What's The Deal With The Crowds In June??

[bubba73]

AndyMcV- I am sorry that you wasn't able to have a good time. I was down there with my DW and DS(11) during the week of Father's Day and had a fantastic time. I am not sure what your itinarary was and what you did on what days but it could have possibly been planned better to avoid some of the crowds. Fact is, you went after school had let out and it was also during the Gay Day weekend. Both of these would give you huge crowds. But you could have also went to allearsnet.com to see what the typical busy days are and what are the lighter days. Just from our experience on this trip, we went to the MK on Tuesday and I can't tell you how crowded it was. We ended up hopping over to MGM. We went back on Wednesday and it was a different park. Still crowded but very manageable. We were actually able to do everything we wanted.

 

[WaltD4Me]

It is also very crowded in the parks from Memorial Day to Labor Day. It is peak time for summer crowds especially the middle of June to the middle of August.

I've never been to Disney during the summer, I've also never been during Easter or Spring Break or any other projected peak time and I don't ever plan to. I avoid the busy times like the plague and the OP's story is exactly why. If I want to walk around a park that is wall to wall people and stand in lines for an hour or more in the sweltering heat, I'll go to Cedar Point just up the road, but I don't go there either.

I hate HUGE crowds and even with the UG Guide or TGM advice, I know I wouldn't enjoy myself during a super crowded time. I know some people say "If you don't like crowds, don't go to Disney" but I have found there are times you can go when crowds are very managable. As much as I love Disney, if I had to choose between going during a PEAK time and not going at all, I probably wouldn't go at all.

While there might be some drawbacks to going during slower times and or off season, to me it's totally worth it. Of course, I'm the person who volunteers to work weekends so I can have days off during the week to go the mall, grocery store, bank, beach, park, ect...when all those places are less crowded!

 

[rockyroad]

I found that the crowds were much larger this June also. We have been to WDW many times and are very astute when it comes to FP and park hopping. We are also jaded enough that we won't wait more than 20 minutes, but you have to watch out because the posted wait times may not be accurate. You can get a good idea of the actual wait times if you pay attention to the length of the line and it it seems to be moving well.

My family visited WDW in June of 2002, June of 2003, and this June 3-8. There were many, many more people this year.

We tried MGM on the morning of June 4 and it was horrible. It was difficult to even walk so we hopped to Epcot. The EMH at MGM on June 5 was really awful, we got one ride on ToT and then left. It just wasn't worth dealing with the crowds or the lines. My 17 year old son was really disappointed because he likes to ride and we spent a lot of time looking for and at uncrowded activities. Teenaged boys are not really thrilled to spend Disney park time watching films of France or Canada.

We tried an evening extra magic hour at MK twice. It was crowded and the E-ticket rides had long lines. Space Mountain had a 90 minute wait. However, we could just walk on Pirates, HM, and Jungle Cruise.

We spent a lot of time in Epcot(after hopping from an over crowded park) because it seems able to absorb crowds. The evening EMH at AK was great. After the crowds thinned out and we were able to ride Kali River over and over. We also met a great CM on the bridge to Camp M-M who pointed out the troll house and stone dragon that we left over from the ill fated Beastly Kingdom.

We plan to return to WDW in January, but I think that we are through with June trips.... Been there, done that, had enough...

 

[JennaTX]

I have not yet posted anywhere on DIS about Tour Guide Mike, but since I just went, I feel like I can say how it helped.

We lived in S. Florida for one year and went to WDW for three days, never got anywhere but the MK (of course I did not know about DIS or TGM).

So on this trip (we went in June) I bought the UG in January of this year, which led me to mousesavers, which led me to DIS, and then to TGM. At that point I was thinking what is $22 more dollars, plus it has a money back guarantee.

At first I was not sure about TGM, like many on here who have posted. I much preferred the "chatty" part of DIS. However, once I started asking questions on TGM's boards, and really getting into the website, I was amazed.

We stayed at the WL from June 17th-24th of this year (I got my AP discount thanks to everyone here on these boards ). I can seriously say that we never waited more than 10 minutes for any ride, (except when my DS who is 3 wanted to ride the motor cars at MK around 7:00 at night, luckily it had been raining so we only waited around 20 minutes, but it was a free night for us).

There probably is a lot here on DIS that is on TGM, but it might be hard to find, DIS is so large and talks about so much (which I love ), but if you want to get into serious planning, then for me TGM was the way to go.

I know that many DIS veterans have tried TGM and say that there is nothing there that they don't know, and that might be true, but I doubt it since Mike or his guides are in the park daily. But as someone who had only been to WDW once before and was going back during a peak season and adding the 50th year celebration, TGM was worth twice/three/four times what I paid for it. I personally had asked the boards at TGM questions who were answered by Mike, who had just been there the day before, or a couple of days before, in this way I do not feel the UG can compete.

My advice, for what it is worth, is to try Tour Guide Mike, and if you don't like it then get your money back. But I bet that most people who try it will agree that it does work.

Anyway, no matter who you go with, what "plan" you are trying, I hope everyone has a magical trip!

 

[swilphil]

Did you try the morning EMH in MK? During the 2 weeks around Easter they had morning EMH at 7 a.m. everyday. We got so much done in 3 hours, we would leave and go to another park or for a swim. I'm surprised they didn't do this in June or at least over the July 4th holiday. I sure hope they do it at Christmas. There weren't very many people in the parks, which made it great, but maybe they didn't think enough people were taking advantage of it.