Why the crowds?

[cmurray234]

My family went the last Saturday and Sunday of president's week and the following Monday.

What we expected:
To have the parks so crowded on Saturday that we couldn't move, a little better on Sunday and walk-on on Monday.

What actually happened:
Saturday at Epcot was darn near deserted. So much that we arrived back at the World Showcase after dinner with literally 3 minutes to spare for Illuminations and we walked up to the railing near the Rose and Crown and had the best viewing spot we've ever had. There were no people there. I have no explanation for how this could possibly be during a break week.

Sunday we spent at Magic Kingdom. This day also featured inexplicably light crowds. We waited 15 minutes to get enchanted by Belle. Pirates and HM were close enough to walk on. Even at 6:00 in the evening Jungle Cruise had a posted wait time of 25 minutes, but I timed it and we got on in 15 minutes. We went on every ride in the park that we wanted to (full disclosure: we skipped Peter Pan because we opted to use our FPs elsewhere)...many twice.

Monday at DHS -- the week AFTER break week -- was crazy crowded. I mean, I know DHS feels crowded because it's a small park, but by mid-afternoon, Star Tours posted a 45 minuted wait and TSMM was up to 90 I think.

At this point, crowd numbers are complete mystery to me.

 

[ThisIsMyName]

What we found going last week (last week of Feb) was crowds were pretty high. It seemed the unusually bad winter brought out a lot of people who pulled their kids from school (tons of MI people). Also a lot of people with kids under 5 years were at MK since their vacations don't center around school breaks. . MK was packed with crowds. Lines weren't too bad but sidewalks/food places a mess. Lots of South American and Canandian tourists too.

 

[disneyfreak33]

I am not knocking the op here in the least but.....


There is no such thing as a slow time for Disney anymore. It has been that way for awhile now and as such folks should just go when they want to go, deal with what comes, and not look for "slow" times. It is what it is.

 

[minnie mum]

Lots of Canadian tourists down there this year from what I'm hearing and reading. Great discounts and a bitterly cold winter are making a lot of folks desperate for a warm break. Spring break differs from school district to school district, but it started in some areas last week.

 

[saskdw]

Any reason for the higher then normal crowds lately?

MDE, MB's, and FP+ are an overwhelming success and is bringing in huge amounts of new visitors to WDW.

 

[bookgirl]

Just got back yesterday. Louisanna out of school this week for Mardi Gras. Senior trips two at my resort (according to their shirts saw more in the parks). Brazil. Big dance completion in area. Boys sports team arriving on my next to last day.

 

[Love Tink]

MDE, MB's, and FP+ are an overwhelming success and is bringing in huge amounts of new visitors to WDW.

Oh geez, give me a break.

I guess the same can be said for every spring before MDE was invented, too. (And every winter, fall and summer.) Because people have been on here saying the crowds are larger than expected every month of every year since the Dis was created.

It's about people's expectations (and, to some extent, the park days they choose) and sometimes about bad or good luck.

 

[jctwizzer]

Actually, it's the new normal.......has been moving in that direction for several years now.


Ten years ago when we were at Epcot at the end of Jan. the parking lot shuttle was a golf cart...
.and early December has gone from mild to chaos...

It's obvious to us that WDW is attracting a whole new class of guests..
.and
based on the preponderance of non english speaking guests this January, I'd say they are attracting many more foreign guests than in the past..

There are no "slow" times any more

 

[ucfknight]

There is no such thing as a slow time for Disney anymore. It has been that way for awhile now and as such folks should just go when they want to go, deal with what comes, and not look for "slow" times. It is what it is.

Yep. Disney has done a masterful job of finding new markets to fill in the former slow times of year. They've been very successful in tapping into giant running events, South American summer travelers (in North America's winter), cheerleading competitions, large conventions, special festivals in the parks (Flower and Garden, Food and Wine, Star Wars Weekends), etc, etc.

 

[ChrisFL]

MDE, MB's, and FP+ are an overwhelming success and is bringing in huge amounts of new visitors to WDW.

 

[JimmyV]

MDE, MB's, and FP+ are an overwhelming success and is bringing in huge amounts of new visitors to WDW.

Seen in a light most favorable to Disney, MDE is a web site and an app. MB is a bracelet that does exactly what your plastic card used to do, only you wear it on your wrist instead of on a lanyard. FP+ is a revamped version of a line-skipping system that previously existed. How many people are going to say: "Honey! I just saw a commercial on TV that says that Disney now has a new system for skipping 3 lines a day! Let's pack and spend $5,000 on a last-minute vacation!"? Remember, FP+ was fully rolled out in mid-January with the retirement of FP- being pretty much a surprise. So few, if any current guests booked their vacations with full appreciaition that this new system would be fully operational (if you want to call it that) by the first week of March. The "huge amounts" of people you suggest are coming because of MDE had to be people who booked within the last 45 days. That does not describe most guests.

The Mine Train will bring in guests. New Fantasyland brought in guests. WWOHP brought in guests and its expansion will do likewise. A plastic band that you wear on your wrist? That would bring in about as many people as the Mickey ears that light up. Go ahead. Start a thread that says: "I booked a Disney vacation for an arrival between 2/20-3/10 solely because I learned that MDE and FP+ were fully operational on January 15! Who else did the same thing?" Know what you'll get?? Crickets.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Yep. Disney has done a masterful job of finding new markets to fill in the former slow times of year. They've been very successful in tapping into giant running events, South American summer travelers (in North America's winter), cheerleading competitions, large conventions, special festivals in the parks (Flower and Garden, Food and Wine, Star Wars Weekends), etc, etc.

Yep.

 

[catne]

most definitely the economy is picking up AND the terrible winter is bringing a lot more people south on last minute get-aways. We're over on the Gulf coast, very close to Clearwater beach. All the restaurants over here have been non-stopped packed since about the middle of January. And the Spring break crowds are not really here yet...some colleges have been off the first week, but 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks are more usual for spring-breakers.

Having chatted with people at our condo place...lots of people are talking about more visitors than usual due to family & friends wanting to get away from bad weather this winter.

 

[DividedSky]

Seen in a light most favorable to Disney, MDE is a web site and an app. MB is a bracelet that does exactly what your plastic card used to do, only you wear it on your wrist instead of on a lanyard. FP+ is a revamped version of a line-skipping system that previously existed. How many people are going to say: "Honey! I just saw a commercial on TV that says that Disney now has a new system for skipping 3 lines a day! Let's pack and spend $5,000 on a last-minute vacation!"? Remember, FP+ was fully rolled out in mid-January with the retirement of FP- being pretty much a surprise. So few, if any current guests booked their vacations with full appreciaition that this new system would be fully operational (if you want to call it that) by the first week of March. The "huge amounts" of people you suggest are coming because of MDE had to be people who booked within the last 45 days. That does not describe most guests.

The Mine Train will bring in guests. New Fantasyland brought in guests. WWOHP brought in guests and its expansion will do likewise. A plastic band that you wear on your wrist? That would bring in about as many people as the Mickey ears that light up. Go ahead. Start a thread that says: "I booked a Disney vacation for an arrival between 2/20-3/10 solely because I learned that MDE and FP+ were fully operational on January 15! Who else did the same thing?" Know what you'll get?? Crickets.

why does fully operational matter?

partially operational also meant you didn't have to rope drop to get a tsmm pass.

 

[JimmyV]

why does fully operational matter?

partially operational also meant you didn't have to rope drop to get a tsmm pass.

No, that's not the case. Partially operational meant that you had to be staying at a particular resort to test the system, or have been randomly picked to test the system, or that the system was only in place in one or two of the parks. No one knew, on 1/10/14 that all FP- machines were going to be taken off line by 1/18/14. No one who booked before 1/15/14 could have possibly known that the system would look like it currently does by March 7. So the only people who knew what they would be buying into were the ones who booked after 1/15.

 

[Spacecase1]

We went in Oct and I didn't know about the new fall breaks for schools. It was supposed to be 2/3 days and it turned out to be 5/6 crowds. I was disappointed but we still had fun. This year we are planning mid September to hopefully avoid US school family crowds, pre-Pop Warner and cheer leading. Maybe we will just see forgiven travelers but I am prepared for higher crowds than can be predicted, my days are 1s and 2/3s right now. Just hoping....

 

[mrsmorrow]

Seen in a light most favorable to Disney, MDE is a web site and an app. MB is a bracelet that does exactly what your plastic card used to do, only you wear it on your wrist instead of on a lanyard. FP+ is a revamped version of a line-skipping system that previously existed. How many people are going to say: "Honey! I just saw a commercial on TV that says that Disney now has a new system for skipping 3 lines a day! Let's pack and spend $5,000 on a last-minute vacation!"? Remember, FP+ was fully rolled out in mid-January with the retirement of FP- being pretty much a surprise. So few, if any current guests booked their vacations with full appreciaition that this new system would be fully operational (if you want to call it that) by the first week of March. The "huge amounts" of people you suggest are coming because of MDE had to be people who booked within the last 45 days. That does not describe most guests.

The Mine Train will bring in guests. New Fantasyland brought in guests. WWOHP brought in guests and its expansion will do likewise. A plastic band that you wear on your wrist? That would bring in about as many people as the Mickey ears that light up. Go ahead. Start a thread that says: "I booked a Disney vacation for an arrival between 2/20-3/10 solely because I learned that MDE and FP+ were fully operational on January 15! Who else did the same thing?" Know what you'll get?? Crickets.

 

[jeffbear]

Don't many universities around the country start spring breaks right around this time?

Yeah ... the southern schools are into Spring break season now. But not many have breaks that start before the first of March.

 

[hopemax]

When I was there in January, I keep reading things about "why are there so many people here!" It seemed to revolve around the attraction, FP return and FP+ kiosk lines, and for those I definitely saw a lot of people. It might have even felt like it was more than usual. But, the security lines, line to board a monorail, lines at the turnstyles, bathrooms, restaurants, walking through stores and register lines all seemed the usual "dead" January crowds.

I tend to think it's more the way that Disney has fundamentally changed the operations, and crowd flow of the theme parks because a lot of people aren't standing in a long attraction queue that was purposefully out of the main traffic flow. Now people are standing in shorter queues that they've had to place in the main walkways as people are backed up while scanning their MB's, the new kiosk locations, etc. Or they're walking to the next thing on the agenda, not standing in a line somewhere. Plus, there seems to be a lot more stroller parking areas too, eating into the traffic flow areas.

 

[Damien2213]

I was there for 9 days in january (1/10 - 1/18) and the only thing I waited more than 20 minutes for was Tink's Nook, Anna & Elsa, few ADRs and the marathon expo bus.

Seems to be some discrepancies when it comes to crowd levels on here....of course I think people are really in search for what they see at smaller amusement parks, which are times when you can just walk on an attraction and then stay on at times. I'm not sure those have ever existed at Disney...

I went in Feb of 2010 and my trip sounded a lot like yours except at the height of the day in Magic Kingdom only with the exception of TSM and Soarin'....