming in second. We're heading to AK on Friday morning, hopefully that'll be ok. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be here and we've been in June/July before and know what to expect. We're hot and crowded, but making it just fine. Plan ahead, get fastpasses, and if you haven't made any PS/ADR MAKE THEM NOW!!!! Everytime we are waiting for our PS to be called, we hear the CMs telling tons of people NO WALK UPS! If you want to sit down to eat you better call ahead. We've seen lots of angry frustrated people being turned away at all meals at just about every restaurant. Good luck and have fun to all.
Lisa
Tiger Fan

 

[PixieDust32]

WOW!~

I hope isn't too bad for us in August!

Thanks to all for the info!

 

[disneyjulie]

Great info!!!!!

 

[dvcgirl]

I know I keep mentioning this, but as a local I guess I feel the need to prepare people....it's *busy* this year. Much busier than last year at the same time with heavy crowds anticipated throughout the summer.

I was at Epcot this week for a lunch break and Soaring had a 180 minute wait at noon.

As for the weather, we've had a very rainy May and June. We're normally supposed to get 7 or so inches in June and we bypassed 13 yesterday and we're slated to get lots and lots of rain today and tomorrow. This isn't the normal 1 hour afternoon shower stuff. It started raining at my house today at 10am and it's going to rain on and off all day....so pack those ponchos.

Use EMH evenings to your advantage....and avoid them. They're very crowded and will likely be packed in for the rest of the summer.

Make Priority Seatings even if you think you don't need them. Better safe than hungry....

As for me...I can't wait for September. Although even September is expected to be busier than normal with the packages Disney is offering...

 

[popeyeohoh]

I love these threads. Short and Sweet report on crowds. I wish there was a thread just for this information. I was there in June 2003 and although crowded, not as packed as this year.

 

[FromVatoDisney]

We're going July 13 - 2O to the WL and I'd also like to thank everyone for the info. Boy am I glad that all my AR (former PS) were made back in April and that we are early risers in my families. We are going to eat Pop Tarts or something in the room and then we are out the door!