So are these wait times the new norm for a 5?

[Mommy2Corinne]

We are at MK today, and I've been shocked by the wait times. Are these the new norm, even during a slow period in January? Easy WDW had MK listed as recommended park with an overall crowd level of 5. Was the park more crowded than expected? Or are these wait times FP+ normal?

At around 2 this afternoon:
Pirates - 65 mins
Haunted Mansion - 75 mins
Big Thunder - 85
Peter Pan - 85
7DMT - 100

Most other rides were 45-55 mins. I'm not gonna lie. These wait times have been much longer than I had hoped for.

Plus, it was *freezing* this morning, so I'm kind of shocked the weather hasn't scared some people away.

Thoughts?

 

[hopeful4fl]

We were there second week of Jan, and experienced similar wait times. I think there is no longer a slow period.
With multiple rides in HS and Epcot closed, MK has taken the brunt of crowds and it shows in the wait times.
We had FP for the rides we really wanted, so impact was not too bad. I think Disney needs to come up with a solution for this. We were shocked at the wait times even during the extended hour.

 

[monkyby87]

We were there second week of Jan, and experienced similar wait times. I think there is no longer a slow period.
With multiple rides in HS and Epcot closed, MK has taken the brunt of crowds and it shows in the wait times.
We had FP for the rides we really wanted, so impact was not too bad. I think Disney needs to come up with a solution for this. We were shocked at the wait times even during the extended hour.

The only solution is to somehow encourage people to not go to the parks. Disney World has just become to big and popular.

 

[kaybird]

2 P.M. - 4 P.M. is about the peak of park activity, so sounds likely. They alter wildly, so keep checking lines.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

MK will not have another slow day until the rides begin opening back up in other parks. The other parks have very reasonable crowds right now.

 

[Alesia]

I think Disney needs to come up with a solution for this.

Why on earth would Disney want to come up with a solution for success??? The entire goal of any business is to have more demand than supply.

 

[eastendlights]

Those are longer than I would have expected. I was happy to see crowd level numbers at 4 and 5 for our trip next month-but now not so much with waits like those.

 

[Mommy2Corinne]

2 P.M. - 4 P.M. is about the peak of park activity, so sounds likely. They alter wildly, so keep checking lines.

Almost 5:30 now. Space Mountain is at 70, Dumbo is at 70, PP is at 80, and 7DMT is at 100. People Mover has a line that is wrapped around outside the ropes stretched to the left into Tomorrowland. Eeeek.

 

[eastendlights]

Eeeek is right!

 

[neile45]

we were there last week, we had a couple 1 and 1 2 day. The wait times for the "big" rides those days were at an hour (except for TSMM), which was 75 minutes. We got to the parks early and were able to get to ride the "big" rides before it was crowded, which was nice, with little to no wait. On the 5 and 6 days, the wait times were similar to what you saw.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

We were there in May on days that were rated at a 2-3 crowd level, and those were the average wait times. We just did everything with FastPasses, basically.

I miss the days when I lived in Florida and had an AP. From about 2007 until 2010, we could go on the average weekday and hardly wait for anything! 10-20 minute waits were the norm.

 

[loves to dive]

Were those actual wait times or posted wait times? It's a fact that the posted wait times can often be off, by a lot. For that time of day it's not surprising to me. I've never looked at a crowd calendar so I can't answer about what they recommend.

 

[Dis703]

I think the wait times can get long at certain times of the day regardless of crowd level. If it was like that all day long (and actual times not just posted) then I'd say that was probably more than a 5 crowd level. Unless it's changed drastically in just a few months. We've experienced occasional long wait times like that when we travel during average to low-average crowd levels, but it's never been like that all day long.

ETA: But I also wonder if with the cold weather people are less inclined to mill about and hang out outdoors and more are just getting the rides done and getting out of the park. That could drive the wait times up for a bit.

 

[cvjw]

We were at Disney the first week of January, where Easy WDW had some of the days as 3's. They were most certainly not crowd level 3's - the parks were slammed.

I just don't trust the crowd calendars anymore - I don't think anyone has a handle on just how big the Disney crowds are now

 

[DIS_MERI]

Some of the standby times are totally off base. Twice last week (Mon and Tues), I got in an "80 min" standby line for RnR and was off the ride in 30 minutes....and none of the touring plans crowd levels were accurate. Mon was supposed to be a 10, I doubt it was a 5. We went to all 4 parks on Tuesday and the only lines of significance we were in were the 30 mins for RnR and 30 mins for 7DMT at 935pm (posted wait was 60 min). Of course, it was pretty chilly Mon-Wed.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

Why on earth would Disney want to come up with a solution for success??? The entire goal of any business is to have more demand than supply.

Because they need people to go to their other parks. I know plenty of people who are starting to only visit MK when they go to WDW. And that means they are spending more time at Universal, Sea World, or Busch Gardens.

Were those actual wait times or posted wait times? It's a fact that the posted wait times can often be off, by a lot. For that time of day it's not surprising to me. I've never looked at a crowd calendar so I can't answer about what they recommend.

Just checked reported wait times on Lines. At 5:20, Jungle Cruise had a 55 minute posted wait. Their actual wait was 22 minutes. At 8:10 7DMT had 70 minute posted wait, but someone reported an actual wait of 20 minutes.

That said, the Little Mermaid had a 45 minute wait this afternoon, which is about 30 minutes too long for me.

 

[Jax1023]

I think a lot of people from the east coast may have come early/ gotten stuck due to the blizzard which may be increasing the crowds. Stuck in Florida? Might as well spend another day at the magic kingdom!

 

[MainMom]

I think a lot of people from the east coast may have come early/ gotten stuck due to the blizzard which may be increasing the crowds. Stuck in Florida? Might as well spend another day at the magic kingdom!

This was my first thought as well!

 

[AngiTN]

We were there second week of Jan, and experienced similar wait times. I think there is no longer a slow period.
With multiple rides in HS and Epcot closed, MK has taken the brunt of crowds and it shows in the wait times.
We had FP for the rides we really wanted, so impact was not too bad. I think Disney needs to come up with a solution for this. We were shocked at the wait times even during the extended hour.

They've raised prices but that doesn't seem to make a difference

Not sure what else they would bother to do. Not like corporate is going to complain about success.

We go most often with higher crowd levels and have a fine time. It's very easy to find lines with reasonable waits

 

[RachaelA]

Those waits are longer then we saw last month in early December. That's just crazy to me!