Does anyone have insight as to why it's so incredibly crowded right now?

[todzwife]

I'm getting worried for our November trip. Are there lots of schools out for fall break right now or something? I've been hearing it's worse than it was this summer...which makes me go like this

 

[I❤MICKEY]

I think crowds are a matter of perception.

We were there Sept 21-28. I wouldn't consider it crowded. At least not compared to our Dec 27-Jan 6 trip. We were able to get a fast pass every day for RSR (1st thing in the morning) but other than that the waits weren't bad at all. I would say 10-15 minute average except for TSMM which was about 30. We didn't even bother much with Fast Passes.

 

[HydroGuy]

In that FP machines for BTMRR have been turned off on weekdays that would indicate crowds are rather low.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

2 words. Fall Break!! Some Arizona schools have fall break this week and next. The remainder of schools have fall break next week.

 

[kirstie101]

Some Sacramento area schools have "fall break" yesterday and today.

 

[Malcon10t]

I had several groups of friends there the week of the 21st-24th, and all said it was very low crowds. They were very surprised and said most rides were short (15 mins or less) lines.

I do think it is a matter of perception. I'm used to 60-90 min waits, so 15-30 would be low crowds to me.

 

[sheetz]

It also sounds like a lot of people were basing their expectations on the Touring Plans crowd predictions and ended up experiencing '6' crowds instead of the predicted '1' crowds. Maybe if TP had predicted all 9s and 10s everyone would saying how manageable the crowds were.

 

[figment_jii]

I'm not quite sure I would say the crowds were low last weekend! I was there on Fri through Sun and Saturday was definitely more crowded than Friday. The posted wait time for SMGG was over an hour in the evening; HMH was running at about 20-30 minutes; RSR posted time was about 2 hours in the middle of the afternoon; and MS was pretty full during fireworks. I was pretty surprised how crowded it was on Saturday - it felt worse than a Saturday in June (the last time I was there).

I pulled RSR FP at the same time on both Fri and Sat, but got widely different times (12:45 on Fri and 5:50 on Sat), so there were more folks on Sat getting FP in the AM.

We were chatting with a lady who said there were a bunch of dance troops from Australia in town this week and Saturday was their "free" day. That might have had some impact.

 

[dleyel]

I know some schools in Santa Clarita are on fall break this week. Most school districts around Anaheim don't get a fall break. Weekends during Halloweentime have traditionally been pretty busy ever since Disney started doing Halloweentime. With Carsland, I expect they will be even busier. I don't think you'll find a low crowd weekend through the rest of the year. Lowest weekend crowds are probably January and February.

 

[elaw]

Maybe it's because of the AP Blockouts being lifted? Annual Passholder Blockout dates

 

[T0rrent]

Honestly, it's probably a combination of New Land (Carsland), fall break, and ap blackouts being lifted. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Honestly crowds are subjective.

 

[Mel522]

I think it's because people want to see Carsland but didn't want to go in summer because they thought it would be busy or their AP's were blocked.

The weekdays weren't bad last week when we were there. Friday night and Saturday night were crowded. Both Space Mountain and Radiator Springs had standby wait times of 120 minutes.

 

[DebbieB]

I was there Sept 22 to 28, didn't think it was bad. We took advantage of early entry almost every morning. For RSR, use the single rider line if you can.

 

[Eeee-va]

Not only is it a matter of perception, but also expectations (if you expect high crowds and get medium crowds, they will seem low; if you expect low crowds and get medium crowds, they will seem high).

And sometimes it's just plain good or bad luck. Sometimes even the best planner hits a string of rides or areas at just the wrong time, and therefore would rightfully conclude the park is crowded. (Never mind the poor folks who arrive a few hours after opening and go right to RSR!)

Someone with better luck (or sometimes, better planning) might go the same day and think the park wasn't so bad.

 

[rascalmarc]

There might be alot of people from Hawaii as the public schools are on fall break this week.

 

[Luisa]

High Australian dollar and school holidays - lots of Aussies making the most of that and the nice weather.

 

[Eddygirl]

High Australian dollar and school holidays - lots of Aussies making the most of that and the nice weather.

This totally makes sense now! Practically every family we interacted with at the hotel was Australian.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

High Australian dollar and school holidays - lots of Aussies making the most of that and the nice weather.

I dont think that is the case at all...since Nemo ride came out there is never a time I dont meet Aussies at the park what it is is below:

I know some schools in Santa Clarita are on fall break this week. Most school districts around Anaheim don't get a fall break. Weekends during Halloweentime have traditionally been pretty busy ever since Disney started doing Halloweentime. With Carsland, I expect they will be even busier. I don't think you'll find a low crowd weekend through the rest of the year. Lowest weekend crowds are probably January and February.

and THIS is what Ive been continually saying since summer....this is exactly whats happening...

 

[starshine514]

It also sounds like a lot of people were basing their expectations on the Touring Plans crowd predictions and ended up experiencing '6' crowds instead of the predicted '1' crowds. Maybe if TP had predicted all 9s and 10s everyone would saying how manageable the crowds were.

I would agree with this. We were there last week Sat - Tue (well, a slight detour into the park on Wed, but only for an hour) and found the weekend, well, weekend crowded. Mon and Tue were not super crowded. A little more than I had hoped for, but definitely not "Spring Break" crowded.

I did find the hours to be slightly short for the crowds, however. I would have preferred 9:00 - 9:00, rather than 10:00 - 8:00, because we couldn't seem to crowd everything we wanted to do in. When the hours are 10:00 - 8:00, I hope for the only rides with 30 minute (or higher) wait times to be the ones I can get a FP for, and TSMM. So, I was a little disappointed with a 30 minute wait for HM w/o the FP machines turned on, but I still wouldn't call it crowded.

 

[Mauretania]

We spent the day Sunday Sept 30th and I've never seen the parks this busy.
DR was open until midnight and there was still a long line at 11:30pm for Peter Pan! That's a first. Usually we hit fantasyland late in the evening - not this time. We left at 1am and there were still many people but what got to me were all the little ones out so early in the morning