Current Crowd Levels

[TheBigErn]

I've been following wait times on MDE in preparation for a trip July 1-6. According to what I've been seeing, the parks seem crowded/busy. But I was just reading an article on EasyWDW about how not crowded EPCOT was just this week. Are we being mislead by Disney? Can anyone there now or just back confirm crowd levels?

 

[Hatwriter456]

I've been keeping track of wait times too and it was less busy the last two weeks, but this week it seems like crowds have returned based on wait times.

 

[ucfknight]

Right around 4th of July is usually very crowded, even the last couple years when summer attendance has been low.
Think about it... you likely at least partially selected to go around this time because you got a "free" vacation day (or two) due to the nationwide holiday. So did everyone else.

 

[TheBigErn]

I've been keeping track of wait times too and it was less busy the last two weeks, but this week it seems like crowds have returned based on wait times.

But my point is are the reported times on MDE misleading? I'm not interested in what they say, I can see that myself. I'm looking for in the parks reporting.

 

[mickeyfino]

We have been here since 6/16 and the crowds have ramped up this week. We didn't go to Hollywood Studios, but felt Epcot and AK were manageable. MK has been a madhouse each time we have gone (4x so far).

 

[mesaboy2]

But my point is are the reported times on MDE misleading? I'm not interested in what they say, I can see that myself. I'm looking for in the parks reporting.

The times reported in MDX are the same as those displayed at the attractions themselves. How accurate those are is a matter of debate and varies by the minute. Good luck getting any useful data from anecdotal, ad-hoc reports.

 

[Lynzer4]

I've been numerous times of year and last year was there mid June. The ride waits were similar to every time I have been to WDW even if the park itself wasn't as busy.

The problem with wait times are they don't truly reflect how BUSY the park is. Headliners seem to have about the same wait in July as they do in March nowadays. They lower capacity on some rides so the wait is the same during off seasons. Its still a headline (ie HS only has a few rides to RnR is always 60-90 mins or more) so most people ride it and the wait stays higher. With the largest capacity of rides doing Fp+ the ride still has a large number of riders going through it with FP+ so even though there are less people per say in the parks the majority is still going to those headline rides.

Over at Easy WDW, Josh explains this much better in the explanation of crowd calendars.