Just Back (10/1-10/8) - seemed really crowded why?

[DadOf2Princesses]

Hi all -
I haven't been to the world since '92. This time I went with my DW, DD3, DD6 and Papa/Nana and I had read in the UOGuide that the crowd level should be a 2 during this week. But it sure seemed busy. 50 min waits on most major rides at all parks and at least 20mins on smaller rides. Only twice, on POC during the parade, and smallworld just before closing, was I able to walk onto a ride
I had to fast pass a bunch of them to make it managable. I had read and heard that the lines would be small and quick. Were my expectations too high?

At night it seemed a bit easier, but still very busy.
Perhaps it was the age of my kids (we spent alot of time in MK, Fantasyland)

 

[unixadm]

It was the ending of the free dining plan, and the beggining of the Wine and Food Festival. My guess is that is why it crowds were higher than usual.

We went 09/17-09/24 and crowds were VERY light. We walked right onto most rides....although I did use TGM to plan out our MK days and noticed that although we walked on rides, when we went back later, there were w20-30 minute waits on many rides.

The popular rides such as Soarin' and Test Track had long lines and we did FP for those.

 

[PCFriar80]

A couple of "possible" reasons. The build up to Columbus Day weekend and Rosh Hashanah last Tues/Wed. Some schools, not all in our area are closed during the Jewish holiday. So, if you have the 4th and 5th off, why not take them out of school 2 more days into the long weekend? And you've got yourself a good Disney vacation!

 

[DadOf2Princesses]

I understand they can't consider the free dining, but the UO Guide has got to be able to anticipate the Wine and Food Festival (it happens every year) as well as the Columbus and the 2 Jewish Holiday's.

So am I correct in thinking this was busier than usual for 10/1-10/8?
Or is this normal? If so I'd hate to see it on the busiest days.

 

[bytheblood]

Free dining.

 

[jwfla422]

Despite the free dining, October has become a busier time over the past several years at WDW. It is considered "convention" month now and many convention goers bring family, F&W has gotten quite popular, Columbus Day week closes many schools in various areas as well.

MK is busy most times of the year with some slower breaks here and there (we experienced one of those slow breaks back at the end of August this year).

DH and I went a lot in the early 90s. WDW parks were very slow and in a slump at that time. They are much busier now than they were in the early 90s. Back then October was "off-peak". It was right around the later 90s that October was changed to "regular" season. Things have definitely changed. We noticed last October to be much busier than it was when we went again in December (pre-holiday time).

 

[Candicno]

I understand they can't consider the free dining, but the UO Guide has got to be able to anticipate the Wine and Food Festival (it happens every year) as well as the Columbus and the 2 Jewish Holiday's.

So am I correct in thinking this was busier than usual for 10/1-10/8?
Or is this normal? If so I'd hate to see it on the busiest days.

If you check the updates to UoG online, you will see that they predicted it to be crowd level 5 and 6 during your stay, depending on the days. It sounds like UoG was absolutly right in your case. A 5 = Peak waits of 45 - 54 minutes, and a 6 = Peak waits of 55 - 64 minutes.

You absolutly CANNOT go by the numbers in the book when the book was printed a year ago. This isn't static--things change. It sounds like you don't know about the website-I can never remember, are we allowed to post it here?

The UoG does take into account the holidays and special events. But, the free dining package really made the difference this year. The numbers of people taking advantage of it here on the Dis alone were outstanding. I'm sure they did take the dining into account as well.

No, this is not normal for Octobers of the past. But, it may very well be normal for the future.

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

Also in NY, most schools had two days off.

 

[dizmomofrjf3]

what's Uo guide?

 

[Jennasis]

It was pretty darn crowded during our stay 10/1-10/7. We "worked the system" (fastpass, starting in less crowded sections) and never waited more than 20 minutes but YES wait times for Soarin were up to 80 minutes on EMH days. It wasn't ever unmanageable but I was surprised.

 

[PoohHappens]

We were there also and I found it to be busy. I do not know that it was all the dinning plan. My niece is from Dallas and they had fall break for the week and we met lots of families who were out of school for at least part of the week. The free dinning plan also existed the end of august and september and it was not as busy. I know that Disney changed from value to regular season on the 5th I believe. We still had a great time, but esp MK was busy.

 

[cillakat]

<<If you check the updates to UoG online, you will see that they predicted it to be crowd level 5 and 6 during your stay, depending on the days. It sounds like UoG was absolutly right in your case. A 5 = Peak waits of 45 - 54 minutes, and a 6 = Peak waits of 55 - 64 minutes.

You absolutly CANNOT go by the numbers in the book when the book was printed a year ago. This isn't static--things change.>>

ITA. they stressed multiple times in the 2006 version that things would change based on disney's schedule changes and to check the website for changes....

<<It sounds like you don't know about the website-I can never remember, are we allowed to post it here?
>>

i think so. touringplans . com


katherine in atl

 

[lenore1]

I was there 10/1 -10/8 and I found the parks to be very crowded. I followed the "law" of not going to the parks on the days of EMH and I still found it very crowded. Despite the crowds, heat, rain and someone stealing my digital camera I had a GREAT time and cant wait to go back again!!!!

 

[twinz]

It's also the Canadian Thanksgiving day this weekend. So it' s a three day weekend for us Canadian's less time to take off of work.

 

[madge]

We have gone the same week every year since 1998. This year was far busier than any other year we've gone. We found Monday and Wednesday of last week quite busy, much busier than we anticipated.

From what I understand, the crowds can be attributed to:

• MNSSHP
• Free Dining
• many schools were out in NY/NJ area
• Fall Breaks in Southern Schools
• every guide book on the planet lists October as a good time to go
• conventions

 

[lacy1101]

In addition to what the previous posters have said, I might add that on the days that we were in MK (we just returned home today), we found the park pretty manageable utilizing fastpass and the info/touring plans found here, the UG and Tour Guide Mike, with one exception: Fantasyland. That place was packed and we didn't even attempt it until 2:30-3:00 p.m., which I thought would be a good time because of the parade. This was our 4th trip to Disney during this time of the year and I will have to agree that it seemed more crowded. Didn't spoil our fun, though!

 

[MomofKatie]

Boy, did we have a different experience! We were also at the parks 10/1- 10/8, but we didn't wait in any long lines. We did skip Soarin', because there was a 60 minute wait time posted, and at 4 pm when we got to the pavilion, there were no Fastpasses left for the day. This was on Tuesday, which was the evening EMH night, so the park was a bit busier than usual. I guess we will have to do Soarin' next year- gives us something to look forward to.

We never waited more than 20 minutes in line for anything all week. The longest line we experienced was Test Track on Saturday, Oct. 1st at around 5 pm. We did most of the FW rides at Epcot on Sat and Tues evening with minimal waits.

We did MK on Sun evening for MNSSHP and walked right on everything. We did all of Fantasyland on Tues morning, and waited the longest at Peter Pan- around 15 mins. We did Tomorrowland and Adventureland on Wed evening- no lines again- Space Mtn was a walk on, and this was the evening EMH night! We did notice longer waits on our way out of the park- DD had an awful cold, so we left after the fireworks. Seems like lots of folks didn't enter the MK and queue up until after 9 pm.

Animal Kingdom was easy, too- we did 2 mornings. We FPed the Safari, but there really weren't any long lines.

We only did MGM one 1/2 day- our least favorite park. We had a 10 min wait for RnR, and FPed ToT- although there was only a 10 minute wait there, too. There were large crowds around the Indy area as we were headed out of the park, but a show had probably just let out.

Maybe we just hit things at good times, but we really didn't experience the long lines others did. Sure, there were lots of people walking around in the parks, but the attraction lines were surprisingly short. We waited much longer for the Disney busses than we did for any rides! We did the "get to the parks early, take a midday break, and go back to the parks in the evening" strategy- worked great for us!

 

[crisi]

October has been pretty much "our time" for years. Not every year, but every few. And every time we go it gets busier and busier in October. For all the reasons listed above - plus October weather (September is much rainier).

I think a lot of people don't pull their kids from school the first month, but October rolls around, they have a vacation day due to Columbus day - maybe a second for a midquarter break - or a whole week, and go to "beat the crowds."

On the plus side, its still much less crowded than summer.

But yes, sometimes you travel with the crowds and its busy. You get back here and someone else says "we didn't see it." They had the good fortune to be travelling opposite the crowds - spending the day at MGM when everyone else was at the MK with you!

 

[DawnS]

I thought the crowds were less this October than last year, we really only needed to use fastpass for Soarin on Thurs the 6th, and Rock N Roller Coaster on the 1st and the only reason we had to use fastpass for that was because we got out of line because the ride was experienceing technical difficultys, I did see lots of Amway conventioners at Epcot for the F&W festival.

 

[Cara]

We just got back, and I agree that it was VERY busy. However, we used TGM's plan, went early, got the big things out of the way, and generally always stayed ahead of the crowds. We never waited more than 15 minutes for anything, and it was generally less than that. It IS possible to have a good time during crowded periods if you plan well!!