My fiancee and I just returned from a 3-day trip to Orlando over the MLK weekend. We had an AWESOME time and the crowds did not seem all that bad to us. Of course, we had a strategy to the weekend that worked tremendously to our advantage. Friday night we actually stayed at Portofino Bay and went to Universal/IOA on Saturday - the stay at Portofino included the unlimited express pass entrance so no worries of lines at those parks. Saturday night we had dinner reservations at Ohana's, so went over to the Polynesian. We waited about 10 minutes for our table and it seemed fairly busy (the waiting area was a madhouse). However, our server said that was actually a slow night! After dinner, we checked in for our 2 night stay at the Wilderness Lodge.
Sunday morning we took the boat from the WL over to the MK, and got there right at 9 AM. We always follow the same strategy - walk (fast) to Fantasyland and knock out Peter Pan and WTP. I ran to Space Mountain to get 2 FP tickets while my fiancee rode Snow White. When I returned, she was exiting the ride and we proceeded to Haunted Mansion and Pirates. I had read that the Splash Mtn. refurb was to extend through Sunday, but I saw boats cycling so went over to check it out. There was a line of about 10 people formed and the ride op said that it would open soon (this was around 10:30 AM). 5 minutes later it did open and we walked right on. I would say the lines were very reasonable until around 1 PM, and then we headed over to EPCOT.
EPCOT was busy, and Test Track did have a 90 min wait time and Soarin reached as high as 120 mins with our time over there. Other attractions had reasonable/short waits. It didn't seem particularly crowded walking around World Showcase in the evening. When EPCOT closed, we headed back over to MK. It was busy over there, but the EMH (11 PM to 2 AM) were incredible!!! The last 2 hours of the EMH it was like you had the park to yourself. I figured it would be packed with the MLK holiday being the next day but the place really emptied out. It appeared that Peter Pan had a steady line until about 12:30 - 1:00 AM, but everything else you could pretty much walk right on. We had our own boat on Pirates of the Caribbean, and 2 other people in the stretching room with us at the Haunted Mansion. By 1:00 AM the place was a ghost town!! We walked through Fantasyland and saw just a few other people - Peter Pan, Snow White, etc. were running completely empty and just waiting for riders. It was a magical evening, but I am still recooperating after being in the parks from 9 AM to 2:15 AM (we closed down Haunted Mansion at 2 AM) and then going to bed at the WL around 3:00 AM.
Monday morning we got up for the Dolphins in Depth program at EPCOT at 7:30 AM. This was a fantastic program, and we really enjoyed it. We did not go into any parks this day, so can't comment on the actual MLK day crowds. We headed over to Poly for lunch at Kona Cafe, and then to Downtown Disney for a few hours in the afternoon. Our flight back to Philly was delayed an hour due to weather problems in Philly, and we got home around 11:30 PM last night. I need toothpicks to prop my eyes open, but it was WELL worth it!!
We will definitely return to Disney over MLK weekend. You can do very well with a wise strategy!!!
