May 25-29 Observations

[Remy is Up]

AP holder on property and did the following:
Friday EMH Morning MK
Break from noon to 6
Friday Evening ROL 3 AK FPs
Saturday morning EMH AK
Break from 11-4
Used a FP at Studios for TSM and went to dinner at Yachtsman
Sunday AM Epcot
Break from 1-5
MK evening 3FPs HEA, park open till Midnight
Monday AM No plans sleep in, relax.
Epcot afternoon and evening 3FPs
Tuesday AM- Studios 3FPs

Here is an observation. If you suck it up and go to parks early, use FPs for another park in the evening, you can do anything and everything you would want to do without any waiting. People who plan and do this tend to be the people who complain the least about lines. Example MK AM EMH- 7DMT, Teacups, Pooh done by 8AM, then JC, Splash, POC, HM done by 10AM and couldve done more had we wanted to. But we knew we had FPs for the late night for BTMRR, Space, and Pan, and even that night also did, JC again, Country bears, Buzz, Mermaid, TTA, and COP.
Same for AK..EMH did FOP and done with it by 710, Safari, Everest and had FPs for the evening the Friday before for Navi, Everest, and Safari, and still did chester and dinosaur as well with no waits.

The one thing I have noticed more and more of at Disney which is a bit disappointing is the attitude of the guests. The determination to get where you are going all other people get out of my way. The stroller and wheelchair/Scooter brigades who feel they can just run up peoples ankles and not care. I saw more people with kids forcing them on rides they didnt want to go on or keeping them in parks way too long so noone was having fun. People smoking outside designated smoking areas, throwing trash on the ground, etc. Sometimes its obvious why we cant have nice things. The Cast Members were very pleasant, very nice, and we had convos with some of them. The parks are obviously undergoing a lot of fixing and construction but they were clean and well maintained. Overall decent trip and it didnt rain as much as the forecasters said. It was humid and the parks were rather busy. BUt, having things planned out eliminates the hassles of lines and the heat of the day issues so many deal with. My advice to anyone is still, get out of bed and go and plan in advance. You can do that and still have a ton of flexibility to change plans or do whatever you want while still having must dos planned and not wait in awful lines.

 

[Spencer Wright]

...If you suck it up and go to parks early, use FPs for another park in the evening, you can do anything and everything you would want to do without any waiting. People who plan and do this tend to be the people who complain the least about lines. ...

The one thing I have noticed more and more of at Disney which is a bit disappointing is the attitude of the guests. The determination to get where you are going all other people get out of my way. The stroller and wheelchair/Scooter brigades who feel they can just run up peoples ankles and not care. I saw more people with kids forcing them on rides they didnt want to go on or keeping them in parks way too long so noone was having fun. People smoking outside designated smoking areas, throwing trash on the ground, etc. Sometimes its obvious why we cant have nice things. ...

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. I absolutely agree with your ride strategy. I do it somewhat differently doing mid-day FP, but it is a great tip.

Last trip (August 2017) I found guest behavior really appalling and it seemed to be bottoming out. However I have seen mixed reviews of guest behavior on the board sense then. Unfortunately, the 'stroller and wheelchair/Scooter brigades' phrase may cause some consternation on here, but I totally agree with you. This is especially true with those using Scooter's while on a phone, or honking expecting others to clear the way. I am happy to be mindful and accommodating of strollers and other vehicles, but not yield to them in every instance.

 

[Remy is Up]

Thanks. Wasnt intending to unfairly categorize people so Ill say what I saw was a lot of that. It obviously is not everyone but the large majority especially on the morning dashes to certain rides (7DMT, Frozen, TSM) can be really bad. They have changed the method for FOP. They used to hold at the bridge and CMs would "walk" the crowd to FOP. But, there were a lot of issues with people runnign over one another, I saw several "fights or skirmishes" etc. Now they check everyone at the gate, then methodically check again before letting them on the path to TOL which spreads the crowd and makes sure they are park guests. This allows the faster walkers to separate for the crowds, the strollers and such and I saw absolutely no instances of problems doing it this way. People get impatient going through the added pass checkpoint but it helps scatter the crowd a bit and we made it to FOP by 655 and were on the ride by 7. Apologies again if I offended anyone with the brigade comments.

 

[Airb330]

AP holder on property and did the following:

Here is an observation. If you suck it up and go to parks early, use FPs for another park in the evening, you can do anything and everything you would want to do without any waiting. People who plan and do this tend to be the people who complain the least about lines. Example MK AM EMH- 7DMT, Teacups, Pooh done by 8AM, then JC, Splash, POC, HM done by 10AM and couldve done more had we wanted to. But we knew we had FPs for the late night for BTMRR, Space, and Pan, and even that night also did, JC again, Country bears, Buzz, Mermaid, TTA, and COP.
Same for AK..EMH did FOP and done with it by 710, Safari, Everest and had FPs for the evening the Friday before for Navi, Everest, and Safari, and still did chester and dinosaur as well with no waits.

My advice to anyone is still, get out of bed and go and plan in advance. You can do that and still have a ton of flexibility to change plans or do whatever you want while still having must dos planned and not wait in awful lines.

Agreed 100%. This Memorial Day felt more crowded than previous years, including last year which was Pandora's opening weekend. We also went early, and still managed to get a lot done. By 11AM, MK was getting a little nutty on Saturday, but from 830-11 we managed to do almost all of the headliners with FP+ help of course.

 

[cvjw]

Here now. Actually had a lady on a scooter honk her horn at me yesterday to clear a path so she could speed thru. We were at Hollywood studios and the crowds were thick. She was flying, while honking her horn for people to get out of her way. Always amazed at the level of entitlement on display

 

[heidijanesmith]

Great report! We tour this way too, especially when the kids were with us.

Taking a mid-day break is a must for us. I like touring in the evening, much more enjoyable in the heat.

 

[Stephy811]

We actually had a guy “rev” his double stroller at me and my husband while waiting at RD by the castle for 7dmt. Not in a joking way...in a “I intend to use this to plow you down with my kids in it” way! Purposefully instructing other family members to hang on to the sides of the stroller to form a mini wall people couldn’t get around! It was unbelievable!

 

[Spencer Wright]

We actually had a guy “rev” his double stroller at me and my husband while waiting at RD by the castle for 7dmt. Not in a joking way...in a “I intend to use this to plow you down with my kids in it” way! Purposefully instructing other family members to hang on to the sides of the stroller to form a mini wall people couldn’t get around! It was unbelievable!

Reminds me of the families linking arms and running to FOP.

 

[tex1989]

We left 5/26 after having been there since 5/19. I agree with your observations. The stroller/ECV set was in full force and more than willing to run you over. The other issue was their attitude when told they had to park the stroller and could not bring it into certain areas/ rides. We are not always the early guys but usually plan out FP's to be used by 12/1 PM so that we could get extra if available. The one place we did well was Toy Story Mania. Since it had been down to one track with no FP's during the 30/60 day planning window a lot of people did not have a FP for it but we were able to get same day for it after using the first three. Also were able to ride standby several times because while the que looked terrible no one relized that the inside que was non existing. Basically once inside they gave you glasses and you headed straight to the ride. Most thought after you waited outside once you got in you still had the long line but "surprise" there wasn't one. All three tracks were running the week we were there. Also strangely enough while we got on the ride in under 15 minutes the standby time was posted at 60 minutes at the ride and on the app. Saw this with a lot of the rides it seemed.

 

[Bill West]

I was there the past week also and it was definitely more crowded than expected. As you said, you can get around it a bit. Our strategy is get to park early, do fastpasses mid-morning through early afternoon, do things that handle a lot of people in the height of the day (shows), rides again late at night. There is no reason to wait in long lines in the middle of the day. You can plan around that.

The ECV/scooter crowd wasn't terrible (seemed comparable to other recent times we have gone). I don't want to generalize all people in ECVs either though. In my opinion, at least 80% of them "should" be using them. But we all see the people every day in the parks that really shouldn't. I try to give them the benefit of the doubt, explaining to my family members that every issue doesn't have to be a broken leg or something else easily visible. People can have issues that have no physical manifestation that requires them to ride a scooter. But....there are some that also obviously don't need them, and it seems like these are the ones that act entitled on them. You all know what I mean, I'll leave it at that.

One ginormous complaint I had about our trip that I have never had in the past....incredibly long wait times for Disney buses. And it wasn't just one or two occurrences. On one occasion my party reached the bus stop at PO FQ at 5:15. We did not reach the Animal Kingdom bus drop off until 7:15. On another occasion we showed up to the bus stop just as one was leaving. The next bus showed up about 30 minutes later (not egregious, they say 20 minutes, 30 can happen, I wasn't going to be upset over 10 minutes). The issue was that then we had a crammed bus - we loaded as many people in as a we could - you know the drill. Then we stood there for another 20 minutes without pulling away. Why? Because it was a driver change and the new driver was late....so the total wait ended up being 50 minutes and 20 of them were standing in a cramped bus, not going anywhere. These were the two worst, but it seemed like we were always waiting 25 or more minutes when buses are supposed to come every 20 minutes. Having to wait a little more than 20 some of the time is expected, but is was seemingly every time.

Edit to add on: As far as guest behavior, I agree, it seemed pretty poor a lot of the time. Where this stood out the most was people unwilling to give up seats on the bus....to elderly, and to mom holding sleeping kids....at one point our driver stopped in the middle of the road to make sure one woman holding a child got a seat....good on that driver.

 

[rlk]

During our recent Spring Break trip, we didn't have any issues with unruly strollers or out of control ECV users. We did meet a woman, pushing a double stroller, on our walk from Bay Lake Tower to the Magic Kingdom. She was telling us about her experience at Animal Kingdom EMH. We were a bit surprised at her apparent glee while describing what she said was the 'running of the bulls' to FoP. She proudly told us how she ran people over and had other people jumping over her stroller to get out of her way, all in her attempt to be first on the ride. A goal she said she completed.

 

[peteykirch]

I wish Disney had legitimate size restrictions on strollers. Some of these strollers come with giant off road tires, air suspension, and are ENORMOUS to the point they take up a good portion of space inside the monorail.