Questions about Epcot and Festivals

[jbrinkm]

On a weekday (mid-August), what time do you think that things will start to get out of hand at Epcot World Showcase during the festival? i.e. crowds, drinking, etc.

We've mostly thought that for this trip, we'll take a decent break mid-day each day and do early mornings and then evenings, as many do to help with wait times and mid-day heat. Wondering, however, if we should shift that strategy for Epcot because of both the later opening time and the evening "festivities"? We missed most of World Showcase on our last trip because of a festival and crowds, and I really don't want that to happen again.

Should we just stick it out in the heat of the afternoon, trying to find AC and shade where we can in order to actually make it around the world, and then retire early? The additional benefit to that is the next day is our AK day which will be the earliest we have to get up. But I'm not sure if we'll make it through a full August day! Any advice?

 

[gharter]

EPCOT got busier in the evening, but never noticed it out of control except Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and evening.
If park hopping is fully back and the monorail is running, EPCOT could be busy the nights MK closes earlier.

 

[loves to dive]

I've been going to most of the festivals for at least 10 years and really haven't noticed a lot of out of control people. Are there one or two every once in awhile? Yes but even then I haven't really seen any get any worse than the supposedly sober adults at the other parks. It does get crowded the later in the evening and especially on weekends but then seems to slow down again maybe a hour or so before closing.

Do you have littles, middles, teens or no kids? If you have kids and they don't go to bed at 7, I would stick to the early mornings, mid-afternoon breaks then go back early evening or mid-evening. August heat can be brutal, even for me and I'm from Georgia. I tend to go back to the resort sometime between 1 and 3 and back to the parks around 5:30 ish or so. If you have littles, you might not be able to get a lot of park time in the evening if they need to go to bed.

 

[DWillowBay]

I've only seen people out of control 1 time in all the years of festivals. It was a Saturday about 8:00pm. That being said, I wouldn't factor that into your decision-making. Crowd size, yes....but possible rowdy group..not so much.

 

[Kerr84]

All the bloggers say that the midday break is the way to go.

 

[jbrinkm]

Do you have littles, middles, teens or no kids?

Ages 12 & 14, so they're fine staying up. Mornings are harder, LOL, but I'm determined to do rope drop!

When it does get crowded in the evenings, approximately what time would you say that happens on a weekday? Also, is it crowded mostly in WS or also in the front/ride section?

It is so strange how different people have such different experiences. I came to post this question after reading recent trip reports from people who were complaining about the drunk crowds in the evenings.

 

[Farro]

Ages 12 & 14, so they're fine staying up. Mornings are harder, LOL, but I'm determined to do rope drop!

When it does get crowded in the evenings, approximately what time would you say that happens on a weekday? Also, is it crowded mostly in WS or also in the front/ride section?

It is so strange how different people have such different experiences. I came to post this question after reading recent trip reports from people who were complaining about the drunk crowds in the evenings.

No one is going to be able to give exact times of when crowds hit during the weekdays.

Just know that Fridays and Saturdays are more crowded probably starting 5 pm and then growing from there.

At night during food/wine it's normally more crowded in World Showcase.

 

[loves to dive]

There is so much construction going on there that there are a few choke points at the front but, yes, WS does seem to get more crowded. As far as the time it gets crowded, that's hard for me to answer because I seem to have a higher tolerance for what is considered crowded than other people. If I had to guess, I'd say around 7.

As far a reports from people complaining about the drunk crowds, you have to factor in how many people are actually there and then see that maybe you've read max of 10 people complaining about drunks, that's a pretty small percentage. You also have to factor in that some people might think they are seeing drunk people because someone is sick or some one is staggering when it could be a completely different reason. I'm not saying there are not people who do get more drunk than they should but it's not a big frat party.

 

[GAN]

I can't imagine things being very out of control for F&W in mid-August, especially a weekday. This is the first(and hopefully last) year of it starting so early. The thought of eating or drinking heavily that time of year doesn't sound appealing at all. Obviously like any other Festival stay away from weekends and if you're brave and want to avoid crowds go during the day rather than night ...I think most guests will avoid the heat and go when it "cools" off.