Shocked

[goofyernmost]

Me too. I have been going to WDW regularly since 1983 and I have never seen as many people as I had seen this past weekend. The parking lots were full beyond anything I had seen in the past, except possibly when MK was the only show around.

The line for HM was all the way out to almost the middle of Frontierland. The standby sign said...25 minutes. Yea, good luck with that. Epcot was also the busiest I have ever seen it. Admittedly, it was a beautiful weekend with clear blue skies and temperatures in the low 80's with I nice cooling wind from the northwest. Just perfect.

Even Spaceship Earth was using all of the Q line setups. I haven't seen that since Epcot opened.

 

[Albytaps]

Even Spaceship Earth was using all of the Q line setups. I haven't seen that since Epcot opened.

Woah! I remember that. SE has turned into one of my favs because it's been a walk in for the last decade or 2... I hope the crowds die down a bit for the first week of Nov.

 

[goofyernmost]

Woah! I remember that. SE has turned into one of my favs because it's been a walk in for the last decade or 2... I hope the crowds die down a bit for the first week of Nov.

I am actually glad that SE has been rediscovered. I never really was aware of which ride was my favorite but it finally dawned on me that I make it my first and last ride of the visit every time and sometimes more than once. This trip I rode it 4 times. Even the lines moved fast as it is a fast loading ride.

 

[letsgoagainsoon]

I was there from 9/24 until 10/2, I was amazed at the crowds. I guess I must have picked the wrong parks everyday, even though we stayed away from the parks with EMH. We had reservations for Boma and when I asked what the wait time was without reservations, the CM told me it was an hour and a half and that was at 9:00 pm. I dont think I will go back during this time period again, buses were crowded and when I tried to make last minute dining reservations, I was told they had nothing available at the restaurant of my choice or my second choice. However, I must say that any day at Disney is as magical as you make it, despite the crowds, we had many magical moments!!!

We were there the same time and I was thinking geeze the parks aren't crowded at all?? Maybe I picked the "right" parks, thank goodness! The only park that did seem crowded was DHS, and TSM fastpasses were gone by 10:30 and a 65 minute wait at that time. I think that ride will always be VERY busy because it is one of the few rides at that park.

And, as far as taking kids out of school, districts have many different policies, ours gives us a legal 10 days absence for vacation with preapproval by the principal.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I'm here right now and don't see the crowds.

 

[mco-missy]

I'm here right ow too and don't see the crowds either-just got back from MK less than an hour ago. Buzz had a 20 minute line at 6pm, same for Big Thunder Moountain. Even Peter Pan had only a 35 minute wait late in the afternoon. Guess it depends on what park on what day and what your idea of crowded is.

 

[Scrappy_Tink]

Problem for us is that my DS is in middle school.....principal does NOT excuse vacations. If we took 3 or 4 days off he would get zeros for each day and fail his quarter. We think vacations are important too. We just go when our schedules match up to theirs. I am not slamming anyone else. But we think that school is more important than Disney.

I agree, which is why I checked with the principal and counselor first. I think it helps living in a military community, where families often need to take vacations between deployments and such.

 

[budbeerlady]

REASON #500 why I love the Disboards..We go from talking park crowds, to talking about taking kids out of school , to criticizing parenting skills to debating the education of the USA vs. Any other country..LOL

Dd has fall break, when we last went in October we were VERY suprise how many schools were out on fall break. It was HOT and busy, still fun but unexpected. She is off for 3 days in the 2nd week of November, we might try that date next time for a change up. (The same kids might be off school again from October, LOL!)

 

[MarkyMouse]

We were shocked to have waits of less than 10 min for Peter pan, big thunder and splash around 10:30-11:00 am yesterday. Even took picture of the 5 min standby sign at splash. Lines never got long as usual for this week all day. But toon town was packed.

 

[Melanie230]

My kids were in school for one week before we pulled them out for a week at Disney. School is a priority for us, along with family, finances & work.

A Disney trip in September the most responsible decision for us. I'm sure all the people at Disney right now with you took all that into consideration when they booked their trips.

Sorry it's busier than you expected, but there's no reason to get huffy with people who pull their kids out of school

Ok...but for the record...I wasn't getting huffy with anyone. I just asked what happened to school.

 

[Melanie230]

I'm curious if the OP is on vacation with her kids, or is this a parents only trip for you.

We were with our children.

 

[Melanie230]

Exactly. But it's the OP who appeared concerned about other people pulling their children out of school making for higher crowds than she expected and setting up the responses received.

I wasn't concerned. I asked...What happened to school? We were in Disney last year same time. We had about 1/3 the crowd.

 

[Melanie230]

Updating to say that Tuesday-Friday the crowds were great. Not bad at all. Much more like the year prior. I couldn't get over the crowds, Thursday-Monday. It was unreal. I have to say though that talking with other Disney people in the hotel, in line, etc we all had the same topic. This year wasn't as magical. It was sad actually. We encountered several rude employees. Something we didn't ONCE encounter last year. I was very disappointed, and thought it was sad that it wasn't just us that noticed it. Our friends came with us and it was their first visit. They encountered it as well. I am not sure what the change was. I will post a trip report and include some examples. Other than the rude employees and the HUGE crowd the first part of the week...it was a lot of fun!

 

[madge]

First week of Oct and the park is Packed. I can't believe the number of kids here. What happened to school?

school was closed. at least it was in central Kentucky.

we just got home today .. didn't find crowds to be bad at all! we went to Epcot and the MK a couple of different days. Very short waits

 

[smidgy]

In defense of the OP, she was only "surprised". in years past, peole would pull their kids out of school to go at the less crowded times. then, as dif. school districts changed their schedules and more people home schooled, those folks felt lucky to be able to go at the less crowded times withoutpulling thier kids out of school.
now, it seems, there really AREN'T any dead time anymore. and the OP was surprised.
the first time we went in sept, there were few families with school aged kids (but TONS of families with strollers!!) going every sept. after that, we noticed more and more families with school aged kids
(it's just hubby and me).
no more dead times. just crowded, and "not so " crowded!

 

[Angel Ariel]

I'm not commenting on taking kids out of school or anything else..just this comment:

PS. I agree with the poster who said that it's more about funding than education. schools frown on taking your kids out cause they lose the bucks.

Those "bucks" make a difference in how the school is able to educate every child. I agree, actually, that each parent knows their child best (generally speaking, anyways - there are those that refuse to see anything negative in their child ever, but that's neither here nor there to this conversation).

BUT..that money lost can add up, quickly. I say this being a teacher who has worked in a school where my budget was less than $175 for an entire year. Attendance was a HUGE problem in the school, one of the reasons why AYP wasn't being passed, and when you have such little money in the first place, any amount you lose does make a difference.

For those teachers, losing the money is affecting how they can educate children. Maybe not in all school districts, maybe not in the district of the person I quoted even - but the situation does exist, and it's far more prevalent than it should be.

 

[626ish]

I have to be careful planning around school, as well. But not because of the kids... I teach! XD. And at least our little section of West TN is out for fall break this coming week.

 

[bas71873]

Updating to say that Tuesday-Friday the crowds were great. Not bad at all. Much more like the year prior. I couldn't get over the crowds, Thursday-Monday. It was unreal. I have to say though that talking with other Disney people in the hotel, in line, etc we all had the same topic. This year wasn't as magical. It was sad actually. We encountered several rude employees. Something we didn't ONCE encounter last year. I was very disappointed, and thought it was sad that it wasn't just us that noticed it. Our friends came with us and it was their first visit. They encountered it as well. I am not sure what the change was. I will post a trip report and include some examples. Other than the rude employees and the HUGE crowd the first part of the week...it was a lot of fun!

Can you post a link when you do that? We leave on Thursday (14th) and crowd calendars look good so far. Went the first weekend of Oct 2 years ago and it was awesome. I'm hoping for more the same for the 14th though 18th. I purposely avoided the Columbus Day holiday and free dining in hopes the crowds would thin. We shall see and we'll have fun no matter what. I am taking DD7 out of school for 3 days but this might be the last year I do that? For whatever reason, 2nd grade seems to have been a HUGE leap in homework, studying, etc. We are taking work along, but EEK....she's missing a spelling test (which I knew she would) and a quiz on maps. We'll be doing some homework/studying on the plane ride to and from .

 

[Shmily1]

No actually my children are in year round school and are on their 3 week break. School is a priority in our family. Disney is great but we plan our trips around their school schedule not the other way around.

Agreed! And yes it was packed at MK on Friday! I was wondering the same thing about why so many children there. I had only one and he was only 3 so not old enough for school yet.

 

[kglenn]

I don't recall ever having a fall break but it seems multiple schools around us now have them as well as more year round schools are options Homeschooling has definitely gotten bigger since I was in school as well... neither are bad things at all just new to me!