How are the crowds?

[GoofyforDisney3]

We were at Epcot Thursday and I was so worried when we got there about 10:30/11:00 because I don't think I have ever seen the line for Space Ship Earth as long as it was then. But it really wasn't that bad for us. We did not even attempt Soarin' or anything like that, but we were able to do what WE wanted to do with little wait.

Yesterday we started at DHS and it was crowded. Got a fastpass for TSM about 9:30 and the return time was 1-2. All passes were gone when we got there at 1.

We then hopped to MK about 2 and while it was busy it was okay. Walk right up to get food at Cosmic Rays, got a fastpass for Buzz Lightyear and it had a return time of 4:50-5:50. Actually had to kill time before we could use it. We did CP, Laugh Floor, TTA, looked around the shops, took potty breaks and still had to wait about 15 minutes.

PC was closed for some reason when we got there about 7.

 

[g-dad66]

And if you eat CS at off peak times, you'll be fine!

We skip breakfast and eat lunch at 10:30-10:45 am. No waiting!

K

Ditto.

 

[utvol13]

Just got back home today. Had a great time, but crowds were horrible!! Get there at opening, pick favorite ride get fastpass then ride it. get another fastpass when able to and use the fastpasses later in the day. I will never go back over spring break. You can do a lot but, it is a lot of work.

 

[Luv4Dis]

O man....my husband is going to freak when I tell him this! We will be visiting the week before Easter. I guess we will plan to get to the parks at opening, grab fastpass, and go from there. I guess the good thing is....we will be doing things at a new pace with our 13 month old son. I visited a couple of years ago on July 4th and I thought it was crazy....is that time simliar to Easter?

 

[kytiam]

I just got back from a week in the World today. I had a wonderful time, but it was the most crowded I have ever experienced (10 trips in the past 4 years). Granted, I have never gone at Easter, July 4, or Christmas week, but holy cow!!!

 

[figmentgirl]

We just got back yesterday. We got to Florida on Sunday March 7. That whole week was really good and not too busy at all. We also went on a day it was raining off and on in the morning but by afternoon it was a downpour. Minimal wait on everything. Than we went on Sunday March 14...it was INSANE!!! Animal Kingdom in the morning wasn't bad but when we got to Epcot at 1:00 it was absolutely crazy. We also went to Hollywood Studios on Tuesday March 16 and you could barely move in there. Even the Great Movie Ride was a 45 minute wait. It was cool because we got to see the Western side with the bank robbery. We still had an awesome vacation. Can't wait to go back in September!!!

We were also at DHS that day and were pleased to see teh western scene. Maybe we were on the same ride

To all of you about to go, DON'T PANIC! I had one of the best vacations ever and you will too. Just go to rope drop and use a touring plan and the fast pass systems and you will be fine. We never waited longer than 25 minutes for anything.... except the ladies restroom

 

[lemondog]

We also had a great time, despite the crowds. Just remember to get FP for the biggies first thing and you will be fine. And make sure you are there for rope drop.
Honestly, we did this every day and did not wait longer than 10-15 minutes for any ride.

 

[tscrapper]

Are the water parks crowded too? It looks like it is warming up

 

[KBoopaloo]

The CS lines were crazy! I waited about 20 minutes for a milkshake at Ghiradelli on Tuesday night and 40 minutes for a cheeseburger at Pecos Bills on Thursday!

I did use the "Lines" app for my BB and that helped me plan out my day. I would highly recommend using it - it saved us a ton of aggravation.

 

[2minny]

We just returned and it was much more crowded than I (or tourguide mike) had anticipated. We were able to get everything done that we wanted to get done, some days were busier than others. Epcot (Monday, March 15th) was the most stessful day, it was so so crowded, even the countries were hard to get around. We got fast passes to the important rides early and were able to ride test track, soarin and anything else we wanted....early in the day. We made all rope drops (we were shocked at the number of people at rope drop each morning). It was absolutely do-able and enjoyable, but there were areas that you wanted to get in-and-out-of-quickly, namely btmrr area at mk and tsm at Hollywood studios and soarin at Epcot. Those areas were unbearable. Overall, have a plan and get fast passes to important rides, arrive at rope drop and you should be fine. We didn't miss a thing that we wanted to do, it was more crowded than we expected, but we had a great week!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

O man....my husband is going to freak when I tell him this! We will be visiting the week before Easter. I guess we will plan to get to the parks at opening, grab fastpass, and go from there. I guess the good thing is....we will be doing things at a new pace with our 13 month old son. I visited a couple of years ago on July 4th and I thought it was crazy....is that time simliar to Easter?

We were there April 2009, the week before Easter. It was crazy crowded (9's and 10's on the crowd calendar) and we had a blast.

I dragged the family out of bed so we'd get to the parks close to rope drop, ate breakfast in the room, ate lunch mostly CS at 11am (Columbia Harbour House at MK was empty then!), gathered FP's every chance we could, took afternoon breaks and really had a good time.

 

[steelebug]

So people that have never been and did not plan or have a clue may have a horrible time?

 

[2minny]

I'm telling you- it's those crazy canucks!! I was chatting with a cm last night and he said that every other person seemed to be from Canada. He also said that AK was close to being shut down on Tuesday b/c it was so crowded. The crowd levels were 55,000 at 65,000 they begin to close the park.

funny you should say that, our hotel parking lot, every other license plate was Ontario, we kept wondering why so many were from canada! we were at AK on Tuesday, it was crowded, but I didn't notice it being close to capacity. We rode EE three times, dinosour twice, safari once, used fast passes and/or stand by and never waited more than 15 minutes. Very short line for lunch at barbeque place, tons of empty tables. We did arrive at rope drop and left by 4pm.

 

[2minny]

We were there April 2009, the week before Easter. It was crazy crowded (9's and 10's on the crowd calendar) and we had a blast.

I dragged the family out of bed so we'd get to the parks close to rope drop, ate breakfast in the room, ate lunch mostly CS at 11am (Columbia Harbour House at MK was empty then!), gathered FP's every chance we could, took afternoon breaks and really had a good time.

that's what we did, breakfast in room, hit rope drop, early lunch (Columbia harbor house, nice and relaxing on 2nd floor), Flame tree barbeque no lines and tons of empty shaded tables if you eat before noon. Grab more fast passes every two hours and ride as many rides in stand-by before lunch as possible. Plan to relax from noon-3 and then use fast passes in afternoon. It's do-able, just need to plan for crowds! i feel so sorry for those that don't know to plan!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Took over an hour to get a milk shake at Ghiradelli chocolate yesterday evening.

Why would you wait that long? After about 15 minutes, I would say "you know, this shake just isn't worth the time" and head off.

 

[g-dad66]

We are getting there tomorrow and just wondered what the crowds are like. Have all the spring breakers arrived?

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2274829

I think this poll is a good indication that this coming week will not be nearly as crazy as the week just ended -- and maybe even the weeks before and after Easter won't be worse than this past week.

Thanks to Belle1962 for the Spring Break poll, as I think it supplies very valuable information.

 

[tndisneyfan]

Just got back Friday night, stayed 3/14-3/19. We thought it was very busy. By lunch Fast Passes for the most popular rides, like Soarin and TSMM, were gone. There were long stand by waits at every ride. I even saw the Stitch ride with a thirty minute wait.

 

[JDUCKY]

If you're going today, bring a poncho or an umbrella.

Lots of rain moving in:
http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=mlb&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=no

Glad my DD and I got our park time in at DHS yesterday (and crowds were nowhere near as bad as I expecting based on Touring Plans...DHS was maybe a 7...nothing like a 10)

 

[bbwhos]

We were there (MK) on Friday. Maybe not a 10 buy pretty crazy in the narrow parts of the park. Gorgeous weather Friday!!! Raining today :-( I had to stop by guest relations, they said definitely not a 10 yet (that was about 4 pm). We headed straight to the back to get our FPs, Surprising Dumbo was only a 30 min wait. Once we made our way over to Frontiertown is was packed. Definitely do-able but you've got to FP it and have a plan. My DH and adult DS aren't really crowd people plus trying to push the stroller around in the crowds they had enough by about 4 pm.

Oh well, just have to start planning our fall trip!!!!