Epcot SO Busy! - Jan 25, 2020

[Robo]

We where at Epcot today, Sat, Jan. 25, and the place was OVERRUN with guests!
You never know whether to believe the things that you hear from random CM's, but we heard one CM say that today was an Epcot attendance record for this date.

We booked a Lyft back to our resort (I didn't want to try the buses with so many guests there) and the driver said that he'd never seen the Epcot parking lots so full.

Virtually all FPs were booked and nearly impossible to "change."

Wow, it's a busy, busy, BUSY late January at WDW!

 

[CastAStone]

I remember back in 1998 we went this week in January because the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World said it was the slowest week of the year...oh how times change.

I’m sure hundreds of feet of construction walls don’t help with the crowds either...

 

[RememberWhoYouAre]

Electric Umbrella was open last Saturday. I got a cupcake there. .
I was surprised it was open too, because I thought I had read online a few weeks ago that it had closed. Guess that info was wrong.

 

[dhutchin12]

We were there today and could not believe how crowded it was as well.

 

[yulilin3]

100% agreed. We were there just for the Broadway concert and i have never experienced it that busy during this time of year.

 

[WEDWDW]

MLK Day was just as bad-the "Mexico Bottleneck" at 11:30 AM looked like it usually does at 5:30 PM!

 

[pangyal]

Do you all think people are heading to Epcot to kill time until their boarding groups are called at DHS? Just a thought. I genuinely have no idea what would cause such an uptick in crowds today over there!

 

[WEDWDW]

Do you all think people are heading to Epcot to kill time until their boarding groups are called at DHS? Just a thought. I genuinely have no idea what would cause such an uptick in crowds today over there!

Could be part of it-Skyliner has made the DHS to Epcot move a breeze.

That is exactly what we did after securing our BG.

 

[Robo]

100% agreed. We were there just for the Broadway concert and i have never experienced it that busy during this time of year.

We attended the first Broadway Concert show (5:30) today.
Great cast! Fun show!
I watched a bit of the live stream of the 8pm show after we got back to our room.

It's still up on YouTube>>

 

[yulilin3]

Yep, we were there for that one too.

 

[blakefamily]

MK was packed today also. We went around 330...made our way to 7dmt for a FP, the wait was at 180 minutes and the FP line was crazy long...we said let's go get a dole whip and maybe com back....nope. it was wall to wall people everywhere....we left...went to poly and got dole whips and sat on the beach. Soooo nice We have FP for Wednesday again and fingers crossed for much lower crowds. I checked some cried calendars and it was projecting today as a 9 so I guess that's that. LOL. We have AP, this is our 3rd trip this year so it was easy to decide to leave and come again later.

 

[CastAStone]

Could be part of it-Skyliner has made the DHS to Epcot move a breeze.

That is exactly what we did after securing our BG.

That can't possibly quicker than walking with the shortcut through Boardwalk, can it?

 

[SMRT-1]

I don't know how much it affects Disney crowds, but it's NFL Pro Bowl weekend.

More and more, it seems like low crowd times are a thing of the past.

The last time we went in 2016, we picked this week specifically for the predicted lower crowds and weren't disappointed. We rope-dropped our first MK day, and walked on everything for the first 2 hours. We did Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Splash, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion twice, Small World, Carousel, Philharmagic, and Little Mermaid all before our 11:00 BOG lunch reservations.

Of course that was before Festival of the Arts started in 2017, which I'm sure was added specifically to draw more crowds to a historically low-crowd time of year.

 

[yulilin3]

That can't possibly quicker than walking with the shortcut through Boardwalk, can it?

If there isn't any wait at the stations then it's under 20 min trip which is about the same as walking.

 

[tinabina919]

We were there Thursday and Friday and it definitely felt more crowded than past years.

We saw one of the Property Brothers on Friday and I also heard that Paige O’Hara (the original voice of Belle) made an appearance at the new sing-a-long in France.

The Kardashians were also spotted around, there’s the Pro Bowl, and yesterday was the Disney Parks Blog live stream of the Broadway Concert Series.

I’m not sure exactly what’s bringing all the crowds but there sure was a lot going on.

 

[Dug720]

A weekend day with a Festival? Yeah...it is going to be crowded.

 

[yulilin3]

A weekend day with a Festival? Yeah...it is going to be crowded.

But hasn't been this way in years past. This year it's way different to another level of busy

 

[Meriweather]

I've been here since the 11th. Packed every day, every park.
I've never seen lines so long!!

 

[Dug720]

But hasn't been this way in years past. This year it's way different to another level of busy

From reports I’ve seen it looks like they have kicked up the festival a lot though.

I do wonder if all the walls and stuff going on is making it seem more crowded right now. Less places for people to be.

 

[yulilin3]

From reports I’ve seen it looks like they have kicked up the festival a lot though.

I do wonder if all the walls and stuff going on is making it seem more crowded right now. Less places for people to be.

The festival is pretty much the same and yesterday i came in and left through ig so the walls at the front had no impact on world showcase, it's definitely just way busier