Here now...Heavy Crowds!

[Astylla]

Crowds can also be one's pewrspective to another. As DL annual passholders we hear the chatter often of how "busy" it is on days where we consider it slow.

There are almost always areas regardless of crowd level where it will seem busy and difficult to walk at times. I agree though just like at DL there is no "off season" anymore and when people expect such via previous years , touring sites , etc they are often disappointed. I don't believe using any touring sites , I look at them for a basic idea but in no way shape or form do I rely on them. The best thing I always say to people who feel crowds are too high is to just be flexible in your plans , maybe seek out the lesser known attractions/restaurants/snack areas. The only time I am truly miserable is wall to wall people.

 

[jmkjr72]

All week long I haven't thought the crowds were not heavy today at dhs walk on everything except tsm.
Tused at at AK everything was walk on same think with mk Monday Epcot sunday. We have had fast passes all week long and the only one we needed was tsm

 

[bjmort]

I just go back from a trip lasting from the 27th to the 5th. I would say that the 27th till the 30th were pretty quiet. I went to universal in the 30th and Gringotts didn't get over 30 minutes.

The 28th at MK was pretty dead due to rain so that was good as we got a lot of stuff done.

Over the weekend there was a cheerleading/dance competition on at the Epcot convention centre and I fee like that was filling the parks with a lot of extra teenagers.

Overall I'd say the crowds were fine for me. My wife however doesn't like to wait more than 30 minutes lol. We just rode all of the rides from rope drop till lunch and then spent the rest of the day doing shows and meet and greets and out fastpasses.

We had an awesome time!

 

[Aurora0427]

We were at MK today from rope drop to just before 5. I'm used to crowds from early Dec or early Jan. Crowds were a bit more. Mine Train, Big Thunder, and Peter Pan had long waits of 45-60 min.

But people and cast members were friendly.

A 60 minute wait after 11am is pretty typical for Peter Pan and a 60 minute wait for Mine Train is relatively low given that we saw waits in excess of two hours back in early December. But I do think that overall it's just more crowded in general.

 

[Tenstew]

OP here. I guess I should have been more specific. I have been coming the last week of April, first week of May for the past five years. This year has been the most crowds I have ever seen at this time of the year. We also brought our 3 small grandchildren and are pushing strollers for the first time.

As another poster said the lines are not unmanageable, but the walking crowds are huge compared to what I am used to this time of the year. We went to AK today (one of the recommended parks per easywdw) and it was so crowded we left. FNtheM was at capacity for 12 o'clock show. so was Tough to be a Bug.

I think social media and the fact that more and more people are starting to read and research that it seems that you can't trust the recommended parks. MK is the worst park for today, however my kids left AK because it was so crowded and went to MK and have been having a blast almost walking on SpMtn and Splash and BTMRR. We did see alot of school field trips to AK today as well.

I wasn't complaining just stating what I saw. We haven't let it damper our trip. Like someone else said, we just stop for ice cream as needed.

 

[greeneave]

OP here. I guess I should have been more specific. I have been coming the last week of April, first week of May for the past five years. This year has been the most crowds I have ever seen at this time of the year. We also brought our 3 small grandchildren and are pushing strollers for the first time.

we were at magic kingdom yesterday and didn't even bother using our fast passes, since we got on everything we wanted standby with a max wait time of 15 minutes.

i'm sure your changed perspecitve is due to the above bolded.

to me, hell would involve the above bolded. it's one of my top two reasons for not being pressed to return to disney world- too many people pushing too many babies (and also some surprisingly large children, now that i think of it) in way too many strollers.

 

[IrishNYC]

Children in strollers at Disney? Who would've imagined?!