Just got back! It had it's ups and downs.

[DSLRuser]

. For example, crowd calendars predicted 4's and 5's for most of the week up until Friday the 15th which were supposed to be 8's and 9's. Let me say if the parks were only a 4i would HATE to see a 10. .

I wil say i laugh at the crowd calendars and people who foolishly belive they mean anything.

Disney has a very big, very good marketting department working day and night to make every day an "8" or above.

I have learned over the years to go in expecting "new years eve" crowded, and be happy with what I get.

 

[dalayney]

"There is so much to do and see at WDW, but you have to be ready to pass by your "favorite" ride if its too busy and say, "next time."
*******************************************

Well, it seems so many people forget, that alot of the crowd going to WDW, are people like us. It's been 8 years since we've been to see the mouse. I would love to see the averages of AP people/once a year visitors/ visitors that go maybe once every 5 years. That's where so many different views of crowd levels, etc, come from . Some people don't have the luxury of "next time". Those 100 people waiting in line forever? That you think are crazy? This might be their only chance to ride that ride, like, ever. Or in the next 5years, 10 years. Think about it. For all of you that get to go whenever you please.... think if your next trip would be the last trip to WDW for the next 10 years. You would so totally look at the parks differently.

I have friends that live in Florida that laugh at us. You're going for 10days???? And not doing anything BUT disney????

Um yes. And we'll probably be there from rope drop to closing, 9 out of those 10 days. We want to "gorge" ourselves of disney. So maybe it will keep us sedated so we're not longing to go back all the time. So, if it IS another 5+ years before we head back, we'll have done disney till we're so tired of it, the trip will "last us" ..... (although I doubt it)

 

[JennyDrake]

I go to WDW 4-6 times each year and I will preach (over and over) that people put WAY too much emphasis on crowd predictors. I almost NEVER find them to be accurate. And as others have stated, sadly there is no "dead slow" time like there used to be.

 

[katla33]

We were there last week.. Sat 2/9 - Fri 2/15. This was our 3rd time to go during Mardi Gras week and I have never seen it that crowded! It was unbelievable!
The Little Mermaid ride is cute but nothing spectacular. In fact, the whole "New Fantasyland" is a little underwhelming. It is just 1 new ride and then the Beauty and the Beast stuff. We had dinner at Be Our Guest and it was excellent. Really cool restaurant! The wait time during lunch on one day was 2 hours!!

 

[Sparkly]

We've seen some crazy crowds over the past week. I don't think I want to visit in February anymore because it just keeps getting more and more crowded and has more and more tour groups, causing even MORE crowds.

 

[James65]

We also just returned from our third Mardi Gras trip to WDW. Was glad they changed story on Safari. Also glad we made change to our plans and did HS instead of MK on Fri.

 

[cc-atl]

We also just returned.

Was there from 2/8-/2-15.

We also had a great trip. While the parks were certainly not empty we only felt like it was really crowded on Tues 2/12 at MK. On Wed 2/13 MK was much better and like the previous poster mentioned DHS was not bad at all on Fri 2/15.

We were pretty lucky with ride closures/technical difficulties. The only issue we experienced was the wardrobe being down in ETWB.

There was significant congestion in Fantasyland. I think the contruction of the mine train ride is having some significant impact. Near the Winnie the Pooh ride in particular the area is very condensed due to the contruction walls being there. Also, no direct route from the Little Mermaid ride to the circus area is hurting traffic.

Overall we had a fantastic trip. The criowds were not that bad and it was great to do a non summer visit and avoid the heat.

 

[Cyrano]

Moving to trip reports

 

[Ds4angels]

"There is so much to do and see at WDW, but you have to be ready to pass by your "favorite" ride if its too busy and say, "next time."
*******************************************

Well, it seems so many people forget, that alot of the crowd going to WDW, are people like us. It's been 8 years since we've been to see the mouse. I would love to see the averages of AP people/once a year visitors/ visitors that go maybe once every 5 years. That's where so many different views of crowd levels, etc, come from . Some people don't have the luxury of "next time". Those 100 people waiting in line forever? That you think are crazy? This might be their only chance to ride that ride, like, ever. Or in the next 5years, 10 years. Think about it. For all of you that get to go whenever you please.... think if your next trip would be the last trip to WDW for the next 10 years. You would so totally look at the parks differently.

I have friends that live in Florida that laugh at us. You're going for 10days???? And not doing anything BUT disney????

Um yes. And we'll probably be there from rope drop to closing, 9 out of those 10 days. We want to "gorge" ourselves of disney. So maybe it will keep us sedated so we're not longing to go back all the time. So, if it IS another 5+ years before we head back, we'll have done disney till we're so tired of it, the trip will "last us" ..... (although I doubt it)

I have to agree w/ you on this. We hadn't been in years and I really wanted to get the most out of this trip b/c I didn't know if I could talk DH into another Disney trip for many more years. (I'm working on him for taking the camper and enjoying a longer stay) So yes people are going to wait in long lines b/c there might not be a "next time" for them.

We too were shocked at the amount of people there in February, much more then in years past. But I guess many were taking advantage of the good deal like we got

 

[starjazz]

I am sympathetic toward the OP. Crowds suck. And it sounds like you had a rough go of it.

Just to clarify for newbies (like me) that are reading this, EasyWDW had that week at 6's and 7's except Tue/Wed which were 5's. The 16th was listed as a 9. Crowds on those kind of days will be rough.

Actually, Josh has a look at 2/16 in the late afternoon in one of his recent posts on his website (easywdw.com). Looks brutal. Just brutal.

 

[vcgirl925]

We are still here and agree with OP. Friday at MK was horrible. We have been spending lots of time at the resorts this trip. Will try to never do Feb again as its been too cold and or rainy for much pool time.

Sun, Mon, Tues, and Wedneday the weather was beautiful and in the 80's. We swam every day. Thursday cold and rainy, friday and saturday got chilly. We left saturday night and it was cold and i heard it was getting colder. No more Feb for us either due to crowds. The weather was fine.

 

[vcgirl925]

What you describe reminds me of our Christmas Week 2011 Trip.

The crowds were massive and because the rides were in use so much they were often closed.
It was always wall to wall packed without breathing room.
I can say we will never go back at Christmas week. Overall, we did have a great vacation.


But after that Christmas experience I will forever compare crowds to that week and as long as they are not like that week, I will be fine.

Perhaps, you should choose a different week to go.

We are returning to June this year and then we are going to switch to last week of March first week of April for a while until the kids are finished with middle school & high school. We know those times are busy but we don't have a choice.

Not that I want my kids to grow up fast but I am looking forward to the day we can go in October again! Our favorite time of year.

I'm with you. We love oct/nov. When i checked the crowd calendars for last week it was fine 4's and 5's. What i saw was a lot more than 4's and 5's. I can compare it to one week we went on spring break. Was not expecting that many people.

 

[vcgirl925]

the week of Presidents Day and the week before is always crowded. We used to go those weeks all the time. I know Massachusetts anda few other states in the Northeast has school vacation that week and another state has the week before off. We used to get to the Mk at rope drop and by 1 pm you couldn't move and everything was a long wait.

Another thing is that I think alot of locals go for the long weekend. My kids told me that a lot of their classmates were out Friday. Disney runs the Fl resident discount for a 3 and4 day pass during the 1st four months of the year and this is the only long weekend besides MLK day they have until Memorial Day.

I think the week after Preidents day week is a good time to go. We are going the week of March 9th. I have no idea how crowded it will be but a lot of Florida schools are on vacation that week.

...and see, crowd calendars had the week after presidents week to be in the 8's and 9's.

http://www.undercovertourist.com/planning/when-to-visit.html

 

[momto3gr8boys]

I am sympathetic toward the OP. Crowds suck. And it sounds like you had a rough go of it.

Just to clarify for newbies (like me) that are reading this, EasyWDW had that week at 6's and 7's except Tue/Wed which were 5's. The 16th was listed as a 9. Crowds on those kind of days will be rough.

Actually, Josh has a look at 2/16 in the late afternoon in one of his recent posts on his website (easywdw.com). Looks brutal. Just brutal.

Wow...I just checked out Josh's look at 2/16 (I had seen his one from earlier in the week and didn't think it looked bad), but this is INSANE! I for one, don't believe I have ever seen Friar Nook's open. I wasn't even sure if it ever did really open!

 

[vcgirl925]

I am sympathetic toward the OP. Crowds suck. And it sounds like you had a rough go of it.

Just to clarify for newbies (like me) that are reading this, EasyWDW had that week at 6's and 7's except Tue/Wed which were 5's. The 16th was listed as a 9. Crowds on those kind of days will be rough.

Actually, Josh has a look at 2/16 in the late afternoon in one of his recent posts on his website (easywdw.com). Looks brutal. Just brutal.

Funny. The week before we left i re-checked undercovertourist.com for crowd calendars and it had 4's and 5's up until friday/sat which was a 9. Now i just check it and they changed it to all 6's. Weird.

 

[Lori77]

I am an avid WDW attendee for over 25 years, and we just returned. It was not as magical as I had hoped. I agree with OP. It was like you were trapped and it was not safe. On the way into MK, my daughter in a stroller was nearly ran over by a scooter because of the amount of people trying to get through both directions near Plaza Restaurant.

Before leaving, I read about the tour groups, and that it would be heavier traffic due to Mardi Gras, but I was not prepared for the chaos. We normally go in September.

The tour groups were very rude. I think we were cut off in almost every ride line so they could stay together, and because they did not speak english, they had no qualms about doing so. Also, it felt like the whole state of Louisana was there to get away from tourists. I have never seen Main Street as packed as when we went on Tuesday. I've been for Christmas and this was far worse.

We were lucky that we had no ride closures, but were disappointed with the longer ride wait times. 45 minutes for It's a Small World is too much for us! We have two little ones, so we did not have to wait for the mountains, ToT, or RnRC, which were over 120 minutes!

Along the week there, I only ran into one or two cast members and characters that went out of their way to be friendly and interact with the kids. Otherwise, most cast members were short, and overwhelmed from the crowds.

We went to 1900 Park Fare for breakfast on our last day. This is usually the highlight of the trip. There were only 5 characters, and they did not spend but maybe one minute at each table. The Alice was not even comparable to the movie, and the food was awful. Not worth the money this time.

I am sad to say, but I think we will wait a few years to go back. It is just not as magical as it used to be. When we go, it will be back in Sept. or another non-peak time.

 

[vcgirl925]

I am an avid WDW attendee for over 25 years, and we just returned. It was not as magical as I had hoped. I agree with OP. It was like you were trapped and it was not safe. On the way into MK, my daughter in a stroller was nearly ran over by a scooter because of the amount of people trying to get through both directions near Plaza Restaurant.

Before leaving, I read about the tour groups, and that it would be heavier traffic due to Mardi Gras, but I was not prepared for the chaos. We normally go in September.

The tour groups were very rude. I think we were cut off in almost every ride line so they could stay together, and because they did not speak english, they had no qualms about doing so. Also, it felt like the whole state of Louisana was there to get away from tourists. I have never seen Main Street as packed as when we went on Tuesday. I've been for Christmas and this was far worse.

We were lucky that we had no ride closures, but were disappointed with the longer ride wait times. 45 minutes for It's a Small World is too much for us! We have two little ones, so we did not have to wait for the mountains, ToT, or RnRC, which were over 120 minutes!

Along the week there, I only ran into one or two cast members and characters that went out of their way to be friendly and interact with the kids. Otherwise, most cast members were short, and overwhelmed from the crowds.

We went to 1900 Park Fare for breakfast on our last day. This is usually the highlight of the trip. There were only 5 characters, and they did not spend but maybe one minute at each table. The Alice was not even comparable to the movie, and the food was awful. Not worth the money this time.

I am sad to say, but I think we will wait a few years to go back. It is just not as magical as it used to be. When we go, it will be back in Sept. or another non-peak time.

I'm sorry your trip was disappointing. But, i'm glad that i'm not the only one who had this perception. CM's were not that friendly. We had ONE that was great. My daughter lost her croc on the dinosaur ride. So the supervisor who retrieved it brought it to us after the ride finished and said "cinderella, you seemed to have dropped your slipper." Then he put it on her foot and said, "perfect fit". That was nice. But other than that....not so much.

 

[cds6133]

I'm sorry your trip was disappointing. But, i'm glad that i'm not the only one who had this perception. CM's were not that friendly. We had ONE that was great. My daughter lost her croc on the dinosaur ride. So the supervisor who retrieved it brought it to us after the ride finished and said "cinderella, you seemed to have dropped your slipper." Then he put it on her foot and said, "perfect fit". That was nice. But other than that....not so much.

I also am just back from a fairly short trip. I would not have picked President's Day weekend, but my DD was participating in a gymnastics meet, so we decided to go on a girls' only trip. I rarely post on these boards, and have seen repeatedly how people go after those who criticize Disney. I adore Disney, and view it as my "Happy Place." Even so, I have to admit that this trip was not as magical as others have been, and I too, am questioning whether I want to return any time soon.

First - the crowds. Because of the meet and some other committments, we weren't able to devote our full time to only the parks. I followed the recommendations on touring plans, and even so, the crowds were too much. Yesterday at the Magic Kingdom, there was a huge line for everything. It was unbearable.

The second issue was cast members. In past trips, I have been amazed at the courtesy and professionalism of all of the Disney cast members we encountered. This remains true for most, but this trip was interracted with a few impatient cast members. As an example, DD and I were trying to get Fastpasses for Under the Sea, and my annual pass was not working. An older male cast member repeatedly ignored me as I asked "Sir, can you please help me?" several times. Apparently he was helping someone else (I didn't realize this). He did eventually help me, but not until he completely ignored me without even making eye contact with me the first three times I asked. A simple, "I'll be with you in a minute" would have been nice.

The third issue was technical glitches. We have been to Disney enough times that this was not a once in a lifetime trip. I approach touring with a fairly flexible attitude, realizing that if we don't get on a ride, there will always be a next time. Even so, with a shorter trip, the technical glitches cut into our touring time and were frustrating. For example, we were stuck on Journey Under the Sea for about 15 minutes on Wednesday. That might not seem like that much time, but when you couple that with the waits, one short ride wound up taking an entire hour of valuable morning touring time.

The worst issue involved Soarin'. We visited Epcot, a recommended park, on Saturday. My perception was that it was not that crowded. We were in the parking lot by 8 a.m., and were the 4th family in line at the turnstiles. The park opened about about 8:45. Unfortunately, the family in front of us had problems with their tickets, which took a bit of time to get worked out. We went through the turnstiles and walked immediately to Soarin'. When we got there, the standby line was posted as 65 minutes and fastpasses were being given out for 11:30. This was just after 9 a.m.!! We did get Fastpasses but that thwarted our plans for the day. Apparently this problem occurred because only one theater was operating at that time, and a large tour group went through the Fastpass line. Sadly for us, we had only limited time to spend at Epcot that day. We finished the other Future World attractions that we wanted to do, but because of the fastpass/Soarin issue, we weren't able to do much in the World Showcase, one of my favorite parts of the parks.

I also found that that the the wait time estimates were off, which is different from my previous experience. Yesterday, we got in line for Buzz Lightyear when the posted wait was 35 minutes. We wound up waiting for about 50 minutes. The woman behind me counted and said that she thought that for every 6 -10 people in the standby line, they were letting about 50 people in the Fastpass line through. Friends of ours get into the TSM line on Thursday when the posted wait time was 110 minutes and they wound up waiting for about 2 1/2 hours. Again, a 25 minute difference might not sound like much, but if you had seen the crowds in MK yesterday, that 25 minutes made a huge difference. We also got stuck watching the same part of Carousel of Progress twice for some reason.

On the plus side, we still had a great time. We stayed at Art of Animation and loved it. The bus service from there was amazing. Disney will always be magical. The question for me whether it is magical enough to justify the time and money. For a short trip, I'm not sure that it is worth it, especially when I follow expert advice, drag my exhausted child out of bed at 6:30 a.m. on vacation to be there before opening, only to get to the parks to stand around and wait because of technical problems.

Please don't think that you are alone in your perceptions. I am right there with you!

 

[vcgirl925]

ITA with the PP.

Also, FP wait times were incredible. The lines for FP return were often times 50 people out from the FP entrance. We even waited in FP lines for upwards of 15-20 minutes. I'm definitely not used to that. I don't think that enforcing the FP return time is working out in their favor.

 

[mmdis]

While this was our first trip in 20 years so we don't have anything to compare it to I booked this week a year ago thinking it would be lower than presidents week. We seemed to be on the same schedule as many of the tour groups and while you try to keep the disney magic it is hard by the end of the week with groups of 100 trying to push in front of you or you have to wait 10 minutes to walk since they are all in a line. It is much different that waiting for a family of 5 or 6 to pass

I think the for first time family overall we did well. We got there early not the first in line but were able to hit the highlights before things got crazy then see the shows or FP rides. I just had to let go and realize that in 7 park days we could not see it all unless we were willing to go for 10 to 12 hours a day that didn't make for a vacation for us.

Knowing that the 16/17th would be super busy on the weekend I had planned lots of pool or water park time and just see a few favorites but since the weather turned we were in the parks for most of days. The crowds were much heavier it just wore on us at the end. We started to get cranky with the line cutters and ride hold ups. It seemed to us that others were cranky also.

Will we go again. ?? We have lots more to see and now know lessons learned. If we don't it will not be because of the crowds it is the cost factor and that there are so many other places we would love to have the kids see and experience.

If we do go I would stay clear of the Holiday weeks and yes pull my kids out of school.