Thoughts on March 13-18 Crowds?

[Accidental Disney Fan]

With the limited other options open to swallow up some of the crowd the attractions, shops, etc. that are open "feel" just as or possibly more crowded than normal 100% cap I would assume.

Yes, this. Both the perception and in actuality more crowded even at 35% would you say? The queues are much longer (physically) to account for the social distancing and those queues spill out into the corridors and with fewer places to absorb guests - there are a lot, A LOT more people in the corridors - So you have to imagine that what was a wider walkway is now being taken up by meter wide queuing sometimes on both sides of the walkways.

 

[Orion Nebula]

I just got back last Friday and I was a bit taken back at how packed it was. The first week of March is traditionally the lowest crowd week of the month also but things aren't "normal" right now. However you could make reservations at all parks right up to the day before. I imagine with all of them booked already that it's going to be at the "can't get any worse" level.

 

[Disneygirl678]

We just got back (were there 3/6-3/10). On our last day (3/9), we had reservations for MK, but saw that they were booked solid. We cancelled and went to Epcot instead. Epcot was still really busy. The day before, MK was booked up and we were there. It was pretty busy, even for low capacity. We waited in a lot of lines for 50-60 minutes. People also didn't understand the social distancing rules. We went back in January and it was glorious.. So, needless to say, I would stay away next week!

 

[Grumpy92]

It’s going to be crowded. We were there this week and every park was very busy. So many were not social distancing in lines. So I have no doubt it will be the same next week.

 

[CarolinaGator]

Hypothetical figures here and I may be somewhat over simplifying it- Say at 100% cap there is 100 persons going to a place that has 10 shows = 10 person per show, now reduce that down to the 35% and limited open items, 35 persons and 3 shows = 11 persons per show.
For real numbers would have to know exactly how many shows, attractions, shops, etc. are not currently open as well as the very guarded real capacity numbers.
With the limited other options open to swallow up some of the crowd the attractions, shops, etc. that are open "feel" just as or possibly more crowded than normal 100% cap I would assume.

Plus, rides aren't being filled up to 100% capacity, so it takes, say, 2-3 as many boats at Small World to move the same number of people as one boat did before. This means that if the same number of people are interested in riding it as before, it'll take 2-3 times as long to move along the line. The line will be just as long as it was on days when the park is at 70-100% of capacity.

 

[ngl]

Long time disboards lurker here. We will be in the parks next week as well (14th-18th). Someone please help me with this logic. Capacity is at 35% or so, and I realize that not all attractions, shows, and restaurants are open at this time but 35% vs 100% capacity. What are we comparing to that makes next week so "crowded"?

As many others have pointed out there are many factors at play but I also think the lack of shows, parades, fireworks, etc. has everyone doing rides only. Pre-Covid those other activities further dispersed crowds. Of course with Fast Pass and AP who are local come often so sometimes would only do a few rides and leave. All these factors are combining to create longer lines imo.

It's also Seminole Counties spring break as well. We are going to HS on Monday with some out of town family, our plan is to get there prior to official park opening and do what we can.

Also Hillsborough (Tampa) and Pinellas (St. Pete) counties public schools have Spring Break as well next week.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

We've been here since last Friday (3/5) and one thing we've heard from MANY cast members is how next week things are gonna get busy. We only did 2 park days this trip (both weekdays) and it was awesome the first two hours....then wait times all crept up to around 60 minutes.

If I was going to be arriving in the next few days I would plan to get to the parks an hour before park opening when they've been letting people in and get as much done in those first 2-3 hours. I would then pick one or two things to stand in the 60+ minute lines then head back for a pool/nap stop. I'd then plan to head back to the parks around dinner time. While crowds weren't too bad in our two days....the no fastpass on the fly really eliminated our ability to get more done without waiting in a line....which as people who come yearly we didn't want to do.

While we didn't do nearly as much as our previous trips, for the first time we took it easy and just relaxed most of our trip. We missed a few rides we always do, but after not leaving Chicago for 13 months it was nice just to be somewhere else. I think as long as people going the next few weeks set expectations and have a plan you'll have an awesome time!

 

[OHVolunteer]

We were at Hollywood Studios yesterday (3/15) we arrived at 8 a.m. and the parking booth opened right at 8:10 and then we were queued again and were able to park by 820ish. We were through temp check and the gates by 835. We went straight to Slinky Dog, which had a posted wait time of 70 minutes, but we were off the ride by 9:15. We then rode Midway Mania and Alien Swirling Saucers, and had a few snack and potty breaks (travel party was 9 people, including a 6, 4 and 2 year old) by 1130. While in line for slinky dog that morning we went ahead and placed our mobile food order at the ABC Commissary for an arrival time of 12 - 1230. This was essential and worked out perfectly. We then did the Cars show and then headed over to Star Wars Land. 4 of the 8 of us were able to secure a boarding group (83) for Rise of the Resistance so we rode that (our boarding group was called around 145). We headed out of the park around 245 as everyone was worn out. But we did ride and see everything that we wanted to do. We are local so we were there just to take our family for the first time. The park was more crowded than it had been when we visited in September, October and December. And I noticed that people were not adhering to the social distancing markers in ride lines as they had been earlier in the year. Overall it was a great time just took a little planning as far as ordering quick service early and arriving prior to park opening was definitely a must.

 

[MomOTwins]

Been looking at wait times today. Hollywood Studios wait times don't seem any different than they were last fall (hour waits on most). Same with MK--on the high end of wait times but in line with what we experienced last fall. That makes sense, since those parks were always selling out of park passes. It also corroborates what Disney has been saying: that they are still indeed at 35% and have not further increased capacity.

Epcot and AK are where it looks like the wait times are really being affected. 80 minutes for Soarin and Dinosaur, higher for Pandora and Frozen. That is a big markup from the 30-45 minute waits we experienced in 2020. But again, that makes complete sense, since those were the two parks that were not selling out of park passes last year and are now.

 

[jeforman]

I just got back on Sunday. I got to AK at 7:15 (park "opened at 8") and the park was already opened. I walked with the crowd to FOP and didn't have to stop until the room where they asked how many people in the party, so basically a walk on. After FOP, I waited about 5 minutes for Navi. When I got out of Navi, the wait was at least 45 min. At 8:20, I got in line for the safari which wasn't opened yet. Once it opened, I waited about 10 min. I then walked the trails and by 11, I was in Nomad lounge thinking of how much I had accomplished. Around 12:30, I tried to do Its a Bugs life but the wait was 40 min and I had to get back to my resort to catch Magical Express. I missed not having the shows to go to but I feel that I accomplished what I wanted other than the movie.
On Sat, I was at MK and got there around 8:30 with a park opening at 9. The park was opened and I decided to go on Splash but it wasn't open yet, then I tried Pirates but that wasn't opened. By the time I got to Fantasy Land, mine train had a long wait but Peter Pan was 15 min. After Pan, I did Pooh with very little wait.My longest wait came next at splash. The app said 5 min but shortly after I got in line, it said 55 min. I waited 40. That was the only ride that I waited more than 30 min. At 7pm, mine train was posted as at least 60 min but I waited a lot shorter than that. I left about 7 pm after doing most of the rides, no tea cups or space mountain but I can't do them any more (that's what happens when you get old). I also didn't do the speedway or Big Thunder but I had the time to do them.

If you get to the parks 45 min before official opening, you will be fine. You might not get everything done, but will get most things. Also, check touring plans for wait times.

 

[FloreedaGal]

We went March 13-15, spurred on by good reports from people who visited last fall who said the parks were doing great with safety measures and crowds were low, wanting to get a jump on it before pent up demand makes parks realllly crowded. We booked before it was news that the park had increased capacity and was fully booked.

There were long lines for all the big rides, we waited for 1 or more thing 60 minutes each day. At Epcot waited an hour for Soarin and Test Track and most of us bailed early but a few solidered on and did late rides of Norway and Mexico. We waited at Hollywood an hour for Smugglers Run, got boarding group 86 - 2 pm ish after logging in second after 7 am to virtual cue for Resistance, skipped Slinky Dog cause of the wait. At Magic Kingdom we waited 70 min for Splash Mountain and nearly an hour for Space Mountain, 45 min for Pirates. Skipped small world, Peter Pan, others because of the long waits. Though waits were in reality often less than what was posted or on the wait time for the app. The waits wore my kids patience thin, so they did not have it in them to stay really late or get up for a super early start to take advantage of slower periods in the crowds.

Safety was not what I'd expected based on reports from friends who visited last all. The lines snaked past each other very closely in some areas, you are at the mercy of whether the people near you were spacing or not as there is no one monitoring it, and by 3pm half of the hand sanitizers in the park were empty. We were put on ride cars with other parties (our party of 2 was put in a car of 4 with strangers), only a few rides kept spaces between the riders, and there was no special santizing going on between riders. Carry your own sanitizers, police your own space, but the place was crowded, waits long, and definitely was not doing what we'd heard was happening from people who visited in 2020.

We are still in the window after potential exposure, wondering if we caught covid. We spent three days being in close lines with mostly masked people, at times sharing indoor air, with people who may have taken airplanes to get there... Will we get covid? I logged onto to this site when trying to find out if people are getting it at the parks. I am wondering how our experiment will play out, how others fared in those conditions, as we wait through the exposure window. It was for sure a huge leap in risk and exposure compared to anything else we've done during the pandemic, and riskier feeling than I expected it would be based on what I'd heard from others who visited last year. It was still a good time, but I am a bit anxious about the exposure risk since safety measures have clearly been relaxed and were not in line with what I had heard was being done when we planned it.

 

[Animal]

Solid post from a first day poster. Welcome to the cult, FloreedaGal!

 

[ngl]

We went March 13-15, spurred on by good reports from people who visited last fall who said the parks were doing great with safety measures and crowds were low, wanting to get a jump on it before pent up demand makes parks realllly crowded. We booked before it was news that the park had increased capacity and was fully booked.

There were long lines for all the big rides, we waited for 1 or more thing 60 minutes each day. At Epcot waited an hour for Soarin and Test Track and most of us bailed early but a few solidered on and did late rides of Norway and Mexico. We waited at Hollywood an hour for Smugglers Run, got boarding group 86 - 2 pm ish after logging in second after 7 am to virtual cue for Resistance, skipped Slinky Dog cause of the wait. At Magic Kingdom we waited 70 min for Splash Mountain and nearly an hour for Space Mountain, 45 min for Pirates. Skipped small world, Peter Pan, others because of the long waits. Though waits were in reality often less than what was posted or on the wait time for the app. The waits wore my kids patience thin, so they did not have it in them to stay really late or get up for a super early start to take advantage of slower periods in the crowds.

Safety was not what I'd expected based on reports from friends who visited last all. The lines snaked past each other very closely in some areas, you are at the mercy of whether the people near you were spacing or not as there is no one monitoring it, and by 3pm half of the hand sanitizers in the park were empty. We were put on ride cars with other parties (our party of 2 was put in a car of 4 with strangers), only a few rides kept spaces between the riders, and there was no special santizing going on between riders. Carry your own sanitizers, police your own space, but the place was crowded, waits long, and definitely was not doing what we'd heard was happening from people who visited in 2020.

We are still in the window after potential exposure, wondering if we caught covid. We spent three days being in close lines with mostly masked people, at times sharing indoor air, with people who may have taken airplanes to get there... Will we get covid? I logged onto to this site when trying to find out if people are getting it at the parks. I am wondering how our experiment will play out, how others fared in those conditions, as we wait through the exposure window. It was for sure a huge leap in risk and exposure compared to anything else we've done during the pandemic, and riskier feeling than I expected it would be based on what I'd heard from others who visited last year. It was still a good time, but I am a bit anxious about the exposure risk since safety measures have clearly been relaxed and were not in line with what I had heard was being done when we planned it.

Thanks for the recap!! This is helpful as we decide whether to go in May for a few days. We are local - about 1 hr away, AP & DVC and did go over Tgiving for the first time during the pandemic. I think we experienced most of what you noted, although clearly it was not as busy, except putting us with others in same car. I certainly understand your waiting game and I felt a lot of the same after we returned. Having said that, the majority of your time is spent outdoors with other masked individuals. The data seems to show that outdoors without masks is much lower risk so with masks makes it even less so. However, nothing is perfect so I get your concern but the indoor spaces are really the concern. Most rides you are inside less than 5 minutes so probably also a lower risk. We are a family that still will not eat inside at a restaurant due the increased risk inside without masks on. Try not to stress too much about it but again, I completely understand!

 

[MomOTwins]

We went March 13-15, spurred on by good reports from people who visited last fall who said the parks were doing great with safety measures and crowds were low, wanting to get a jump on it before pent up demand makes parks realllly crowded. We booked before it was news that the park had increased capacity and was fully booked.

There were long lines for all the big rides, we waited for 1 or more thing 60 minutes each day. At Epcot waited an hour for Soarin and Test Track and most of us bailed early but a few solidered on and did late rides of Norway and Mexico. We waited at Hollywood an hour for Smugglers Run, got boarding group 86 - 2 pm ish after logging in second after 7 am to virtual cue for Resistance, skipped Slinky Dog cause of the wait. At Magic Kingdom we waited 70 min for Splash Mountain and nearly an hour for Space Mountain, 45 min for Pirates. Skipped small world, Peter Pan, others because of the long waits. Though waits were in reality often less than what was posted or on the wait time for the app. The waits wore my kids patience thin, so they did not have it in them to stay really late or get up for a super early start to take advantage of slower periods in the crowds.

Safety was not what I'd expected based on reports from friends who visited last all. The lines snaked past each other very closely in some areas, you are at the mercy of whether the people near you were spacing or not as there is no one monitoring it, and by 3pm half of the hand sanitizers in the park were empty. We were put on ride cars with other parties (our party of 2 was put in a car of 4 with strangers), only a few rides kept spaces between the riders, and there was no special santizing going on between riders. Carry your own sanitizers, police your own space, but the place was crowded, waits long, and definitely was not doing what we'd heard was happening from people who visited in 2020.

We are still in the window after potential exposure, wondering if we caught covid. We spent three days being in close lines with mostly masked people, at times sharing indoor air, with people who may have taken airplanes to get there... Will we get covid? I logged onto to this site when trying to find out if people are getting it at the parks. I am wondering how our experiment will play out, how others fared in those conditions, as we wait through the exposure window. It was for sure a huge leap in risk and exposure compared to anything else we've done during the pandemic, and riskier feeling than I expected it would be based on what I'd heard from others who visited last year. It was still a good time, but I am a bit anxious about the exposure risk since safety measures have clearly been relaxed and were not in line with what I had heard was being done when we planned it.

Sorry you had a bad experience. I feel like these board have been pretty balanced in reporting what is going but, but I think the first sentence in you post says it all “wanting to get a jump on it before the pent up demand makes parks really crowded.” Well there was a bit of a sweet spot last year before the pent up demand caught up but it has definitely caught up now, the fall was half a year ago. I think crowds are going to be high the rest of the year.

 

[Orion Nebula]

Sorry you had a bad experience. I feel like these board have been pretty balanced in reporting what is going but, but I think the first sentence in you post says it all “wanting to get a jump on it before the pent up demand makes parks really crowded.” Well there was a bit of a sweet spot last year before the pent up demand caught up but it has definitely caught up now, the fall was half a year ago. I think crowds are going to be high the rest of the year.

We hilariously thought we could grab up a "sweet spot" the first week of this month. It was for could've been much worse, but a bit more crowded than I expected.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

I think it really depends on your tolerance level. I’m looking at wait times in the app right now and they don’t look any higher than when we were there March 4-9, and we had a GREAT time. Our longest waits were 60 mins for ToT and Navi, everything else was an average of 35 mins which to me was not unreasonable at all.

We are not APs or locals or DVC members, we paid cash for the room and tickets and had an absolute blast. Agreed that first 2 and last 2 hours of park days are the key - you could probably get just as much done during those times as the rest of the day combined. We did open-close and park hopped just so we could ride our favorites multiple times (BTMRR, SDD, RnRC, MFSR, Everest, Space Mountain were all 4x rides each!)

Also, since returning I’ve tested negative twice (4 days and 10 days post visit) - totally anecdotal but I had a similar feeling like if I were going to get it again being in crowds in Florida would’ve been it (the plane ride didn’t bother me). So, in my
opinion, still enjoyable and worth it

 

[FloreedaGal]

We are 6 days back, been staying away from others just from being around a crowd. We all got covid tests today and all is negative here. No symptoms, all negative rapid tests.

The crowds left me feeling like it was a bit of a gamble with covid exposure, but given we all seem fine, I think the gamble worked out for us.

We are a "go every couple years" kinda family, and will wait till that pent up demand clears, or an off season period, to try it next.

Last Disney experience was Paris in March 2019, and off season low crowd day in Orlando 2017, so we were also spoiled that our frame of reference is based on low crowds and short lines. I grew up in Florida though and have waited in lines as long as what we experienced this March before fast passes, etc. Was just new to my kids, and made it less fun for them. But after a year of doing nothing, was great. And I am glad to have had a chance to get to see Star Wars stuff, was expecting crowded parks after that opened, anyway.