Who else was stuck in Saturday night's mob at MGM?

[txSleepingBeauty]

I tried to go to Mgm tonight (sat) to see the Osbourne lights. Got to the park at 6 (it closed at eight) and stood in line for an hour just to get into the park!! It was the biggest crowd I'd ever seen at Disney. The lines were stretched all the way back to the bag check with wall to wall people between the ticket booths and the turnstiles. People couldn't get out nor could we get in.

After waiting an hour I finally got in and walked towards the back of the park....then I saw the line. It went from (and I'm NOT exagerrating) Indiana Jones all the way around Sounds Dangerous looping in on itself and then back towards NY street. I took one look at the line and turned around and walked out. Nope, not waiting an hour and a half to see some pretty lights.....

So, was anyone else stuck in the mob with me? I blame the cheerleaders

 

[chesirekate]

We were at MGM Wednesday night and also experienced the Osborne Lights mob, though it does sound like it was worse tonight. The Pop Warner kids actually had MGM to themselves last night (Friday) as far as I know so I'm not sure that most of them would have been there tonight.

BTW, we also turned around and left before seeing the lights. I told my husband we would just drive around the neighborhood and look at the pretty lights here

 

[christianweecare]

What DH & I experienced about a week ago was that there is a big crowd to see the lights right at the time that they throw the switch. We waited about an hour and went back and the lines were gone. There were still lots of people looking at the lights but no lines by then. Of course it sounds like the crowds have elevated since then, too.

 

[treehugger]

You know, I keep hearing stories similar to yours. I wonder if Disney would extend the hours at MGM if that would help to ease those crowds. I mean if you think about it, everyone who is there to see the Osborne Lights only has about a two hour window to do so. We will be there in less than 5 days (yea!) and I really wanted to see them, but there is no way I will wait 2 hours!

 

[kilee]

Wow, no matter what time of year I go, I've never really seen MGM mobbed. I think it would probably help if they'd extend those MGM hrs a bit.

 

[Carrieberry]

That is crazy! We saw the lights in 2000 and in 2002 and never had to wait like that. Of course we were already in the park earlier and then made our way over to NY about 15 minutes before them throwing the switch. Is it set up differently due to the construction and stuff that is making the line take longer?

 

[taylor1293]

We were there last night.

DD and I were in one line. DH and other DD were in the line next to us. DD and I made it through the turnstyle. DH and other DD did not. They stopped letting people in at that moment.

It was a MESS. With massive crowds trying to get in and out. But more than that, it was a huge safety issue that, IMO, took way too long to resolve.

The line for the Osborne lights was very long, but it moved very quickly. We were in and out in probably 30 minutes.

Teresa

 

[stinkerbelle]

WOW - that's amazing you had to wait that long! I think we went and saw the lights on Tuesday...right at 6 it was packed (at the start of NY street - we were already in the park) I think we went and saw either Muppets or something else before we walked down the street - and it was pretty comfortable walking down - not mobbed at all.

I was rather shocked at the amount of people checking in Friday and Saturday at AKL...the lobby and valet were constantly hopping. Guess this week is going to be a busy one!

 

[llij]

Hi txSleepingBeauty!



We went Thursday evening and while there was a little bit of the crowds, it was nothing like you described. Sorry to hear that it was so crowded!

BTW, it was nice to meet you at MK on Friday!!

Hope that your trip was great!

Take care,
Jill

 

[sters]

Sounds like Disney could do a better job of crowd management... is the new location the problem? Extending the hours might be one solution.

 

[philliplc]

my family was also there saturday night - that was truly amazing. we left about 7:15 trying to get out of the park before fantasmic let out, and in just a few minutes easily passed over 1000 people still coming IN with only 45 minutes left before close. managed to make it to our car before fantasmic ended, but it still took 1/2 hour just to get out of the MGM parking lot. not much fun.

on a positive note we had exited muppets a few minutes before 6:00 and noticed they already had the lights on and were letting people through before 6:00 (presumably to avoid total gridlock). not sure when exactly they turned them on.

fortunately we had already seen them with no wait to speak of sunday the 5th and monday 6th.

 

[sodaseller]

On Friday we got in at 6:30 (park closed at 7). We walked through the lights without a problem (although I could not fin an Osbourne Lights pin as the MGM stores were closed and they did not sell them next day at EPCOT). Anyway, the problem was leaving. We were trying to get back to the Boardwalk and the lines for the boats snaked back to the Christmas Tree. The Boats still only came every 20 mins and it wasn't until after 8pm that three boats came to get who was left. No fun

 

[AngieBelle]

Me! I went to meet up with some DISers there after work. I couldn't believe the mob! i've never been there when they've reached capacity before. Thank goodness, I did finally make it in. The line to see the lights looked very long, but it actually moved quite fast. The wait wasn't bad at all.

 

[JanaV]

We were at MGM on Saturday too, it was the worst crowd we saw the whole week we were there. I just thought it was because it was a Saturday. We went to MGM on Tuesday and Thursday as well and the crowds were nothing at all like Saturday. We saw the lights on Tuesday night right at closing (the park actually closed at 8:30, even though it was listed at 8:00) at it was crowded, but completely manageable. We did notice that there were a lot of variations in the times of park closing and the Phantasmic show.

 

[dceremuga]

It was the same at Animal Kingdom. After a pretty calm week, we dealt with a horrible crowd on Saturday. We gave up and came home. We are done with Disney for many years to come. I'm tired of it.

 

[mom2rb]

I bought stockings at MGM on Friday and had our names put on them, because we were leaving on Sunday I couldn't have them sent to the hotel. I went to get them Saturday afternoon and the place was packed. I was glad that I had sent DH and the boys back to the hotel. There was no way we would have been able to see anything.

 

[perfectmatch300]

We were going to hop over on Sat, but decided to go to Epcot instead. I'm really glad we did that because if DH saw that kind of crowd he would have insisted on leaving, & I think I'd have gone with him willingly!

We did go on Thurs night. We got there at about 6:30, walked in to Hollywood & Vine with no PS & were seated immediately, then walked through the lights with no problem at all, & no crowds either. We were able to take our time & could have easily gone through a second time if we wanted to.

We did like the Residental St display better, but DH really enjoyed the look of lights in the city, too! Of course he comes from NYC.

 

[MilouPA]

We were at Animal Kingdom during the day on Saturday, December 4 and it was extremely crowded (despite the day being cool and overcast).

That evening, we went to MGM around 6 -- AIEEEEE! We waited in a line for parking for 45 minutes, then waited another 45 minutes at the park entrance. When we saw the line for Osborne lights, we headed for Walt Disney - One Man's Dream. It was completely empty, and we spent an enjoyable 45 minutes there (yes, everything happened in 45-minute increments!) before joining the much shorter line to see the lights.

It would be nice if Disney decided to extend MGM hours slightly for Osborne lights -- especially on weekends!

 

[Virgo10]

Holy cow... I was there! What a mess I have NEVER seen so many people at any of the parks.

After waiting about 10 minutes in the entrance line, I gave up. From what I could see, the main street was totally blocked with people and nobody was going anywhere.

I met up with a woman at the bus stop and she said that a fist fight nearly broke out at the gate. They had one and only one exit opened up for people to get out of the park. There was a line that wrapped all the way around the area where people were trying to get in. No one was going anywhere. She was really upset because her two young children got to hear some words that aren't usually associated with being at Disney.

Ahh, remember the good ole days when this use to be the quietest time of the year? Well it sure isn't anymore! Disney seems totally out of touch with the volume of people who are here, at least on the weekends. Closing MGM at 8 p.m. when there are crowds like I saw on Saturday, is just plain dumb! Some of the head honchos ought to get off their behinds and go out and check the numbers.

Roberta

 

[MaryKatesMom]

We were in MGM on Saturday the 4 and I was shocked by the number of people in the park. I was sure MK would have been a bear because of Spectromagic showing but oh my gosh. We ran out of there and walked to Epcot. The line for the boats was unbelievable and we had a PS at R&C.

I agree with the earlier poster. The crowds this trip were about twice the size of last year at this time.