Current Crowd Levels

[V.I.N.CENT.]

Do you have a basic recommendation on how to start out at each park if rope dropping?

In the past we did Peter Pan first and knocked out Fantasyland after that (like we typically do at WDW). Same philosophy or start somewhere else? If same philosophy one day, where would you recommend starting 2nd day? We are dedicating 2 days at DL and one DCA day (with OBB tacked on the same night). We've yet to experience Batuu or Indiana Jones; and my boys love Space Mountain, and my fav is Haunted Mansion (never seen the NBC overlay).

We've never been to DCA before either.

We usually got left for Indy, then hit Big Thunder/Pirates/Haunted/Splash/Pooh. You can get all of those done in the time it takes to wait in line for peter in the morning. Also looks like Pan can be around 20-30min lately if you time it correctly, usually later in the day. However, if you can get to the center of the hub for rope drop, and get to Pan quickly, knocking it out first thing is really nice.

 

[Disney0010]

We were at DL for two days last week. Arrived at DL around 9:00 last Monday morning. The first three rides were walk-ons in this order. IJ, POTC and Splash Mountain. Next was HM and we waited about twenty-five minutes. It became much busier after lunch. Tuesday was definitely a much busier day. We started out at DCA and basically walked onto Incredicoaster. DL in the afternoon/evening was very busy. Looks like a lot of locals came in for the evening. I would say about 60% were wearing masks while outside walking. There was one family who had to be told “three” times on ROR to mask up correctly.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I went on Labor Day and on Sept 20th. To me it was regular crowds with Labor Day being holiday crowded. The area walking through Adventureland to Haunted Mansion was still bottlenecked as much as it used to be. No social distancing in lines or inside shops and I only saw lots of people wearing masks in the extremely crowded areas and indoors.

 

[dina444444]

We were at DL for two days last week. Arrived at DL around 9:00 last Monday morning. The first three rides were walk-ons in this order. IJ, POTC and Splash Mountain. Next was HM and we waited about twenty-five minutes. It became much busier after lunch. Tuesday was definitely a much busier day. We started out at DCA and basically walked onto Incredicoaster. DL in the afternoon/evening was very busy. Looks like a lot of locals came in for the evening. I would say about 60% were wearing masks while outside walking. There was one family who had to be told “three” times on ROR to mask up correctly.

I think the crowds at DL that afternoon were due to it being a party night at DCA.

 

[Wesley815]

I went on Labor Day and on Sept 20th. To me it was regular crowds with Labor Day being holiday crowded. The area walking through Adventureland to Haunted Mansion was still bottlenecked as much as it used to be. No social distancing in lines or inside shops and I only saw lots of people wearing masks in the extremely crowded areas and indoors.

There is no longer social distancing rules unless one off/individual business choice. I'm just confused why people think social distancing is "supposed" to happen when it's no longer a policy at Disney. Same with masks outside, it's not a rule to keep it on (outdoors in Orange County) so a lot of guests take them off and only need to be reminded to wear them indoors and on attractions.

Personally, I still wear a mask and try to keep distance but I don't get upset if others are just following guidelines.

 

[dcfromva]

I was there 19-24 Sept. It was way more crowded than I expected. I arrived at 8 AM each morning. The lines were not too bad until noon-1pm. I generally left right after lunch and took a break at the hotel. (It was also pretty hot a couple of the days). Then, I would return in the evening. I tried to stay out of queues that were longer than 25 mins.

I thought the crowds might have been because the Magic Key Annual passes just came on line and there was pent up demand for the parks.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

I thought the crowds might have been because the Magic Key Annual passes just came on line and there was pent up demand for the parks.

A lot of the people there this past Friday were using their 3-day resident tickets that expire at the end of September, too.

 

[dina444444]

I was there 19-24 Sept. It was way more crowded than I expected. I arrived at 8 AM each morning. The lines were not too bad until noon-1pm. I generally left right after lunch and took a break at the hotel. (It was also pretty hot a couple of the days). Then, I would return in the evening. I tried to stay out of queues that were longer than 25 mins.

I thought the crowds might have been because the Magic Key Annual passes just came on line and there was pent up demand for the parks.

The wait times have been misleading to me each day I’ve been. Most posted waits are overstated by anywhere from 10-30 minutes on average. I don’t consider it truly crowded when most headliners are not running 60+ actual waits.

 

[dcfromva]

Oh-- one more thing regarding special Halloween Treats. My family had a checklist of the special Halloween Treats they wanted to try (So many treats! Not enough days!)
Anyway, there were some treats that were sold out by the time they were trying to get them.

One treat was the Darth Vader Parfait (Chocolate and Red Velvet Parfait) at the Galactic Grill. We couldn't find it on the mobile order and decided to walk over to find out about it. The Cast Member said they usually sell out by 6pm.

Another treat was the Mummy Macaron at the Jolly Holiday Bakery-- that was sold out much earlier in the day.

 

[Pluto468]

Is the reservation system helping with crowds at all? I'm assuming it does but it's hard to tell. It seems like it really varies day to day. I'm guessing the park is not at 100% capacity. We're going in December ( which I usually avoid because of crowds) but I'm hoping it will be better this year. We'll be there Dec 2-8.

 

[dina444444]

Is the reservation system helping with crowds at all? I'm assuming it does but it's hard to tell. It seems like it really varies day to day. I'm guessing the park is not at 100% capacity. We're going in December ( which I usually avoid because of crowds) but I'm hoping it will be better this year. We'll be there Dec 2-8.

You are correct about capacity not being at 100% which is where the reservation system is helping.

 

[Dmto4]

We are here now 9/25-9/29. I’m a little shocked at how crowded it is. Thank goodness for rope drop and slightly lower crowds until about 11. I have noticed a lot of rides have been down, adding to the madness. Yesterday half of DCA was down until 10:00am. Dinner in DCA was also scarce. We forgot to mobile order earlier, so if food is on your radar, you might want to think about it earlier than later. Single rider lines have also been a life saver. I do have to say, I really miss Max Pass!

 

[MasonsG]

We were also here this past weekend, mornings were wonderful till about 11, then all the favorites were running a good 60+ , if a ride went down like Jungle Cruise, then there would be a sudden surge load to Indiana, Pirates or Mansion. It felt a little less Disney as we never saw Mickey or Minnie either day, we did see Pluto and Goofy up on the train station on Main St. and Jack twice, but you didn't have that feeling of surprise at seeing a character. The CMs were absolutely wonderful, food took some planning but we did find seating while we ate without problem.
At 1:00 we went to park hop over to CA ADV and there are special designated lines at the left most turnstyles, they are super efficient at it but a lot of people were caught off guard not knowing about the special lines. Once in we headed for our boarding group at Webslingers, enjoyed the ride but the line while you wait could really use some shade covering- it was HOT and some fans could have moved the air around. I agree, I think about 60% had their masks on even outdoors, we did as well, we are vacinated but our kids are not and we were mindful of other children as well. It was a party night Sunday and the CA ADV side was insanely crowded even Before the party ticketers came in, we tried to ride something else but the wait times were mindblowing. I had never seen the line for the Marvel tower backing up towards the theater where they used to perform Frozen (sorry I don't know all the exact names). We were in DL on Sat for 10.5 hours and were able to get on 7 rides, we park hopped on Sun and managed 7 rides in 6 hours, but by 2pm we were too wrung out, miss the fast pass but I know it will take some balancing to get things back to the way they were. Having seen the crowd load first hand this won't be easy. You need to get in place Early if you are watching the Halloween fireworks and they are Amazing as always. It was wonderful being back but it did feel more crowded than any time we have ever been before. I know it was towards the end of CA resident tickets but the people we would meet in line seemed to be mostly new visitors who hadn't been to DL before, and a lot of WDW regulars checking us out.

 

[Jaina]

We were there this last weekend too - Sept 24 in CA and Sept 25 in Disneyland. The weather was fantastic on Friday for CA, and we started on Pixar Pier and hit 7 (yes 7, with 3 repeats, including twice through Goofy's Sky School without getting off) in the first hour of the day. (We were in line for security on Harbor by 7:10 AM) We got several more big rides in in the next couple hours, and didn't have any ridiculous lines all day. The next day (Saturday) at Disneyland felt much warmer and more crowded too. We had boarding group 7 for RotR and it didn't up and going for several hours. Lines were quite busy, but not ridiculously so. For people who are worried about masks, I saw like 97% compliance inside, and maybe 20-30% were wearing them outdoors overall that I noticed. Like I said, it was warm. I never wore my mask outdoors. If you're at all covid anxious, I don't recommend watching the fireworks from Main Street. We were packed in there like sardines, and masks were maybe half and half. It was still a great trip, especially that Friday morning!

 

[DonMacGregor]

We are here now 9/25-9/29. I’m a little shocked at how crowded it is. Thank goodness for rope drop and slightly lower crowds until about 11. I have noticed a lot of rides have been down, adding to the madness. Yesterday half of DCA was down until 10:00am. Dinner in DCA was also scarce. We forgot to mobile order earlier, so if food is on your radar, you might want to think about it earlier than later. Single rider lines have also been a life saver. I do have to say, I really miss Max Pass!

I'm of the "it's crowded due to all the locals using heir 3-day passes before 9/30" school of thought for the crowd situation this week. I think a lot of people were holding off on using the last day of the promo passes as long as possible once it became general knowledge that they weren't upgradeable. We'll see how things look next week, and then again after OBB is over.

 

[Gypsybear]

Thanks everyone, for the replies. This definitely makes us feel better about our decision to switch from WDW to DL. We were at WDW last October, when masking was mandated, and even then, many fought the mandate in queues.

So we're looking forward to arriving in Cali toward the end of October and through the first week of November.

 

[txandie]

We are here now 9/25-9/29. I’m a little shocked at how crowded it is. Thank goodness for rope drop and slightly lower crowds until about 11. I have noticed a lot of rides have been down, adding to the madness. Yesterday half of DCA was down until 10:00am. Dinner in DCA was also scarce. We forgot to mobile order earlier, so if food is on your radar, you might want to think about it earlier than later. Single rider lines have also been a life saver. I do have to say, I really miss Max Pass!

We had a similar experience on Monday 9/27. We rope dropped Adventureland and fairly good experience up to 11a (8 rides including HM, Indy, and snow white before 11a, then like 3 after lunch). Definitely more crowded than our prior 3 visits over the summer (all Friday visits). After lunch, there were no rides under 20 minutes posted and most were 30+ (generally speaking). I know for some that is considered not a long wait but mentioning only for reference. App posted Ride times were more accurate this time than our three prior visits. Cast members were actively checking wait times and I carried the badge to check the wait times in Autopia.
For reference, I was using the third day of our 3 day california pass.

 

[Dory92130]

Last Sunday was the first time I've seen the timed red badges being actively done. Has been lacking all year until then.

Don't know why people think crowds are high. Even during Labor Day weekend it wasn't insane. Yes, the pinch points were crowded as usual, but even during fireworks got a good view 3minutes before the show. Nothing close to pre-covid levels.

 

[kikismom]

I wanted to come back and report on current crowds. It is insane in my opinion. Our first park day was today but we were in DTD yesterday. I thought crowds would be better last night but an example was Matterhorn was still at 70 minutes at 9 pm. Make sure you order food early too! I feel lucky to have this board for advice. Lines at all food places were so long if you didn't mobile order. We are going to DCA today and we'll see how that goes!

 

[tnzzz]

We are here too and Sunday was our first (half) day. We went in the afternoon to DL and it was busy but I expected that. We just relied on wait times to determine what areas to visit since we have a few more days in the parks and can rope drop the busier rides. Tomorrowland had surprisingly low wait times in the late afternoon/evening and we did Space with a 35 min wait, Star Tours and Buzz with a 10-15min wait. But it was definitely packed on the walkways and Main Street. Our kids and many others have fall break this week in Nor Cal. I’m sure those breaks are contributing to the crowd levels.