What A Relief... The Crowds Were Great

[Pixiedusttravel]

I have to admit, I was getting a bit nervous before our trip reading all of the UG's crowd predictions for the 1st week of May! But, I can happily report that we had no serious crowds while we were at Disney. The longest we waited in line was for Test Track (25 min) and that was because the ride broke down! We went over to MK on Tues afternoon and had no waits on Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain, and a 5 minute wait on Buzz. So, for all you planners out there who are getting a little nervous about your trip because of predicted crowd levels, just relax! Use your fastpasses and get to the parks early. You'll have a great time!

 

[terribm]

I am so glad to hear that the crowds weren't as bad as predicted by the updated UG report. I am headed down on Fri. I guess I am just wondering the reason for the miscalculation. I know the scientific way that Len goes about making those predictions. Any guesses?

T

 

[laudan14]

Thanks for the good news, great to hear. Hope it stays that way.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I too had started to become a bit worried...

I had started out with those who were saying.. Hey, it's just ANOTHER Disney Celebration being hyped up... kids are in school with finals... etc... (I did notice a lack of older kids... Just lot's of preschoolers and little kids) But all the nay-sayers had started to get to me. NO NEED!!!

There were NO crowds at all. We had a wonderful, magical, trip!

 

[arizonacolbys]

Thanks for the update! We'll be there in just 3 days!!!

 

[Pixiedusttravel]

I am so glad to hear that the crowds weren't as bad as predicted by the updated UG report. I am headed down on Fri. I guess I am just wondering the reason for the miscalculation. I know the scientific way that Len goes about making those predictions. Any guesses?

T

I'm not sure. Some of the days we went were on the days that Len suggested, like MK on Tuesday May 3. This was our schedual as far as I can remember.(We hopped around a lot)

Sat/April 30 - Resort Pool then headed to Epcot around 2pm. Crowds not too bad. UG reports this day as a 4 with Epcot as one of the suggested parks to visit.

Sun/May 1 - We did MK. Crowds levels were great. Rode Space Mountain twice with no wait at 10:30am, and then Buzz twice with a 5 min. wait. The longest we waited this day was for the Jungle Cruise which was about 20 min. around 2pm. I have to mention that Fantasyland was a little busy when we got to this section at 3pm (the wait for IASW was 35min) but I think that's because everyone was trying to ride these rides during the parade thinking it would be less crowded. (that idea backfired!!) The UG has MK as a park to avoid on this day.

Mon/May 2 - We did MGM in the morning (not our favorite Park) It was pretty empty. We rode RR twice with no wait and TT twice with 5 min wait. Star Tours had a 5 min. wait also. Then we went over to Epcot and had a blast. This was the day we had to wait for Test Track. We got right onto everything else (even Mission Space! DH & DS rode it twice with no wait). We did have to get Fastpasses for Soarin' as the standby line was a 45 min. wait. The UG had MGM as the suggested Park for the day and Epcot as one of the Parks to avoid.

Tues/May 3 - Went to AK. Got right onto everything including the Safarri with no wait. (we rode the Safarri around lunch time) We did have to get Fastpasses for the Kali River Rapids. At 3pm the standby wait was about 45 min. Tues afternoon went to MK and rode all the main rides with almost no wait. The UG has AK as the park to avoid and MK as the suggested Park to do.This day was rated as a 5.

Wed./May 4 - We did MK again and Epcot that night. By this time the crowds were a little heavier, but the wait times didn't increase by much. We rode all our favorites with 10 min or less wait at MK and at Epcot we had low crowds. The UG has this day rated as a 6 and suggested to avoid MK.

Thurs/May 5 - Went back to Epcot. Nobody was there! No waits on anything except for Soarin'. That had a 70min wait when we went by there at lunchtime. UG has MGM as the suggested Park and suggests to avoid all the other parks on this day.

As you can see, the UG was hit and miss on this week. I just think with all the changes in EMH and the Parks closing on different days on this week it was hard for them to get a good prediction on the way it would go. I'm sure once the Celebration gets underway the UG will be more on track.

 

[Beln]

We were there this past week too. I was also very nervous about the crowd levels. It was noticeably more crowded on Friday and Saturday. Here's what we did
Sunday, May 1 Got to MGM around 4. Went to RnR and ToT with no waits. Tried to wait for Fantasmic, but it started raining around 8 and we didn't have ponchos, so decided to come back another night.
Monday, 5/2 - Went to Ak in the am. Got right on the safari. No lines for Tough to be a bug or Lion King. Rode Kali Rapids 2ce with 5 minute wait. After that the little one was soaked and wanted to go change!
Tues, May 3 - MK day. Also my son's b-day. He must have had 100 people wish him happy birthday. Absolutely the best day of our trip. No waits for any ride. The signs would say 10 minutes, but we just kept walking until we reached the loading dock. It did rain, but with our ponchos, we were all set.
Wed, May 4 - Back to MK for more. Slightly more crowded, but no more waiting really.
Thurs, May 5 - Because it was closing early, I thought Epcot might be less crowded. I was right. We did Soarin' early and fastpassed it later. Did the same with Test track. We left after lunch to hit MGM for the stunt shows. Unfortunately, due to rain, the Indiana Jones show was cancelled. So we rode ToT and RnR with very little wait. We did finally get to see Fantasmic.
Fri, May 6 - Epcot again. Much more crowded today. Rode Soarin' again twice. It is amazing!
Sat, May 7 - Went to MK because UG has it 2nd lightest day. Not this Saturday! It was mobbed! I know we were spoiled from the previous 2 days, but we couldn't take the crowds. 45 minute wait for Space Mountain.
So we went back to MGM and finally caught the stunt shows. RnR and Tot had 10 min waits.
I was worried at first about the crowds and the weather, but was pleasantly surprised at both. It did rain almost every day, but once we had the ponchos, it wasn't bad.

 

[shirleyb]

We were also there last week.

Arrived Saturday 4/30, went to MGM about mid-afternoon. Park was busy, waited 10 min for TOT twice, rode RNR with fastpasses, saw B&B, rode Star Tours, 5 min wait, rode GMR no wait, saw Fantasmic, very full.

Sunday 5/1 went to MK, rode Space, Splash twice, Buzz twice, BTMRR twice, POTC, HM, Goofy, Indy Cars, did not wait for anything for more than 5 min, but we used our fastpasses well. I thought the park was pretty busy, but that we stayed ahead of the crowds. Went to Blizzard Beach then for a few hours and it was empty.

Monday 5/2 went to AK. I thought it seemed crowded, but I have never been there before, so don't know what it's normally like. We followed TGM's plan, though, and didn't wait for anything. I just thought the Jungle trail and the walkways were crowded. Went to Typhoon Lagoon, and it was more crowded than BB had been, but not too bad.

Tuesday 5/3 went back to MGM to finish a few things. Crowds were very light all day. We left around 1:30 or so, and could still walk right on RNR at this point with no wait. Went to Epcot that night for Illuminations and we had a downpour. Got on Soarin' about 6:30 with about a 15 minute wait. Worth every minute.

Wednesday 5/4 went back to MK. Rode Jungle cruise with about a 10 min wait. Rode Splash and BTMRR with about 5-10 min wait. Went to Disney Quest that evening.

Thursday 5/5 went to Epcot, crowds very light, walked on both Test Track and Mission Space, walked on Maelstrom, Rio del Tiempo, Universe of Energy. We did not ride Soarin' that day, but did have a wonderful lunch at the Biergarten. Went to Typhoon Lagoon for a few hours.

Friday 5/6 went to MK for morning EMH to do Fantasyland, and toon town. Left at 11:00 and took the monorail to Epcot. Got fastpasses for Soarin' and Living with the land.

Crowds were worse than our previous trip, but definitely manageable.

 

[tebookie]

I'm glad to hear the crowds are managable!

I was getting alittle worried that the crowds would be higher with the kick off of the new Celebration and all.

We are flying down on Saturday....

Still not sure which day to do magic kingdom. Tuesdays should be less crowded, but no night time parade. So might have to switch it to Monday?

Just not sure what to do yet.

 

[mattr555]

yep, first week of may was fine but last week of april was busier. went to MK on Sunday 24th and althought i saw everything i wanted to in the morning, at 1pm there were 90min waits for stitch, and 60min waits for small world and the path between small world and peter pan was choked with strollers. it reminded me of trying to walk against the croud in the London underground at rushhour but in 90 degree heat.

 

[mill4023]

We were also there. Just got back yesterday.
Crowds weren't bad at all with the possible exception of Epcot on Friday, May 6th. At around 1:30, Soarin had waits of 90 minutes and FP return times of 7:00 pm. But Mission Space was only a 20 minute wait, so maybe it's just that everyone was concentrated on Soarin. Fantastic ride by the way. Even my easily frightened 4 year old loved it. I'll be doing a trip report when I get a chance, but overall, we had a great time and never waited longer than 10 minutes for any attraction. There were some longer waits than that, but we tried to do the majority of our riding in the mornings or using Fastpass.

Like some of the other posters above, we were at MK on Sunday May 1st and it was great. Splash and BTMR were walk-ons at 1:00 in the afternoon.

 

[iLoveEeyore2]

We were also there. Just got back yesterday.
Crowds weren't bad at all with the possible exception of Epcot on Friday, May 6th. At around 1:30, Soarin had waits of 90 minutes and FP return times of 7:00 pm. But Mission Space was only a 20 minute wait, so maybe it's just that everyone was concentrated on Soarin. Fantastic ride by the way. Even my easily frightened 4 year old loved it. I'll be doing a trip report when I get a chance, but overall, we had a great time and never waited longer than 10 minutes for any attraction. There were some longer waits than that, but we tried to do the majority of our riding in the mornings or using Fastpass.

Like some of the other posters above, we were at MK on Sunday May 1st and it was great. Splash and BTMR were walk-ons at 1:00 in the afternoon.

I agree with you. Our FP for Soarin' was for 6:35 p.m. The stand-by line was as high as 120 minutes. We didn't have any PS and could not get a table as a walk-in for Garden Grill or Le Cellier for lunch or dinner. We were at MGM in the a.m. and were able to do RNRC three times in a row and ToT 2xs with no wait.

 

[lentesta]

Yes, the crowds on Wed and Thu were not quite as bad as I'd thought. I'm sure the weather, especially the thunderstorms, had something to do with that, but even so, it was relatively light at the MK on those days.

We did collect wait times at the MK each day, so I'll post them to the blog shortly.

Pixiedusttravel, we didn't recommend Epcot on Thursday because it closed early, and those without the hopping option would have been stuck.

Len