Crowds are crazy !!!

[anniemae]

This is a bit off topic, so apologies in advance.
It seems to be widely reported that attendance is down, but we frequently see threads pop up talking about crazy crowds. I agree there are no slow times anymore since Disney has introduced peak pricing and increased events offered during historically slow times, but I'm curious about what is causing the impression of increased crowds.
Is it FP + changing the flow? Decreased staff? Less ride capacity?
OP, hope you are able to move around the crowds and have a great time!

I don't know if I believe the attendance is down. I think people are going in droves to Disney. It seems the more they raise prices, the more people come.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

But IS attendance still down, or was that last year?

I can't bear to read the news right now, but given how difficult I'm finding it to book a cruise for the next few months, and all the threads like this one, it sounds like people are still traveling a lot. I know I believed after last year's terrorism, mass shootings, Zika virus, etc. that travel would be down this year. Good thing I don't work in any financial or betting sector. >.>

Not sure, but by all insider accounts WDW attendance was down last year. Agreed, wouldn't want to bet either!

I don't know if I believe the attendance is down. I think people are going in droves to Disney. It seems the more they raise prices, the more people come.

WDW does not release official attendance information, but very reliable sources on this board and others have said it was down. Are more families going to a place like WDW due to other travel concerns? I would be curious how the WDW price increases continue to impact attendance.

 

[dreiwhit]

FWIW, we went to WDW last year at this same week and the crowds were nothing like you described. They were much lower. But Mardi Gras was February 9th last year, so I guess that explains the difference....

 

[PeasandCarrots]

Can't believe how busy it is !! Is The whole week going to be this crazy ?? Avoided last week due to school vacations up north- never expected it to be so busy this week. Thank goodness for fast pass!

A lot of the deep South has a break due to Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras. Also, it's opening week for the Flower & Garden festival.

 

[cleophus12]

We have been at WDW for the past five years during 1/2 marathon weekend and it has always been manageable--until this past weekend! When I go in the summer I expect large crowds and am prepared to deal with that. Last weekend, however, I was totally unprepared for the huge crowds. Nearly every ride had a substantial wait, and just walking through the parks was a real effort. The days of visiting the parks in February and walking onto most rides are clearly over.

 

[Allison]

FWIW, we went to WDW last year at this same week and the crowds were nothing like you described. They were much lower. But Mardi Gras was February 9th last year, so I guess that explains the difference....

Magic Kingdom was a sea of purple and gold clothing, beads, NOLA shirts and LSU apparel wearing guests the past 2 days.

 

[SwanVT2]

We are here dealing with the exact same thing.

 

[Weapon30]

We are here dealing with the exact same thing.

Epcot is a freaking zoo today.

 

[anniemae]

Epcot is a freaking zoo today.

I think its the first day of the garden festival

 

[duketennisgal]

I really had no clue about the Mardi Gras timing, I'm sure that explains the huge uptick in crowds that we dealt with. I was there three years ago for the exact same dates, Feb 24th through 28th with small crowds and had a fantastic time. I wasn't prepared for the huge crowds this time. At one point Seven Dwarfs was 150 minutes. I wouldn't wait in line for two and a half hours for anything! On Monday we never saw wait times below 30 minutes for anything, I saw small world at 30 minutes once, but everything else was ridiculously long. We noticed throughout the day that PeopleMover was down temporarily, Space Mountain was done, Haunted Mansion went down later in the evening and Pirates was down at one point. That's a lot of rides going down on one day, most were at different times, but still that's a lot.

Our few fast passes and the single rider lines at test track and Everest saved us. The single rider line at RnRC was terrible though, we had to have waited at least an hour in that line, standby was 75 minutes.

One tip for all future guests, if you don't have a fast pass for test track, go at opening and ride single rider. The line was huge but we went in through the single rider line, skipped all of the pre-show stuff and got right in a car together! Turns out the line was like that because the stand by line people were still designing cars and going through the pre-show, if you don't mind skipping all of that at opening you can walk right on.

 

[stinkpickle]

Epcot is a freaking zoo today.

They must be there for the festival, because the posted wait times for the rides are about average.

 

[laracroft]

What does a High - (minus) crowd mean? I know it's going to be busy but what does the minus mean.. I was wondering how crowds were down there. I am going in 2 1/2 weeks and was hoping it would be slower a little (Yes I know, I am crazy) before the big Easter rush...

 

[DrummerBoy523]

What does a High - (minus) crowd mean? I know it's going to be busy but what does the minus mean.. I was wondering how crowds were down there. I am going in 2 1/2 weeks and was hoping it would be slower a little (Yes I know, I am crazy) before the big Easter rush...

like an A-

For instance:
Low -
Low
Low +
Moderate -
Moderate
Moderate +
High -
High
High +

 

[tlmadden73]

It seems there is no low crowd times anymore besides maybe a week or two in January/early Feb. and at end of August/early Sept.

I mean .. it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sites like this and places with "crowd calendars" advertise what the "slow" times were ... so guess what? A lot of people started going during those times.
Between that and good discounts and events during these slow times, Disney just has steady attendance. Just know you can't do it all and plan accordingly to deal with the crowds by going early and staying late .. or just having a long vacation with multiple days in some of the more crowded parks.

 

[dreiwhit]

I really had no clue about the Mardi Gras timing,

Me either. I've got to remember Mardi Gras, since we're planning on going to WDW this week in a few years.....

 

[anniemae]

I totally forgot about Mardi Gras too. It's one of those things you don't think about if you are not in the area.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I totally forgot about Mardi Gras too. It's one of those things you don't think about if you are not in the area.

Mardi Gras is 2/13 next year. It changes according to the date of Easter.

 

[Dakota731]

I would hate to pay for a crowd calendar if they are not accurate.

 

[AZMermaid]

September seems to be a safe month still. Sadly my kids are in school now so we're stuck following suit with the masses. All good though. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than Disney World!!

My kids have 3 days off next Sept for fall break. I think it is like the 20-22? It ties into the Jewish Holidays.

 

[anniemae]

I would hate to pay for a crowd calendar if they are not accurate.

Thats the thing, they have no way of being accurate. They just base it off of historical data. Nobody can predict the future, they just give the best guess based on prior numbers. Many things can happen to cause an uptick, or lower attendance. One day last year there were huge crowds at MK and nobody knew why, none of the calendars predicted a busy day at MK. Turns out quite a few states had a few days off for the Jewish holidays. What did everyone in those states do? They went to Disney. The calendars did not take this into account. One of the states that had days off was FL, so tons of locals went. the folks predicting had no way of knowing this would happen since they can't look at every school calendar in the country to see who has what days off.

So often people get mad when the calendars are off. I have seen so many posts saying, "We were in MK today and it was supposed to be a 6 and it was definitely an 8!!!!" I always say just plan for huge crowds and be happy for anything less!