Here now - MK is packed

[erin1715]

Today is our last day and MK is packed. It's a recommended day here. If this is a low crowded week I can't even imagine what summer is going to look like.

And yes I know all the jokes about how it "feels crowded" and another person could come on here and completely have the opposite experience but 60 minutes for pirates and 35 for haunted mansion is ridiculous when those rides were always 20 minutes or less. I have to believe its a result of fp+.

 

[UpstateMick]

Hearing this is really surprising, being that I was just there for Presidents week and we didn't feel it was crazy crowded until the ladies showed up for princess marathon. we were in MK on Presidents Day and it wasn't as bad as you are saying, but we are rope droppers

 

[kidd_freeper]

Going in July. Yikes.

At what time of day did you see those wait times?

 

[meggiebeth]

We found the same in November. Meant to be really quiet but it was ridiculously busy. The Christmas Party was particularly disappointing- it was way out of peak season and yet we were shoulder to shoulder with other grumpy park guests. I think everyone must have been disappointed!

Meg~ Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[frozengurl]

Looks like the wait for SM is120 min right now.... Yikes! I'm a bit nervous for our trip the weekend before Easter

 

[JimmyV]

Where are the FP+ lines? Are they still outside of the attractions themselves?

 

[Julylady]

We are also at Magic Kingdom today and totally agree! Massive crowds. Much more crowded than this same week other years . Fast pass line at Buzz was 20 minutes to get to the first fast pass plus check point at 2:30pm.

 

[erin1715]

We're currently waiting for hall of presidents to start. We are rope droppers and just got back to the park from our afternoon break. It's a small world is 35 min wait and they have the ropes up outside of the building for the snaking line. It's crazy

 

[frozengurl]

TP has MK at a 4 today.... Sounds like it's more crowded than a 4

 

[meggiebeth]

Looks like the wait for SM is120 min right now.... Yikes! I'm a bit nervous for our trip the weekend before Easter

That is scary. Is there some event going on that could justify the crowds? This is meant to be quiet season too!

Meg~ Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[slickpoetry]

Here in the Chicagoland area, all schools are closed this coming Monday for Casimir Pulaski Day. I know that holiday's not celebrated everywhere, but here its a 3-day weekend. Which easily turns into a 4-day weekend if you play hooky on Friday.

Maybe people came down to Disney for that reason.

 

[Jimbeaux28]

That is scary. Is there some event going on that could justify the crowds? This is meant to be quiet season too!

Meg~ Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Every person from south Louisiana is running away from the madness called Mardi Gras!

Expect to see a lot of LSU gear!

Geaux Tigers!

 

[catne]

I think the crowd-calendar folks are having a great difficulty assessing recent crowds (like the last 6 months or so) So much of their formula seems to be based on historical info for similar times over the last few years. But the economy is recovering well for many people...and many more are going on vacations. I suspect the last 5 yrs worth of data is going to be next to worthless in a booming vacation economy...

For what it's worth, we have been to WDW 5 times October 2013-February 2014 and we have found both crowd calendars to often be incorrect...both ways: either too high on the crowds sized estimate (which was very nice for us...expected a "5", got a "1") but also way too low in a couple of situations (not so nice-expected a "2", got a "6". ) I'm talking about the popular free site, easywdw and also the paid-subscription site, touringplans.

Before last Fall, we found both sites to usually agree with each other on our vacations, and both were very accurate - crowd might be slightly bigger or smaller, but never off substantially like we're seeing now.

Regardless of actual crowd-size, FP+ most definitely affects the length of stand-by lines, sometimes dramatically at the rides that rarely used to have a line. We've seen 30-40 minute stand-by at Pirates, at Haunted Mansion, etc...it was because where they used to send people down "either side" and load the whole crowd from both sides, now the one side is reserved for FP+ and they never send anyone else down that side, no matter how backed up the stand-by line gets. They may only have 5 people in the FP+ side, and 200 in the other side...they never switch any riders over to the other side.

 

[TwizzleMouse]

We learned our lesson back in 2009, that you never go the week that revolves around Mardi Gras bc all the locals come to WDW to get away from it.
I swore that week if I saw one more LSU tshirt I was going to scream!

But that's what it is lol!

 

[lugnut33]

We went to Epson today and it didn't feel too bad, but we didn't go to ride attractions. We went to wander World Showcase. We were going to go to MY but am considering going elsewhere after seeing this thread.

 

[Sammie]

Summer is not necessarily the most crowded times. We went during Mardi Gras a couple of years ago and found it be very crowded in the Magic Kingdom and this was before Fastpass+.

I just think there are more school holidays than people realize and more and more people are traveling.

 

[CanadianPaco]

We'll be at MK next Friday. Oh boy!

 

[Love Tink]

Everybody talks about Jersey Week but I think the real sleeper week to watch out for is the weekend before Mardi Gras. Every year I notice that there are a lot of reports of big crowds around Mardi Gras.

The round of spring breaks for colleges starts this weekend, too. I know the University of Florida started theirs this afternoon.

 

[erin1715]

Our experience with fp+ this week has been excellent as far as not having to wait. But in MK we definitely could have used more than 3. We have also loved the magic bands.

I think the PP was right that the ppl doing crowd calendars are having a hard time.

 

[Disneyaunt4]

I know some of the Northern States are on vacation this week.