Crowds this Aug vs. "typical" Aug??

[shalom]

The following makes me not too worried about booking Aug 2017...

"Based on our analysis of posted and actual wait times for rides at Walt Disney World, we think attendance is lower to this point in summer for Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the Animal Kingdom, and higher at the Magic Kingdom, versus the same period in 2015. Overall, we think attendance is flat to slightly lower throughout Walt Disney World."​

I'm wondering if that'll hold through the fall, or if busy times have fallen off, while off season is picking up. That's kind of how FP+ worked -- shorter standby waits on some of the most popular rides; longer waits on the rest.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I'm wondering if that'll hold through the fall, or if busy times have fallen off, while off season is picking up. That's kind of how FP+ worked -- shorter standby waits on some of the most popular rides; longer waits on the rest.

True. We like aspects of FP+, but we still occasionally lament our "good old standby" attractions not being reliable that way anymore (IASW, GMR, etc.).

 

[RoyandWalt]

Our daughter works at MK and thinks the crowds are down. She told me a few weeks ago that some people were able to get a table at Crystal Palace without advanced reservations.

 

[Tomh]

We were in the parks from August 13 through 23, and there were only maybe 2 days when I thought it was pretty busy. For the most part, I felt the crowds this year were lower than I've seen in quite a while. Surprisingly, the weather was also cooler (except our last two days) than I have ever experienced in August, and as a PP mentioned, we went for quite a few days with NO rain, a start contrast to what we experienced last summer with high crowds, crazy heat, and pouring rain / lightning that caused us to leave the parks early several days.

 

[rsimon]

We are there a lot in Orlando, but not always at the parks since we now have a home there. We flew in during August for a couple of weeks and as soon as I saw the freeways I could tell the parks would not be busy. The freeways were not busy at all compared to last year. June was also much quieter when we were there, but I think this was the least busy August I can remember since 2008/2009.

When we were in the parks this August, we could move around easily and many times there were virtually no crowds. Usually, the crowds make it to where you can't move without dodging people and walking in a herd.

I heard from people saying everything from Zika, the shootings, the prices, the economy, etc. It is probably a combination of several things. Disney used to do all sorts of promotions to drive up attendance including the year of a Million dreams, extended free dining, etc. Maybe they will bring back some things again.

 

[CrabbyPatty]

Just came back from WDW this afternoon - stayed August 22-26 at Art of Animation Resort - and I thought the crowds were very manageable. It just didn't feel crowded, and I was able to make and change FP+ for lots of rides. Free Dining started on the 23rd, but I checked ADRs and there was still okay availability for some of the "biggies", for example I was able to get a BOG breakfast for the next day. We usually go to WDW in August and I thought this year was a lot less busy than the last time we went.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

When we were in the parks this August, we could move around easily and many times there were virtually no crowds. Usually, the crowds make it to where you can't move without dodging people and walking in a herd.

I can say that while we were there (Aug 10-21), there was RARELY a time that we could walk through any of the parks without dodging people or walking in a herd during regular hours. EMH were better, and of course when we did EMM.

 

[kandb]

We are here now and it definitely seems more crowded then the last few years.

 

[aretha30]

We were there 8/2-8/12 and we felt as if the crowds were lower than we normally experience. The exception was at MK where at times it was difficult to walk through certain areas and wait times were very high for most attractions.