IFWF Crowd Nightmares.

[bookgirl]

Less Free Dining offered in Oct, September had MNSSHP/F&W overlap, September traditionally LOW season, September still less expensive than Oct RO reservations.

It was the perfect storm for a very crowded September at WDW and larger crowds at the Halloween Party and the F&W Festival.

Plus just the general fact that F&W is always busier on a Saturday and Sunday.

 

[GreatLakes]

F&W is always terribly crowded on weekends but I think the first few weekends are really bad. I'd aim for Tuesday through Thursday F&W day(s) if you can. When I lived down there I took days off to hit the festival instead of showing up with all the other locals on a weekend.

 

[CarolAnnB]

How does the AP wine glass work? I read a couple places that you get it after 3 visits/stamps so how did people get it the first 2 days?

 

[Kelly014]

We are going to F&W and MNSSHP for the first time this year the week of Halloween. After some of the threads I have been seeing I am wondering what we've gotten ourselves into!

 

[Brocktoon]

We are going to F&W and MNSSHP for the first time this year the week of Halloween. After some of the threads I have been seeing I am wondering what we've gotten ourselves into!

As others mentioned ... just stick with the weekdays, especially Tues-Thursday and you should be fine. Crowds may be up a bit this year across the boards, but weekdays are the way to go for F&W.

 

[bc7ate9]

We just got back from Disney (9/23-27). The parks were much more crowded than what we are used to in September. We were at Epcot for Food & Wine Thursday (we loooooove soft opening day!), Friday, and Saturday. Thursday obviously had the lowest crowds - we were there till 7 PM. Friday wasn't that bad from about 11-3. We were there Saturday from about 1-5 and it was definitely crazy. We avoided the REALLY long lines. The ones we did wait in were well organized and kept moving - we didn't have any waits that were more than 15-20 minutes.

If you're planning to go, I strongly recommend planning ahead. You can look online or get a passport once you're there and use it to mark the things you'd like to try and plan your trip around the world accordingly.

 

[DisMommyTX]

We were there Friday evening and saturday. Friday was nice except for the three intense thunderstorms followed by hours of steady light rain. At least the lines seemed fairly short! Most 5-15 minutes.

Saturday was the worst crowds we have ever seen. We usually travel in July, so we are no strangers to heat and crowds, but I was not prepared for Epcot to feel like MK main street at the mid-day parade in July. It was not in any way fun. We were once at a 24 hour event at Disneyland in May--it was a lot like that only much, much hotter.

Please do as I say, not as I do. Even if you can only visit for a weekend, avoid Saturday at all costs. Oh, and hope for rain to keep the locals away!

 

[Dr.Mickey]

I've got to say that video didn't look even remotely fun. Wow.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Glad to see the responses about going during the week. We have an entire day set aside for Epcot but still. If you had to wait in line 30 mins at each place and there were 15 kiosks, thats 7.5 hours of your day standing in line. We'd just hop to DHS before we'd do that. Really hoping its calmed down a bit by the 20th of Oct when we go.

And to the person who asked who the video guy was? NO idea. Just came across him on youtube a while back and he does a lot of Disney videos. He and his wife have a cool sense of humor and their vids are well done so I check out his page every so often.

 

[GovieMom]

We went last year on a weekday and it was still busy. The lines weren't 30 + minutes, but long enough that we ended up not eating at any of them.

That was our experience as well, two Octobers ago. We were staying at the Beach Club, and went through the World Showcase each day. It was always crowded, with long lines, every day of the week. No matter what time of day.

 

[GreatLakes]

We are going to F&W and MNSSHP for the first time this year the week of Halloween. After some of the threads I have been seeing I am wondering what we've gotten ourselves into!

Disney has used promotions, special events, and altering the party schedules to elevate what used to be low crowd seasons to busier seasons. I think we have to come to terms with the fact that outside of some lucky weeks here or there there isn't going to be a slow time of year, there will just be less crowded times of the year. Well, at least until we have another economic downturn.

I think this is one of the reasons we are seeing the crowd predictions being more off then in the past. Using historical data has built in lag time. There is also a misconception about what crowd levels mean. People see a 4 and say great, it will be half as crowded as an 8. That isn't true. It just means you'll be seeing crowds in the 40th percentile instead of the 80th. If Disney continues to attract guests to fill in the down times the difference in attendance between that 4 and 8 might not even be noticeable because the deviation is so small. But that is a topic for another thread.

 

[igk]

Has it got much busier the last few years? Our last F&W visit was Oct 2012, and we were there on Sat 27th (ate in Biergarten at 7:45). I remember it being busy but not unpleasantly so. Don't remember especially long lines for drinks etc...

 

[Kelly014]

Disney has used promotions, special events, and altering the party schedules to elevate what used to be low crowd seasons to busier seasons. I think we have to come to terms with the fact that outside of some lucky weeks here or there there isn't going to be a slow time of year, there will just be less crowded times of the year. Well, at least until we have another economic downturn.

I think this is one of the reasons we are seeing the crowd predictions being more off then in the past. Using historical data has built in lag time. There is also a misconception about what crowd levels mean. People see a 4 and say great, it will be half as crowded as an 8. That isn't true. It just means you'll be seeing crowds in the 40th percentile instead of the 80th. If Disney continues to attract guests to fill in the down times the difference in attendance between that 4 and 8 might not even be noticeable because the deviation is so small. But that is a topic for another thread.

That makes a lot of sense. People want a representation of what crowds will be like (understandably) but I'm sure it's complicated to present crowds numbers like that. We've only been to Disney one other time - May 2014. I'll just expect busy and make the best of it

 

[DisneyElite4]

What if you are at Epcot on a Saturday, but not to do IFWF? It's the only day we can visit the park on our trip, and Epcot is our favorite. We have no plans to hit up the booths, just watch Illuminations, which we have a FP for. We plan to spend most of our time in the World Showcase in the morning/early afternoon except for Illuminations.

 

[Kelly014]

As others mentioned ... just stick with the weekdays, especially Tues-Thursday and you should be fine. Crowds may be up a bit this year across the boards, but weekdays are the way to go for F&W.

Our EPCOT day is a Sunday, and we only have four full days so there's not much wiggle room! Thankful I didn't choose Saturday though. We have a pre park Akershus so we plan to do that, use a few fast passes, and be at world showcase right when it opens.

 

[bookgirl]

Ive been to three F&W's ('12, '13, '14) all in the last week of October. I've never had any trouble with lines during the 11-4 time period. Heck I've even gone back in the evenings and still never had much of a crowd. Maybe 5-10 minutes at some but usually less. I think Canada may have been a little longer (popular). I really don't think there will be a problem as long as you avoid the weekends and maybe the after 5pm local traffic.

 

[GreatLakes]

What if you are at Epcot on a Saturday, but not to do IFWF? It's the only day we can visit the park on our trip, and Epcot is our favorite. We have no plans to hit up the booths, just watch Illuminations, which we have a FP for. We plan to spend most of our time in the World Showcase in the morning/early afternoon except for Illuminations.

I don't remember Future World being too crowded. It is a little hectic on Saturdays for Illuminations because many of the locals don't care about the show and use the time to go to the food stands. You'll have a lot more noise and movement then normal during the show but not unbearably so.

 

[Brocktoon]

Our EPCOT day is a Sunday, and we only have four full days so there's not much wiggle room! Thankful I didn't choose Saturday though. We have a pre park Akershus so we plan to do that, use a few fast passes, and be at world showcase right when it opens.

I've been hitting F&W for the past 10 years, and typically I saw crowds start to lighten up on Sunday afternoon as the locals were heading home for the weekend. I guess how much the crowds lessen on Sunday will be a function of how crowded things are overall. Over the past 10 years I've watched the crowds continue to increase year over year during mid-to late October. To me, the crowds have gone from empty parks to somewhere between moderate and high.

 

[wintotty]

Been to F&W 2013, only did Week Days b/w 11-3ish, and never waited more than 5min for the food or drink.
Hopefully will stay the same for this year! (if it matters, it was last week of Oct)

 

[ktlm]

What if you are at Epcot on a Saturday, but not to do IFWF? It's the only day we can visit the park on our trip, and Epcot is our favorite. We have no plans to hit up the booths, just watch Illuminations, which we have a FP for. We plan to spend most of our time in the World Showcase in the morning/early afternoon except for Illuminations.

We have been in the park on Saturdays during F&W the last two years. Typically it is okay in the morning and very early afternoon. By mid-afternoon it is insane. In the late afternoon and evening, you can hardly even walk through World Showcase and the crowd is typically wild (aka there are many that have had had too much wine (etc.) and not enough food). If you go over to the Future World side in the evening it is typically fine, but for us WS on a Saturday night is not fun. We have hoppers and have stayed at BC/YC during F&W, so we hit EPCOT quite a bit during our stay.