Let me give you my perspective: it's been years, YEARS since we have done Disney in summer. We are talking 20 years probably. Since then, we have shot for fall, sometimes winter times. We were there last week, and I was very shocked and pleasantly surprised by the crowds. I've seen worse in September in some cases, and it was much better than I ever dreamed for a July vacation.
- At Blizzard Beach, the main rides (Summit Plummet, Slush Gusher, and Teamboat Springs) were less than 15 minute wait the entire day. I went on Summit Plummet, and turned around and there was NO line for Teamboat Springs. For SP, I waited appx 10 minutes for the chair lift, and another 10 minutes or less to get to the slide. I will say at our local water park, lines for the big ticket attractions are typically 45 minutes or more. So, at a Disney water park, in the middle of summer, to have such short waits we were kind of blown away.
- We stayed at Saratoga, and the buses were never full. Heck, they were rarely even half full. And the buses back to the resort, I think the longest line we encountered was maybe 5 or 6 people ahead of us. Also, additionally, we had little to no wait for DME and the ME bus was half full. Maybe. With 4 different resorts on it.
- Pools were about what you would expect. Very easy going before noon, and increasingly busier as the afternoon went on. But, they were never crowded. We even did the main pool a couple of times, which we usually avoid, and they were fine. There were rarely lines for the slides; if so, maybe 3 or 4 kids in line at any one time.
-Bathrooms: never had to wait in any lines in the bathroom, either in the parks or resorts or anything. I think that is a pretty good indication of how busy it is.
- Bear in mind we only did one park, Hollywood Studios, which is kind of not the best bellwether, as ToT is at half capacity. Also, during our day, weather cancelled Fantasmic. So, Sunset Blvd was pretty congested while they were waiting to decide if Fantasmic would go forward or not. But, attraction-wise, I feel like it was probably a very manageable crowd, and for a summer day, decent. We waited 20 minutes for Single Rider Rock n Roller Coaster; 15 minutes for Mickey and Minnie; a little less than an hour for SDD in the evening; 15 minutes or so for AS2; I think my biggest surprise was 15 minutes for BB8 which I expected to be quicker, as I had often seen BB8 at 5 minutes. Less than 10 minutes for Daisy Duck, which made my niece's day. We also waited a little under an hour for ToT, which we normally wouldn't but...again, with reduced capacity, it wasn't terrible. These are not wait times that I would consider out of control. As far as the general "feel" of the park, it did feel more busy than the last few times I have done the Studios. But, that's not exactly a high bar, as it's easier to seem busier than a ghost town. I never felt like I only had 2 square feet or no room to breathe or anything.
- The busiest and most crowded it felt, by far, was at Disney Springs. I've seen it worse, in September even. But, in Blaze Pizza, there was the aforementioned no room to breathe. We had to wait 3 boats to get on a boat from the West Side to the Marketplace. I was actually surprised at how busy the boat docks were. It was a regular occurrence to see the lines out beyond the ramps/shelters.
Anyway...all of these just goes to the point of....depending on where you stay, how you travel, which parks you do, when you travel to and from the parks, what shops/restaurants/attractions you go to....they can all factor in and create vastly different experiences.