Here Now And Boy Is It Crowded!!!

[LoraJ]

I sure hope it dies down by next week. We love going this time of year and enjoyed low the low crowds we had in 2006.

 

[rie'smom]

We go every year starting the weekend before Thanksgiving and the crows don't get crazy until the day before Thanksgiving. I sure hope it's like that this year and that the crowds now are tour groups.

Except for the Columbus Day weekend, were the crowds mostly adults? I'm wondering if overseas tour groups are coming in to take advantage of the Food and Wine Fest?

Can you tell I'm desperate for a valid reason for the crowds?

I hope everyone at WDW has less crowds this week! Have a magical trip and if it's very crowded, get there at rope drop!!!!

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Anyone have any pictures??

 

[NLD]

Can you tell I'm desperate for a valid reason for the crowds?

Me too. Thinking about going Oct 3-11 next year. Columbus Day is on the 12th.

Trying to decide whether to pick a different week or not. Hoping that Yom Kippur being so close to C Day this year is what drove the crowds up for the week this year... hoping it'll be less busy next year. But scared to death that might be false hope.

 

[Mike Bartenhagen]

Can you tell I'm desperate for a valid reason for the crowds?

We just returned yesterday from 8 days at WDW and one of the bus drivers told us that right now about 65% of the park vistors are foreign becuase of the value of the dollar it is a good deal for them to vacation in the US.

Mike

 

[traci]

Anyone have any pictures??

I don't think my eyes could handle what they might see

 

[DebbieB]

We were at MK this morning, not very crowded. Got there about 9:45, PP was about a 10 minute wait, HM walk-on, BTMRR 5 min. Got train from Frontierland to Tomorrowland, no wait. Went to Space Mt around 11:00, standby 20 min, got a FP for 11:40. Rode TTA & CP while waiting for FP. When we got back to Space Mt around noon, it was a 30 minute wait, when we got off about 40 min. Left MK after that.

 

[perret24]

We were there from oct 5-11 and sunday- wen there was really no crowd 5-20 mins wait for everything. Thursday oh boy the crowd came in and it was 30-60min for everything

 

[bluerendezvous]

Since I teach, we have to go when school's out. We have great success using TourGuideMike and tips from the DIS. Here are a couple of pictures to illustrate... The first picture is "Them." The last picture is "Us."

You just can't beat a good plan no matter which plan you use!

 

[elf]

I'm thinking one reason for the crowd this year is because many northern states NY I know for sure had a 5 day weekend. Oct. 9, 10 for the Jewish Holiday, plus Columbus day that Monday. MY SIL knew 6 familes that came to WDW that weekend most of them extended their trips surrounding that weekend.
These holidays seem to move around so this doesn't happen every year.

Seminole County Fl. Schools had off Oct. 9 but thats it. I'm not sure Orange county had any of those days off.

 

[melissac]

We will be leaving next Sat and hope the crowds lessen

 

[Kay1]

We just returned yesterday from 8 days at WDW and one of the bus drivers told us that right now about 65% of the park vistors are foreign becuase of the value of the dollar it is a good deal for them to vacation in the US.

Mike

There you go. And that explains why crowd prediction is suddenly so tricky.

 

[Little Monkey]

We arrived on Tuesday, October 14th and just returned today. Everything except the Hallween party on October 16th was super crowded. We were at Disney on the 14th - it was packed. We were at MGM on the 15th it was packed and we were at Epcot on the 17th and it was super packed.

 

[TLHB70]

We just got home yesterday.
We were there Saturday, October 11 through yesterday.
I agree with the OP. The crowds were HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were foreign tour groups everywhere! I saw at least two groups a day. On Saturday, the 11th, I saw four groups!!! It was truly more crowds than we expected.
Saturday and Sunday were so crowded I had to grab DH's shirt to keep up with him as we walked around the park. The crowds were swarming.
Monday was a tad better. Tuesday was the lowest crowd day. Wednesday they started picking back up and by Friday the swarm was back.
DH and I both agreed that we will never go back in October again. We usually go the week after Thanksgiving or the beginning of December. We will do that from now on.

 

[jcriket]

We were there yesterday, and I agree the crowd levels were higher than usual for this time of year. I happened to sign a e mail contest at epcot, and at least half the signatures were from florida. so I kinda figured the ad promos to get passes is working? Will there ever be a slow week end again?

 

[ILuvCrush]

Anyone have any pictures??

Well here's a few from last week. Mind you I was NOT trying to get "crowd pics" They are just some pics I took that have a sampling of the people wandering around.

This is Epcot WS about 11:30am on Tues Oct 14th

This is HS maybe a little after 2pm.... people starting to stake out spots for the 3pm parade on Thursday Oct 16th

Finally one from MK on Weds Oct 15th. I'm not sure of the time, but I did the KTTK tour and it was after that (which was done about1:30) so I'm guessing about 2pm???

Don't know if this is a help or a hinderence though!!

Paula

 

[themouse1928]

it seems to be getting harder and harder to guess when crowds will be low but a crowded day at disney is better than a good day at work.

 

[Stinkerbell317]

We were there 10/9-17. It was much more crowded (and WAAAAAY hotter!)that I expected. Even though we did have a very good time (mostly due to much planning and FP useage), I doubt we'll go over Columbus Day again. We're thinking of November next year.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

We just got back today (10/11-10/19). I was shocked at the crowd levels. We have toured Disney in early Aug, late Sept, late Nov, and early Dec. I doubt I will ever go to Disney in Oct again. The crowds were no better these past 8 days in Oct, than they were during our early Aug trips. Thankfully, the weather was slightly better though, even though hot at 85.

There were so many rides we didn't even get to ride due to long lines. When there are lines for the IASM and tea cups, you know you're in trouble, imo, lol.

Seems like the only time to go to the parks was very early in the am and very late in the pm. We waited in line for Toy Stoy for 110 mins at 9:45 am. Fast passes were not valid until 3:20 and didn't want to stay that long. All the parks were crowded during our stay. MNSSHP was way more crowded and less enjoyable than the pirate party we attended in Aug 2007.

I believe this was Tuesday Oct 14: It was supposed to be a do-able day for MK. Not!

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Monday Oct 13 was insane at Typhoon Lagoon. Monday should be a good day for water parks, right? But perhaps being Columbus Day made it miserable. When we passed Typhoon at the same time the next day (around 2 pm, Oct 14), from our bus, it looked way less crowded. No one was waiting for buses, as opposed to Monday Oct 13 at 2 pm, when it looked like a mini version of MK after a parade. Note to self: Never never on a Monday, if a Monday happens to be a holiday. I mean, who knew. I thought folks wanted the theme parks on a holiday, not water parks in October on a Monday!