Epcot crowds

[chiefmickeymouse]

We were at Epcot yesterday and the Touring Plans predicted 1.8 crowd was dead wrong! I have never seen Epcot more crowded. I know it was Food and Wine, but jeez! On the bright side we headed over to MK in the evening and crowds were low and we got on a ton of rides. Kind of sad though because Epcot is the kids' favorite and we couldn't really do any of the rides except for the one FP that got us through Test Track.

 

[PSUGuy]

If by 'Yesterday' you mean Monday, I'm surprised. We were there this week in 2009 and weekdays in WS were a breeze. If it's Sunday you're talking about, weekends during F&W are horrible, we go elsewhere then.

Bill From PA

 

[dburg30]

Also curious as to what the wait time for rides were? As stated if you meant Sunday, no surprise WS would be crowded, but FW was also?

 

[ksueboo]

Does seem odd for a Monday. I'm also curious about wait times.

 

[chiefmickeymouse]

It was Monday. We didn't get into the park until about 10:30 because we waited for the monorail at the Poly for about half an hour. Wait time for Test Track was 55 minutes, Soaring was 65. We were able to get a FP for Test Track for 12. By the time we were done with that, FP return time for Soaring was 6:30. We walked around the Showcase, but it was so crowded we just had to get out of the park. Checked wait time for Soaring on the way out and it was still 65 minutes. Left the park at around 2 p.m.

 

[lillygator]

10/23 crowded!!!!!! long line!

 

[flyingcowofdoom]

Wow, that is surprising. I've used the crowd calendar on about 6 different vacations and it has always been very accurate.

--FCOD

 

[pulley182]

it could have been because a few counties in the area/state had no school on Monday, and people might have made day trips or long weekends.

 

[dburg30]

It was Monday. We didn't get into the park until about 10:30 because we waited for the monorail at the Poly for about half an hour. Wait time for Test Track was 55 minutes, Soaring was 65. We were able to get a FP for Test Track for 12. By the time we were done with that, FP return time for Soaring was 6:30. We walked around the Showcase, but it was so crowded we just had to get out of the park. Checked wait time for Soaring on the way out and it was still 65 minutes. Left the park at around 2 p.m.

Well according to the TP site, a 1 would = 75 min wait on soarin, and a 2 would = 80, so it sounds pretty much spot on as far as stand by goes...
Really dont see where the site was wrong? You got there 2 hours late, so you shot yourself in the foot for not getting an early soarin FP then get a TT FP or another soarin one when you were able to, or just do stand by.

 

[chiefmickeymouse]

You might be right about school breaks or long weekends. The resort seems to have cleared out a lot since yesterday. I will say this though, I haven't seen much of the rude behavior people have been complaining about. It has been a pretty civil crowd for the most-part, give or take a few bad apples. Cast members have been nice, too. There seems to be a lot of British tourists/other Europeans...and everyone has been pretty nice.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We were at DHS this am for rope drop. It was the recommended park. It seemed pretty busy as far as a large amount of people wandering around, but the waits for the rides are not bad at all. TSM at rope drop was 40 mins (posted, but prob only waited 25), and around 10:30 ToT was 10 mins and RNRC was 20 mins.

 

[sweetsusannah]

We are currently at Disney and the crowds are much heavier this year than they were last year at this time. While it isn't unbearable it isn't what I consider the "norm".

 

[bonoriffic]

I was at epcot on Monday and lines were fine. We walked on everything, and with two toddlers we skipped soaring and test track. Had a snack outside soaring entrance at 10:30 and wait was 45 minutes with 1:30 fast pass. The Land was a walk on during this time. Went to lunch in Germany at noon and people without reservations were being seated with a 5 minute wait. Walking out at 1:30 did Spaceship Earth with no wait. There were pockets of heavy crowds, but were in spots we had already been.

Magic Kingdom today was a breeze. Did Dumbo, Peter Pan, and Small World before 9:20. Buzz Lightyear was walkon at 10 and again at 11. Longest wait was 10 min for speedway as they only had half the tracks open.

 

[phorsenuf]

We were at Epcot yesterday and the Touring Plans predicted 1.8 crowd was dead wrong! I have never seen Epcot more crowded. I know it was Food and Wine, but jeez! On the bright side we headed over to MK in the evening and crowds were low and we got on a ton of rides. Kind of sad though because Epcot is the kids' favorite and we couldn't really do any of the rides except for the one FP that got us through Test Track.

It's all in perspective I guess.

I was at EPCOT yesterday(Mon) too. Got there around 1:30 and didn't think it was too busy at all. Walked right on SE, saw the wait time for test track was 20 minutes. I was in the world showcase area though for food & wine and the crowds were light but picking up by the time I left around 7pm to head to the magic kingdom. That place was very busy. Only ride we did there was small world. Since it was one of the few nights for the electric parade and wishes I think people flocked there. But I don't look at touring guides or anything like that. I just go and make the best of it.

 

[lillygator]

Well according to the TP site, a 1 would = 75 min wait on soarin, and a 2 would = 80, so it sounds pretty much spot on as far as stand by goes...
Really dont see where the site was wrong? You got there 2 hours late, so you shot yourself in the foot for not getting an early soarin FP then get a TT FP or another soarin one when you were able to, or just do stand by.

really??

 

[jkluttrell]

We were at Epcot last Sunday (10/17) and the crowd prediction was a .5. I thought it was way more crowded than a .5. I know it was a Sunday during F&W festival but still. We also didn't get there until noon, got FP for Soarin right away and the return time was 6:35-7:35 which worked perfect for us. When we returned for our Garden Grill dinner at 4:35 the wait time was 75 minutes and the FPs were gone. We did WS first before our dinner then the FW stuff after. We only rode Soarin, Test Track, and Nemo and did the Character spot. I was fine with only doing those things at Epcot (though I will now know in the future to avoid the F&W festival) but this was my first park (in 5 years) and first time using the 'crowd numbers' so I was kinda surprised.

 

[ancestry]

I was there at Epcot this past weekend as well (Sunday and Monday) and I too felt it was may more crowded than predicted. I use the touringplans app on my iPhone and their wait times and fast past return times were off significantly. They were off in the MK as well -- at one point the fast pass return time was two hours later than what the app was predicting.

I have always found touringplans to be fairly accurate on our previous trips but this trip (October 23 - 26) was off quite a bit from the predictions.

 

[dburg30]

really??

Really what? The post was from their site, so the wait time the OP was complaining about was right. As far as the rest of it goes, yes really. I guess if I knew what you were reallying about I could answer it.

 

[dburg30]

We were at Epcot last Sunday (10/17) and the crowd prediction was a .5. I thought it was way more crowded than a .5. I know it was a Sunday during F&W festival but still. We also didn't get there until noon, got FP for Soarin right away and the return time was 6:35-7:35 which worked perfect for us. When we returned for our Garden Grill dinner at 4:35 the wait time was 75 minutes and the FPs were gone. We did WS first before our dinner then the FW stuff after. We only rode Soarin, Test Track, and Nemo and did the Character spot. I was fine with only doing those things at Epcot (though I will now know in the future to avoid the F&W festival) but this was my first park (in 5 years) and first time using the 'crowd numbers' so I was kinda surprised.

See I dont get this, you didnt get there til noon, you did WS before dinner at 4:35 and STILL did soarin, test track, nemo AND the characters AFTER eating and before 9pm? Sounds like it was pretty freaking empty IMO. Granted nemo doesnt really count, but I thought for a sunday night at F&W it was empty. I mean there were people there, but I was expecting nuts to butts crowded, and it wasnt. Almost all of the countries were walk up and get your food or drink. I just dont get where these crowds were. The only crowds I really saw were DHS on F! days and MK on monday and wed as they were the only 2 days wishes were shown, other days were party nights.

IMO anytime soarin is less then 80 minutes, I consider that low crowds. Since I've seen it 100, 120 etc before.

 

[PSUGuy]

I was expecting nuts to butts crowded,

OK, I'm stealing that line.

Bill From PA