Here now 9/9 - 9/14 Crowds are a little bizarre

[Jimmy Mouse]

We just left today. From 5th to 13th. The crowds were strange. I did Combo of KTP and TP calendars and picked accordingly. Green park days were fairly accurate, but i would say the 1 days were much bigger, like 4 or 5. Yesterday at MK and i check times and FOP was 50 mins!! What?? Was 180 the days we went and that was"best park"

We were boarding FOP yesterday with a FP and when we finished the linking room and were ready to board they pulled us out and took us to another theater. Someone puked on the ride and it went down to the lower levels and got on the screen. When we got off wait time was 35 minutes around 6:30 pm. We decided to jump back in line (not thinking about the puke situation) and it ended up being almost an hour and a half wait. But we were to far in line when they played the announcement that the wait would be longer so we stuck with it. Never ever again! Both days we have been at MK 9/7 and 9/11 the crowds have been nothing. Even the party on Tuesday was nothing. We walked on everything both days with no more than a 10-15 minute wait. We did a 7DMT walk on then FP right after both days with a 10-15 minute wait in stand by. I plan on doing a trip report next week where I'll post pics. We go to MK again tomorrow. Hope for low crowds again!

 

[cel_disney]

The comments about the busses being full makes me wonder if it has anything to do with the car parking prices at resorts now...we have APs so our next stay is off property to avoid them...our DVC stays are still free but When we go for a few days in April, it might be a bus trip because the $20/day for parking at the resort makes me cranky!

 

[fairestoneofall]

I have more than one friend who evacuated from sc to wdw today.

I’m in Charleston, SC and I know several families who evacuated to WDW. We actually considered it and priced off-property hotels since we have two dogs (and that’s cheaper than the WDW options and fees for pets).

 

[Remy is Up]

Crowd flows at WDW are interesting and highly unpredictable. As many have said, there really isnt a "slow" time anymore. There are slower periods, but, even those have what I woudl term moderate crowds. Which makes it more important to plan, use FPs, EMH if on property, and special events. We will be there Sept 20-23. Im not expecting low crowds but we also have the APToy Story Morning on the 20th and the MKAH that evening. Otherwise this is a F&W trip meant to be really laid back for us.

 

[WillowRain]

Buses were ridiculous. I will never take a bus again. We are driving next year, and DVC, so I'm good with free parking. My mom and Grandma use scooters, so we had no choice, but next time they can go on their own. Our first AK day, we missed the bus by 1 min, and then that "20 mins" to the next bus kept being pushed and pushed and pushed. 45 mins later, a bus comes, he has a scooter already and cannot take us. Took an hour and 15 to get to AK. I was livid. You would think with the fancier hotels, we could have our own busses. This bus share crap is lame. Then EMH on Wednesday, we had to wait for 3 busses! Didn't get home until midnight. That EMH was more packed than the day time imo. Of course, I have never been during a busy time, but if this is off-season crowds, we may need to re-think going. I honestly cannot believe how crowded it was for supposed lightest crowds of the year, according to ALL of the websites.

I am a little upset that our Party night, 9/9, seemed insanely crowded to me. I was told that would be the best party night with lowest crowds. It rained for a while, lines were kinda long for what I thought they would be, and we did not do much trick-or-treating either. POTC did not have the special pirate. Did they pump in some sort of scent??? That was driving me nuts. We did get to finally see the 7D standby line though, which we had never done. About 35 mins. I wish I had known that party days at MK would be literally dead before 6, we would have spent our days there and nights at Epcot. I feel like yet again, I went to the wrong parks on the wrong days, even with my extensive research. Oh well, we still had a blast of course. The best and least crowded days were Wednesday Night at Epcot. Our first day there was empty, and the last night we walked through Epcot to get the monorail, and it was pretty dead.

 

[funkyspunky871]

Update: We are HS now and the crowd levels are insane! You can't walk anywhere without bumping into someone. I know it's Friday, but come on. I thought September was supposed to have very low crowds? I guess it could be due to both the weekend and the evacuation from SC. Getting real nervous about our December trip though! Haha

 

[funkyspunky871]

Buses were ridiculous. I will never take a bus again. We are driving next year, and DVC, so I'm good with free parking. My mom and Grandma use scooters, so we had no choice, but next time they can go on their own. Our first AK day, we missed the bus by 1 min, and then that "20 mins" to the next bus kept being pushed and pushed and pushed. 45 mins later, a bus comes, he has a scooter already and cannot take us. Took an hour and 15 to get to AK. I was livid. You would think with the fancier hotels, we could have our own busses. This bus share crap is lame. Then EMH on Wednesday, we had to wait for 3 busses! Didn't get home until midnight. That EMH was more packed than the day time imo. Of course, I have never been during a busy time, but if this is off-season crowds, we may need to re-think going. I honestly cannot believe how crowded it was for supposed lightest crowds of the year, according to ALL of the websites.

I am a little upset that our Party night, 9/9, seemed insanely crowded to me. I was told that would be the best party night with lowest crowds. It rained for a while, lines were kinda long for what I thought they would be, and we did not do much trick-or-treating either. POTC did not have the special pirate. Did they pump in some sort of scent??? That was driving me nuts. We did get to finally see the 7D standby line though, which we had never done. About 35 mins. I wish I had known that party days at MK would be literally dead before 6, we would have spent our days there and nights at Epcot. I feel like yet again, I went to the wrong parks on the wrong days, even with my extensive research. Oh well, we still had a blast of course. The best and least crowded days were Wednesday Night at Epcot. Our first day there was empty, and the last night we walked through Epcot to get the monorail, and it was pretty dead.

We went to the party on 9/11. It rained for maybe five minutes but that was enough to shut down every ride in the park for 1.5 hours. Even Space Mountain and POTC were down!! We trick or treated a little, the lines were long and winding. Then we sat in the SM gift shop and used the massage chairs for 20 minutes before leaving at 8:30. We absolutely hated the party, but recognize that probably wasn't Disney's fault. I had painful blisters all over my feet and just wasn't in the Halloween spirit. Don't personally care for parades or shows, so when all the rides went down, that sucked really bad!

 

[anniemae]

Update: We are HS now and the crowd levels are insane! You can't walk anywhere without bumping into someone. I know it's Friday, but come on. I thought September was supposed to have very low crowds? I guess it could be due to both the weekend and the evacuation from SC. Getting real nervous about our December trip though! Haha

It's funny you mentioned the evacuation. I have seen numerous fb posts from people heading to Disney that are evacuating. I wonder if that has made the crowds levels rise?

This is the slowest time of the year, the weeks following Labor Day. I can't believe how low the wait times have been last week and this week.

 

[NYCANC]

Yes, we are in Raleigh and since last week we thought about coming down. Schools closed Thursday and thought it would be a great time to go. Also don't know when we will be back in school since evacuees from the coast are in our schools that are being used as shelters.

 

[avic77]

I would not have guessed people would evac to WDW but if you know your going to be out of school/work for 3 to 5 days and have homeowners insurance to cover damage to your home I can see it! Keeps the kids occupied and maybe even keeps parents minds off what is happening back home.

 

[MrsPete]

I have to wonder if people are evacuating NC, SC, and VA and heading to Disney and how this will be affecting the crowds this week. Totally possible that people are headed to Orlando. I know that if I lived that distance from Disney and was under mandatory evacuations, that would be my plan.

I'm in NC, and I personally know one family who headed to Disney to avoid the hurricane. We're not right on the coast where damage to our houses is quite possible -- but we're only about an hour away, so leaving is a welcome idea.

For people who have APs, it's not the worst of plans.

We always get trip insurance wherever we travel. Just never know...

I don't think travel insurance is necessary all the time; rather, it's a case-by-case question:

Say you're going on a cruise, which costs an airplane flight and a cruise ticket. If you couldn't go at the last minute, you'd lose 100% of your investment. Travel insurance makes sense.
On the other hand, say you're driving to the beach and staying in a hotel. If you have to cancel, you'll only lose the first night's hotel cost. No point in travel insurance.

 

[akemom]

We just got back (14-18th) and I thought it was very crowded! I was looking forward to lighter crowds/off season and it was just as crowded as our trips in June & November/Thanksgiving weekend. I met several people that were there because of mandatory evacuations from the hurricane so I do think that did make it more crowed than normal for this time of year.

 

[bumbershoot]

I’m pretty sure if people have to evacuate their homes, the last thing they are thinking about is going to Disney to spend money they might need when they come back.

Nope! My cousins live in Daytona and it’s their plan. They havent yet done it, but they say disney would be safer, there is food, there will likely be power, and it doesn’t often get hit by the huge storms.

I will never take a bus again.

That was pretty much our thought after our first Wdw trip in 2010. We have taken them, but we more often use a rental car.

 

[SaintsManiac]

And people wonder why I say crowd calendars are useless????

 

[anniemae]

Yesterday was supposedly really crowded due to the holiday. I guess there were schools in FL that did not have school so many folks headed to Disney.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Yesterday was supposedly really crowded due to the holiday. I guess there were schools in FL that did not have school so many folks headed to Disney.

Yom Kippur was yesterday.

 

[anniemae]

Yom Kippur was yesterday.

Yes. That is why many schools were off in FL.