WDW vet needs general idea of how bad July crowds are!!

[kittycruize]

Hi everyone,

WDW vet here needs to know in general how bad the crowds are in July, including how bad they are over the 4th? I have read Hydro Guy, but need a comparison to WDW, such as are they a 10 over the 4th? In other words, how long can I expect to wait for Small World, or Dumbo? An hour? I understand Carsland may be open by then, so wil have an affect, but if anyone can just tell me what to expect as far as averge wait times I would so appreciate it!!!

 

[HydroGuy]

Glad to see my name mentioned and wanted to add to some other things you might not have read already.

When you say "10" for crowds it sounds like you are referring to touringplans.com. I and many others around here do not put much stock in TP's daily ratings. The last couple summers I have been at DLR on days which were some of the lightest summer crowds I have ever seen, and yet TP rated them as 9's and 10's. Frankly I do not really doubt that they were 9's and 10's according to TP's criteria, I just do not know how to translate those daily ratings into what I have seen for myself. So to me they do not mean anything.

Further, they have done a poor job IMO of picking up on the trends at DLR. Last year they had some days in June rated as "5s" which everyone here knew ahead of time would be "10s" because of the opening of Star Tours and Little Mermaid. And the were 10's according to reports.

On the other hand, I do know how to translate their wait time predictions for invividual rides and on that they have been very good. So I would recommend that to you - sign up for TP's DLR site and look at their wait time predictions for rides.

For example, right now TP has DLR rated as a 6 on Sunday July 8, a 7 on Sunday July 15, and a 10 on July 22 and 29.

What that means for peak wait times for Small World they are not saying yet for the laughable reason that "the park hours are not released yet" even though the park hours for those dates have been 8AM-Midnight for the last 10 years in a row, LOL!

If you go to their prediction for Sunday Feb 19 upcoming - rated a 9 - they have Small World peak wait times as 18 minutes. That jives with my experience which would say Small World peaks out at 20 minutes in the summer.

Finally, the ride wait times give you an idea of crowd level but really if you tour smart and arrive early each day and stay at a close-by hotel and use FP the crowds do not mean very much because you are ahead of them.

Bottom line is just spend a few dollars on touringplans.com and you can answer these questions in all the detail you may want.

Hope that helps.

 

[kittycruize]

Thank you Hydroguy! It does help a bit, but I am confused. You seem to say you don't put much stock in touringplans, but yet you advise me to sign up? Would you might clarifying that for me? What I get from this is, unlike WDW, which when it is a 9 or 10 is unbareable, DL wait times are not all that bad in the summer? Would you say the 4th of July is much more busy than say the following week? Thank you in advance, as I know you are the ultimate expert!

 

[HydroGuy]

Thank you Hydroguy! It does help a bit, but I am confused. You seem to say you don't put much stock in touringplans, but yet you advise me to sign up? Would you might clarifying that for me? What I get from this is, unlike WDW, which when it is a 9 or 10 is unbareable, DL wait times are not all that bad in the summer? Would you say the 4th of July is much more busy than say the following week? Thank you in advance, as I know you are the ultimate expert!

What I am saying is that:

A. Touringplans daily ratings of 1-10 do not mean much to me or others around here

B. On the other hand, in my experience their wait time predictions for rides are pretty reliable

So I am recommending you pay attention to wait times but not daily ratings.


To your second part, wait times at DLR can be long - Splash Mtn at 75-90 minutes, Space Mtn 75 minutes. But, but, but - those are wait times in the middle of the day and these rides have FP. So there is no need to wait in these lines.

The bigger issues are for rides in Fantasyland (Dumbo, Peter Pan) with no FP. Those lines get up to 45-60 minutes. Thus these rides are best done first thing in the morning.

That is why using smart touring techniques will make a big difference.

For example,

A. Arive at the gates 30 minutes early each day.

B. Tour from 8AM-1PM or so

C. Go back to your hotel for a swim and nap for kids (and adults)

D. Come back at 5 or 6PM and stay as late as you can.

See "Getting The Most Out of a Summer Visit To DLR" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1345319

 

[pixarmom]

Hi Kittycruize! I'll add a bit about our experience to Hydroguy's comments. DL was my original "home park," but we're now WDW vets and returned to DL again in the summer of 2010. According to everything I read, everyone was supposed to avoid our summer dates in 2010 because it was going to be crazy crowded. We couldn't move our dates, so we planned to just use our WDW strategies at DL and hope for the best. Well, it could not have been better!

At WDW, we arrive early before rope drop and lots of guests are there with us. At DL, when we arrived early, we were literally alone - the first guests at the security gates. They selected us to open the park that day and we walked on everything for the first two hours. We collected more FPs than we could ever use - the return times are much shorter at DL than at WDW. We hopped over to DCA in the afternoons and didn't have any difficulties at all.

Now, we avoid DL at night just like we avoid MK at night in the summer, so that could make a difference in our perception. As we left Blue Bayou one night to get over to DCA, it was crazy crowded in DL - glad we escaped! Also, the GCH pool was extremely crowded, so I could see the impact of the summer crowds there. But again, mornings were wonderful.

We'll be back at DL soon with a crowd prediction of 1.1, so I imagine it will be even better than the "level 10" crowds we experienced last time. But I'd say use your WDW strategies (because not everyone does at DL) and that should help quite a bit!

As for touringplans.com, we've used it quite a bit for WDW and will use it for DL soon. I don't rely on the park recommendations, but I do take the crowd levels into account if there is a significant difference from one day to the next (we switched our upcoming DL day because the crowd level at DL is 1.1 on the day we're visiting instead of 7 on the day we originally planned.) Like Hydroguy, I think the wait times are most helpful in planning.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hi Kittycruize! I'll add a bit about our experience to Hydroguy's comments. DL was my original "home park," but we're now WDW vets and returned to DL again in the summer of 2010. According to everything I read, everyone was supposed to avoid our summer dates in 2010 because it was going to be crazy crowded. We couldn't move our dates, so we planned to just use our WDW strategies at DL and hope for the best. Well, it could not have been better!

At WDW, we arrive early before rope drop and lots of guests are there with us. At DL, when we arrived early, we were literally alone - the first guests at the security gates. They selected us to open the park that day and we walked on everything for the first two hours. We collected more FPs than we could ever use - the return times are much shorter at DL than at WDW. We hopped over to DCA in the afternoons and didn't have any difficulties at all.

Now, we avoid DL at night just like we avoid MK at night in the summer, so that could make a difference in our perception. As we left Blue Bayou one night to get over to DCA, it was crazy crowded in DL - glad we escaped! Also, the GCH pool was extremely crowded, so I could see the impact of the summer crowds there. But again, mornings were wonderful.

We'll be back at DL soon with a crowd prediction of 1.1, so I imagine it will be even better than the "level 10" crowds we experienced last time. But I'd say use your WDW strategies (because not everyone does at DL) and that should help quite a bit!

As for touringplans.com, we've used it quite a bit for WDW and will use it for DL soon. I don't rely on the park recommendations, but I do take the crowd levels into account if there is a significant difference from one day to the next (we switched our upcoming DL day because the crowd level at DL is 1.1 on the day we're visiting instead of 7 on the day we originally planned.) Like Hydroguy, I think the wait times are most helpful in planning.

I think Pixarmom nailed it with the following additional comments. Since WOC opened in summer 2010 the crowd patterns at DLR seemed to shift a bit with mornings being less crowded than normal and evenings being a little more crowded.

But, DL and DCA at night are magical. And the Fantasmic and WOC shows at night are really good - also the night time party at DCA (now Electranica). If you have collected FPs in the day then it is crowded at night but lots of people are tied up in the shows - so you can still have a lot of fun - and still manageable.

 

[kittycruize]

Thank you so much everyone! We love to go to WDW at night, and would of course like to do the same at DL! Are the nights that much more crowded, or can we just not use fast passes at that time? OH, and, how many fast passes can you get at one time?

 

[HydroGuy]

Thank you so much everyone! We love to go to WDW at night, and would of course like to do the same at DL! Are the nights that much more crowded, or can we just not use fast passes at that time? OH, and, how many fast passes can you get at one time?

Yes, kind of. But it depends on season and night. In the last two years Disney has had street parties at DCA at night which keeps people in the parks. Plus World of Color with multiple shows.

With the shows I would say the parks feel more crowded. Not sure if they actually are.

Regarding FP, there is a limit on how often you can get FPs. There is no limit as to how many you can be holding at what time.

See "Getting the Most Out of FastPass During High Season" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=885132