CROWDS!

[DopeyDame]

Wow this week was crazy crowded! We were there in late August, and it was so much worse this week (just got back yesterday from a five day trip)

PoC and HM were consistently 45 - 60 minute waits, Space Mountain was over 100 most of the time. Turtle Talk actually had waits between shows. We were thrilled when everest was only 55 minutes. Even People Mover had a 15 minute wait several times when we walked past!

What gives? Is October always crazy like this? is it just the draw of F&W? (World Showcase was nearly impossible even to walk around, but I expected that. The rest of the parks just blew me away.)

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I understand from a vlog I follow that it was the MNSSHP, fall breaks for some schools and Jersey week (may have been the week prior so that might be wrong, not 100%). At any rate, I was there mid-August and the crowds weren't bad at all, totally agree. Only park with insane crowds was AK @ Pandora only. I suspect it will be this way up until the first few weeks of January.

 

[Gentry2004]

Wow this week was crazy crowded! We were there in late August, and it was so much worse this week (just got back yesterday from a five day trip)

PoC and HM were consistently 45 - 60 minute waits, Space Mountain was over 100 most of the time. Turtle Talk actually had waits between shows. We were thrilled when everest was only 55 minutes. Even People Mover had a 15 minute wait several times when we walked past!

What gives? Is October always crazy like this? is it just the draw of F&W? (World Showcase was nearly impossible even to walk around, but I expected that. The rest of the parks just blew me away.)

F&W, fall decor, MNSSHP, and last but not least free dining! We are going the week before Christmas week and I thought when I planned it those wouldn’t be free dining dates but they were and I’m scared.

 

[dlavender]

Wow this week was crazy crowded! We were there in late August, and it was so much worse this week (just got back yesterday from a five day trip)

PoC and HM were consistently 45 - 60 minute waits, Space Mountain was over 100 most of the time. Turtle Talk actually had waits between shows. We were thrilled when everest was only 55 minutes. Even People Mover had a 15 minute wait several times when we walked past!

What gives? Is October always crazy like this? is it just the draw of F&W? (World Showcase was nearly impossible even to walk around, but I expected that. The rest of the parks just blew me away.)

October is crazy now. Columbus day weekend was a nightmare (dramatic for sure) but level 10 crowds! And from the looks of it the rest of the month has stayed crazy. I think we have crossed out the month, as well as Christmas, as the two times we will not go.

 

[Klayfish]

We see those wait times posted consistently during summer months (June/July). They can ebb and flow...for instance, PoC would spike to 60 minutes but then a few hours later it was back down to 20 minutes. I honestly can't recall last time I was at WDW and didn't see SM times spike to 100+ minutes. To me, that's normal. We just use FP+ for nearly everything.

 

[DopeyDame]

Thanks for the insight! We usually stick to September or January but shifted to October this year. Clearly we need to shift back!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We see those wait times posted consistently during summer months (June/July). They can ebb and flow...for instance, PoC would spike to 60 minutes but then a few hours later it was back down to 20 minutes. I honestly can't recall last time I was at WDW and didn't see SM times spike to 100+ minutes. To me, that's normal. We just use FP+ for nearly everything.

I was there this month and there were very few (as in ones you don’t need...philarmagic) 4th and beyond FP+ avail by lunch. We just ended up leaving after our fp were done because who is gonna wait 35 mins for iasw?

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

F&W, fall decor, MNSSHP, and last but not least free dining! We are going the week before Christmas week and I thought when I planned it those wouldn’t be free dining dates but they were and I’m scared.

There was no free dining in October this year.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I understand from a vlog I follow that it was the MNSSHP, fall breaks for some schools and Jersey week (may have been the week prior so that might be wrong, not 100%). At any rate, I was there mid-August and the crowds weren't bad at all, totally agree. Only park with insane crowds was AK @ Pandora only. I suspect it will be this way up until the first few weeks of January.

Jersey week is first week of November.

 

[CAS239]

Sounds like the yearly norm to me

It's a low crowd day at MK when I see Pirates below a 30 min wait.

There's no slow times at Disney. It's either busy, packed, or sardine level

 

[dlavender]

I was there this month and there were very few (as in ones you don’t need...philarmagic) 4th and beyond FP+ avail by lunch. We just ended up leaving after our fp were done because who is gonna wait 35 mins for iasw?

When we were there, there was a line, at 1:30, to get into Cosmic Rays, just to get in line to order, just to get in line to get a table.....

I have never seen that in my 100 or so trips. I've been every month, just never Christmas week.

And we saw what was probably a 30 minute wait for the carousel! Yep, time to go.....

 

[mamamelody2]

Yep, for the last few Octobers, there's been a number of threads about how busy it is and how did that happen?? There's a lot of schools that take fall breaks in October, so that certainly increases crowds. Also, I think more people are willing to take kids out of school and are not willing to brave the extreme temps of the summer. Fall has become a much busier time.
October was blacked out for free dining, and that means they knew they could fill their rooms without it.

 

[jimmykitefan]

Could some of it be the people who rebooked because of the hurricane?

 

[stinkpickle]

...We were there in late August...

Late August usually isn't very crowded.

 

[bizeemom4]

Jersey week is first week of November.

I got my clients free dining for October. They had to check in 9/30 but they had it for their entire stay thru 10/10.

 

[DisneyFive]

I just checked the observed crowd levels and you are right, Crowd levels from 6-9's for your dates.

Dan

 

[DopeyDame]

Late August usually isn't very crowded.

Yup- clearly we've learned our lesson and will stick to our usual visits in late August September and January. Evidently I was behind the times on this whole October thing!

 

[anniemae]

I think this Oct was a little more busy due to folks rescheduling from the hurricane in Aug. I saw sooooooooooooo many people re-booking their cancelled trips to Mid-late October.

 

[Darbie]

It's October.

 

[SarahC97]

October is simply becoming a very busy month. Last year was much the same!