Here Now & Just Back - A Place To Share Your Recent Experiences

[JoJoGirl]

we were on that same southwest flight and same time ME bus to airport. Almost the exact identical situation. I thought people at MCO crowded the boarding area much more than people in CMH. No one did on our early flight out of Columbus.

Same here. It baffles me why people do this, especially after the SW gate agent made an announcement saying it wasn’t necessary. I thought bag claim at CMH was a little hairy with people crowding the conveyor though. My bag came out early so I was able to clear out in a couple of minutes.

Hope you had a great trip!

 

[Melodious]

Wow, we were at EPCOT last Saturday, but it feels like crowds have doubled in size this Saturday. Today is crazy. CMs and security are out in force and they're playing the mask announcement about every five minutes

 

[crazymomof4]

Here now. MK. We visit in Sept more often than any other time and to the estimation of our family of 4 Disney veterans, the "feels like" crowds are right at or worse than a typical September Saturday. I'm not going to guess what the capacity is at now but I've NEVER spent so much time waiting in lines for so much of my park day as I have today!! Any little thing you want to eat is a 20-45 I'm wait. Lines to get into gift shops! This level of attendance with no fast passes and limited food/shows/parades to draw off people makes it *feel* crowded. Also due to social distancing, many lines are outside in the sun so that makes it harder to bear the waiting. My advice to people reading this is if you have a trip or are thinking about a trip soon, don't watch or read anything from mid-July to Labor Day. That IS NOT what WDW is now! I had no choice. By post-Labor Day, our DVC points (rented in Jan) were far from able to be cancelled. I can tell you this for sure.... We won't be back until everything is open, and FP returns.

 

[bb32]

Here now. MK. We visit in Sept more often than any other time and to the estimation of our family of 4 Disney veterans, the "feels like" crowds are right at or worse than a typical September Saturday. I'm not going to guess what the capacity is at now but I've NEVER spent so much time waiting in lines for so much of my park day as I have today!! Any little thing you want to eat is a 20-45 I'm wait. Lines to get into gift shops! This level of attendance with no fast passes and limited food/shows/parades to draw off people makes it *feel* crowded. Also due to social distancing, many lines are outside in the sun so that makes it harder to bear the waiting. My advice to people reading this is if you have a trip or are thinking about a trip soon, don't watch or read anything from mid-July to Labor Day. That IS NOT what WDW is now! I had no choice. By post-Labor Day, our DVC points (rented in Jan) were far from able to be cancelled. I can tell you this for sure.... We won't be back until everything is open, and FP returns.

Recent crowd reports have solidified my decision not to go. Guess the lower crowds aren’t a guarantee anymore. Good news that there are more visitors. Hopefully this triggers Disney to start allowing more capacity and longer hours.

 

[Melodious]

Here now. MK. We visit in Sept more often than any other time and to the estimation of our family of 4 Disney veterans, the "feels like" crowds are right at or worse than a typical September Saturday. I'm not going to guess what the capacity is at now but I've NEVER spent so much time waiting in lines for so much of my park day as I have today!! Any little thing you want to eat is a 20-45 I'm wait. Lines to get into gift shops! This level of attendance with no fast passes and limited food/shows/parades to draw off people makes it *feel* crowded. Also due to social distancing, many lines are outside in the sun so that makes it harder to bear the waiting. My advice to people reading this is if you have a trip or are thinking about a trip soon, don't watch or read anything from mid-July to Labor Day. That IS NOT what WDW is now! I had no choice. By post-Labor Day, our DVC points (rented in Jan) were far from able to be cancelled. I can tell you this for sure.... We won't be back until everything is open, and FP returns.

I wish that I could like this a hundred times. We also rented points eleven months ago thinking this was the slowest time of year

 

[Melodious]

And if you didn't like their drinking t shirts, wait till you see their coordinating masks!

 

[yulilin3]

I wish that I could like this a hundred times. We also rented points eleven months ago thinking this was the slowest time of year

Remember it's not about crowds it's about capacity for attractions, restaurants ands stores
The only real solution is to allow bigger capacity on those

 

[crazymomof4]

I wish that I could like this a hundred times

I feel like I based my decision to keep our reservations and not to try to reschedule our trip on the limited capacity we were witnessing after reopening and through Aug (the time period where I *may* have had a chance to reschedule) and then BAM! Labor Day hit and Disney said, "load em in!" and we got stuck coming still during a Pandemic but with no low crowds for social distancing and no fast passes to reduce time in lines. Kinda feels a little "bait and switch-ish" . I knew severely reduced capacity would be increased eventually but I didn't think they'd open it up to this many locals while FL's numbers are still on the higher end, relatively speaking. There are lots of locals here and their behavior shows they really aren't used to the safety precautions that our family (and I'm sure many others from the NE) has made part of our lifestyle when in public. Waiting for my kids to get off SM and then we are hopping on a monorail to a lounge in one of the resorts! Hoping the rain comes and filters out some peeps before we return for dinner at Skippers.

 

[soniam]

Same here. It baffles me why people do this, especially after the SW gate agent made an announcement saying it wasn’t necessary. I thought bag claim at CMH was a little hairy with people crowding the conveyor though. My bag came out early so I was able to clear out in a couple of minutes.

Hope you had a great trip!

This was always a problem before hand, and it's always been completely unnecessary for every airline. I will tell people, politely, to get out of the way. It's really unsafe now. Idiots! Glad to see that the more things change; the more they stay the same I will be prepared with my patience and pointy elbows and stares for my Thanksgiving trip.

 

[Snowysmom]

Recent crowd reports have solidified my decision not to go. Guess the lower crowds aren’t a guarantee anymore. Good news that there are more visitors. Hopefully this triggers Disney to start allowing more capacity and longer hours.

I hear you. I have a trip planned for November and will be watching the reports from people returning. I may decide to cancel and go some place else closer to home. It seems like Disney is not reacting to the higher crowds and just trying to keep everything at the same level of service. If more people are coming they should be making changes to react to that like longer hours or running rides at full capacity. I appreciate all the people who are posting their experiences. Thank you.

 

[crazymomof4]

Remember it's not about crowds it's about capacity for attractions, restaurants ands stores
The only real solution is to allow bigger capacity on those

Even a simple measure like opening up more food and merch carts would lessen the waits in the CS and gift shop lines. It was time to do that, like, TWO WEEKS AGO. At least for weekends.

 

[yulilin3]

Even a simple measure like opening up more food and merch carts would lessen the waits in the CS and gift shop lines. It was time to do that, like, TWO WEEKS AGO. At least for weekends.

Agreed. I don't think it'll happen at the level needed until Thanksgiving

 

[Melodious]

Remember it's not about crowds it's about capacity for attractions, restaurants ands stores
The only real solution is to allow bigger capacity on those

At EPCOT I'm not sure that's true. The drinking teams are back and they want to be in WS drinking. Seems there are plenty of carts to do that but then everyone stands around, eating and drinking, shoulder to shoulder.

 

[MinnieMSue]

Same here. It baffles me why people do this, especially after the SW gate agent made an announcement saying it wasn’t necessary. I thought bag claim at CMH was a little hairy with people crowding the conveyor though. My bag came out early so I was able to clear out in a couple of minutes.

Hope you had a great trip!

yes we experienced the same. Bag claim at MCO everyone stood back but atCMH people crowded up. I just stayed back until ours came around and quickly grabbed them

 

[becks59]

I’m so not excited about my trip in a week after reading all these reports after the last couple weeks. Long lines, shorter hours, barely any decorations. This is my first time seeing the Halloween decorations and it sounds like it’s not great. Pretty sure my little podunk town in Idaho has better decorations to look at just driving around the neighborhoods. I can’t figure out why Disney did not work with the actors union better to get shows up and running. That right there would be enough to keep wait times short for the rides. And I also can’t figure out why they cut the hours when they knew for a fact how many people were coming due to the reservation system. More people coming so let’s cut the hours! I was so excited before, but now all I can think is I’ll be waiting for at least 30-45min in the heat and humidity in a mask for every single ride. With little kids and a baby we will be lucky to ride 3 rides a day before everyone loses it.

 

[yulilin3]

At EPCOT I'm not sure that's true. The drinking teams are back and they want to be in WS drinking. Seems there are plenty of carts to do that but then everyone stands around, eating and drinking, shoulder to shoulder.

Epcot world showcase is shoulder to shoulder? This doesn't happen at all, only during nye.
There's space to spread out, guests are choosing not to do so

 

[brockash]

Remember it's not about crowds it's about capacity for attractions, restaurants ands stores
The only real solution is to allow bigger capacity on those

Ehhh...also opening the shows and things that are still closed and going back to more normal park hrs would also certainly help spread the crowds...there are also a few rides where they're only running 1 side (thunder and space mountain for example.)

 

[Shellbells]

These recent trip reports are discouraging. We have a trip booked for early November. If Disney doesn't make some adjustments in the next few weeks we'll cancel

 

[brockash]

Epcot world showcase is shoulder to shoulder? This doesn't happen at all, only during nye.
There's space to spread out, guests are choosing not to do so

Like I reported last week...World showcase was very busy for us and unless we were going to just go hide in a corner; no there was no way to socially distance while walking around world showcase. I think there's a big difference between NYE shoulder to shoulder and still much too crowded to socially distance and it seems reports keep coming back that on the weekends at least it's pretty busy.

 

[yulilin3]

Like I reported last week...World showcase was very busy for us and unless we were going to just go hide in a corner; no there was no way to socially distance while walking around world showcase. I think there's a big difference between NYE shoulder to shoulder and still much too crowded to socially distance and it seems reports keep coming back that on the weekends at least it's pretty busy.

I just don't feel like there's no way to social distance, sure you have to walk past groups at times but there is space, anyone expecting Disney to stay empty is kissing themselves. I still feel safe walking away and finding places to keep 6ft apart