Leaving For WDW in 3 days!!! Anyone know how the crowds have been?

[SARAHANDPARKER]

We are leaving in 3 days for WDW!!! Anyone know how the crowds have been? Any tips for Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party for toddlers? This is our first family vacation where all 5 generations are going!!!
Thank You
Sarah and Parker

 

[bevemjake]

I'm leaving in 3 days too!!

From what I've been reading on the boards the crowds have pretty low. We can only hope they stay that way. I can't wait....crowds or no crowds!!!

 

[SARAHANDPARKER]

We are so excited too!! What hotel are you guys staying at we are at the POLY? I hope you have lots of fun!
Sarah and Parker

 

[anlashokna]

Just got back from the world. Was there 4-11th. Had to bump my trip up a day due to weather that was going to get in the way of travel.

Anyway...extremely light crowds. If that will hold I don't know. I know Free Dining will be kicking into high gear shortly and there was Hanna and Ike probably chasing folks off. Walked onto a lot of rides especially in the morning. Fri at MGM. No wait for Tower of Terror. In fact they couldn't fill the rides. Star Tours was half empty. Saturday I walked right onto Mission Space, Test Track and had a 5 minute wait for Soarin. No fastpasses used. Even won a dream fast pass and never used it! Sunday at MK had no wait for such things as the Haunted Mansion, space mountain etc. Now Monday I went to MK with friends and it was light in the morning, no waits for stuff in fantasy land early in the day and haunted mansion and pirates were a minute or two in line. But as the day went it did pick up quite a bit. Tuesday saw crowds at Epcot picking up. Did still walk onto mission space, test track but hand a 15 minute wait for Soarin later in the morning. Seas with Nemo seemed to be packed. Wed. went to AK and again more people than before. Did walk onto Everest first thing and the safari was about a 15 minute line. And shows were packed.

Hope that helps. I was told my an employee that this was there break from the crowds before the christmas upswing.

 

[newholidayx2]

see you there
im heading down Tues morning

 

[MichelleVW]

We were there last week and it was pretty slow!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

I agree - we were there Sept. 4-8, and we had a wonderful trip! We had one day of on-and-off showers when Hanna dropped by. The rest of the days were pretty darn HOT, but the wait times were wonderful. I think 20 minutes was the longest wait we encountered (except Toy Story Mania) the whole week. The Fast Pass machines weren't even up and running on some rides! Keep in mind, though that we, too, were in the time between Hanna and Ike - on our first day, someone (was tring to) joke with us that we'd never get out of there on Tuesday, since at the time Ike was supposed to be hitting south FL that day. The two storms might have kept people away.

We did MNSSHP, as well. Just being there is fun!! Everyone is so excited, and the park looks awesome. If I had it to do over with my little ones, I'd concentrate completely on catching characters and trick-or-treating and forget the rides alltogether. We did the Alice and the Mad Hatter Treat Trail, and from what I hear there was one in Adventureland, as well (it wasn't on the map). That was a great way to do characters AND candy. Also make sure you see the parade (first one is at 8:15) and Hallowishes (make sure you can see the castle well to get the full effect). Other than that, just go till your little ones give out (mine only made it to Hallowishes, but we were battling the remnants of a stomach bug) and have fun!!

Finally - if you have other generations going that will help you with the little ones, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!! We went this time with just the five of us. We had a ball, but I was soooo much more exhausted after this trip than I was after our extended family trip in June of '07! If they offer to take the kids so that you can go off by yourself, do it!! It'll make it easier to deal with the next meltdown - and face it, they're going to happen in WDW. My kids never sleep so hard as they do when they're there!!

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We are leaving in 3 days for WDW!!! Anyone know how the crowds have been? Any tips for Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party for toddlers? This is our first family vacation where all 5 generations are going!!!
Thank You
Sarah and Parker

How nice for you. My family has 5 generations as well, it is very special. Ours does not all travel toether, but it is nice when we all get together. If I may ask what is the age range?
Mine is---
My kids are 6, 9, and 13
I am 33
My mom is 49
My grandma is 71
My greatgrandma is 96

I remember when I was pregnant with oldest DD hoping that my great-grandma would still be around to see my DD, and I went throught that with each kid. I worried for nothing. She is still doing well, lives on her own. Now I'm hoping she makes it to 100, that would be great!!!

Have a wonderful trip....

 

[dizneydiva2005]

crowds? NONE!!!! At the Magic Kingdom we literally walked on every ride from the 4 pm point at the MNSSHP until Midnight. Not only walk on but the cast members at Peter Pan were happy to see people! There was NO ONE in the line until we walked up and they said about a dozen cars had went through empty!
At Epcot there were short lines at test track- maybe 10 mins. and we waited probably the same time for soaring.

We stayed at Fort Wilderness cabins and the entire campground was only 30% full during the week. The weekend {yesterday} it really filled up.

 

[sandbar]

We just got home last night after being there for a week. Our resort (POR) was packed but we didn't really notice the crowds until we ate at the food court or tried to catch a bus back to the resort at the end of the day. We waited for buses to the parks from POR anywhere from 5 - 20 min. The lines for the rides were up and down. We waited an hour for Soarin' twice (when the wait time sign said 25 min both times). We got our fast pass then got in line both times. I wish we would have just used our fast pass instead of relying on the accuracy of the wait times. Sometimes we practically walked on rides (Haunted Mansion, TOT, Splash Mountain) and the next time we had to wait 20 - 30 minutes) We may have just hit it at the wrong time. A lot of it was just being lucky and getting in line at the right time. LTT, Coral Reef, and 50's PrimeTime were packed for dinner and you needed a reservation. We ate at WCC for lunch and the place was practically empty.
Light crowds or not, I'm sure you'll have a great time!

 

[bluejasmine]

I also will be there in 3 days! Staying at SSR! I cant wait! Got married yesterday now we are just waiting for the honeymoon! LOL! cant wait!

 

[anne0866]

I also will be there in 3 days! Staying at SSR! I cant wait! Got married yesterday now we are just waiting for the honeymoon! LOL! cant wait!

Congratulations on your marriage! Have a wonder*** magical trip!!!:

We are leaving in 3 days for WDW!!! Anyone know how the crowds have been? Any tips for Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party for toddlers? This is our first family vacation where all 5 generations are going!!!
Thank You
Sarah and Parker

Have a great trip - You are so fortunate to have 5 generations of your family! Enjoy!!! Hoping you have a magical trip!!

 

[Maverick Mike]

Congratulations on the wedding! You all are going to have a GREAT time!

On our little podcast on tomorrow's show, we talk with a DISer, Debbie, live from the parks, and she talks about the weather, crowds, and all kinds of stuff!

If you are heading down soon, I would check out our show that comes out tonight at midnight eastern! Just click on the link in my signature, and you can listen while you DIS!

Thanks and have a magical time!

 

[sbrotherton]

Thanks for the little commercial on this...without it, I don't think I would ever have found this. WOW! I LOVED the Music in the Parks podcast.

A Podcaster from where I live! How cool. We leave in less than 2 weeks so I can't wait for the podcast that comes out tonight. Thanks again.

 

[Samantha/NC]

We got back yesterday!!
Most of the rides were walk on--We followed TGM's crowd level days and it was fantastic!! We rode space mountain on Wednesday until we just were tired of it--no lines
they let us stay on splash mountain due to know one waiting. The longest wait was just the walk through the lines to get to the rides.

We had a 10 minutes or les ride for RNR at DHS--Toy Story did get crowded but we went there first--10 minute wait rode it, got fass passes and rode it again and then came back later to use the fass passes!!

HAVE FUN--I miss disney

 

[Lorelai]

We got back yesterday!!
Most of the rides were walk on--We followed TGM's crowd level days and it was fantastic!! We rode space mountain on Wednesday until we just were tired of it--no lines
they let us stay on splash mountain due to know one waiting. The longest wait was just the walk through the lines to get to the rides.

We had a 10 minutes or les ride for RNR at DHS--Toy Story did get crowded but we went there first--10 minute wait rode it, got fass passes and rode it again and then came back later to use the fass passes!!

HAVE FUN--I miss disney

I was reading some other posts that suggested that the Fast Pass lines at TSM were more crowded/chaotic than the stanby lines for the actual ride. Just curious...what is your opinion? Did you ride before getting a Fast Pass because of the crowds?

 

[Samantha/NC]

We went to TSM with the crowd at park opening. We rode and them my hubby and BIL walked right over and got FP and we rode again (stand-by). We came back around 3 and used our FP, by then it was up to a 40 minute wait, but we walked right up to the entrance point for FP user's and merged in and it was probably les tham 5 minutes from that point!!

I WISH I WAS THERE NOW!!!!!!!

 

[Lorelai]

We went to TSM with the crowd at park opening. We rode and them my hubby and BIL walked right over and got FP and we rode again (stand-by). We came back around 3 and used our FP, by then it was up to a 40 minute wait, but we walked right up to the entrance point for FP user's and merged in and it was probably les tham 5 minutes from that point!!

I WISH I WAS THERE NOW!!!!!!!

This is good news because the lines for this have supposedly been crazy. I think that when it opened they were posting afternoon wait times between 90 & 200 minutes! We will follow your lead and go directly there at opening and then grab the FP.