Crowds?????

[landsm99]

Greetings from SSR-we are here on our first trip home. I have to say it seems packed. Yesterday at MK there were people everywhere. At Epcot this am it seemed very crowded as well. As it turned out around 1 there was no wait at Mission Space but there just appears to be lots of people here.
We came now to experience the holiday decorations and lower crowds. We stayed at VWL last Sept-I found it much less crowded.
Is there anyone that can offer info as to the crowd level currrently. We were here in late june 99-it seems more crowded now than it was then.

Thanks-Will post trip report and feelings aboutt SSR later.0

 

[CapeCodFam]

September has traditionally had lower crowds. Early December is very popular with DVC due to low points and holiday atmosphere. It's also 'Value' season for the other Disney properties too. But, you can also tell alot about anticipated crowd levels by checking the park hours for the time your visiting. Disney usually keeps open longer when larger crowds are expected.

 

[tjkraz]

Tourism continues to climb post-9/11, and you've also got hurricane fall-out to deal with this year. People are still making-up trips that were cancelled back in August and September.

My guess is that crowds will be heavier than what people reported over the last 3-4 Decembers, but still won't even remotely approach higher peak seasons.

MGMStudios.org, which is one of the only sites I know of that tracks any sort of data on attraction wait times, has these averages posted from 12/3:

Great Movie Ride: 10min
Muppetvision: 5min
RnR: 20min
Star Tours: 5min
ToT: 10min

Sounds pretty tame to me. Can't wait to get there myself!!!

 

[Sammie]

Disney has done a great job advertising the off season. The Internet forums and guidebooks have done an even better job. The Christmas season from Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve is a very popular time to come.

 

[tjkraz]

Good point, Sammie.

I remember seeing the WDW Christmas show that debuted last year on The Travel Channel. Having already planned our Dec '04 visit, I recall cringing as I viewed the program and beginning to worry that crowd levels would increase this year.

I'm actually kinda psyched for the parks based upon landsm99's description. While I enjoy the parks when there are short wait times, there's something intangible missing when the crowds are low and hours are short.

Big crowds and moderate wait times--I can live with that!!!

 

[Caskbill]

Don't forget you're mostly observing the weekend crowds.

Last week didn't seem too crowded to me. I think it'll decrease come Monday.

But remember, never go to MK on mondays, their busiest day. Pick one of the other parks.

 

[Duchie]

We were there all last week, and the parks seemed incredibly crowded to me as well. Wait times were low for most things, but Peter Pan averaged 45 minutes any time we went by. It just seemed that we couldn't get as much done this time. But that's all the more reason to start planning another trip!

 

[MiaSRN62]

I agree that the hurricanes this year may be the culprit in making Nov/Dec more crowded. I was just there during the first week of Nov---a time of the year we've vacationed at least 4 times previous---and this year felt like summer crowds usually would half the time. I couldn't get a 2 bedroom villa anywhere after being on a waitlist for 2 months.
Thursday, Nov 4 was an outright zoo at the MK (hour waits for Pooh/Peter Pan/Splash Mtn to name a few). Luckily we got to AK very early on Fri Nov 5 because it quickly became quite a madhouse around 11 am-noon (90 min waits for the safari around noon). It was so crowded that we left around 2 pm.
Never before had we experienced such waits during the first week of Nov. There were a few isolated down times, but it was just hit or miss (I think our best day was Wed, Nov 3 in the MK).
Attempted to shop in the World of Disney store around 10 am on Sat, Nov 6 and ended up leaving after about 20 min because I just couldn't stand being shoved around anymore.
We visited during the first 10 days of Dec in 1998. It was fabulous except for Saturdays mostly (I recall, Sat, Dec 5,'98 as being quite crowded because we joked it was because it was Walt's birthday). Reading these boards over the years, it does seem like early December is really catching on in popularity. I know for us, the draw of holiday decor, lower crowds (of the past) and escaping the cold of the northeast make early Dec seem like a great time to visit.