Why all the worries about park attendance?

[mudnuri]

I read these boards and see people getting worked up about park attendance, and how busy it is a specific time of year compared to others and I wonder why?

I have a plan down to what park we will do what day, and that's about it, if it gets wicked busy so be it, I'm on vacation I'm not suppose to be running ragged, I do enough of that at home. If the kids want to go back and to the pool in the afternoon, okay we'll do that...they do have certain rides they want to do, but by no means are we going commando to get everything done...

Does anyone feel the same way as me? I mean, after all it's a vacation its suppose to be relaxed.....

Brandy

 

[GEM]

Yes. It is supposed to be relaxing. That's why we avoid those crowded times of year like the plague! We find a 10 minute wait for Splash Mountain much more relaxing than an hour wait. We find getting a seat on the curb a few minutes before parade time much nicer than jostling with huge throngs up to an hour in advance. We like to sleep a little later and not worry about getting up at the crack of dawn to take advantage of the early entry. For all those reasons, and more, you won't find us anywhere near WDW during summer vacation, Christmas break, etc. If we have reason to believe it will be extremely crowded, we find some other time to go.

 

[SavingsFan]

The reason I care about attendance is because I have a 3 & 4 year old. We just came back from low season at Disney and even when there was only a fifteen minute wait, they would start to pick on each other. I know boys will be boys....but I am not sure how my nerves would have been if we had to wait in each line a minimum of a half hour. They are not old enough to hand a gameboy to fill the time. And I also feel more relaxed if I do not feel I am wasting all of my vacation time standing in line.

This past vacation we had ultimate passes. We stayed nine days. We would wake late and not worry about getting up to beat the crowds. We saved money with the connections vouchers by leaving the park and having lunch at a resort. Before, I would never think of leaving the resort because we already would have wasted so much time in lines. We took it very easy.

Another benefit of being there at low season was how many things we got to participate in. In just one fifteen minute period my boys got pulled into a parade twice by the characters! That was just during one parade! They did so much more than that. Could that have happened during peak season? Maybe, but I kind of doubt it.

Another reason to go during low season is prices. Everything is cheaper. AND it was so easy to get PS for all of the events we wanted to do.

So, for me :

- It is cheaper (Which also means we are going back for low season again later this year....something we could not have done if we had gone during peak times!)

- My boys got to participate more

- I had no problem with getting any PS I wanted

- I spent less time in lines and more time enjoying the park

- My boys did not run me as ragged with their feuding

It is very much worth it, to me, to go during Disney's slow time.

Christina

 

[Naisy68]

I agree completely. This will be our 3rd trip to Disney (all three in July)and I remember my first trip, I tried to make sure we fit everything in and I know that I drove my DH and DS crazy. I remember actually getting mad because they wanted to stop and play chess at MK one day. What was I stressing about? That was crazy! This year, we are going to just try to relax and enjoy. If we don't get everything done then I will try not to get upset. It's a vacation and we need to treat it as one. I'm actually looking forward to just loungng around the resort some this time. Thanks for reminding me about what I sometimes forget about.
Have a Disney Day!

 

[Mad4Dizne]

I think, I try to fit in as much as I can going in the "slower" times, however--that was not the case on our last trip. I just think that you spend sooo much on a Disney Vacation--I can't help wanting to pack in as much as I can. When we go on a cruise however--it is an entirely different, leisurely vacation. [If Disney offered the deals the cruise lines do...I might not even make it into a park every day....( and I would usually ...never say that that)]. That being said...I think I'm going to try to make our next trip a bit more leisurely (I am getting older!!!!! LOL). I admire those persons who can make Disney a leisurely vacation!!!!!!!!!!!
Flo

 

[KathyPem]

My 6yo dd (5 at the time) went in June 03 with her grandma. She was able to ride 4 rides and then watch the parade. The lines were well over an hour to get on even the smallest rides. During the parade Snow White hugged her and that made her trip. That was the only character she got close to and even that was during the parade.

In Sept 03 I took my 2 and 3 yo (both 2 at the time). We got over 25 character signatures, got to ride every ride we wanted to, most 2-3 times. Longest wait was 20 minutes for Grand Priz otherwise 5 minutes with most being a walk on. We did this all in one day.

We are going back in Sept this year and will be taking all four kdis. I can't wait to see the magic in her eyes after getting the whole experience the other two got.

I won't go back during a peak season if I can help it, I think the crowds make it so you can't enjoy as much.

 

[crazelion]

I will not get up early on vacation period. I don't care about crowds at all. I went for the July 4 th weekend and had a blast. I got to ride all the rides that I won't to ride.

I don't worry about what rides I can ride. I going to all the shows that they have. I use fast pass for the rides I won't to ride.

I was going this for July 4th but real live got in the so I not going this year.

I live two hours away from Dollywood and Six Flags Over Geogia get my fill of rides before I get to WDW

 

[VAN]

I think it really makes a difference if you have been several times, if you know you can afford to come back, etc.

For us, we have been many times. We buy the PHP and then choose which days we will be in the parks and intersperse them with days at our resort. On the days in the parks, we take advantage of EE and go until the last park is closed (maybe with a short break in the afternoon); however, because we have been so many times, if the line is overly long and we can't get a Fastpass, we will just walk on by knowing we'll be back next year.

We do maximize the days that we spent $50 per person to enter a park, but we also schedule the down-days to enjoy our expensive on-site Disney resort too!

Yes, visiting WDW can be relaxing and reasonable in cost -- it's really true.

 

[castlegazer]

Because crowds stink. I hate that feeling and as you said I get enough of crowds here traveling to and from work and around everything. It is a real drainer to only be able to do two at max rides and feel like when you look back that you didn't do anything but stand in the hot sun and wait. I hate it. The parades are amazing but the way a hot crowd can get is just down right nasty making an amazing experience less than amazing. I spend more time trying to figure out how to avoid the crowds during my planning stages than anything else.

I am getting the feeling you have never been to WDW in June. Trust me when I say that waiting in line to ride Spaceship earth for two hours is just not fun. And I am by no means a comando park goer - I have a two year old. I just would like to make it feel like we got more out of our $52 than just elbow to elbow people - that to me is not relaxing regardless of how laid back we are taking our time in the park.

Whew - that turned into a rant. I didn't mean to - you just brought back awful memories of trips in June when I was growing up which I hope I can avoid for another few years.

 

[MELSMICE]

We go during peak season (Easter) and also during off season (Oct., Nov. or Dec.) It doesn't matter to us when we are there, we are there to enjoy our vacation, not run ourselves ragged.

We try to see the things we want to, do our favorites & try to do something new each trip. If we don't, then that's okay, we just figure we'll do it next time!

If we choose to get up early & go to a park we do that. If we want to sleep in & go to a pool we do that. It's a much more pleasant vacation that way.

 

[jmminarik]

Going in early December back in '98 meant we got to ride Tower of Terror 5 times in a row. We just got tired of the doing the long fast walk to the 'library', so we stopped at 5.

In early december of 2002 we found ourselves behind Cindy's Castle with my in-laws. A total of about 15 people were there. We all got to enjoy watching and listening to my 3 y.o. niece yelling as loud as she could asking Cinderella to come out to play.

We'll gladly take shorter park hours for a less crowded vacation.

-Joe

 

[cyndibelle]

when do the crowds pick up in december???

 

[jmminarik]

Originally posted by cyndibelle
when do the crowds pick up in december???

When schools start letting out for the week. If i remember, you're going home on the 23rd, so you'll probably miss the bulk of the mobs.

-Joe

 

[JennHales]

my number one concern when planning a trip to disney is crowds. I love disney, everything about it always have and now that I have kids I want to share it with them. My problem is that my husband has a bad attitude when it comes to crowds. Which makes vacations not so fun for me. So now i plan to come when it's not so busy and let me tell you last year we took the kids to disneyland during the off time and had no lines at all and my husband was a happy camper. Making me the happies wife on earth.
Jen

 

[disneyjunkie]

I have to go during peak times, just can't bring myself to pull my son out of school for a week just to go to disney.

Our next trip will be during Easter break. The only to avoid the crowds will be to get to the parks early and use fastpass. We did this during our last trip, August 2001, and it worked great.

We can only go during school breaks, but I've still be able to use codes to get discounts on our rooms.

I know from the start that the parks will be packed, so I have to have a plan.