Crowds! Wow!!!!!!

[MrPeetrie]

Hi guys. We just returned from 10 BEAUTIFUL days in WDW. (I'll post a full trip report later.) Because of my business, the only time I can go is October and the crowds are usually the same (light) each year. Because we had another child (and gave up an income) we haven't been back since 2007. With the economy being less than stellar, I expected smaller-than-usual crowds. Boy was I wrong!!!

On our first full day at the Magic Kingdom, which I stupidly scheduled for a Saturday, the crowds were overwhelming. 45 minute waits for It's A Small World. (I guess Stacy's MUST SEEs are working.) 100+ minute waits for Space Mountain. We were there all day and did very little. Same at Animal Kingdom the next day. (I can never remember Animal Kingdom being crowded in October.)

We went to Hollywood Studios three times and it was PACKED each time. Toy Story Mania FastPasses were usually gone by 11:00. The second showing of Fantasmic was filled to capacity.

One night, we thought we'd escape the Hollywood Studio crowd and take the Friendship boat to Epcot. It was a Saturday during the Food & Wine Festival. Huge Mistake!!! Epcot was shoulder to shoulder around the entire World Showcase. And it was not a family-friendly crowd either. It was a slightly intoxicated, boisterous, staggering, loud, having-a-great-time crowd. Not many families with strollers. Very, very few in fact. We just went from the International Gateway around to the exit, stopping only to snack on food, which was great by the way. On the bus ride back, others expressed the same feelings about the crowd and as the reason they were leaving, too.

The next day, we were relaying our experience to another guest when a Cast Member overheard us. She said, "Magic Kingdom had 56,000 in attendance yesterday." i didn't know it held that many people.

The truth is: even though we visited each park at least twice, we never made it to many attractions. And we're not WDW rookies. We know how to plan, utilize FastPass, etc. It was just PACKED!!!I'm glad to see Disney is doing well, but it did damper an otherwise perfect vacation.

Bear in mind, I've never gone during peak season (July, Christmas week) so that may be the norm. But for the Octobers I remember, attendance was unusually high.

[SBETigg]

We were there in early October, and I thought the crowds were manageable, and in fact much lower than I expected over Columbus Day weekend, most likely due to two days of torrential rain. But otherwise, crowded around World Showcase but we were traveling without kids so navigating crowds was much easier. I hope you made the best of it and enjoyed your time.

[Victor Kelly]

Yeah all those posts and books saying when the best time to go, usually has that effect.

The price we pay for instant information.

[Aurora]

We found the same in early June this year; we'd gone at the same time of year before and were totally surprised at the crowd levels.

A few things are happening that may have contributed to your experience:

-- Epcot's Food & Wine seems to be bringing in people in droves. I've read many reports about huge crowd levels there, becoming higher as the month goes on and the festival end date looms in November. This brings in vacationers as well as Florida residents.

-- MK's hours on Oct. 22 (I assume that's the Saturday you mentioned), were 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. without EMH. In addition to enticing vacationers to that park because of the long hours, it also may have drawn lots more Florida residents, who tend to come on Saturdays anyway. Also, people who are not attending Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party have only three days a week to take advantage of longer MK non-party hours, so days at the MK without MNSSHP tend to be a little heavier.

-- There are media reports that people are starting to spend money again, but not on material goods. They're spending on "experiences" for the feel-good aspects during such a dire economy. Disney's the place to go for that.

-- Many schools are moving to year-round schedules and have fall breaks. The "fall break" period may become a "peaking" trend, just like holidays and spring break.

During high-crowd times, the best park to go to is Animal Kingdom. It tends to be a part-day park for most visitors, it's not a huge local draw, and its hours don't tend to fluctuate much, so there's not as much of an ebb-and-flow in terms of crowd levels.

[MrPeetrie]

Aurora, I think you've hit it on the head. I've never paid attention to park hours in the past when planning a vacation. Usually, I make my ADRs around 180 days out, then check park hours when I arrive. That will not be the case in the future.

On 10/22, MK hours were 8 a.m. to 1 a.m., without EMH. I told my wife, people spending close to $90 for a one-day ticket are going to get the most time for their money.

On the other hand, we had ADRs at the Castle around 8:20 (what great luck) on a day when the MK was hosting the MNSSHP. Since the regular hours were only 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., I think many believed the shortened hours did not justify the ticket price. After breakfast, we rode EVERYTHING in Fantasyland by 11:30 a.m., including Dumbo (15 minute wait). Unfortunately for us, we had just closed to parks two nights in a row (both midnight closing times) and had MNSSHP tickets for later that night. So we left for some sleep.

I think another factor might be phone apps that predict light crowds. Our phone app was predicting GREEN LEVEL crowds at certain parks. But when we arrived, they were PACKED! I think the gig is up on those things.

[Disney Doll]

We were there Oct 11-18 and had the same experience. It was waay more crowded that what we have experienced in the past. We overheard other guests who were October usuals saying the same. I think for sure the MNSSHP is part of the problem. There are fewer non party days for guests to spend in MK. I love the party, but I think adding additional dates has gotten to be too much. Food and Wine is growing in popularity as well. We will never go during the overlap in MNSSHP and Food & Wine again.

[sonamae80]

We were there from 10/12 - 10/16 and encountered large crowds as well! Larger than I was expecting. We're going back the first full week in June and I'm betting it will be a similar experience.

[wildernesslady]

We were there the beginning of Oct. and felt the crowds were manageable. We went to TSM around 4:00 one afternoon and the wait was only 30 min. I have heard you should avoid the F & W Festival on the weekend nights. We were there during the week and had a great time. I don't think there are any "slow" times anymore.

[Aurora]

We're going back the first full week in June and I'm betting it will be a similar experience.

We were told crowds were so high this year in early June because it was right before the seasonal Florida passes went into their blackout dates. I don't know whether this was the reason for the crowds, but they were very high, we went to the parks on the weekdays (not weekends), and there were tons and tons (and TONS) of families.

[Main Street Jim]

Magic Kingdom had 56,000 in attendance yesterday. I didn't know it held that many people.

Small (world) potatoes

MK holds 75,000+ (I've seen 76-77,000 on Christmas/New Year's and Fourth of July weekends). Fire marshall determines how many guests can fit in the park, and depending on if those crowds are out in the streets, or filling up attractions.

Everyone's definition of "packed" is a little different, depending on what you're used to

[MrPeetrie]

Everyone's definition of "packed" is a little different, depending on what you're used to

Yep. As I said, I've never been there during peak season. 56,000 may just be an average July day. This past 10-day trip was the most crowded October I've seen.

Glad to see people going, though.

[Ian]

56,000 is crowded in MK. Yeah, Christmas crowded may be 77,000 people, but October ain't Christmas.

Parks were way more crowded in May when we were down that what we're used to, as well. I think what we've talked about quite a bit lately is just a fact ... there is no slow time of the year anymore. F&WF draws in massive crowds now and I think that combined with the popularity of MNSSHP means October is going to continue to be a happenin' month in the World.

[Main Street Jim]

I *will* agree with y'all on 56,000 for October at MK being *very* crowded. A *good* summer weekend (Jun-Aug, with kids out of school, plus local crowds visiting for the weekends) crowd at MK was about 33-35,000 just a coupla years ago. During the week, you'd have about 30-32,000. Fall would be slightly less , maybe down into the 25-27,000 range for September-October.

With the parks being open later than they used to be, it's good to see people going-traveling down and spending money in this economy

[Going2HeavenRU]

You guys are scaring me! We are heading down Nov 11th to Nov 19th. I hope everyone goes back to work while we are there.

[PopeCharming]

So....this means the recession is over, right?

[Aurora]

You guys are scaring me! We are heading down Nov 11th to Nov 19th. I hope everyone goes back to work while we are there.

MNSSHP will be long over. F&W's final weekend is Nov. 11-13. I'd avoid Epcot on those days. Looks like this year's Jersey Week will be ending that weekend as well, so the parks might be more crowded until Sunday. After that you should be fine.

[11290]

The "average" CM in most areas below coordinator level, does not get park load numbers.

Starting in the Spring of last year, CM's only get "ranges" such as moderate, heavy, very heavy and so forth like that.

Just my opinion but I think there were too many park load figures showing up on Facebook and other social media sites.

If that CM was giving out numbers, they were probably guessing or just putting out something to make conversation and if "caught" by a coordinator or manager saying that, would be subject to reprimand. If overheard by someone above manager level, could be subject to termination.

Up until last year, we were given current park load in our parade meetings (MS Jim would know about this). Not anymore, and anyone giving them out, it can spell trouble for them. This issue comes up fairly often in our meetings.

[TheHD]

You guys are scaring me! We are heading down Nov 11th to Nov 19th. I hope everyone goes back to work while we are there.

I'm thinking the same thing as we are there from Nov 5 - 17. Oh well, it will be much less crowded then the last time we were there, Dec 29 - Jan 7 (2009-2010).

[Melanie]

October no longer has 'low' crowds. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find 'slow' times at the parks anymore. Attendance has picked up all during the year now.

Apparently this past weekend, crowds were greatly impacted by the golf tournament.

[Ms. Mode]

So....this means the recession is over, right?