Checked out early - Parks too crowded.

[scousegentleman]

Yesterday we checked out of Bay Lake Towers and left Walt Disney World a day early. The hotel was great but my family of four could no longer take the crowds in the Parks.

I get that it is Spring Break, we have Florida Resident Annual Passes, but having school-age kids means we can only visit during vacations and weekends (we only take our kids out of school for Emergencies). We do plan hotel, dinner and FastPass reservations months in advance; so please do not judge.

On Wednesday evening March 15, Space Mountain had a Stand By time of 215 Minutes before it broke down just after the 9PM Fireworks. Sorry, but 30 minutes is my limit for any ride; I wanted to come back in Fall to try Pandora but now we are not going to bother and let our Passes lapse in November.

Can anybody comment on having a similar experience wanting to check out early?

 

[cvjw]

We have been to Disney on days it was so crowded that the MK closed. If the crowds are super heavy, we just leave the parks and find other things to do - we have never left early from vacation.

We will enjoy the pools or go and play putt putt golf and wait for the crowds at the parks to die down.

 

[ErinsMommy]

Just curious -- could you not have gone to one of the other parks at rope drop (where you can likely get in quite a bit of rides before the crowds really come in), eat lunch and head back to the resort for some pool time?

 

[uccats97]

I'm sorry you were disappointed with the crowds. Spring break season has arrived which brings in lots of guests. I personally wouldn't check out early even if the crowds were crazy. There are so many other things to do around WDW Resort that don't involve the parks. I think you should go back in the fall and give it another chance. It's always best to get to the parks about 30 minutes before they open to beat the crowd. You can get a lot done in the first 2 hours with very little wait, then use your FP+, have lunch, go back to enjoy your resort during the busiest time of the day and return to a park in the evening. I also use high capacity attractions as fillers when wait times are lengthy. Think Carousel of Progress, Ellen's Energy Adventure, Festival of the Lion King, and MuppetVision. Have your kids ever participated in the poolside activities offered at your resort every afternoon? They are a blast! What about watching the Movie Under the Stars? Surrey bike rental? Mini golf? I encourage you to look for the extra activities that make WDW a vacation destination. Good luck!

 

[Klayfish]

Yeah, I've seen SM get a line that's listed as that long. When that happens, we go do something else. Like you said, we don't wait in lines more than 30 minutes either. But we never find it to be an issue in doing things we want.

I'm sorry, I just don't understand all of this whining about crowds. WDW is one of the most, if not THE most, visited tourist destinations in the entire USA. What exactly are you expecting? It's crowded, it's always going to be. Frankly, every time someone says "I'm done, I hate the crowds", my first thought is "Great, one less person who may be in the parks". To me, whining about WDW crowds (especially during a holiday season), is kinda like going to Alaska in January and complaining about how cold it is.

 

[ArielSRL]

I have never encountered too busy to leave (I have been during Spring Break and July - peak summer) but if I truly thought a park or all the parks were too busy then I would find something else to do, such as pool time, resort hopping, Disney Springs, etc. I would never check out early and go home.

But to each their own.

 

[Shellyb84]

We would hit RD and then leave around 11-12. Or just stay at the resort altogether. But, I basically live for vacation so i would never leave early unless it was an emergency and I had no choice.

Also, we don't go just for the rides. 20 minutes is our max. There's plenty of other things to see and do besides the rides.

 

[Disneylover99]

Yesterday we checked out of Bay Lake Towers and left Walt Disney World a day early. The hotel was great but my family of four could no longer take the crowds in the Parks.

I get that it is Spring Break, we have Florida Resident Annual Passes, but having school-age kids means we can only visit during vacations and weekends (we only take our kids out of school for Emergencies). We do plan hotel, dinner and FastPass reservations months in advance; so please do not judge.

On Wednesday evening March 15, Space Mountain had a Stand By time of 215 Minutes before it broke down just after the 9PM Fireworks. Sorry, but 30 minutes is my limit for any ride; I wanted to come back in Fall to try Pandora but now we are not going to bother and let our Passes lapse in November.

Can anybody comment on having a similar experience wanting to check out early?

We've left the park when crowds got crazy, but we've never wanted to check out early. We just hang out at the resort, swim, eat, relax....and then head back later for fireworks.

 

[North of Mouse]

Yesterday we checked out of Bay Lake Towers and left Walt Disney World a day early. The hotel was great but my family of four could no longer take the crowds in the Parks.

I get that it is Spring Break, we have Florida Resident Annual Passes, but having school-age kids means we can only visit during vacations and weekends (we only take our kids out of school for Emergencies). We do plan hotel, dinner and FastPass reservations months in advance; so please do not judge.

On Wednesday evening March 15, Space Mountain had a Stand By time of 215 Minutes before it broke down just after the 9PM Fireworks. Sorry, but 30 minutes is my limit for any ride; I wanted to come back in Fall to try Pandora but now we are not going to bother and let our Passes lapse in November.

Can anybody comment on having a similar experience wanting to check out early?

Feel your pain!! We can not enjoy ourselves at Disney during really crowded times. When we 'had' to go during summer we'd go end of May, and at that time it wasn't too, too bad. Now, we will only go at the least crowded times (which is getting fewer and fewer).

We did leave two days early once (last March), but not for crowds - it was rainy, wet, and cold!
We 'don't' do those conditions either!! We are not in the camp of those that say a day a Disney (any conditions) is better than one at home - nope, not us!!

 

[GillianP1301]

I have never encountered crowds so large that I wanted to leave my vacation early. My first trip to WDW was over July 4th, so I figure if I can survive that, I can survive anything. Now we mostly go in moderate crowd times in late August.

I'm sorry the crowds ruined things for you. In your shoes though, I would not have checked out early, I would've tried another park or if I really just wanted to avoid a ton of people, I would relax at the resort.

I figure if I ever get to the point where things like crowds, or weather start to impact me enjoying my time at WDW, it will probably be time to find another time to find another vacation destination.

 

[yulilin3]

I think it all comes down to expectations. OP what type of crowds were you expecting? (not being sarcastic just want to know)

 

[Tomh]

I would have done rope drop to get in as many rides as possible before the crowds hit. FP+ would have been scheduled to start at perhaps 10:00 or 10:30 giving me time to take advantage of the lower crowds in the morning before running off to do FP+. Later in the day, if it really got super crowded, I might head back to the resort, but I can't imagine cutting my vacation short due to crowds.

 

[wdw4rfam]

I have never wanted to leave Disney early. Left Epcot early on thanksgiving, but went back and relaxed by the pool at the resort. Exactly the reason we started staying deluxe. So if we get fed up with crowds at the park, we have plenty to go back to at the resort. Spent enough years staying at the parks open to close. As Disney changes, we change with it. But will never want to go home.

 

[AngiTN]

As others have said, I have left a park due to crowds but never WDW.
Too many choices to do instead of going home.
Hang out at Resort, DS, FW, Resort hop dinner. the options are quite unlimited really.
You mention MK, WDW is a lot more than MK. What about other parks?

 

[tobikaye]

I have left WDW a day early before, but not due to crowds, but stuff going on at home.

I have also left parks if they were too crazy. I usually go to a different park or headed to a resort for a meal/snack. I know my next trip will probably be very busy as it is a week after Pandora opens, but we already had the trip planned when they announced the opening. I figure we will have more down time at the resort pool and may take in more shows.

 

[ArwenMarie]

We flew home early one trip because it was such a bad trip

It was a June trip and it was so hot and so crowded and we were just miserable. The villa was filthy when we got there and continued to be dirty the entire trip. The AC wasn't working properly either. We went to the front desk over and over (at OKW which is a pain in the neck) But nothing ever got fixed or better.

The parks were so crowded. Everything just stunk everywhere we turned

Anyway, we both woke up at 3 am with about two days left in the trip and said let's go home and we just drove to MCO and got on the first plane that we could.

 

[scrapquitler]

I would have chosen another park (MK is usually the most crowded), activites at the resort, visiting another resort, etc. There are lots of options to avoid the crowds. Heck, even staying in my room would be better than cutting my vacation short and checking out early!!

 

[luvsJack]

Honestly I have never left a park due to the crowds much less gone home. We have been at Thanksgiving, in April and in March. All crowded. We just go with the flow. If we really really want to do a certain attraction we just either wait in line or watch the wait time for that while we do something else.

We try to hit things with the biggest waits at RD if possible. But that's not always possible.

I think just having the mind set that it will be crowded and there will be long wait times helps.

 

[SureAsLiz]

Wednesdays are evening EMH at MK. It is a busy night any week, but especially so during Spring Break. With the cold weather this week, you were there on what was probably the busiest night of Spring Break

I don't know that I would ever think to end a vacation early, but there are periods when I decide specific areas are just not worth it. I avoided Downtown Disney/Disney Springs for months because of the crowds during construction. During the summer I limit my time in MK, and during Food and Wine I stay as far away from Epcot as I can.

In the end though, it's your vacation. If you decide that you would rather relax at home than deal with the crowds, then that is 100% your prerogative.

 

[SaintsManiac]

There is literally SO MUCH to do outside of the MK. There is no way I would cut my vacation short.