How are the crowds????

[TigrLvsPooh]

Curious to hear from those who are at WDW right now or from people who have just returned: Are the parks crowded this week due to Spring Break and Easter?

What were some of your longer waits?

Any info would be appreciated!!!!

 

[mom_rules]

Good question-Bump....

Anyone also asked any CM's what expected resort occupancy rates are over the next month?

 

[flybaby]

I just read on another board I visit from a lady who lives by Disney that they closed MK early two times this week due to the large crowds???? Could this be true????

 

[mom_rules]

I guess we'll find out when all the Easter travellers come back next week. That would be incredible considering everyone has been saying how good the wait times for rides have been.

 

[Augustheather97]

My sister and her family flew down yesterday.they usually go in march.....she went to MK last night at 8:00 after a long day of traveling, checking in with 2 small kids and said it was PACKED...got fast passes for Buzz and it was a 3 hour wait at 8:00 at night....said to come back at 11:00.which isn't good with a 2 year old in tow.......she didn't even go into a park today die to the crowds.....she will go back to going in march next year again I think or at least NOT near Easter

 

[jcemom]

A friend of mine just got back yesterday after spending 6 days in Florida -- she said the crowds were pretty heavy. The shortest line was near 40min. She didn't even get to ride the mountains because lines were too long (she has 3 boys under age 9). Says they had a good time anyway, but missed out on many rides.

 

[Gaiusrex]

I got back last Friday, and it was pretty crowded. MK was crowded everyday by 10:00. AK and MGM were ok if you were there early. I get anxious when I'm in deep crowds, so the area in Fantasyland between IASW and Peter Pan was something I stayed away from. It was a human stew.

 

[Phrank40]

Went to three Parks on Sunday 4/13. Got to Animal Kingdom at 8:55 and not very crowded, by time we left at 11:00 getting crowded. Arrived MK at 11:45 I thought it was busy especially around Splash Mountain area. Thanks again for Fastpass, got straight on ride at end of fastpass time, skipped 75 minutes of people in standby line. Arrived at Epcot around 4, hardly anybody in the Future World area except for tremendous crowd around Test Track, it had been closed for an hour or so. Mission:Space should help ease the crowd around Test Track. Future World needs another big draw on opposite side from Test Track/Mission:Space. Crowd around World Showcase average in size, busy but good viewing areas available for Illuminations.

Interesting FASTPASS story. As we were leaving hotel to start back home a husband, wife and two small children were getting in van to head to a park around 9:30. Wife says to husband "We should try that fastpass ticket". Husband says to wife "Nah, we don't need that, if you get fastpass you can't ride any other rides". They were in for a long day which could have been much easier.

Hampton Inn Westgate Kissimmee was totally booked Saturday night, less busy Sunday night.

Phrank

 

[PammyK]

It depended on the park.

On Wed, MK was quite crowded but I don't think I would have considered it "packed" especially given that it was the Wed before Easter Sunday. Epcot that evening had most restaurants sold out for dinner PS but still didn't seem too crowded.

Yesterday, AK was busy but manageable. The wait for Dinosaur was less than 30 minutes at 1:30pm. Kali was 25 minutes at noon. Tough to be a Bug was basically a walk-in. However, all parking lot sections were in use. MGM was fairly crowded in the evening - wait for ToT was listed as 40 minutes at around 7:30pm. Star Tours was 10 minutes at 6pm.

IMO, there are definitely a lot of people at the parks, but when you consider that it is a spring break/Easter week, the crowds were not as big as one would normally expect.

 

[BounceyOne]

We just got back last night and the crowds were big. We were there for 2 weeks and the first week was busy but nice, starting this past monday it was getting worse and worse.
This was mainly MK the other parks were busy but didn't have that crowded feeling to them. Except MGM in the section were the ToT and RnRc are, but that always feels crowded to me over there.

 

[patattack]

I just got back last night. MK was crowded (day we were there)with lots of strollers. AK always seems crowded as the pahways are pretty narrow, however I have seen it busier. MGM was crowded, howevre not as bad as other years. Epcot Future World was medium compared to some other years at this time (week before/after easter), World showcase did not see any crowds until late afternoon/early evening. In talking to CM's + other guests Epcot attendance has been affected considerably by the lack of a parade and ride type attractions. In addition(we stayed at WDW Swan), bookings were down being impacted by drop in travel fron Asian countries. Both swan & Dolphin were not full even with special rates being offered. We also noticed at least at the Swan/Dolphin, people were spending a lot more time at the pools and less at the parks. By noon it was tough to find a lounge chair and the pools were packed right up until evening. In talking tp people seems alot have been before and more people are taking it slow and not spending as much time in the Parks. My wife & I have benn 3 times in last six months and upon reflection found that to be true for ourselves also. We in fact had originaly intended on just visiting Epcot, but decided to see every park. Even with that we probably spent less than 4 hours a day in parks.

We were not in every park, everyday, however it was out observation.

 

[sammyboy]

we just returned from wdw friday; had been there for a week. mk and ak got quite crowded by 10-11a. Epcot didn't seem bad at all. But, crowded as it was, we stated early (make sure youre there by about 8:20-they open at 8:30) and used fastpasses and never waited more than 15 min for anything!! If i hasd one suggestion: USE FASTPASS!!! Why people don't use these is beyond me; we routinely walked past hour long lines to the front of the line and got right on!

 

[KandK'smom]

We just got back on Friday as well and I agree with Sammyboy. the first part of the week was a piece of cake; we didn't even need to use FP. But then on Wednesday we started seeing a big jump. We got there early, used FP (we tried to always have two as much as possible) and we did fine. The weather was gorgeous and even though there were crowds, it was an incredible week!

 

[CRB#33]

I just got back yesterday. On Tuesday, we did MK. We got to the parks at 8:OO (parks opened at 8:30) and were one of the first (we ran! ) on Space Mtn., did Buzz, walked very quickly to Splash, rode it TWICE!!!!, did BTMRR, HM, Pirates, ate lunch, shopped and went back to the hotel for the afternoon around 11:30.....People were absolutely POURING into MK at this time. When we went back around 6:00, it was mobbed. We got FPs for BTMRR. Space was a 50 min. wait, Buzz was 20, or so they say... Pooh was 60 min. Peter Pan was impossible as was Dumbo. During the parade, the lines did not let up at all for the mountains, but walked on Snow White, Small World and Carousel.

People were not getting to the parks early. There were many, many teenagers there on Sr. trips, etc. The swarmed the parks in the evenings....mostly for the thrill rides.

Go right away in the morning it will be fine. You will be unable to avoid lines in the afternoon and evening for the Big ticket things.

The weather was great!

 

[middlega]

Just got home from WDW tonight (Sunday) after arriving Thursday evening.

Thursday night (MK) was reasonable, Friday (MK) was crowded (at least by our family standards), Saturday AM as MGM was mixed to busy, Saturday PM at MK was rough. Sunday morning at MK wasn't too bad (thank goodness for early-entry though).

Saturday in particular reminded us of summer, except about 10 degrees cooler. Lines in Fantasyland were often 60+ mins, and included the longest line I've ever seen for "iasw". FP was a life-saver as always, although I believe Peter Pan reached a 4 hour advance at one point, which is pretty busy from our limited experience (only our 5th trip).

Buses for returning budget resort guests still short of meeting need (nothing new there I guess).

On the whole I'd call it busy but tolerable most of the time, but bordering on more crowded than makes for completely fun.

First-time poster but fascinated reader for quite a while,
Jon

 

[kevind65]

Just got back within the hour. we spent the last 8 nights at POFQ. crowds were heavy, but, not as heavy as we had feared. It was definetaly getting heavier as easter sunday approached. The weather was fantastic! low to mid 80's all week with very little rain and humidity. Our approach this week was to take advantage of early entry and fastpasses. never waited more than 20 minutes(TofT stand-by) for any ride all week. got to the parks early and generally left by noon or 1pm and went back to the resort pool for a swim. not sure if any of the major parks reached capacity or not(didn't while we were at any), but, blizzard beach and TL were reaching capacity by 1pm early to mid week. Overall, I don't think the week before easter would be my first choice for a time to go again, but, I wouldn't absolutely rule it out again either. By the way, POFQ was not at capacity either as we were able to add on an extra night last minute last night.

 

[D&D's Mom]

We were at Disney last Sun thru Wed. Having never been during spring break, we found the crowds to be unmanageable by our standards. Sunday at Epcot was tolerable, but Test Track was closed down & all Fast Passes gone when we got there at about 2 PM. We later waited about 50 mins for a ride at about 8:15. Mon was MGM. We used FP for TOT & RNR basically getting a FP for one & waiting in standby 40 - 50 mins for the other then using our FP back & forth between the two for 3 rides on each. We then found that all the FP return times for all other attractions were 3 hours or so later & we wanted to go to MK. Arrived MK about 3:30 just as parade ending. Herds of people leaving, but wait time for Splash Mtn was 75 mins & FP return time after 10 PM. We did manage to visit all other attractions we wanted to see & do & even were riding Astro Orbiter during the 10 PM fireworks. Great view! Peter Pan had a 35 in wait at 10:45 PM. Tues was AK. Crowded, but manageable. We chose to wait in standby for about 30 mins for Safari vs. return 3 hrs later using FP. We like to finish one section & move on rather than trek back & forth. Saw more animals than ever before. Very enjoyable! Caught the Flights of Wonder show & enjoyed very much as usual! We were able to walk on Dinosaur about 3:30 PM 2x in a row. We also tried the Primeval Whirl. It may not be what some of you look for as a "Disney" attraction, but I thought it was great fun! There was about a 25 min wait. On Wed, we have what we thought was a "novel idea" & planned to revisit each park to do just our favorites. Went to MGM for TOT & RNR. FP return times for both 3 hrs later so we waited standby for both - 40 mins for TOT & 60 for RNR. Then parked at MK, took monorail to Epcot for a last spin around the Test Track to find the wait listed as 120 mins & all FP distributed for day. Back to MK where we waited 70 mins for Splash Mtn as FP return time was some 4 hrs later & we had dinner plans. All in all, a wasted day! We'll not go back to Disney during spring break!!! Let me just add that we then moved over to Hard Rock Hotel for 3 nights & enjoyed ALL of the Universal & IOA attractions as much & as often as we wanted since our room key allowed front of the line access to attractions ANYTIME & AS OFTEN as you wanted. Needless to say, our family will probably be spending our holiday vacations at a Universal hotel. Don't get me wrong, we'll still visit Disney, just only during off season when the parks can be enjoyed. Sorry to ramble .....

 

[Synonymous]

We were at The World 4/10-4/18. We were very nervous about this, as we had never been at peak time before, but we had a great time and would not hesitate to go back again at this time.

We never waited more than about 20 minutes for any ride. If you got to the parks right at opening, and used fastpass, you could do what you wanted. The only difference from our off-season trips is that we did not do as many back-to-back rides, although managing fastpass carefully allowed a few.

In the early mornings, we hit the E-tickets right away, and made sure we always got a new fastpass as soon as possible. As things got crowded, we headed to less popular attractions, like Enchanted Tiki Room. We left the parks by about 1 pm each day, having done pretty much everything we wanted. We did 1 late night at MGM (after seeing the early Fantasmic). Didn't try TT or RnR, but Star Tours and Muppets were walk-ons. Unfortunately, not much else was open at that hour.

At MK, we returned to the park in the late evening 3 times. Everything was still packed through the 1st Spectromagic. By the time of the Fireworks, at 10, lines started to thin out and we had short waits for Splash and Big Thunder. After the 2nd Spectro (11pm) most things were near walk-ons. I think we waited about 10 minutes for Space Mountain at that point.

When we checked into Animal Kingdom Lodge, the bellman told us the resort was way below capacity. We didn't have any trouble getting into the restaurants we wanted. Even if no PS were available, we could get tables without waiting too long.