How are the crowds this week at the parks?

[dunkin44]

We make our first visit next week and I've seen a number of posts that crowds have been low, is that still true? Sure hope taking the kids out of school pays off with short lines & lots of fun!

DK

 

[WDW4us2006]

We came home Sunday night, and the crowds were non-existent. Many of the fast pass machines were not even open. We rode Splash Mountain three times in a row, BTMMR three times in a row,and even EE in the late morning had a 5 minute stand-by wait. Only 4-5 people in line to meet the characters, sometimes none. Plenty of room at most restaurants. We were always seated early.

And great weather to boot!

You are so lucky to be going now. I will ALWAYS go this time of year from now on!

 

[Ellielovesdisney]

Hi - we just got back today...We thought the crowds were quite low, we didn't ride any E-ticket rides, but thought everything we did do was quite manageable. The love bugs drove me crazy though!!! (although my husband did not mind them) I hope you have a great trip!!

Holly

 

[Laurajean1014]

Ahhh, is it Love Bug season?

 

[makinorlando]

Ahhh, is it Love Bug season?

Sure is. They are EVERYWHERE!

 

[sleepingbeautymama]

We are also going next week. We arrive Monday and I can't wait! I keep worrying though that everyone is going to show up that week and it will be busy. I've had two different CMs tell me they also wonder what's going on that week because all the restaurants are booked. I know it's free dining but I didn't expect it to be this hard to get an ADR. I'd like to hope that it's just because of free dining but in general the crowds are low. Can anyone tell me what dining has been like with the low crowds?

 

[EEYOREMAMA]

We leave tomorrow. I hope the crowds are still low.

There is a love bug thread http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1229663. I can't help it, they don't bother me anywhere near as much as the crowds.

 

[momandseandodisney]

Sure is. They are EVERYWHERE!

What exactly is a love bug?

 

[Poohbear123]

Friends of mine came back Last Thursday, and they rode EVERYTHING Multiple times, and had a blast....they actually KNOW how to have a good time at WDW, and stay ON property at POP, and took the busses.

 

[RitaZ.]

I've had two different CMs tell me they also wonder what's going on that week because all the restaurants are booked. I know it's free dining but I didn't expect it to be this hard to get an ADR.

Maybe it's due to the new promotion that begins Oct 1? Last week, we tried to make reservations for a MK resort for next week. There was absolutely nothing available; I couldn't believe it. I wasn't expecting that at all! I wasn't interested in staying at any of the other resorts, so we're staying off site. We'll see what the crowds are like.

 

[Dan Murphy]

....Last week, we tried to make reservations for a MK resort for next week. There was absolutely nothing available; I couldn't believe it. ...

Did they know it was you, Rita??

 

[wtpntigger2]

I am here right now and the crowds are very low. We walked on to everything, but did fastpass Peter Pan. We rode BTMRR twice in a row and would've kept going on it, but we were hot and wanted to go back to the hotel to swim.

We have ADRs for all our meals, so I don't know what TS dining is like for walk-ups.

I am loving being here at this time of year. Too bad it will probably be my last since I am now teaching and I had this trip planned before I was hired.

 

[NemoMOm]

I have had the same conversations with CMs. We leave in 2 days and wanted to change ADRs but everything is booked. We even tried to upgrade hotel and AKL and WL were booked as well. The CMs said it was very busy due to free dining but that had been going on since Aug. I hope it is still dead when we get there.

 

[RitaZ.]

Did they know it was you, Rita??

Dan, we waited too long to make our reservations.

 

[katebeth]

It sounds like the resorts are full....probably because of free dining...but the crowds at the parks sound like they are very managable

We leave in 9 days...hope it stays that way!!!!

 

[Neelloc]

We just got back last night from our time there. We were there Sat 9/16-Wed 9/20.

We didn't see any wait time over 20 minutes for any of the headliners with the exception of Dumbo, which always seemed to be an hour during the day. We waited only 10 minutes when we rode it at night.

Most FastPass machines were open. We had a FP for EE, and from the time we walked in the ride entrance to walking out of the gift shop at the end was 10 minutes, including ride time.

The popular restaraunts were booked solid, or only had seatings after 9:30pm. Saturday's Chef Mickey was booked solid, so was Sunday's 50's Prime Time Cafe, and Tuesday's 1900 Park Fare. We were able to walk into San Angel Inn on Monday at 4:30pm and get seated at a table on the river immediately.

We followed the Unnofficial Guide's least busy park plans when making our touring plans and avoided Extra Magic Hours.

I was very pleased at the crowd levels.

The longest we waited for anything was the Princess character greeting in Mickey's Toontown Fair. We waited 30 minutes because it seemed VIP guests were ushered in before us, so while the other character lines zipped by, ours crawled.