MK is very crowded today

[Sleeping Becca]

My first thought was, what does Tour Guide Mike say?

I thought it was pretty harmless to post today's pick, at 4pm my time.

Now tommorrow or the day after......not so much. TGM's advice is safe with me.

 

[irisbud]

Hmmm...I wonder why so crowded today?

I only say this because we were just at WDW Th-Sun and we walked on or nearly walked on almost everything in all four parks, including Splash, BTMRR, Pirates, M:S, and KS. The longest we waited was for TSM. 20 minutes at 10AM on a morning EMH day. We just walked up and got spots for fireworks and SPectro (and no we didn't shove in front of others or take spots people had been holding). We saw the 11 PM Spectro on Th. We walked up and took a spot on Main Street right across from the cineam at about 10:40. There was 20 ft of open space on either side of us until 10:55. It was like that all up and down the street. I thought it was wierd that it was that uncrowded. We went over July 4th a few years ago and it was a mad house.

Hope your waits get better OP.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Hope your waits were better thruout your day OP!!!

 

[PirateD]

I can totally sympathize! We recently experienced a Monday at the MK in June based on UG recommendations and TGM. We were surprised at how extremely crowded it felt. Usually the crowds don't bother me, but they did that day (I think it happened to be extremely hot too!). All of our other days (before and after) at the MK and other parks seemed less crowded than we expected, so I hope you find the same to be true on your trip. Have a great time!

 

[serene56]

I think I should reconsider my MK on a Monday-although it will be the last week in Sept.

I was basing the decision on the tour books out there.

Ya think Epcot?

 

[Anglefan]

Do not use UG for best/worst park. You could pick one out of a hat better. TGM is best at one thing and that is it.

 

[cneiniowa]

Ok Disney veterns......who is Mike and how do I find his tour guide. Come on.....spill it!

 

[disneyfantotheend]

His ad is at the top of the page or you could just go to www.tourguidemike.com

 

[cneiniowa]

Thanks!!!!! How is it possible that I missed that, I've only been obsessed with this board for a solid 2 months.

 

[IndySam]

Just looking at Touring Plans, and they have the Magic Kingdom as the best park for the next 4 mondays.

I believe their logic is that it's good to go to a park the day after EMH. MK has evening EMH on Sundays. Therefore, Touring Plans suggests going on Mondays. I have no idea if their logic is sound or not.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Weird, Touring Plans says Monday is the best day for MK when I'm there in August.

Anyways, to the OP, hope the crowds ease a bit for you, especially later in the evening then you can pump out some attractions in a hurry.

IMHO it's important to note the time the OP posted--1:21 p.m. Even in a preferred park (and I would've preferred MK today, too, for the reason IndySam mentioned), the standby wait for an E attraction like Splash is going to be substantial at that time of day. In fact, given what UG estimates the standby wait to be for Splash on a "9" day (85-94 minutes), that wait seems relatively low.

(Of course, I'm sure it didn't make OP's wait feel any shorter. )

 

[duffy]

IMHO it's important to note the time the OP posted--1:21 p.m. Even in a preferred park (and I would've preferred MK today, too, for the reason IndySam mentioned), the standby wait for an E attraction like Splash is going to be substantial at that time of day. In fact, given what UG estimates the standby wait to be for Splash on a "9" day (85-94 minutes), that wait seems relatively low.

(Of course, I'm sure it didn't make OP's wait feel any shorter. )

Good point! I find that between 11 am and at least 2 pm are the hottest, most crowded times to be in any park.

If you have small kids and are staying nearby, this is a great time to head back to your hotel for a pool break.

If you don't want to do that, this is a time to go to the less popular attractions, eat lunch in a resort hotel, etc. Not go to one of the headliner rides.

 

[Tiger926]

We have been coming every July for 9 years straight - at least 10-15 days as we are DVC, and we haven't seen it this bad in awhile. MK was absolutely ridiculous yesterday - wait times were all off. Disney usually adds time, but in this case, they were all behind in wait times.

The student tour groups were totally out of control in terms of sheer size - it seemed that every tour group was there and going on attractions all at the same time.

It was very hot and crowded, but this was bearable. It was the sheer crowd sizes yesterday that was annoying - people were wandering around, grumpy and just out of sorts. Despite this, we had a fab day! Got the kids' haircuts (traditional) at Barber Shop, and watched the parade from the garage start! This is a favourite trick of ours.

Like I said, despite many people on here assuming that the summer is so crowded, it has not been the past 5 years or so. Sunday for instance at Epcot, was absolutely dead. You could walk on anything, and at one point, we were the only family walking by the dancing fountains in front of Mouse Gear - there was no one there!

Today, we are staying away from MK as we will be there tomorrow for DH's birthday.

Good luck to those going to MK this week as it's very busy, Tiger

 

[Wait Watchers]

Yeah, 1-4 pm on a hot summer day, average wait for Splash mtn is going to be 80-90 minutes.

As for the times not getting updated, Disney has been having problems with their internal tip board going down. And of course, people sometimes game the system (hold the red card until they ride again later) which messes it up.

You gotta get the FPs for a ride like Splash mtn and use them wisely. (Tom Sawyer, Country Bear, Enchanted Tiki room, POTC (which is usually <25 minutes IN AN AIR CONDITIONED QUEUE!), etc.

 

[CourtNut]

We were at MK yesterday as well. It was crowded, but the crowds fell in line with my expectations for a summer day at DW. We had been spoiled the previous couple of days with lower than expected crowds at DHS, Epcot, and BB.

As far as the fastpass question: We arrived at the park around noon and our first stop was splash mountain. We grabbed a fast pass with return time of 2:30. Had lunch, headed over to pirates (posted 20 min. wait, but actually only 10 min); grabbed a fast pass for BTMRR (return time at 3:35). Later on in the day we decided to ride splash again so went back to grab another fast pass. It was about 7:00 pm when we got the fast pass (with return time of 10:35).

My point in typing all of that out was that even though it was crowded, fast passes were definitely still available throughout the day. Wait times on SM and BTMRR were posted as 80 min. both times we were over in that area. I've learned that some people tolerate waiting in lines that long (like my parents who waited in line for 90 min. on Sat. for Toy Story while we hit up every other ride in DHS), but I'll choose fast pass any time!

All the other rides we hit up had very little wait despite the crowds. In fact the biggest wait we had all day was riding the boat to and from the parking lot.

To the OP, enjoy the rest of your vacation!

 

[MOM POPPINS]

Thanks for posting. I figured fast passes were still available and also the return time was not so far off. So I am still curios why they choose not to fast pass.

It always amazes me to see so many people in stand by line when fast passes are available. One time at Animal Kingdom the fast pass return time was even closer than actually standing in line yet people were still going on...The return time was like 11:45 or the stand by line was 55 minutes and the time 11:00... sometimes I just wonder. We got our fast passes then went and ate and came back to ride.

By the way this is the only time I have actually seen it play out this way but never the less fast pass is the best!

 

[TinkerLily]

You could always start a rumor in line about the Jonas Brothers being over in Fantasy land
that should clear the line out quickly!

Oh my gosh, too funny. My friend and I did that one time about 20 years ago at a club in New York City, in line for the bathroom, a very long line for the bathroom, we started talking about Tom Cruise being on the dance floor, and sure enough we got to move up in line as everyone else cleared out.