Super low wait times?!

[ucfknight]

Summer is definitely much less crowded than it used to be. It's great! Went on Soarin' yesterday around 4:30 pm and there were maybe 7 other guests ahead of us before the FP+ / standby merge. We were through that in about 1 minute.

 

[marx]

In the Northeast many schools are still open. My towns schools close next Wednesday. I would expect the upsurge to be the last week of June though mid August. We usually travel to WDW mid to late August as our schools don't start until after Labor Day, and the Southeastern schools are in session then.

 

[stinkpickle]

Same thing happened last year

 

[720L]

At AK now, its not busy so far. I agree none of the parks have been typical summer crowds.

 

[ucfknight]

Same thing happened last year

Yep. I remember a mid-July weekend day last year when we went to Magic Kingdom. It was the middle of the afternoon when I stopped my family on the bridge from the hub to Tomorrowland and told them to just look around. There was not a single other guest within 200 feet of us.

 

[abooch]

I've gone Disney about twice a month since last October and I have to say that yesterday was the least crowded it's been in that 20 or so visits.

But Had a chance to stay at the Polynesian bungalows due to overbooking. Go figure.

 

[KayKayJS]

As a local I've found summer to be less busy than ever the past couple years.

 

[Micca]

I recall last year there were reports from folks here on the boards that early-to-mid August the crowd level drop was substantial.

 

[minniegirl19]

Just checked again today and it's another day of low waits! might have to consider this time of year in the future.

 

[Hatwriter456]

I just checked the wait times for today, Sunday afternoon with no rain yet, and it doesn't seem that bad in any of the parks. MK right now is all about 30 minutes or less with only PP, SDMT, Splash, and Space at 60 minutes or above - very doable with FPs for the popular rides. The other parks are that way too - most popular rides at 60 minutes - but the rest is looking nice. It seemed busier last week and has gone down the past 5 days - I've been checking wait times to see what to expect for next year. I hope this pattern holds for when my family is there next year.

 

[disny_luvr]

Maybe this is a new trend for summertime. When we were there late June last year, crowds were very, very manageable. People may be going at other times of the year to avoid the summer heat.

 

[oktxregulators]

I've been looking at wait times all weeks and they are not that bad at all compared to last year. I think getting rid of a lot of the ghost magic bands helped free up alot of fast passes for rides.

 

[oktxregulators]

I just checked the wait times for today, Sunday afternoon with no rain yet, and it doesn't seem that bad in any of the parks. MK right now is all about 30 minutes or less with only PP, SDMT, Splash, and Space at 60 minutes or above - very doable with FPs for the popular rides. The other parks are that way too - most popular rides at 60 minutes - but the rest is looking nice. It seemed busier last week and has gone down the past 5 days - I've been checking wait times to see what to expect for next year. I hope this pattern holds for when my family is there next year.

Typically Sunday's are always going to see low crowd numbers and wait times because people are leaving to go back home and people are checking in.

 

[OhhBother]

We were there June 5-12 last year. Crowds were very manageable to low. We had a terrific trip! We went back Oct. 1-8 last year -- crowds were horrendous! (And then there was Hurricane Matthew too...)

I was really dreading the June trip thinking we'd have huge crowds. I was completely wrong. I'd definitely consider going during that period again when traveling with our family with school-age kids. Of course, this year, my DH and I are heading down for our adults-only trip in mid-September -- our favorite time to go.

 

[Parker Clan]

We go mid to late August every year and it's never crowded.... Nothing compared to my one day trip to Epcot during Spring break in March & the wait for Spaceship Earth was 65 minutes. I'll take the heat any day over those insane crowds!!

 

[mykidsmom]

I think getting rid of a lot of the ghost magic bands helped free up alot of fast passes for rides.

I've been wondering if this has had some effect on wait times too? More people being able to use fast passes and freeing up standby?

 

[oktxregulators]

I've been wondering if this has had some effect on wait times too? More people being able to use fast passes and freeing up standby?

That is what I was thinking because I looked yesterday and I could get a FP for just about anything in the evening except for 7DMT, and Meet/Greet with Princesses. 3/4 of the rides were FP's all afternoon and evening with many of the attractions having walk up FP's available (if it's 2:30 they had 2:30 FP available) and I don't think I saw anything get over 60 minute wait except for 7DMT.

 

[bluezy]

I've been wondering if this has had some effect on wait times too? More people being able to use fast passes and freeing up standby?

It may or may not be having an effect. I really think it's a combination of a few things (JMO): 1. Blackout dates for AP's 2. Lots of rain keeps the locals who have the Gold APs (not currently in Blackout) away since they can choose to go on non-rainy days. 3. Disney's efforts to spread out crowds throughout the year rather than have a huge surge during the summer are working.

I will mention that we've been at Disney this week in June in both 2015 & 2016 (sadly, not this year) and we've found the crowds to be very manageable. I was never sure if it was because I had become the master of "zigging while everyone else is zagging"; effectively using FPs and choosing least crowded parks; or simply because there were fewer people in the parks than there had been all of the other years we had been there in June. The last 2 years, we were able to use more than a dozen FPs in MK and could have used more but by that time of the evening (9:30) we really didn't need to -- all of the non-headliners were less than a 5 minute wait. Last year when we got to Epcot at about 4:00 on our arrival day (Monday), we walked in to the Anna & Elsa M&G with no wait. Later in the week The Safari was a walk on (literally...and there were about 15 people on our truck -- and we had to sit there for 5 minutes to get *that* many) at 6:00 in the evening and we walked on to Dinosaur at about 3:00 that afternoon. Also rode Triceratops Spin and Primeval Whirl with no wait that afternoon.

 

[Shanti]

Maybe this is a new trend for summertime. When we were there late June last year, crowds were very, very manageable. People may be going at other times of the year to avoid the summer heat.

Bingo.

We haven't hit the peak of summer yet- July would be a better indicator as all schools are out at that point.

We went in late July last summer, and experienced the lowest crowds we'd seen on any trip since January 2009. The only crowded places were the water parks.

 

[LizzyDragon]

Disney started seasonal/peak pricing in February of 2016. So while it hasn't been two years yet, it does look like it's having an impact. Disney is also adopting the business tactic of having fewer people, but getting those people to spend more. Both efforts are likely having some dent on the summer crowd.

That being said, we haven't hit the peak of summer yet- July would be a better indicator as all schools are out at that point.