How Do YOU Define Crowded?

[angierae]

I realized really quickly that my definition of "crowded" and other people's were very different when we went to WDW the week leading up to Easter in 2012 and thought the lines and the crowds were extremely manageable. Coming from being a Cedar Point passholder, where 2-3 hour waits for a 3 minute roller coaster ride is "normal" on a summer weekend, having to wait a half hour for a ride does't even hit my radar.

 

[chelseabun76]

Crowded during our trip was when the CM's started telling us which side of the walkway we were to be walking on going a certain direction because it was elbow to elbow. This was last week of January so I was a bit surprised.

 

[DrivenByDisney]

Everyone else has pretty much hit it head on. Judge by being able to navigate well or having to take more steps side-to-side than straight ahead. Lines will be long, that's just part of it. Though I am not waiting any longer than say 45 minutes for the most part. Lucky, we live here so we can wait. Even when we did not live here, we planned around crowd levels to avoid the "big" lines for the time frame.

I've seen CM's standing out doing "crowd control" plenty of times at the holidays and summer months. Pretty common around Christmas and the 4th (again, to me).

Here's some pics that show the park busy to me.


Someone text me this last year on Christmas Day going into Magic. This was rather crowded that morning.

Main Street on the 4th of July was crowded

Stupid crowded at Magic one summer day

And I would just turn around and leave if I saw this crowd ... Not that you would get anywhere near the park if it were like this

 

[larryz]

Crowded is when I can't walk in a straight line.

 

[MainMom]

Everyone else has pretty much hit it head on. Judge by being able to navigate well or having to take more steps side-to-side than straight ahead. Lines will be long, that's just part of it. Though I am not waiting any longer than say 45 minutes for the most part. Lucky, we live here so we can wait. Even when we did not live here, we planned around crowd levels to avoid the "big" lines for the time frame.

I've seen CM's standing out doing "crowd control" plenty of times at the holidays and summer months. Pretty common around Christmas and the 4th (again, to me).

Here's some pics that show the park busy to me.


Someone text me this last year on Christmas Day going into Magic. This was rather crowded that morning.

Main Street on the 4th of July was crowded

Stupid crowded at Magic one summer day

And I would just turn around and leave if I saw this crowd ... Not that you would get anywhere near the park if it were like this

If any of my days this summer look like your third picture I'm leaving and staying by the pool!

 

[godders]

OH.....DEAR.....LORD! That looks like a complete nightmare! I thought it was bad at Islands of Adventure the week after Hogsmeade opened but that just looks insane!

 

[DrivenByDisney]

OH.....DEAR.....LORD! That looks like a complete nightmare! I thought it was bad at Islands of Adventure the week after Hogsmeade opened but that just looks insane!

I remember the line of cars at Universal (and much further beyond) when that opened. NOT fun at all. I avoided that like the plague (or the 4). These are extremes and very rarely get like that, that I have seen. It can get crowded. You just have to try and smile, move on & not get flustered at others.

 

[gtpoohbear]

To me, "crowded" has more to do with how it feels in general, not so much about wait times. I almost always go a busy-ish times, so I expect that popular rides will have a long wait, unless it is at RD. So wait times don't really bother me. With FP and a good touring plan, you can still do the things you want to do without wasting away the day in line.

But when the walkways are so jam-packed with people that you can't easily get where you want to go, that's when I get frustrated and complain about the crowds.

This past December, there was only one time when I felt it was truly "crowded". DD and I were trying to walk quickly from Adventureland to Fantasyland, and this is the mess we encountered.

Other than that, I didn't feel like it was crowded at all, and it was 3 days before Christmas.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

My last few trips have been in September, and if you don't count the April 2010 trip, I haven't not been in September since 2005.

Typical for me is when there's no line for CoP, or 5-10 minute waits for Buzz, Nemo, or Monsters, 13 minute wait for ToT, or 20 minute wait for HM, Pirates, etc. Where Soarin' and TSMM are the only things with real waits. I haven't been there during SDMT, btw.

So when ToT says 100 minutes, or BTMM or Splash are more than 30, or Soarin' gets above 70, then I think it's busy.

 

[Polyonmymind]

When you can not see the color of the ground in front of you.

 

[RogueKnits]

I was thinking about how some people who vacationed at the same time say that it was so crowded and others say not crowded. How do you define crowded? For me, I would say 80-90 min. wait at the peak for the headliners and having to dodge people to get around when walking to each ride in the afternoon. We usually go early part of June.

I'm similar to you. 80-90 minute wait for E-Ticket attractions is "crowded". The presence of a lot of large tour groups can also make it feel crowded even on a lower-crowd day. Also, if I feel so claustrophobic in the shops that I have to get out immediately, but that's much more subjective.

 

[ammag]

I am more concerned with how close I have to be to strangers.... Two feet or less is too much for me! When walkie or standing, not in a line or watching a parade. Not a fan of other people touching me!

 

[magik]

I was thinking about how some people who vacationed at the same time say that it was so crowded and others say not crowded. How do you define crowded? For me, I would say 80-90 min. wait at the peak for the headliners and having to dodge people to get around when walking to each ride in the afternoon. We usually go early part of June.

For me, the parks being "crowded" has more to do with ease of getting around rather than ride wait times. I was just there, and to me certain parks were crowded because I had to dodge around people constantly. I like lots and lots of open walking space. Was it so crowded that you get swept up in a sea of people and basically have to walk where everyone else is walking like Christmas Day at Magic Kingdom? No...far from it. That's *too* crowded. But it was crowded enough that I couldn't really walk anywhere in a straight line because people were constantly stopping in the middle of walkways or not paying attention to where they were going, and there wasn't enough space for me to just steer wide of these people, I had to basically weave in and out around situations like this every few feet. If there are enough people that I can't walk from place to place and keep a personal space bubble of at least 4 feet in all directions, it's more crowded than I wish it were. Honestly, I can handle waiting for things, so I don't mind longer wait times, but I don't handle "crowds" well.

That being said, I still go and enjoy it because it's pretty much always crowded these days. I just tend to leave the parks earlier in the day than I used to. I pretty much only avoid the insanely crowded times around holidays