Packed Magic Kingdom!! (Jan. 26)

[Robo]

The Pro Bowl is a meaningless game. Players no longer want to risk injury for a game that means nothing. There's no public interest in the game and the reason why it's in Orlando instead of Hawaii is the NFL's last-ditch effort to salvage the event.

I thought about hitting the "Like Button," but I couldn't hit it hard enough to agree as much as I do.

I could not imagine such a weak game would drastically increase attendance at WDW... when having the Super Bowl (some may have heard of that one) in the not-far-from-WDW area for two years in a row (just a few years back) had zero impact on WDW attendance.

How do I know?
It was closely-watched and MUCH discussed on this and other fans sites at the time, for both of those two years in a row.

 

[clawmachine]

We are here now- did AK yesterday 1/27 and HS today 1/28. Neither park was crowded and HS was only marginally busier than AK. A CM told me it wasn't busy at all to him. However, it has been quite chilly, even COLD at times, and we are from the north! Glad we brought our winter clothes with us.

 

[clawmachine]

And like someone else mentioned, there seem to be a ton of foreign language speaking families in the parks, but we have yet to see a single tour group of any kind. No craziness. We're loving it!

 

[HopperFan]

Was there Sun-Friday. It was more crowded than previous years same week but I don't think it had anything to do with the Pro Bowl. Was in MK on 26th as well and didn't think it was any worse than any other day this week and saw nothing that indicated Pro Bowl was in area. We went on plenty of rides, no lines for lunch .... then we hopped over to Studios to watch Star Wars.

Yes we mentioned over and over the BTG of 15s were not there, noticeably not there from other years, but there were BTG of families/adults. Worse crowds were Epcot on the Arts Festival days.

 

[ccbloom]

Epcot was crazy busy today for this time of year! And it's definitely a little cold. Not unbearable for us from MA, though. We are usually here this time of year, and we are used to seeing lots and lots of non-English speaking families. No BTG this year, but wasn't sure if so many non-English was a year-round thing.

 

[Barbruka]

Boy, I don't know what parks I've been at the last few days then. Thursday, MK was what I'd consider packed. Shortest line was 20 minutes. Most 30-45 or more. AK was better yesterday, but even the Safari was a 15-20 minutes for fast pass. Today Disney Springs was very crowded! Looking at the crowds, I did see many players and lots of fans wearing football clothing. I'd say the Pro Bowl is packing them in. Here at AKL I've seen several groups of network guys and players with families. Saw a lot at the poly this morning too.

 

[kennythepirate]

Boy, I don't know what parks I've been at the last few days then. Thursday, MK was what I'd consider packed. Shortest line was 20 minutes. Most 30-45 or more. AK was better yesterday, but even the Safari was a 15-20 minutes for fast pass. Today Disney Springs was very crowded! Looking at the crowds, I did see many players and lots of fans wearing football clothing. I'd say the Pro Bowl is packing them in. Here at AKL I've seen several groups of network guys and players with families. Saw a lot at the poly this morning too.

Yeh, it mostly depended on which park you were in, whether you did rope drop and if you had a good plan. Average waits for Wed-Thu were quite low. Fri went back to Moderate and Saturday was heavy. It's raining today, so Sunday will likely drop off more than it should and Monday will be busier like last week.

 

[AngiTN]

Boy, I don't know what parks I've been at the last few days then. Thursday, MK was what I'd consider packed. Shortest line was 20 minutes. Most 30-45 or more. AK was better yesterday, but even the Safari was a 15-20 minutes for fast pass. Today Disney Springs was very crowded! Looking at the crowds, I did see many players and lots of fans wearing football clothing. I'd say the Pro Bowl is packing them in. Here at AKL I've seen several groups of network guys and players with families. Saw a lot at the poly this morning too.

I guess you went on the same schedule they did. We lucked out and stayed opposite them the whole time. Especially Thursday and Friday when we jumped around to all the parks. Aside from an entire school doing a scavenger hunt at Epcot we find very little crowds. Ooh F! was packed Thursday night since there was only one. But Epcot wasn't bad late. We hopped there for Illumination and even got a Soarin FP on the bus on the way over

Heck, even Thursday wasn't busy at MK when we hopped over. Got Space Mountain FP on the bus for a time 5 min away. And we hopped over at 6:00 on Friday. Walked up to main st about 6:30 to get our event badges and shopped a bit. Got a spot to watch Castle show as soon as we heard the music start, great view of it. Then walked to back of castle for wishes. Hardly anyone there that last hour, no wait for HM or Big Thunder

 

[pittsburghmom]

We were at the MK on Thursday and it was quite pleasant crowd wise.

 

[DisneyElite4]

We were there the 21st-28th. Crowds seemed low to manageable for us EXCEPT on Saturday. We used Kenny's crowd calendars and touring plans and he was spot on. We were prepared for the heavy crowds on the 28th because of him.

 

[Texans_loyal]

When did you go to Animal Kingdom? Here's the average waits for each day:
22nd - 15.82
23rd - 35.29 (Red park)
24th - 17.23
25th - 12.87

Three of those days wouldn't be considered really quiet.

the 25th. wait times were low (thank God) but the park was crazy packed.

 

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Looking over the wait times from this past Thursday, Magic Kingdom doesn't seem "packed" at all.

Thunder Mountain didn't get above 30 minutes.

Haunted Mansion peaked at 45 minutes, but only stayed there for an hour before going down to 35 minutes.

Pirates was 25 minutes and under the entire day.

Peter Pan was above 1 hour for only an hour.

Ladies and gentlemen, this a below-average day at the most Magical Place on Earth.

 

[momimouse27]

Boy, I don't know what parks I've been at the last few days then. Thursday, MK was what I'd consider packed. Shortest line was 20 minutes. Most 30-45 or more. AK was better yesterday, but even the Safari was a 15-20 minutes for fast pass. Today Disney Springs was very crowded! Looking at the crowds, I did see many players and lots of fans wearing football clothing. I'd say the Pro Bowl is packing them in. Here at AKL I've seen several groups of network guys and players with families. Saw a lot at the poly this morning too.

I think a lot of the discussion here might revolve around what one considers "packed" and what your expectations are. The poster above says most lines were 30-45 minutes and the shortest line was 20. Having been during both spring break and Easter, I'd say those times are what I would consider average wait times and not long. I don't really know that 5 minute or less lines exist anymore and if they do they are few and far between. We were there last year on Labor Day. It was pretty busy and even as busy as it was-60 min. for SM, 45 for Pooh, 90 min. for Splash-with lots of people I wouldn't consider it packed. I've seen packed and that wasn't it.

 

[kennythepirate]

Visitors that haven't been here during Holiday periods don't really know what a packed park actually feels like. Just seeing people walking around isn't packed. Not being able to move is packed.

 

[phinz]

Epcot was oddly crowded today. But waits were not bad. It was strange. Then i realized there were tons of school kids there doing some sort of scavenger hunt. They were not really doing rides or buying food

They were probably doing the Figment art hunt for the pins. A friend of mine was there this weekend with the primary purpose of doing the hunt.

 

[AngiTN]

They were probably doing the Figment art hunt for the pins. A friend of mine was there this weekend with the primary purpose of doing the hunt.

No, they all had packets of papers printed out, 4 or 5 sheets worth. It was different than the Figment hunt, we did that one too

 

[memo10]

I think a lot of the discussion here might revolve around what one considers "packed" and what your expectations are. The poster above says most lines were 30-45 minutes and the shortest line was 20. Having been during both spring break and Easter, I'd say those times are what I would consider average wait times and not long. I don't really know that 5 minute or less lines exist anymore and if they do they are few and far between. We were there last year on Labor Day. It was pretty busy and even as busy as it was-60 min. for SM, 45 for Pooh, 90 min. for Splash-with lots of people I wouldn't consider it packed. I've seen packed and that wasn't it.

I agree. 20 min or less is very short. 30-45 min is what I usually expect on the average.

 

[BadRomance]

We just got back today and spent 8 days in the parks. We only saw one tour group- a well behaved group of girls with pink backpacks. Heard no chanting. (This really was a pleasant surprise because I was expecting the worst from what I've read on here.)

Our only busy days were Friday the 27th (MK for the pro bowl parade- which was terrible and the worst parade ever, but that's another story) and Saturday the 28th in MK. Both days we were expecting the crowds thanks to Kenny the pirate so we were prepared. Sunday was rainy and freezing so I felt that Mk was empty and wait times were low.

Earlier in the week, the weekdays were awesome for us. We had an almost empty Epcot (frozen ever after was only a 30 minute wait), and while Hollywood studios seemed packed full of people, the wait times were all low. Overall we thought it was a great week to go. Only complaint would be the weather went from 80 something degrees one day to a high of 60 something the next day and rainy, which made it hard to pack for.

 

[AngiTN]

Earlier in the week, the weekdays were awesome for us. We had an almost empty Epcot (frozen ever after was only a 30 minute wait), and while Hollywood studios seemed packed full of people, the wait times were all low. Overall we thought it was a great week to go. Only complaint would be the weather went from 80 something degrees one day to a high of 60 something the next day and rainy, which made it hard to pack for.

Welcome to Winter in the South. We do the same things here in TN. Just about 24 hours earlier than in FL and about 15, 20 degrees cooler.
So yeah, it was 50 in FL and it was 30 in TN and when it was 80 in FL it was 60 here. And it does go up and down that far in 24 hours all the time.
We were in FL but it was freezing rain at home on Sunday and it's close to 70 today, the day we get home. In FL it was rain and 50 on Sunday and I guess it's in the 80's there today
Makes packing a PITA without a doubt.

 

[phinz]

Welcome to Winter in the South. We do the same things here in TN. Just about 24 hours earlier than in FL and about 15, 20 degrees cooler.

Yeah. I always hope it's in the 30s when we leave Tennessee for Orlando so that it will be in the 60s/70s there.