Here now, crowds and FP+, wow!

[jeffbear]

Meh. TP called Epcot a 7 and to me it felt like a 7. Same as usual. We missed rope drop but toured from about 9:30 until 6:00 and didn't really experience anything out of the ordinary. We walked right up on a few rides late in the afternoon that are normally walk ups ... No problems. Maybe I'm just fortunate but I didn't have anything other than the experience I expected

 

[practicallyperfect77]

And right now MDE app shows Soarin' with a 20 min, TT 40 and TSM 45. HS and AK have emh. Safari only 15 mkn wait. Is it raining hard right now? Although MK does seem to be quite busy....jungle cruise was at 65.

 

[CSI007]

Actually, except for Q1, things are really looking up. (Most sharps think the soft Q1 numbers are weather related.) Consumer spending is up and attendance is up. This is also why admission prices are up.

Disney is taking in a Billion a month from the parks division and is spending it a little more too, like many other companies, rather than sitting on cash.

I agree that things aren't as good as they could be for the average consumer but the average consumer is not = to the economy.

That said, my guess is that most folks on this board would say they feel a little more confident in spending a little more than they did a few years ago.

Not to beat a dead horse here, but with over 15% REAL unemployment I am not sure things are much better then they have been since 2008. When we were in the deepest part of the recession and close to 20% REAL unemployment - sure things have come down from that but now they are on the rise again unfortunately. With significant increases in private health care costs that will continue to rise and what looks to be a MAJOR recession heading for China, things are only going to get worse for those living in the US.

This rise in attendance could be a manifestation of a continued weak dollar in the global market.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

I was told by a castmember yesterday that you can now book your 4th fastpass on the app once your 3rd expires, instead of having to go to a kiosk, is this true??? I've learned not to trust CMs!

 

[fairy8i8]

WDW may just be more crowded. We went a couple weeks ago. Mornings were great, but the afternoons were crowded, and problems with people not using their FP+ correctly really gummed up the lines for FP+ in the afternoon. It was easier when a CM could look at a paper ticket and tell the person they needed to wait 15 minutes instead of having a person argue for 5-10 minutes that their bands SHOULD work, creating a big backup.

Looked at DL wait times for a trip in November. They are much shorter, even when I compared the times from our May trip for the same rides in DL for the same dates in May. Anna and Elsa have a peak wait time of 2 hours, not 4 in DL. As we are moving the the west this summer, I think DL become our park if wait times continue to be significantly less than WDW. I'll still go to WDW every once in a while, as it is a different style of vacation, but if I am interested in rides, which I am, DL seems to be the way to go.

 

[AandJsMommy]

And right now MDE app shows Soarin' with a 20 min, TT 40 and TSM 45. HS and AK have emh. Safari only 15 mkn wait. Is it raining hard right now? Although MK does seem to be quite busy....jungle cruise was at 65.

We are here now, and it was beautiful all day. No rain at all.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

Lots of schools across the south are getting out right about now. (My kids should have gotten out last week, but we have some snow/ice days to make up.) Also, Memorial Weekend is upon us. I remember being down at WDW 9 years ago during the week before Memorial Weekend and having to call, and call, and call reservations to try to find a room ANYWHERE to extend our stay through the weekend. EVERYTHING was booked, but we finally lucked into a cancellation one night off-site and the rest at CSR -- right at the point of having to head home. The parks were so obscenely busy that we wished we hadn't stayed and vowed to avoid this holiday in the future.

 

[AandJsMommy]

We went to Epcot today, and it didn't seem that crowded. Soarin' was a walk-on at RD. DH did it with rider swap right afterwards, and it was backed up a little more, but still not too bad. While he was riding Soarin', I rode Living with the Land with DS. We then went to Nemo, which was also a walk-on. We did Turtle Talk and got into the next show, then looked around the aquarium some. We walked onto Maelstrom a few minutes after 11 and then went back and walked on the Mexico boat ride. Walked around World Showcase until about 3. Met Mulan, Aurora, and Pooh & Tigger. We went back and did fastpasses for TT, Mission Space, and Spaceship Earth. We really didn't need it for SE since it was walk-on anyway. We also did Figment and Character Spot (both with posted 5 min. wait) before SE; Figment was a walk-on. We felt it was a very good day, and DH was impressed with the plan.

 

[JEmaryland]

I was told by a castmember yesterday that you can now book your 4th fastpass on the app once your 3rd expires, instead of having to go to a kiosk, is this true??? I've learned not to trust CMs!

We were at Epcot Sunday and this was not the case.

 

[sonofanarchy]

These threads keep popping up and I keep seeing people saying "It could be FP+." Folks, come on - It IS FP+. A 30 minute wait for Living With The Land? You don't see that in the peak of summer. The attendance hasn't increased THAT much since just last year that it would be affecting wait times to this extent.

It's simple math. What's different now that wasn't a factor in the past? And this isn't a FP+ bash post. We've had enough of those I think. It's just simple common sense.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

We went to Epcot today, and it didn't seem that crowded. Soarin' was a walk-on at RD. DH did it with rider swap right afterwards, and it was backed up a little more, but still not too bad. While he was riding Soarin', I rode Living with the Land with DS. We then went to Nemo, which was also a walk-on. We did Turtle Talk and got into the next show, then looked around the aquarium some. We walked onto Maelstrom a few minutes after 11 and then went back and walked on the Mexico boat ride. Walked around World Showcase until about 3. Met Mulan, Aurora, and Pooh & Tigger. We went back and did fastpasses for TT, Mission Space, and Spaceship Earth. We really didn't need it for SE since it was walk-on anyway. We also did Figment and Character Spot (both with posted 5 min. wait) before SE; Figment was a walk-on. We felt it was a very good day, and DH was impressed with the plan.

I'm not surprised at all. Epcot is really struggling to bring guests in. The only thing that it has going for it is Food And Wine and that only gets *kinda busy* on weekends.

 

[paxsarah]

These threads keep popping up and I keep seeing people saying "It could be FP+." Folks, come on - It IS FP+. A 30 minute wait for Living With The Land? You don't see that in the peak of summer. The attendance hasn't increased THAT much since just last year that it would be affecting wait times to this extent.

It's simple math. What's different now that wasn't a factor in the past? And this isn't a FP+ bash post. We've had enough of those I think. It's just simple common sense.

FP+ still existed yesterday, and we walked onto Living with the Land at around 1pm. So what was the difference between Saturday and yesterday? I don't know, but it wasn't FP+. Here's what we were able to do yesterday:

RD
Test Track
Sum of All Thrills
Mission Space green
Nemo (we waited between 5 and 10 minutes)
Crush (FP+ but wasn't needed)
Lunch at Sunshine Seasons
Soarin (FP+, at that time standby was about 50 minutes)
Living with the Land
Spaceship Earth (FP+ but standby was only 5-10 minutes)
At this point it was around 1:45. I went to a kiosk and got an additional FP+ for Soarin' after dinner (I think it was for 6:55), and we left.

5:15 dinner at Garden Grill
Soarin (FP+)
Character Spot (walked right in) and left the park

I rarely plan and execute a park day with an effective afternoon break, but I considered this a very successful day in that regard. We took our time - we have kids 5 and 8 plus one adult whose mobility is not great, so we walked slow and had lots of potty breaks. We were never rushed. And the ability to specifically pick the time of our later Soarin' FP+ was great. And on our AK day (Sunday) and DHS day (today) we also took advantage of the fact that in choosing a 4th FP+, it can be as soon in the future as there is availability, whereas with paper FP it was always at least 40 minutes in the future. With that, we were able to get an almost immediate FP+ for Primeval Whirl at AK and at RNRC at DHS.

 

[AngiTN]

We were at Epcot Sunday and this was not the case.

I too don't take what CMs say as gospel but I do wonder, has anyone tried to book their 4th FP on their phone/website? I know they've said use the Kiosk and all that. I just wondered if the ability to use the website is there and no one tries since they said kiosk only

 

[Mom2darlingboys]

Here now and we are finding crowds to be bad. On Saturday, we rode Soarin, Seas with Nemo and Spaceship Earth on FPs, had lunch at Via Napoli and visited Club Cool. And walked around World Showcase a bit. Crowds were about a 7.

Sunday was Star Wars weekend. Rode TSMM, ST and TOT on FPs, were able to switch TOT to later that night around 1:30 (nothing else of interest available, just stuff like
Muppets and Playhouse Disney) saw Boba Fett, Darth Maul, visited the mall and attended the SciFi breakfast, H&V dinner, and Feel the Force. Again, that was it.

Yesterday was Typhoon Lagoon, and spent much of the day in the wave pool and Lazy River. That night, we went to DTD and it was a ZOO! Could barely make our way through the crowds. Is this normal with the construction? There had to be over 100 in line at Earl of Sandwich around 7 pm.

Today, we went to AK. Again a total zoo, could barely make our way through the crowd. Rode the safari with an embarrassing FP+ line that took over 30 minutes to board, had lunch at Yak & Yeti, got stuck and had to be evacuated off Kali, rode EE 4 times (with the FP we got for being pulled off the ride), tried KRR again, saw Pocahontas and Russell & Dugg and ITTBAB, and left the park.

We have found we are doing WAY less than we have previously done. With two trips to Customer Relations re: MagicBands, my hubbie may be done with Disney for some time now. It will certainly take way more convincing than in the past.

Also noticing small cuts Disney has been making everywhere, and hearing a lot of concerns from fellow guests.

That said, we are still having a great trip. We've adapted and are spending much more downtime at the resort. Not the way we normally do Disney, though. Changes have certainly altered our touring habits and what will have to choose to value going forward.

 

[Eosphotog]

Today, we went to AK. Again a total zoo

But AK isn't a zoo, it is a theme park.

Sorry - the set up was too perfect.

 

[PrincessV]

I haven't read all of the posts, so forgive me if this has already been asked/answered... has anyone tried the SB lines with 30ish minute waits posted? Was it really 30?

Why I ask: a couple weeks ago, we were at AK and used our 3 FP+s before lunch. After lunch, thought about going to a kiosk for a 4th (no ability to get one via app - I tried), but decided the posted 30min wait for Dinosaur was more appealing than wandering off in search of a kiosk, since we were right near Dino at the time. The app had a 40min wait posted, the ride itself said 30, and Touringplans had 30... but we literally walked on, right into the video room, no wait at all. Which made me wonder if WDW isn't posting fictitious wait times to get more folks to use FP+...

 

[khertz]

I too don't take what CMs say as gospel but I do wonder, has anyone tried to book their 4th FP on their phone/website? I know they've said use the Kiosk and all that. I just wondered if the ability to use the website is there and no one tries since they said kiosk only

We were there 2 weeks ago, and I did try to make my additional FP+ reservations on the app, but was unable to. Once I added them at a kiosk and they showed up on my phone, I could change them around, though.

 

[AngiTN]

We were there 2 weeks ago, and I did try to make my additional FP+ reservations on the app, but was unable to. Once I added them at a kiosk and they showed up on my phone, I could change them around, though.

I bet that is what that CM had heard and somehow they translated that to making them on the ap.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

But AK isn't a zoo, it is a theme park.

Sorry - the set up was too perfect.

Haha...I'm still trying to wrap my head around the concept of AK actually being "crowded".

A rare situation, indeed.