Summer crowds changing?

[glocon]

Here now. At DS on Saturday and EP and AK yestday. DS a madhouse, but it was Saturday. EP And AK yesterday, not bad at all. This is our first July/Aug trip and expected far worse. Now if only the afternoons weren’t so rainy...

 

[WEDWDW]

I agree that in the parks they were not an issue at all- very well behaved. But I happened to be staying in the same section of a resort as they were and it was a friggin' nightmare. Never again! They were incredibly loud and rude to the guests around them - kept us up until after 3 am the first night, then we switched hotels because of it.

I HEAR YOU!lol

I should have specified "BEST-BEHAVED IN THE PARKS"!lol

We had Guests at our Resort,All-Star Sports,who were staying "with them" in Home Run Hotel ask to be moved also.

HRH looked to be around 90% 15s with large numbers in Center Court and Hoops Hotel also.

When The 15s were swimming in Grand Slam,if you wanted,you could literally have walked across Grand Slam and never touch the water!lol

We were in Surf's Up! and they very rarely stay there so we were not affected except in End Zone.

Sorry you had to change Resorts-sounds like you got the COMPLETE 15s EXPERIENCE!

 

[wfjny]

We just returned yesterday (a one week trip). In short:

Crowd levels were lower than expected. As others have said, security line could be long, especially at "rush hour". Only observed that, never actually experienced it.

Had a few issues with the bus, but that seems to be the case for us all the time. Waited 40 minutes for an AK bus, while 3 HS buses came and went. Then two AK arrived at the same time. Hey, it happens. Bus from Epcot to Disney Springs was also a long wait at an uncovered bus stop.

Parking at Disney Springs was a disaster, lots of people there.

However, clearly I am nit picking. Overall, a great time, and with some well planned fast passes, a great trip.

 

[hakepb]

At least around here, there’s not a summer company shut down like there used to be (when it seemed 1/3 to 1/2 the city went on vacation)
They just run year-round instead of the structured break.

 

[wfjny]

I agree with this. I work in a school and this past year I had many, many families pulling kids out for a week's vacation during scheduled school times. I have worked in the schools for 10+ years and have never seen that many families take vacation during a school year. And I would say 1/3 of those families went to Disney.

As a totally unscientific view, I have to agree with you. I have heard many people over the past year saying they were pulling their kids out of school to go on a family vacation. I say unscientific as I have no data to compare it to, but it does at least seem to be on the increase.

I had been attributing that to the economy doing better,and people finally going on a trip sooner rather than waiting until the summer (and who knows what happens). In the end, not sure what is the case, but I am glad that others are noticing the same thing.

 

[cruiser21]

As a totally unscientific view, I have to agree with you. I have heard many people over the past year saying they were pulling their kids out of school to go on a family vacation. I say unscientific as I have no data to compare it to, but it does at least seem to be on the increase.

I had been attributing that to the economy doing better,and people finally going on a trip sooner rather than waiting until the summer (and who knows what happens). In the end, not sure what is the case, but I am glad that others are noticing the same thing.

A lot of schools have Fall breaks now. I've heard October can be packed. I was going to go in August, but the heat scared me off. I changed to later in the Fall. I don't know how the crowds are going to be, but temperatures should be more tolerable. It's costing me more to go after Thanksgiving then in August. I don't think Summer prices are keeping people away.

 

[DLgal]

We just returned (7/10-24) and we were shocked at how empty the parks were ! With the exception of Pandora and TSL, the parks seemed empty - MK was the only park that was somewhat crowded - but nothing compared to last year at the same time - Epcot was a ghost town !

We had an ADR for Via Napoli one night at 9pm (a Tuesday night) and we walked from Test Track to the restaurant 10 min before , when Illuminations was almost starting and there was NO ONE at the railings at the lagoon waiting for the show to start. We saw a couple people here and there but by and large, it was empty. I have never seen that before.

Later that week, my husband and one son went into Epcot WS last minute from the BW to watch Illuminations. They entered at 8:55 and were able to EASILY find a spot on the bridge to France to watch the show.

 

[palavra]

This is the second time I've done a July trip. I am here now and we are all finding in to be VERY crowded. Granted, it seems fine in the morning but around lunchtime it has been WALL TO WALL people. We aren't tolerating it well at all. I don't ever remember it being this bad on any of my trips, but maybe I'm just getting too old for this!!

If you haven't been since 2012, the crowds, as a whole, are much larger overall. I am a local, and my DH works for Disney. I think the summer crowds are very manageable.

 

[Elleshoodat]

We were there in mid-July 2016 for our first summer trip in years, and I found the crowds to be very manageable. I'm hoping the same holds true for our early June trip next year, but with my luck...

 

[SarahC97]

I HEAR YOU!lol

I should have specified "BEST-BEHAVED IN THE PARKS"!lol

We had Guests at our Resort,All-Star Sports,who were staying "with them" in Home Run Hotel ask to be moved also.

HRH looked to be around 90% 15s with large numbers in Center Court and Hoops Hotel also.

When The 15s were swimming in Grand Slam,if you wanted,you could literally have walked across Grand Slam and never touch the water!lol

We were in Surf's Up! and they very rarely stay there so we were not affected except in End Zone.

Sorry you had to change Resorts-sounds like you got the COMPLETE 15s EXPERIENCE!

Seriously, it sounded like there were at least 10 kids in the room next door to mine. They were also smoking right outside our door, which I could smell in our room. When I walked out of my room about 3 am to walk down to the front desk to complain, there were no less than 30 kids just right outside my room along the walkway, just hanging out - at 3 in the morning. I mean, they sounded like they were having a great time and all, but dang. Lesson learned on my part! LOL

 

[Christine]

If you haven't been since 2012, the crowds, as a whole, are much larger overall. I am a local, and my DH works for Disney. I think the summer crowds are very manageable.

Yeah, I guess it's a matter of perspective. We haven't found them manageable until today, while at Epcot. Very crowded but some breathing room. The larger walkways do help that! Today was the first day I felt okay with the July crowds. But I agree, I think Disney is just more crowded than it used to be.

 

[WEDWDW]

Seriously, it sounded like there were at least 10 kids in the room next door to mine. They were also smoking right outside our door, which I could smell in our room. When I walked out of my room about 3 am to walk down to the front desk to complain, there were no less than 30 kids just right outside my room along the walkway, just hanging out - at 3 in the morning. I mean, they sounded like they were having a great time and all, but dang. Lesson learned on my part! LOL

WOW!!!!

Looks can be so deceiving because when they are quietly marching along in their matching shirts and cute,matching backpacks,they look so harmless!!!!lol

 

[HopperFan]

DS2 went with a friend who had never been July 22-28. He felt it was very doable the 22-25 but though crowds picked up after that. The beginning of the week they did EVERYTHING at DHS and AK, got a large portion done at MK and then all rides at Epcot. Last day they did a four park day for highlights. They mixed in some table service along with quick service. They open/closed parks.

I have never been in July, likely won't do it again. DS1 and I went July 25 and left the 28th but no park that day. I felt like it was very crowded. When the FP+ line to teacups is out to Pooh, when Under the Sea is over an hour wait .... it's crowded. We didn't get anywhere near as much as usual at MK. AK was a disaster in a way due to summer storms, park went 101. That pretty much left Dinosaur ride wise and it broke down while we were in line. Epcot we only went for Illuminations. DHS we spent a long day. I rolled the FP+ better there getting on Slinky 3 times (2 of us). Everywhere we went were long lines for rides so to add the heat to it, quite exhausting.

I also felt the crowds were different than other times of year; lots of folks cutting the lines, ignoring the CMs, leaving trash wherever and basically overall inconsiderate.

Transportation was interesting. We left MK at same time as DS2; we were staying offsite past the outlets and DS2 was staying at POP. We were in bed long before they were even on a bus and they had to stand. It took me 20 minutes to get to our hotel from MK parking lot and that was with traffic around 2 police incidents at MK parking .... DS2 took 1.5 hours to get to POP. We ended up at the same parks Thurs and Friday closing so they asked me to drive them to POP to avoid the bus.

I get I try to avoid the busy times = June and July included ... so I wasn't surprised. I just would rather deal with crowds in cooler weather if for nothing else guests are less "cranky".

 

[Princess_Nikki]

I've read quite a few articles now and talked to several people who have mentioned that June and July crowds, while still busy, are not nearly as packed as they used to be (in other words before the tiered pricing based on season). I am a teacher and have usually made my past family trips in July. However, its been some time (since FP+ was first introduced) since our last trip. We are planning a week trip in 2019 and was wondering anyone's thoughts on the matter, and if June is better than July. Thanks!

Crowds seem lower at this time of year. As a local...I’m gonna go with because it’s about 100 & OhMyGawd outside during June & July.

 

[FancyNancy]

We went the last week in August a few years ago and the crowds were very manageable. Going back in a few weeks for free dining and the second Halloween party on 8/24 and am wondering how that will affect crowd levels.

 

[Carolyn Smith]

We just returned and thought that although it was busy, it was not wall to wall people. One person in our group was a first timer and was making remarks about wait times (you're going to wait a half hour for Haunted Mansion??), but we just said "yup! we are!". I thought that the wait times both on the app and on the signs at the attractions were not accurate. For example, a 70 minute quoted wait time for Dinosaur ended up only being 25 minutes. We were guessing that part of this was the large student groups that would rush attractions all together and skew the timing of things.
We had fastpasses for things we knew would be the longest waits, and waited no more than a half hour for anything else all week. Also as a note, we didn't find the heat unbearable either. We are from the northeast and expected it to be stifling. Apart from a few torrential downpours (bring ponchos!!) the weather was fairly comfortable.
Have fun!

 

[epcotty]

Avoiding due to high heat and humidity and heat indexes and storms for now. However keeping an eye on the weather so might still go this summer. So don't know about crowds this summer, but last year and the year before it seemed to be less than in more recent years prior.

 

[glocon]

we Have had fps and then get additional fps once we use the first three and have found the last few days easily manageable. Haven’t waited more than 15 min for anything except fop which we did standby and waited about 40 min for that towards the end of the night. TSL looked crowded but I think that is because it’s small and the line for Buzz is always there when you are first walking in, and there’s only one way in and out.
It may look crowded but if you know how to use the fp system and just keep getting those, I think you’re ok.

 

[Christine]

we Have had fps and then get additional fps once we use the first three and have found the last few days easily manageable. Haven’t waited more than 15 min for anything except fop which we did standby and waited about 40 min for that towards the end of the night. TSL looked crowded but I think that is because it’s small and the line for Buzz is always there when you are first walking in, and there’s only one way in and out.
It may look crowded but if you know how to use the fp system and just keep getting those, I think you’re ok.

We did this the other night. Posted time was 85 minutes and waited about 40 minutes. Last night, DH and DS went back to AK to try this strategy again. Posted wait time at 9PM was 130 minutes. It took them 100 minutes. Not sure what was going on. My son said it seemed they were deliberately trying to hold swaths of people back in the outer queue versus when we went the other night and things were just moving the whole time. My son thought they were trying to keep the line pushed out to discourage late riders or something.

 

[gumbo1009]

If you haven't been since 2012, the crowds, as a whole, are much larger overall.

What about 2014? (Our last visit was very end of August 2014 - our next visit is in a couple weeks, mid August...) Will I think "holy mackeral" compared with what we experienced in 2014? (Trying to get my expectations in check...)

Thanks!