How are the crowds? Has free dining significantly increased them?

[Biscuitsmom31]

Well, it was our first trip so I don't really have a frame of reference for the crowds but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. We were there from Aug 20-27 and we had virtually no wait for anything. The only times we waited were when a show had just started and we had to wait for the next one. We were at world showcase on Wednesday and attendance at the films was sparse at best. We were at Magic Kingdom Tuesday and Thursday and while there seemed to be a lot of people walking around the park, there were minimal waits on all the rides. We walked on to jungle cruise at 2:00 and Aladdin's carpets right after. We avoided the EMH parks but did have dinner and watch Illuminations at Epcot on Thursday night. Amazingly we got a beautiful location to watch Illuminations only 20 minutes before the show right in the middle of a bridge. It wasn't crowded at all. We got to Epcot around noon on Friday and rode almost everything in future world with no wait. We got fastpasses for Soarin and Test Track. The posted wait for Soarin was 50 minutes but we could see from the fast pass line that it couldn't have been more than a 20 minute wait. The posted wait at Test Track was 20 min. Mission Space was a walk on.

 

[JESW]

We just got back today (28th) after being there since the 19th. Our first august trip and we didn't think it was so bad - in fact, we will probably go again next august.

Crowds were heavier than our usual november trips, but we managaed to do quite a few things. We got to EPCOT saturday at opening and walked on Soarin' and then did Test Track 3x in a row - all three times we walked right into the queu area. And then on to Universe of Energy. We were at EPCOT for the extra magic hours and it was a MADHOUSE so we left.

Our last few days were at the Boardwalk Inn concierge level and it didn't seem busy at all - we didn't have any neighbors!

Have a great trip!!

Jill

 

[AladdinsPrincess]

We were there for the day yesterday and it was not crowded at all. Probably a lot of locals stayed away because of the forecast for rain, but I still think late August and September are generally less crowded because everyone is back to school or going back to school. We went to MK yesterday and walked on everything but Splash Mountain, which still only had a 30 minute wait (typically in the summer it's at least 90 - 120 minutes).
Hope you have a great trip!

 

[DisneyMom5]

We're just back from Pop Cent. 21-27 also, and the waits, especially if you used fastpasses and getting there first thing in the morning, were 10 min. at most. We saw posted wait times of 40-50 minutes a couple of times, and soarin was 120 min. in the pm, but other wise we walked on many things first thing in the morning. We hit 11 things before 11 am on MK am EMH. That included space mtn. (once) and Buzz lightyear (3 times). It was great. Got very crowded that pm, so we switched to Epcot.
I was in Everything Pop the morning of the 27th also, and it was NUTS after 9 am. If you go early its fine. Same goes for supper time. If you are there after 9 pm, when everyone gets back from the parks, its terrible. We came back early every night, and the dining room was quite empty.
We didn't do any counter service in the parks. had ADRs for table service, and no real waits there. Sometimes the restaurants were quite empty. Crystal palace at lunch time on the 26th was awful though. Very long lines for the buffet.
I think this week was the last hurrah of the summer group combined with first week of free dining. Should be better when school is in full force.
Honestly, there were more foreigners than locals. I felt like I was visiting a foreign country (kind of neat!) Lots of very nice visitors from the UK.

 

[eatntae]

Whoa! I can't believe we were there the same week! We stayed at Sports and had very little wait for anything there - busses or food court. Check-in took 10 minutes. We got an early start each day and practically walked on everything we wanted, longest wait time was a listed 10 minutes at Jungle Cruise. It takes that long to walk from the ropes to the boat. We only used FastPass three times - Stitch, Soarin and Test track and even then the stand-by times were only 30 to 40 minutes. We got the Soarin FastPass at 3:30 in the afternoon with a return time of 5PM!!! We avoided EMH using the dis strategy of going to the evening EMH the next morning. We ate lunch between 11 and 11:30 and had no lines. We we seated for our PS within 10 minutes of check-in. I have never had such a relaxing trip! HOT but relaxing!

We had almost the same experience as zak'smom. Same week, same resort. Stand-by times were pretty short, and we only used a few fast passes our whole trip. As a matter of fact, we actually have a handful of fast passes back home with us, because we didn't need them. Tower of Terror, Star Tours, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, etc. We only needed FP at Epcot, and 1 for Lights, Motor, Action. We showed up late to a couple of our ADRs (one due to weather, another due to us waiting for the Disney Stars and Motor Cars parade to end... shame on us ) but were still seated promptly. Longest wait at a restaurant was for 'Ohana.

 

[lentesta]

I think the MK park hours are a decent approximation for how crowded Disney thinks the parks are going to be. Last year, IIRC, the MK closed around 7 pm for much of September. This year, it's 9 pm. That should be an indication Disney's expecting something more than normal. Just a hunch.

Still, the weather should be good, and you're still in WDW, so how bad can it possibly be?? You'll have a great time.

Sincerely,

Len

 

[enchantedny]

We just returned from an August 21-26 trip to POFQ. I thought the parks were pretty empty. We did avoid EMH except our first night when we had dinner at MK (which was empty) and then hopped to MGM. We were only at MGM for an hour but we rode Rock n Roller Coaster twice and I waited on a big line to buy the picture. I was with a friend who usually travels in October to WDW and she said it was less crowded when she usually goes. The resort was very quiet and peaceful.

However.....every time we went to our ADRs we had to wait at least 15 minutes. Walk ups were being turned away and told there were no openings til at least the weekend. Many people we met weren't aware of the dining plan let alone aware there was a "free" promotion. We made the mistake of trying to get counter service at Columbia Harbor House one night and had to wait prob 20 minutes just to order our food.

All in all I was very happily surprised at how little we waited and how much we were able to do in a "short" trip to the world.

 

[llb]

Just a quick question about crowds. Has there been a huge difference in the crowds over the same time in other years. We are scheduled for Sept 17th-25th, and we picked this time BECAUSE of the light crowds. If anyone with prior years experience at this time is there now or has just returned, I would really appreciate your input. Would be there on DDP also except for the DILs free timeshare. Thanks in advance.

We were there from 8/21 to8/27. We went on every ride in all parks (including water parks) and never waited. We just walked on. We did have dinner ressies and I did hear people complain that they had a hard time getting a place to eat without reservations. I have never been able to just walk on to every ride.

 

[i like stitch]

We were there from 8/21 to8/27. We went on every ride in all parks (including water parks) and never waited. We just walked on. We did have dinner ressies and I did hear people complain that they had a hard time getting a place to eat without reservations. I have never been able to just walk on to every ride.

What day of the week did you do each park? I can use all the help I can get in making my final decisions for touring next month!

 

[llb]

What day of the week did you do each park? I can use all the help I can get in making my final decisions for touring next month!

I used the touring guide for best and worst day at the park, visit touringplans.com. I think part of it was the time of year, there are less people there. Good luck

 

[BensMom]

Was at MK on Sat., then EPCOT on Sun. Amazingly uncrowded, both days. Phew! Very little need for PS or fastpasses.

 

[deacondarlin]

DH and I will be there 9/16-24...we just plan on taking it slow and actually ENJOYING the trip, rather than rushing to get everything done. If the lines are long, so be it. We've got hand-held Yatzee and Texas Hold Em' to occupy us.

 

[goofie4goofy]

We are also going Sept 18-23. This is one of our favorite times of the year to go...after Labor day, school has started and before MNNSHP. There really isn't anything else going on except for free dining. I was told by the GF planning staff that it is really slow during this time. I think the only thing that would be affected (IMHO) is the TS restaurants, I think they will be more crowded than normal this time of year because people that would normally not dine out at TS will be using the free dining offer.

Other than that I think the threat of hurricanes and school just starting and having it be in between seasons the crowds are kept at a minimum. I mean if your going to take your kids out of school for WDW, why not wait for the halloween party or if you're an adult why not wait for the food and wine festival...those events are just around the corner. So that also adds to the low attendance.

 

[grimley1968]

Schools back in session = lighter crowds. It really doesn't matter that much if free dining is offered. Most people aren't going to take their kids out of school for a week to go to WDW, even if they can save a small amount of money with free dining (remember, free dining people like myself had to pay rack rates for the rooms to get this). I wouldn't worry much about crowds from the 2nd week of September all the way up until around Thanksgiving.

 

[goofie4goofy]

Schools back in session = lighter crowds. It really doesn't matter that much if free dining is offered. Most people aren't going to take their kids out of school for a week to go to WDW, even if they can save a small amount of money with free dining (remember, free dining people like myself had to pay rack rates for the rooms to get this). I wouldn't worry much about crowds from the 2nd week of September all the way up until around Thanksgiving.

Oh Yeah....I forgot about having to pay rack rate to get "free dining". I did not get the plan for my upcoming trip becasue it does not make sense for us. Just curious paying rack rate vs. discount and buying plan what is the savings?? Sometimes aren't you better off getting the best deal on your hotel rate and no dining plan and just paying for your food???

 

[crazymomof4]

I would expect last week and this week to be heavy. After Labor Day when the other schools start, even with free dining, I would think it would not be as crowded. Perhaps by the end of Sept. and October due to the Halloween celebration it will have more people than the 1st 2 weeks of Sept.

We found this to be the case in '03. We were there for the last 2 weeks of Sept. and found that the crowds increased noticably as the first MNSSHP approached. That is why we scheduled this '05 trip for 9/14-9/23.

 

[Skylarr29]

Oh Yeah....I forgot about having to pay rack rate to get "free dining". I did not get the plan for my upcoming trip becasue it does not make sense for us. Just curious paying rack rate vs. discount and buying plan what is the savings?? Sometimes aren't you better off getting the best deal on your hotel rate and no dining plan and just paying for your food???

We opted for the best deal on our hotel the Wilderness Lodge. It would have cost us almost $800.00 in savings with our ap code to get "free dining" not so free if you look at it that way. But if there are no codes available and you would have paid rack rates anyways, or if you normally stayed in a deluxe with a code but stayed in the all stars with out a code, then it could be a great deal. For us though it was not worth it.

 

[Danthesand]

We were there the week of 8/13-8/18, after southern schools started and before free dining and it was relatively slow, the slowest we have ever seen it. The BWI was at 40% occupancy, but a cm said things would be picking up significantly within a week, so I have to assume that free dining has had some effect on the scheduling of vacations and I would expect it to be busier than usual, especially in the onsite resorts.

Goodferry, we were right next door at at the BWV about the same time as you. Checked in on Tuesday 8/16 and stayed through 8/23. Through the end of the first week, I would describe the park crowds as moderate to moderately high (it varied a lot by park, MK and Epcot were much busier than MGM or AK). I don't know how full the Boardwalk villas were, but the pool seemed relatively busy.

We arrived at all parks at opening, and other then the MK, we were probably entering with only 400-500 people. Using TGM touring guides amd making heavy use of fastpass, we didn't wait for anything in any park.

I expected things to pick up as we got closer to 8/21 (the start of the free dining promotion), and they did - somewhat. We did the MK on Saturday evening 8/20 (primarily to see Spectro), and it was busy but not nearly as bad as a typical MK Saturday night. Had dinner at the Liberty Tree that night, and thank heaven I had an AR made 90 days out - the place was jammed (we were seated within a minute of checking in, but I heard walk ups complaining they'd been waiting over an hour for a table). That may have had something to do with the fact it was pouring rain during the dinner hours.

Epcot WS on Sunday 8/21 wasn't that bad (no mobs or waits for anything) and interestingly, despite all the free dining hype here NONE of the WS restaurants were busy at lunchtime.

Monday 8/22 we did AK in the morning and MGM that night after a mid-day break; neither was busy (we walked onto the raft ride at AK threes time in a row in mid morning). Did the Fantasmic dinner package at Hollywood and Vine that night, and at 4:30 the restaurant was busy but not unreasonable. With our ressie, were seated within 10 minutes of arrival. The Fantasmic stadium was completely full that evening.

Checked out of BWV on Tuesday 8/23 and moved onto the Hard Rock at Universal for the rest of the week. Universal parks seemed relatively busy, but with the FOTL benefit, we again never waited for anything.

 

[ssdeverell]

Oh Yeah....I forgot about having to pay rack rate to get "free dining". I did not get the plan for my upcoming trip becasue it does not make sense for us. Just curious paying rack rate vs. discount and buying plan what is the savings?? Sometimes aren't you better off getting the best deal on your hotel rate and no dining plan and just paying for your food???

In our case, there was no public discount like we used in March for a room only ressie, so we would have paid rack rate anyway. So, the free dining plan is a savings for us. We are staying at Pop, and the rates there for value season are really not bad.

 

[deltachi8]

We just returned Monday from a 5 night stay. I have to say, the parks were the least crowded we have experienced for our lat August visits. The longest wait we had for anything was 25 minutes for Soarin on Sunday at about 1 PM (the posted time was 50 minutes).

On Thursday, 8/25, we walked onto rides at the Magic Kingdom almost all day long.