Here now - INSANE crowds. (Jan 8-17)

[blestmom]

Haunted Mansion is at 85 minutes, Space Mountain is at 90. That's not what I've experienced on previous mid-January trips.

 

[aviva5675]

I was there Weds also, EPC. It was supposed to be a 2. NOT! World Showcase was less crowded that FW but it was still pretty crowded. Had FP for 1115 Soarin- got an email at 1108 that it was down. Didnt go back later to check it out so don't know if came back up or how bad crowds were. Walked in to Chefs de France at 1230 and waiting 5 minutes for a table.

 

[meghanb133]

My family and I were there today as well, driving home to Tampa now. I didn't think the park was terrible. We used our FP and still went on multiple other rides without them with the longest wait being 40 minutes for Thunder Mountain. The weather was beautiful and am already planning our trip back next weekend!! Enjoy the magic that is Disney and don't let crowds deter you!

 

[JenSop]

Seriously - I wanted to get a Horchata (yum!) in Mexico, and the line went all the way up the ramp. Gonna wait til later. :-(

 

[KimBean]

Josh has the weekend at a 7-8 level. Looks like by Tues or Wed it will be better if you are still going to be there. Kenny Pirate has it marked as INSANE through tomorrow. Dad's guide has crowds at HEAVY. And touring plans has it at an 8.

I guess crowd calendars do still work. LOL!!

 

[JenSop]

Let me say that during my many many past summer trips I would do EMH until two or three in the morning at Magic Kingdom. It was the only way I would do MK back then. But because it is not summer, the parks aren't open as late. I seriously have not seen crowds like this in forever. I know I don't live down here, but I've been coming to Disney 1-2 times a year since I was a kid in 1985.

 

[Suzanne74]

Watched wait times today around noon and Grand Fiesta was 25, Figment 35, Land was 45, Spaceship Earth was 50, Soarin 85, Test Track 110 and FEA 120+

That is pretty insane, even for MLK weekend.

 

[AngiTN]

MLK weekend. Big numbers of people with an extra day off Monday. Good weekend for a quick trip.

Yep, it's why we opted not to go this weekend and go in 2 weeks instead. I expect crowds will still be up but shouldn't be at the same level as this weekend

 

[cakebaker]

We thought crowds levels were quite low until today- it's crowded but still not like the summer when we usually come. We may become January converts. Lower crowds, gorgeous weather except for a few showers on Friday evening.

 

[megs1313]

y'all are bumming me out. we arrive tomorrow.

Here's hoping people head home after the long weekend....

 

[rmw1313]

we were there the 8th-14th and it felt incredibly busy compared to our last trip in September. Tons and tons of tour groups..especially Thursday/Friday. Definitely rethinking coming in January again, even though the weather was great and we were able to do everything we wanted..it was just impossible to even walk through the parks without being stepped on or bumped in to. no thanks.

 

[Gina Starr]

It's been crowded that's for sure! But still doable. We arrived the 8th and the first couple days were actually pretty low crowds because it was pretty cold. I was so excited to see the 11th predicted as a crowd level 1 and boy was that wrong. All my niece wanted to do was ride 7DMT and since she didn't find out she was going until 2 weeks before the trip I didn't get a FP for that. Last January same week we could have got on it with a 45 minutes wait. This time, it never went below 90+ minutes. It was also hard to get extra FP after the first 3 (might have been because we were a party of 8) Between marathon weekend, the holiday weekend, and the new Epcot festival, it has definitely been crazy.

 

[memo10]

We were at MK Friday evening and it was great. Probably a 3-4 IMO. I think the wait times we're seeing are the new normal. I think Dis is purposely keeping them high to make to condition us to expect higher waits. I've noticed many attractions running at half capacity during "slow" times.

 

[pmaurer74]

I think it is the amount of FPs. When we were there a few weeks ago, we were stuck on the Little Mermaid queue for over an hour because they only let about 10-20 people through avery 10 minutes, the Fps took up most of the time.

 

[jenmsmith]

Josh has the weekend at a 7-8 level. Looks like by Tues or Wed it will be better if you are still going to be there. Kenny Pirate has it marked as INSANE through tomorrow. Dad's guide has crowds at HEAVY. And touring plans has it at an 8.

I guess crowd calendars do still work. LOL!!

We were there last week. Touring plans predicted MK way low each day. We went on Wednesday - TP said it would be a 2. It was an 8. And it was a 9 Monday and Tuesday. So, I think the crowd calendars are having a tough time with some of the traditionally slower times.

 

[Cadaverous Pallor]

It's not people's imagination. While this weekend was expected to be jammed, last week was busier than usual and busier than most expected.

From Touring Plans:
Jan 8 - Expected: 3 Actual: 7
Jan 9 - Expected: 4 Actual: 7
Jan 10 - Expected: 4 Actual: 6
Jan 11 - Expected: 2 Actual: 6
Jan 12 - Expected: 4 Actual: 4
Jan 13 - Expected: 5 Actual:7
Jan 14 - Expected: 7 Actual: 10

I don't know what happened to Josh's formerly accurate crowd calendar, but for the same days he had 4, 4, 2, 1, 3, 3, 8.

Now Josh's numbers are always (as they should be) lower because his numbers are relative to crowds for the months before and after, while TP crowd levels are based on predetermined wait level thresholds.

Still, Josh's calendar is still wildly inaccurate in the middle of the week.

Not sure how accurate any of these crowd calendars are going forward.

 

[Cadaverous Pallor]

double post

 

[eticketride]

To those who keep saying it's MLK weekend and the OP should expect crowds, she stated in her original post that it's been slammed since she got there on the 8th. I found starting a few years ago that the marathon weekend got more and more crowded each year and then yes, MLK weekend was crossed off my list of times to go about five years ago. To the OP, sorry to hear that it is more crowded than you had planned for, but I hope you're having fun and making the best of it.

 

[Suzanne74]

Another thing to consider is all of the DC Metro is off for the inauguration. Federal holiday and schools are closed. Some as far north as 25 miles outside of the beltway. That means only 3 days of school which means MANY people take vacations. I wonder if the crowds from locals for the weekend and a lot of people checking in yesterday for the week (and first full day today) just made today impossible. Not to mention the college cheerleading competitions and a major softball tournament this weekend and a major gymnastics invitational next weekend, where people might be coming down now, since is a short work week.

 

[Accident]

It looks like a normal extended weekend crowd to me. They are all about the same and similar to this.