We Just Got Back...

[Psychodisney]

We just got back too. I thought it seemed crowded but our wait times were short just about everywhere except Soarin. Only rode once with a FP-no ride is worth a 70 min wait! Posted wait times for Test Trak were high but wrong. Love that single rider line at EE! Food and Wine seemed crazy busy! I guess it was because it was Sat and Sun. Too bad people can't handle a couple of drinks without becoming obnoxious-swinging the chairs at Soarin, dropping their flip flops off during the ride and then urinating in the parking lot-really!

 

[Corryn]

We got back on Sunday morning.
Tuesday the parks were good - AK in the morning, no lines. EE had a 20 minute wait. We went on twice.
Countdown to Extinction/Dinosaur we went on twice, one right after the other.
We had a fast pass for the safari and got right on that.
Epcot that night was a little crowded for Food and Wine. That was Awesome! I never went for F&W before - excellent. But we only got on Soarin' once. It was also the late night for Epcot, and we rode Test Track twice before midnight.
Wednesday we went to Blizzard Beach and there were hardly any lines for that.
Thursday we went to MNSSHP, which I thought was crowded! We went on the rides, but the last time we went it wasn't that crowded.
Saturday we went to MK about 12:30 and it was PACKED!!!!
We went to Epcot for dinner and it was just as packed, COULD NOT get a dinner reservation. Finally we walked into China and were seated 30 minutes later.
My guess is it was Columbus Day Weekend.
Also, AK hosted a Breast Cancer run on Saturday.

Next time I'll stick with September!

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

Our last day was Sat. Originally I planned for us to be at AK that day, but we felt we wanted to have MK as our final taste of this Disney trip. BIG MISTAKE! The park had closed early the last 2 nights for the MNSSHP. It was planned to be open til midnight that night. We thought we could enjoy the morning and be out by lunchtime and avoid the crowds. WRONG WRONG WRONG. It was crowded from the start. We raced to Space Mtn w/ everyone else and had a 20min wait just to get past the first measuring person outside. They were measuring anyone who was even remotely close to the limit. Fortunately a CM was walking the line and handed us our parent swap pass so dh and dd could race to Fantasyland. They had a short wait for Dumbo and were just coming off Pooh as we approached from having ridden Space Mtn. Peter Pan's line was over 30mins so we grabbed a FP and rode Snow White. The place was just packed w/ people so quickly, and again...a VERY hot in the 90's day! We made good use of FP and parent swap passes we had accumulated that morning and a few days previous. But all were in agreement to bail on the park shortly after noon. We just hung around the hotel pool and play area, ate in the Foodcourt, and shopped until our p/u at 5:30pm. QUOTE]

And we were at MK the morning of 10/7 and were able to hit eight rides (including Splash and Thunder) in the first two hours. We left the park around 1:00 p.m. for swimming, then returned around 7:30. Again, we thought the lines at night were pretty empty.

Bottom line is I think it is all timing. You have to zig while others zag.

 

[il-gander]

We were there during this same time period (9/29-10/8), and I thought the crowds were very manageable. We made efficient use of fastpasses and made sure we got to the parks at opening, but we didn't go commando-style or rush to everything... and we still had no more than a 20-30 minute wait for anything all week. Many of our rides, particularly in the first hour after park opening, were walkons. The crowds walking around were still frustrating, it always seems like someone is ambling long 4 wide in front of you taking up the whole path when you'd like to walk a little faster and get somewhere , but nowhere near as bad as our last trip in June 2003.

We avoided all EMH days and I used TGM's suggestions on which days which park - it seemed to work very well.

Carla

 

[DisFam95]

We went the same week as the OP and did not think it was crowded. And we're used to going in Jan/Feb too when crowds are even lower. They must have gone ot the "park to avoid" every day We followed the least crowded park guidelines.

AT AK we forgot about the Safari - duh - and when we got over there in the afternoon the wait time said 50min. So do that early...as everyone should know

The only time I felt crowded was on the Friday MNSSHP. We went Thursday and it was light crowds.