Just back ~ dead dead dead

[anewvance]

All I can say is WOW! I've been to Disney tons and tons of times but this it the deadest I've ever seen it. I've been in Sept before but never this quiet. Just got back from 8 days and we walked on everything and anything we wanted to ride. I am serious when I say we didn't wait in one single line. All the shows were pretty much empty and didn't have to have a single ps, just walked in. What an awesome trip for us.

 

[Blueberry]

We just came sunday night after an abbreviated trip due to Frances and I concur, it was the emptiest I have ever seen it at WDW....Only wait was a 5 minute one for TEst TRack once and that was not due to the crowd, but a technology problem they were having. Many cancelled due to Frances too and the threat of Ivan coming in, when we were there which really kept the crowd down I think.....

 

[anewvance]

We were there because of Frances too. We had quite a bit of damage and left to no electricity and flooded living room...

 

[AladdinsPrincess]

I was there last week just for the day and I was expecting it not to be crowded, but it really was empty! I can't believe I'm saying this but I almost thought it wasn't as much fun without a little bit of a crowd!! I think the anticipation of standing in line or waiting for your fast pass time makes the experience a little bit sweeter!!

 

[llij]

Wow! Glad to hear you had a good time, but sorry about the damage to your house.

I don't think I've ever been to Disney when it is that quiet!

 

[johde]

I just got back yesterday and I agree. Last Wednesday I went to MGM at park opening and I think there were only about 250 people waiting for opening. I went with the "herd" to Tower of Terror and we all fit in the library. No one had to wait in the Lobby. That Morning I rode RNR 3 times ; TOT 3 time, Great Movie Ride (Half Empty and only running 1 train), Back Studio tour, Saw Who Wants to be a Millionair, and Muppet Vision 3D ate Lunch at Pizza Planet and was still back in my room by 1:30.

The longest wait I had at Disney was 20 Min. for Space Mountain. I later found out it had broken down earlier in the day and had backed up. But I waited only 5 min. for Peter Pan and Pooh.

Saturday Afternoon though IOA was Busy. 40 min. wait for Duddly Do Right and Popeye. Several People I talked to in line said that the last week had been so stressful they just needed a break and decided to go to the park. Sunday though IOA was much more managable.

Jeremy

 

[dorazio8]

Hi
We were there too last week, labor day thru this past sunday, and i have to say it was the best time we ever had, we actually had NO wait for test track, we rode it three times in a row, everytime the ride ended they asked if you want to ride again just stay seated. No wait for anything, it felt like a ghost town, almost a bit scary, one of the cast members told us it wasnt even this empty after 9/11 , it was wierd thought like someone else said in the post it was a little bit boring without some crowds, i dont know why i would be saying this but it is true. It kind of makes disney with some wait. but it was an awesome time. PS not hear of you could basically just walk into any place to eat with no PS . Pleasure island was a ghost town. Magic kingdom was empty, you could see straight thru the whole way down main street to the castle.

 

[luvitmoreachtime]

Please let it be that way for us too!!!!!
Last year was so packed when we went.
My two year old doesnt understand the concept of waiting yet so it makes for a long tortuous wait for the parents.

 

[jwfla422]

luvitmoreachtime-with this new threat of Jeanne moving this way, you might be one of the only ones walking down Main Street USA!!

I'll tell ya if it looks like it's heading down here toward South Florida, that's it, we're going to pack up the house and head on up!! Sick of waiting on these darn hurricanes--miles well have some fun!! (that is, of course, if it doesn't plan to go up there!!)

 

[luvitmoreachtime]

i'm not worried about Jeanne, shes too far away for the trip down and I dont think she is going to hit FL, I think shes headed for SC or NC. She may hit our VA home while we are gone but thats ok, we'll be in WDW, lol. She hasnt made a dent on the availablity of CRT. Ive called everyday for a month and nothing.

 

[ksc37]

We were there from last Tuesday - Sunday and you're right, it was dead!

We arrived at the MK at opening on Wednesday morning and headed right to Fantasyland to ride Dumbo. We were the only family on it for two consecutive rides (we didn't even get off)! And I think it took two more hours before Dumbo was taking off even 1/2 full. We rode many rides that day multiple times without getting off. I think if there were 50 people in Fantasyland that morning, it was a lot.

We also walked on to everything, except Saturday afternoon when we had a *gasp* 5 minute wait for Splash Mtn.

I think I'll try to plan all my future trips between hurricanes !!

 

[seashoreCM]

Was there after Charley but before Frances.

At MK it was still crowded! Not wall to wall like Thanksgiving but there were 40 plus minute waits for some rides including Peter Pan and the Race cars and Buzz Lightyear. But it was still peak summer season.

I have cautiously been suggesting all along not to cancel your vacation. The feelings are mixed on that to the point of flaming. There has been a lot of doom and gloom attitude and even WDW has put a moratorium on room bookings around the time of Frances.

After Labor Day is a slow time of year anyway.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[crow11ad]

That's cool that no waits. I just hope it is like that when we go in the early part of December.

 

[gabbofett]

We just got back too and it was dead. However I have to disagree with the CM mentioned above. We were there three weeks after 9/11 and it was way more quiet. It was creepily quiet. This last week even Fantasmic was full during the weekend but in 2001 everything was empty.
It's fun when it's like that though, you have time to talk to cast members and get to know them and they're so happy to have people in the parks. The CMs are really great, I can't imagine working with all the storms and everything happening in the area.

 

[NYDisneyMom]

Originally posted by gabbofett
We just got back too and it was dead. However I have to disagree with the CM mentioned above. We were there three weeks after 9/11 and it was way more quiet. It was creepily quiet. This last week even Fantasmic was full during the weekend but in 2001 everything was empty.
It's fun when it's like that though, you have time to talk to cast members and get to know them and they're so happy to have people in the parks. The CMs are really great, I can't imagine working with all the storms and everything happening in the area.

We were there a few days after 9/11..thought about canceling, since we were flying out of JFK, but we went ahead. I have pictures of Main Street completely empty in the middle of the day. The signs posted for the wait times all said "0" minutes. We were staying on rides and riding over and over again. The CM's working in some gift shops were standing outside the shops, some actually trying to get us into the stores. It was a nice trip, but if we thought about the circumstances too long it was depressing.

 

[CoolBreeze]

Can we please?? Let's use, uhhh, quiet, or maybe slow! LOL

Seriously, with all that has transpired weather-wise in the southeast the entire tourism industry has been crushed this hurricane season, not just WDW.

 

[flyball]

We were there from the 29th of August to the 9th of September, and it was unbelievably dead, especially after Frances. I loved being able to walk into any restaurant on a whim, but I agree that it's more fun to watch some of the shows when there are more people around. We didn't wait on line for anything, and once when test track indicated a 20-minute wait, we took our chances and it turned out that there was NO wait whatsoever! We did a late lunch/early dinner at the Crystal Palace on the Wednesday after Frances and practically had all of the characters to ourselves. They were extremely entertaining and very funny. It was almost like they were eating with us because they had nobody else to visit! I'm not sure if having the parks closed for the two days was worth the access we had afterward, because it got a little boring in the resort on the second day the park was closed (despite plenty of entertainment), but all-in-all it was still a great trip!

 

[flyball]

Sorry for using the word "dead!" I didn't read the previous post! It was unbelievably slow.

 

[jdonat]

After coming down to FL to help my parents
clean up (2x yucky freezers 2x yucky fridges),etc.....
I spent an afternoon and an evening at EC/MK on 9/13.
It was unbelievable. I got to EC about 2pm.
I WALKED into Misson:Space and Test Track.
Everything there had zero wait. I walked around
the World Showcase and took pictures because
the rest of my family would'nt believe me!
The parking lots were only using the lot closest
to EC -the stuff behind the canal/trees wasnt
even open at all!
The MK was even wierder.. I walked onto
EVERYTHING there -even Pooh had a 5min
or less wait. It was very strange. I had about
10 mins of rain at EC, but otherwise it was fine. I took more pics so's I could prove
it really was that slooooow.
I really enjoyed the ability to just waltz onto rides, but WDW had to be hurting, given how muchv business they had to lose during this time.
The park closed at 8:30pm -so's I didn't get
Spectromagic, but but, I did get Wishes!!!!!
I have an AP, so's doing a short trip like this
is easy -and I had an AM flight out of MCO
back to Chicago....
I was talking to a CM at the Contemporary,
where I was staying -she said that a tree
had gone through their garage and part of
their roof. It was tarped, but she was worried
about Ivan -at that time, they still didn't know
if it was gonna turn east towards Orlando/WDW. I hope she and her family
will be able to survive this, because there are
lots more like her down there.... sigh.

Send lots of good thoughts down to those CM's, and the other Floridians who are still
dealing with the hurricane hangover....

John