Return of Crowds

[BroadwayHermione5]

We will be in Orlando in the 1st but at Universal. We don't arrive at WDW till the 3rd. We planned this on purpose hoping that UO will be less crowded due to everyone wanting to be at WDW. The one thing I did notice is there is a ton of dining available all of next week. Even on the 1st and 2nd places like Tusker House, Raglin Road, Coral Reef, Cape May etc. have plenty of availability. As of right now, all the usually sold out restaurants at MK like Liberty Tree, Jungle Nav / skipper canteen, Crystal Palace, Diamond Horseshoe and The plaza have availability every day next week at either lunch or dinner if not both. Strange times ahead.

Checked the UOR app just now and ride times are very good. Highest was hagrids at 60 lowest was somewhere in Seuss lane at 5. Most between 15 and 30. When I was there two weeks ago, when we didn’t use express we maybe waited 10 minutes at most

 

[StarrySkye21]

Are the lines low because people are shopping, or are the lines low because less people than anticipated came?

 

[wfjny]

Some locals with AP's might be staying away on 10/1 thinking there will be huge crowds due to the start of the 50th celebration. Lots of Disney marketing hype around the 50th, but honestly they seem to be celebrating something every time we have been there in the past. Those 3rd parties who try to forecast future crowd levels probably were assuming LOTS would be there for the start of the 50th celebration. Forecasts of future event can be wrong for any number of reasons.

I am sure I missed some, but yes, always a celebration

1996 - The Birthday Cake Castle / Disney World 25th
1999 - 2000 - Walt Disney World Millennium Celebration
2001 - The 100 Years of Magic Celebration, Walt Disney’s 100th birthday
2005 - “The Happiest Celebration on Earth” / Disneyland’s 50th anniversary
2006 - 2008 - The Year of a Million Dreams (slightly longer than a year)
2010 - "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day"
2011 - “Let the Memories Begin”
2017 - EPCOT 35th. Instead of a new ride, it was the closing of Ellen’s Energy Adventure
2021 - 2023 - 50th anniversary (18 months)

 

[bsmcneil]

I am sure I missed some, but yes, always a celebration

1996 - The Birthday Cake Castle / Disney World 25th
1999 - 2000 - Walt Disney World Millennium Celebration
2001 - The 100 Years of Magic Celebration, Walt Disney’s 100th birthday
2005 - “The Happiest Celebration on Earth” / Disneyland’s 50th anniversary
2006 - 2008 - The Year of a Million Dreams (slightly longer than a year)
2010 - "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day"
2011 - “Let the Memories Begin”
2017 - EPCOT 35th. Instead of a new ride, it was the closing of Ellen’s Energy Adventure
2021 - 2023 - 50th anniversary (18 months)

It does sort of feel that by always celebrating something, the celebration thing can be overplayed (what is the line I hate from The Incredibles - something like, "If everybody is special, nobody is special"?). I mean, I get it ... and - I dislike it.

 

[Jrb1979]

Are the lines low because people are shopping, or are the lines low because less people than anticipated came?

It's less people then expected. Judging by availability over the next few months it's going to stay low for some time

 

[Disneyfan754321]

Tell me what I'm missing. I am watching the live feed and people are shoulder to shoulder crazy amounts of people in the store... but yet according to the MDE the longest wait time is 45m for Jungle cruise.... and 35 for Test track and 35 for ROTR
Ak is closing soon with 20 min at FOP

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Tell me what I'm missing. I am watching the live feed and people are shoulder to shoulder crazy amounts of people in the store... but yet according to the MDE the longest wait time is 45m for Jungle cruise.... and 35 for Test track and 35 for ROTR
Ak is closing soon with 20 min at FOP

Live feeds can be deceptive, but I suspect today, like every other day for the past 45 days, will end up being not crowded per touringplans data. So far out of the last 45 days, 43 have been crowd level 1, and the other 2 were crowd level 2. Touringplans predicted a crowd level 8 today, I am really curious where they end up. I’m guessing 2.

 

[Leight19]

Live feeds can be deceptive, but I suspect today, like every other day for the past 45 days, will end up being not crowded per touringplans data. So far out of the last 45 days, 43 have been crowd level 1, and the other 2 were crowd level 2. Touringplans predicted a crowd level 8 today, I am really curious where they end up. I’m guessing 2.

Is there a place to find the actual crowd levels for today vs what was predicted? I’ve only seen predicted but new to TP.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Is there a place to find the actual crowd levels for today vs what was predicted? I’ve only seen predicted but new to TP.

Touringplans has historical data. Today’s is not available yet, that will probably pop up around 11 pm tonight or so. You can click on previous days, months and years. It has not gotten above a crowd level 1 in weeks, today may be the first day it does so. Yesterday was predicted at a 4 and was only a 1.

Edit: Here’s the link: https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/historical-crowds

 

[Jrb1979]

Live feeds can be deceptive, but I suspect today, like every other day for the past 45 days, will end up being not crowded per touringplans data. So far out of the last 45 days, 43 have been crowd level 1, and the other 2 were crowd level 2. Touringplans predicted a crowd level 8 today, I am really curious where they end up. I’m guessing 2.

Agreed. It's most likely going to continue for a long while. The pent up demand is over. If the day of the 50th isn't a draw then nothing will.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Agreed. It's most likely going to continue for a long while. The pent up demand is over. If the day of the 50th isn't a draw then nothing will.

I mean, I don’t know what Disney expected here. Constant price increases. Constant service cuts. A “50th” that doesn’t really have jack in the way of new experiences except two lackluster fireworks shows and a ride that they purposefully delayed for 6 months so that they could pretend it was for the 50th. People may have hit their breaking point. Universal in the same time period per touringplans is not as empty, and Covid cases are on the decrease in Florida.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

In EPCOT this afternoon. Crowds are low compared to what Thanksgiving week used to be for example. TP thought a 10.
Cast Members are great too BTW. Everyone friendly and excited to be here.

 

[Leight19]

Touringplans has historical data. Today’s is not available yet, that will probably pop up around 11 pm tonight or so. You can click on previous days, months and years. It has not gotten above a crowd level 1 in weeks, today may be the first day it does so. Yesterday was predicted at a 4 and was only a 1.

Edit: Here’s the link: https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/historical-crowds

Thanks for providing this. I’m I reading right this is part of paid package vs free?

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Thanks for providing this. I’m I reading right this is part of paid package vs free?

Oh, it could be, I have a subscription.

 

[Darklord77]

ell me what I'm missing. I am watching the live feed and people are shoulder to shoulder crazy amounts of people in the store... but yet according to the MDE the longest wait time is 45m for Jungle cruise.... and 35 for Test track and 35 for ROTR
Ak is closing soon with 20 min at FOP

I was thinking the same thing. At one point this afternoon ROTR had a 30 min wait, 7 Dwarfs was 35 min, Splash 10 min. The demand might officially be over for a bit.

 

[shawthorne44]

Agreed. It's most likely going to continue for a long while. The pent up demand is over. If the day of the 50th isn't a draw then nothing will.

As someone with a trip in a few months, this is a happy thought.

 

[gharter]

Are the lines low because people are shopping, or are the lines low because less people than anticipated came?

I wondered the same thing. This afternoon, wait time on rides in MK , even 7DMT was under 50 minutes.
The park still looks reasonably busy, but not what I expected.
Not sure if everyone is there just the the 50th merch and special events, cavalcades, etc and skipping rides? Watch a video of the opening this morning and it looked like a normal day. Everyone was expecting something special for the 50th, and nothing. Don't get that at all. Sure the Disney execs talked last night at the media event. But today is when you have the real crowds and it looks like they were ignored.
OTOH, I can only hope it remains quieter when we are there later this month.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

Hopping to MK was suspended for a time around 4:00 ish.
The longest lines I saw was for Club Cool and Creations LOL

 

[PrincessJasmine88]

Can someone tell me what Touring Plans says for the week of Dec 12 to 19?

 

[focusondisney]

Live feeds can be deceptive, but I suspect today, like every other day for the past 45 days, will end up being not crowded per touringplans data. So far out of the last 45 days, 43 have been crowd level 1, and the other 2 were crowd level 2. Touringplans predicted a crowd level 8 today, I am really curious where they end up. I’m guessing 2.

Since TP crowd levels are based on ride wait times, that might happen. BUT, they don’t account for crowds waiting for cavalcades, food, Photopass or shopping. I was at MK this morning & afternoon. It was hard to make it up & down Main Street. The hub was wall to wall people for cavalcades. People waited hours for food. It wasn’t empty by any means.

And as a PP said, rides were operating at full capacity. There were so many CMs around it wasn’t funny. I haven’t seen that many CM in years.