Mardi gras madness

[SwanVT2]

Visited MK today. It was so busy. We did thunder fp, tea cups, carousel, haunted fp, lunch, splash mt and that was it! People on top of people. A 95 minute wait for Mickey upon leaving the park. The heat for us Vermonters was tough. I am so glad we had a plan of attack. I just can't imagine doing MK without a plan. 70 minutes for splash mt. No thanks!

 

[bbak30]

The crowds are insane. Never expected this. And for it to be so hot too--soooo disappointed with the way this entire trip is turning out. We were here for Mardi Gras 2014 and it was nothing like this.

 

[SwanVT2]

The crowds are insane. Never expected this. And for it to be so hot too--soooo disappointed with the way this entire trip is turning out. We were here for Mardi Gras 2014 and it was nothing like this.

How long have you been here for? We got here yesterday. I hope by tomorrow with the princess marathon and mardi gras over it won't be so bad.

 

[GovieMom]

Josh at Easywdw rated today as a 5. Also showed MK as being one of the best (green) park days. Sure would hate to see the other three.

 

[hakepb]

Looks like a lot of people left

Earlier (1p) space was 120, HM and Pirates was 55

Now (5:30p) space is 70, HM and Pirates are 30
(Yes, Splash is 70)
BTMM has been around 40, so it seems like a fairly average overall day for MK.

 

[SwanVT2]

Well the hard part for us was with a 4 year old, and even getting to the park early, the lines for rides between fast passes were just too long. My DH does not want to return to MK during this trip. We will do the remaining parks but it makes me sad my DD will miss some other rides she'd love.

 

[tiggerfan6]

We were at the MK too yesterday, it was our last day. Our 1st time going during our February break. If yesterday would have been our 1st day, we would have been super disappointed. We arrived on the 21st and crowds were fair.

 

[BigredNole]

This is the problem with people relying on fictional crowd planners. They can throw any number out they want just to get people to click on their site for ad revenue. The fact of the matter is no one there planned for everything. Princess Marathon this past weekend. It is Mardi Gras week leaving much of Louisiana traveling. It was the Daytona 500 on Sunday leaving those people to make more plans to go to Disney World. MANY northern schools are off on Winter Break.

There is no slow time any more. If you want to have an idea of what the crowds will be like, search all possible aspects. Marathon + Mardi Gras + Daytona 500 + Northern Winter Break = Massive Crowds.

 

[SwanVT2]

This is the problem with people relying on fictional crowd planners. They can throw any number out they want just to get people to click on their site for ad revenue. The fact of the matter is no one there planned for everything. Princess Marathon this past weekend. It is Mardi Gras week leaving much of Louisiana traveling. It was the Daytona 500 on Sunday leaving those people to make more plans to go to Disney World. MANY northern schools are off on Winter Break.

There is no slow time any more. If you want to have an idea of what the crowds will be like, search all possible aspects. Marathon + Mardi Gras + Daytona 500 + Northern Winter Break = Massive Crowds.

When I found out about Mardi gras (I am in VT so it is not on my radar), i had already booked FP and they were used up on our other days. I asked around on Disboards and was reassured it wouldn't be that bad. Don't get me wrong, we still had fun. It just isn't the MK I remember as a kid, or even 10 years ago when my DH and I would travel in February (our winter break in VT is a week after the other New England schools due to VT Town Meeting day) and we would just walk onto rides.

 

[BigredNole]

Yes, the days of walking onto rides are over. Disney has found ways to take away the slow times. They have teams of people that search for times when people are off to get them to WDW. This is why the South American tour groups are all over the place in January, February, and March. There will be few and far between crowd levels of 5 from years past. What was a 5 10 years ago is now a 9. Also, not to take away the knowledge of the people on a forum, but simply asking around a forum will not give accurate data either. I only listed the 4 things I knew would increase crowds well beyond a 5. I am sure there may be 2-3 other reasons as well.

 

[SwanVT2]

Yes, the days of walking onto rides are over. Disney has found ways to take away the slow times. They have teams of people that search for times when people are off to get them to WDW. This is why the South American tour groups are all over the place in January, February, and March. There will be few and far between crowd levels of 5 from years past. What was a 5 10 years ago is now a 9. Also, not to take away the knowledge of the people on a forum, but simply asking around a forum will not give accurate data either. I only listed the 4 things I knew would increase crowds well beyond a 5. I am sure there may be 2-3 other reasons as well.

Yeah, I knew Disboards was not perfect. Thanks for the info. What a shame.

 

[MommaBerd]

Well the hard part for us was with a 4 year old, and even getting to the park early, the lines for rides between fast passes were just too long. My DH does not want to return to MK during this trip. We will do the remaining parks but it makes me sad my DD will miss some other rides she'd love.

Not sure what your trip looks like, but maybe DH will cool down and change his mind. Sometimes at the end of a tiring day we lose perspective. Do you have hoppers? If yes, you and your DD could always let him stay at the resort and you go back one evening. Hopefully the crowds will thin a little for the rest of your stay!

 

[SwanVT2]

Not sure what your trip looks like, but maybe DH will cool down and change his mind. Sometimes at the end of a tiring day we lose perspective. Do you have hoppers? If yes, you and your DD could always let him stay at the resort and you go back one evening. Hopefully the crowds will thin a little for the rest of your stay!

No hoppers but I am toying with the idea of DD and I going solo the last day. Of course with Epcot flower festival there is more to see there.

 

[cmarsh31]

We did MK on Sat & Sun of President's weekend (more dictated by 1st timers and the fact that I did NOT want to be at MK on President's Day) - and my DH said no more MK. By the end of the week, we had a fabulous day on Friday at MK (5K day) and then on Saturday (10K race day), we were using the Express Bus from HS to MK (to walk back to the Contemporary and avoid the bus-crush when HS closed). My last minute plan was to send him back to the room with my DS and hit a few rides with my DD (grabbed a FP on the bus and saw there were more options) - he actually wanted to come with us and we had a great end of vacation! Make the plans (and include him) but give him the option to avoid if he's done We thought the crowds overall on the 1/2 Marathon weekend were visibly lower than the weekend before for President's Weekend. Either way, the lack of rain that we've experienced in October (monsoons) and the HOT HOT HOT when we went in August, more than made up for the crowds! We'll deal with President's Week from now on!

As a note - MK was using CMs for crowd-control on Sunday 2/19 - keeping people walking on the right over bridges etc. I spoke to one and she said 72k people!

 

[ppjluvsdvc]

Well since we went one year - probably 2012 and our break in Massachusetts and Mardi Gras fell at the same time, We said never again at Mardi Gras time. I now always check before going at Mardi Gras. You will have it on your radar now that you have experienced it. I hope that you do try to go back to MK later in the week because I do think it will have calmed down by Thursday and Friday. Enjoy the hotel and the other parks!!

 

[dreiwhit]

Wow! We went this same week in 2016, and it was nothing like you are describing. But, I checked the calendar, and Mardi Gras in 2016 was on Feb 9. Maybe that's the difference?

 

[disnut8]

Wow! We went this same week in 2016, and it was nothing like you are describing. But, I checked the calendar, and Mardi Gras in 2016 was on Feb 9. Maybe that's the difference?

Mardi Gras is dependent on when Easter falls as Mardi Gras is the day before Ash Wednesday (which is today as I post this). Mardi Gras is a week where not only Louisiana schools are off for the whole week but the surrounding states also give time off. When I went to the University of Southern Mississippi, there were no classes for that week and I was quite surprised. And since all that happens in the same area as Disney World, people are going to want to have fun away from New Orleans.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Mardi Gras is dependent on when Easter falls as Mardi Gras is the day before Ash Wednesday (which is today as I post this). Mardi Gras is a week where not only Louisiana schools are off for the whole week but the surrounding states also give time off. When I went to the University of Southern Mississippi, there were no classes for that week and I was quite surprised. And since all that happens in the same area as Disney World, people are going to want to have fun away from New Orleans.

Mobile, AL has a big Mardi Gras day celebration, so they have off as well. For the record Mardi Gras is 2/13 next year, for anyone looking that far ahead

 

[bumbershoot]

Well since we went one year - probably 2012 and our break in Massachusetts and Mardi Gras fell at the same time, We said never again at Mardi Gras time.

so it's not something new.

But, I checked the calendar, and Mardi Gras in 2016 was on Feb 9. Maybe that's the difference?

Of course. When weeks have many different things going on it takes the crowds to a different level. So MG on 2/9 is going to be different than MG after Princess and Daytona 500 and mid-winter break (that's what my area calls it) and etc etc etc. WDW isn't about just one area. Every school district (sometimes every school) in the country might be on a different break, and if there are enough of them going when you're going it's going to increase crowds. Not to mention, if YOU have a break that's allowing you to go, that means there are likely other people who have breaks that are allowing them to go.

 

[kldownunder]

Yes yesterday was very crowded at MK. Today is not anything like yesterday. Today was our last day of a nine day trip. Overall very busy with Presidents Day, Run Disney, Mardi Gras and Flower and Garden. This morning was awful at Epcot but that was to be expected with F&G. We had no choice to run over there early since we are flying out tonight.

Honestly with all that was going on, with an efficient use of FP+ we got a lot done. One day we used 10 FP's in MK.