Here now - Crowds are nuts

[TennHokies]

Just got back myself from our 1st family trip; 9/19 – 9/27. We found the crowds to be very manageable. Half the time we did EMH parks and other half we hit a park that had EMH the day before and found the later to work best. As an example Dumbo had a 20 min wait at 10am after we had a nice relaxing Crystal Palace breakfast on a non-EMH day. On Thursday (EMH day) we hit rope drop and headed straight to Dumbo but saw a 40 minute wait. No problem, we adjusted the plan, hit other fantasyland rides and came back to Dumbo later when the ride was 20 minutes once again. And yes I rode Dumbo MANY MANY times during our trip with my two year old son and loved it every time.

One more note, this past Sat at Epcot it was crowded and I’m sure it was due to F&W festival. We got FPs for Test Track but even the fast pass return line was long (I’d estimate 20-30 minutes – perhaps some bad timing with break downs?). Anyway, the single rider line was completely empty so both my wife and I (one watching the kids) held onto our FPs and walked on using the single rider line. This is what I mean when I say the parks are manageable; I doubt in May it’s as easy.

So yes, now we’re back to the “rat race” (CoP reference), but that just means it’s time to start planning for 2010 since we’re already booked via free dining bounce back. We had a fantastic trip, WDW is truly a magical place, especially when you can view it through the eyes of a child.

 

[MayButterfly]

We were there from 9/21-9/25 and there was NO one at the parks it seemed! We walked onto almost every ride there with little wait! The only thing about this past week was that is was SOOO hot! But it's September so of course it's going to be hot!
I'm glad we had such little wait because it was my mom's first visit so it was a positive trip for her!!

 

[aurora23]

We were there the 18th through the 27th and we didn't think it was crowded at all untill the 25th. EPCOT was very busy on Friday and Saturday with the beginning of the Food and Wine Festival, and much of the crowd in World Showcase appeared to be drunk. The drunken crowd in addition to the heat probably made the crowds seem worse than they were. Sunday the Magic Kingdom appeared to be somewhat crowded but not awful. Crowd levels were still better then most of the rest of the year. We got spoiled early in the trip with almost no crowds. The longest we waited in line was 30 minutes for TSM. With fastpasses and lowercrowds we saw everything we wanted (and sometimes we did them more than once). I am avoiding the Food and Wine Festival next year though.

 

[Dreaming~of~Disney]

We were there Sept. 18-26. The 18th and 19th crowds were very low. It was very, very nice however we thought the rest of the week was very crowded! the long waits we saw were 40-80 minutes. We fast passed most everything though. We are comparing the crowds to the last time we were there in Sept. of 2007 and it was empty then.

 

[jenga1030]

According to UG today should be a 4. I guess they are a bit off.

The UG has been a bit off this year for sure!

We were at Disney for 2 weeks, 9/12 and 9/25 and the parks were empty. We mostly went on the "4" days and avoided the "6" days. But on the 2 "6" days we went to parks, it was more "crowded" than on the "4" days. So UG was great for picking park days.

What seems to be so off lately are the crowd trends UG predicted. UG had Labor day week as 7s and 5s, the two following weeks as 6s and 4s, and then this week at the lowest as 5s and 4s.

It seems it trended the opposite. Labor Day week was dead, the following week was still pretty empty, but we definitely noticed a small pickup in crowds last week right before we left. And this week so far seems busier still.

 

[jenga1030]

We were there Sept. 18-26. The 18th and 19th crowds were very low. It was very, very nice however we thought the rest of the week was very crowded! the long waits we saw were 40-80 minutes. We fast passed most everything though. We are comparing the crowds to the last time we were there in Sept. of 2007 and it was empty then.

We were there from 9/12 to 9/25 and the second week was a bit more crowded than the first but we never saw waits near what you did! The highest wait we saw was at EPCOT on 9/21 for Soarin and Test Track, both were 40 minutes. But everything else was walk on or close to it.

It's so interesting what a different experience everyone can have according to what park they go to each day. That's why I obsess over park picking! I hate the thought that I was waiting in long lines if I would have picked the next day and walked on to everything.

 

[AJSMOMMY]

We were at AK today and it was crazy.... I can not believe how many people are down here right now.

We head over to Epcot tonight I am afraid to see whats in store for us

 

[alicia080979]

Just back yesterday. We were there the 18th through the 26th as well. I would say the only crowds we encountered were towards the end of our trip. We did the following:
Fri 9/18: 7p to close @HS. Walked on ToT, 20 min wait for RnRc, watched Fantasmic
Sat 9/19: MK open to close. Never had longer than a 10 min wait except PP and that had 30 min. We got FP and rode it later. Did everything we wanted.
Sun 9/20: HS RD. TSM had a 40 min wait. We got FPs and waited in line. 40 min was really 25. Most everything else had a 10 min or less wait.
Mon 9/21: AK RD. Rode EE w/5 min wait and got FPs for later. Safari had a 40 min wait so we got FPs for after breakfast. Rained hard for about 30-45 mins in middle of the day. Everything else was a 5-10 min wait. We walked on Kali twice in a row and at the end of the day walked on EE 5 times in a row.
Tues 9/22: Downtown Disney...not too crowded at all. MK for MNSSHP...lines for characters were about 20 min, pretty much what I expected but we had a blast! After last parade we did SP twice without getting off and BTMR walk-on.
Wed 9/23: Slept in and went to HS around noon. All Dh & I did were characters and Animation studio. Other family members rode rides and said they didn't wait longer than 10 min (no one did TSM though bc we did twice earlier in the week).
Thurs 9/24: Epcot RD. Soarin 5 min wait, TT 10 min wait, MS 5 min wait. DH & I went to MK that night for a Dole Whip (love them!) and we thought the park was MUCH busier than the beginning of the week although we didn't ride anything.
Fri 9/25: Epcot. All we did was World Showcase. We didn't think the lines were that bad at all for the F&W festival. Did notice some drunk people but nothing too bad.
Sat 9/26: Downtown Disney for breakfast, not crowded. MK from 11-5. We just walked around for our last day, only rode Pirates with a 10 min wait but noticed the lines to be much longer than the beginning of the week. Crowds definitely picked up as the week went on.

We had an incredible trip though and can't wait to go back. I definitely learned a lot for next time but everything was managable. The heat was the worst part about all of it...thought I would die somedays! I am now back in Ohio and got to wear jeans and a hoodie last night when walking the dogs!!!

 

[famsen]

We were at AK today and it was crazy.... I can not believe how many people are down here right now.

We head over to Epcot tonight I am afraid to see whats in store for us

We were going to do AK this morning because of the EMH but because of the way the crowds have been, we decided to sleep in and skip it. We were thinking of going to EPCOT tonight because it is open late but I'm afraid of how crowded it may be. We might just go to spend a couple of hours at DHS now.
We were at DTD. They were pretty crowded too. I actually have never been to DTD Marketplace area where we has to drive around a couple times to find a parking space. This is weird.

 

[jojo0612]

The heat was the worst part about all of it...thought I would die somedays! I am now back in Ohio and got to wear jeans and a hoodie last night when walking the dogs!!!

I hear you!! We left Florida on Saturday with temps in the 90's to be greeted by 60 degress in Pittsburgh (where we flew out of). No wonder the kids are home sick today!!! It sure was alot hotter than what I remember from trips past.

 

[FirstTimeDisneyDad]

We were there from the 18th to the 27th and it was easy touring all the way through. No line-ups...(TSM and Soarin are the normal exceptions). 5 minutes waits on Splash and BTMM on Wednesday PM.

The only exception was MK on Saturday...that was busier then the rest - but right in line with expectations.

What expectations -well, those from Tour Guide Mike. For all of the grief that he gets on these boards, his information is still bang on. We had a perfect week following his suggested parks.

 

[JT1962]

We were at AK today and it was crazy.... I can not believe how many people are down here right now.

We head over to Epcot tonight I am afraid to see whats in store for us

A lot has to do with which park you choose for which days. Based on two websites that give tips for which parks to tour on which days, both had AK rated to stay away today, so I guess they are right on the money.

 

[JESW]

It's funny how everyone can have different experiences. We are here now - just moved from Kidani to VWL. Today (Mon.) we went to DHS. The bus was PACKED, the line to get bags checked was HUGE, but after we got past the hat we wondered where all the people went??? Rides were walk-ons. We checked out TSM and at 1:30 all fp's were gone and the wait time was 60 minutes. We have ridden several times before and will not wait in a line like that - won't do it for Soarin' either.

We are trying to change some of our ADR's but that has been tough as they say everything is booked - but when you get to the resteraunt there are empty seats and they are taking walk-ins. Are people still able to double book places???

We have not hit EPCOT or the MK yet and they will probably be more crowded. We were at AK yesterday and we walked on rides there. Even EE had waits of 5 minutes the first time and about 15 the next.

From all the reports I have been reading, it just depends on where you are and what you consider crowded. Today was warm, but not as humid as yesterday and not as hot as June or August - it was actually pleasant.

Heading off to the duck races soon!

Jill

 

[Hallowishes]

i am here on property right now as well .. to be exact im using a computer in the contemporary right now!!
i am having a blast and the heat is affecting my plans a bit. i have been here since last monday and will be here thru this friday. the lines were rediculous for test track at epcot yesterday (90 minute wait!!! ) i got a migraine and ended up puking (sorry TMI I KNOW! )
It is sposed to cool down a bit on wednesday!

 

[tygerlilly27]

we will be down saturday. hope things get kinda quite for next week.

 

[Conan the Librarian]

We were there from SEpt 20th thru the 25th and other than a rush to get on the train to the Planet Watch, we never had any kind of wait for anything. We did have to FP a few of the bigger attractions, but, if there is a 20 minute wait for Soarin', that's walkon. It's a 20 minute wait with FP there.

We were in the MK on Wednesday and almost everything was 5 minutes wait or 0 wait. Exceptions were Peter Pan....and that's about it.

We didn't even have to wait for a bus longer than 10 minutes (that I can remember).

 

[Feralpeg]

I went to Epcot tonight to see the 5:15 Richard Marx show. Epcot was crowded, but not as bad as it was on Saturday night. Of course, I left early. Things may pick up later. By the way, Richard Marx was terrific!

 

[madge]

I just got an email from a friend at the MK tonight. She said they haven't waited for anything, lines are short!

 

[famsen]

We left for MK as a spur of the moment decision. The buses were not as full and the park was not very bad. The longest wait time I saw was Peter Pan at 40 minutes. We waited about 10 minutes for Thunder Mountain Railroad and walked right in the Haunted Mansion. We also saw the refurbished Hall of Presidents and thought it was great.
We will try AK and DHS tomorrow.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Yes EMH will make the parks more crowded. Pull up the touringplans website, look at the crowd calendar and head to a 'least crowded' park tomorrow. You will probably have much better luck, worked for us on our last trip. We will never do EMH again.