Here now - 3/24-3/30 - “low” crowds?

[tidegirl]

Bless y'all who are there this week with those crowds! I couldn't do it... not unless you want to see a grown woman have a Mickey meltdown on youtube.

 

[kittylady1972]

Thanks to all who have shared their reports this week. We plan to arrive tomorrow late morning and are planning to hit MK, probably near peak times but hopefully earlier. I'm not even attempting to share this information with my family because I have already told them it WILL BE CRAZY. Weather looks pretty good for a waterpark day Thursday or Friday, so perhaps we'll make sure that's part of our plan.

 

[Gentry2004]

Oh, and FP+ lines for headliners are consistently long (15-20 minutes easily.) Disney has clearly decided people will accept this when determining how many FP’s to distribute.

 

[DisneyPrincess1984]

Oh, and FP+ lines for headliners are consistently long (15-20 minutes easily.) Disney has clearly decided people will accept this when determining how many FP’s to distribute.

To me, 15-20 minutes is acceptable even with fast passes. It beats the alternative.

 

[mamamelody2]

MK was nuts today. We rope dropped (8am) and used our FP’s from 10:00am - 12:30pm. Was then able to get 4ths for Ariel, Teacups, Small World, Carpets and Pooh. We left about 5pm.

Ride-wise we did fine, and still had a good time, but going from point A to point B (trams, monorail, bag check, ride to ride, etc.) is noticeably different from even regular “crowded” times.

Also we had exceptionally bad ride breakdown luck this trip. We got stuck in the dark in the basement of Tower for at least 5 minutes before being rescued by maintenance. Test Track, Space, Pooh, and Mine Train were either down during our FP, at rope drop, or both. Our Indy show was delayed and almost cancelled and our Crush show was cancelled 5 minutes in when the screen went black. It became a running joke.

Yikes, that's a lot of breakdowns! Sorry that happened to you!

When DH and I went last November, we got 3 "anytime" FPs in one day because Pooh kept going down. We were actually able to use the 4th Pooh FP we got. LOL.

 

[rteetz]

Oh, and FP+ lines for headliners are consistently long (15-20 minutes easily.) Disney has clearly decided people will accept this when determining how many FP’s to distribute.

Fastpass never marketed itself as no line at all. It is a service to cut down your wait with a scheduled return time.

 

[Orange Team]

Fastpass never marketed itself as no line at all. It is a service to cut down your wait with a scheduled return time.

Yes it did. The original FastPass slogan was "Get a Time, Why Wait in Line?"

Quoting a brochure from 2000: "This free new guest service gives you a designated ride time to come back later and hop right on some of the most popular Walt Disney World attractions. With no further wait! Look for details in Park Guidemaps."

 

[Cloe Colton]

I just got home from Disney yesterday and 3/24-3/27 (EPCOT, MK and finally AK) were PACKED. So maybe you just got lucky but what I experienced were definitely 9/10 crowds. A two hour wait for Space Mtn and 6 hour wait for FOP, if thats not 9/10 I dont want to see 9/10

 

[rteetz]

Yes it did. The original FastPass slogan was "Get a Time, Why Wait in Line?"

Quoting a brochure from 2000: "This free new guest service gives you a designated ride time to come back later and hop right on some of the most popular Walt Disney World attractions. With no further wait! Look for details in Park Guidemaps."

I was too young to remember that marketing however I feel since then they haven’t marketed it as such.

 

[NashvilleMama]

Whew! I'm the OP here and just caught up on this thread - sounds like we all had variable experiences last week in the parks! We did feel that HS on Tuesday was packed, but we managed our FP plans pretty well and only waited more than 30 minutes once and that was for RER right at park opening. (Also: pro tip - check your kids to make sure their magic bands are STILL ON THEIR WRISTS as you walk up to the gates. We realized my oldest's had fallen off right as we were about to buzz through. Cue the panic! Ticket counter cast member was super helpful and made lightning fast work of it but phew. Crazy start to the day! Magic band showed up in the car when we got back in at day end. Kids, man...)

I admit to being an OCD advanced planner with touringplans and just expect crowds to be awful - I really do think last Sunday (3/25) was much lower than I've experienced on other high crowd days. It was noticeable. But maybe a fluke!

AK last Thursday was a madhouse, but - we started off the day with our FOP fastpass and HOLY CRAP. I had no idea what to expect with that ride as I've purposefully avoided reading about it so had no idea what to expect. My husband and I both agreed we would stand in line for 2 hours for that again, easily. We actually debated doing it after ROL that night but our kids were toast. So. Incredible. I still can't really get over it. (Another aside: ROL was insanely boring. Yawn. I'll never recommend that to anyone - we did the dining package with Tusker House lunch and it's my one regret of the trip.)

The weather was insanely gorgeous all week - which probably also made the crowds feel less intense! LOL

 

[richkaryn]

I’d guess the opposite. With an early Easter, I’d bet most public school districts have the week after Easter as their break.

In MA, wer’re always the third week of April, we’ll be there then. They're keeping 9am (not 8am) MK & AK openings, so I’m hoping this means they anticipate lower (ish) crowds our week.

Was the Carrousel, Small World, or Tea Cups Open for your EMM?

There is no way schools in TN could wait until late April for break....that is our state testing window. We also start back to school the first or 2nd week of August and get out for summer on Memorial Day weekend though. Our district's break was March 19-23

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

Just got back, as well. Outside of the ride wait times, the crowds were fairly low (comparatively speaking). Epcot was dead on Friday night. AK was crowded on Saturday, MK wasn't BAD Easter Sunday. Monday at Epcot was moderate (I'd say a 7/10)

 

[donaldanddaisy]

SDMT is a 200 min wait??? That just seems insane.

 

[Texans_loyal]

Hoping the crowds even out by 4/22..fingers crossed.

 

[MattH]

It was definitely as busy as described over Easter weekend, however we were very lucky to have a fantastic experience on Saturday in MK. Our group of nine was able to do 26 attractions with 17 of those using fastpass. Best part was we never once zigged zagged across the park. We were able to go from one ride to the next being very close by. We were there for rope drop and knocked out Peter Pan then worked our way around Frontierland and then Adventureland. Used our first FP on Space Mountain at 10:30. We watched the noon parade then took the boat for Wilderness Lodge for a relaxing lunch at Whispering Canyon. Made it back for our 3pm SDMT FP and then were off like crazy on our FP mission. Through some luck and perseverance I would snag our next FP for immediately after the ride on a neighboring ride. We watched the fireworks and stayed till park closing at 11pm.

 

[Bronte]

WOW !!!!
I have been able to snag a few day of fast passes from time to time but to have your first three and then get 14 more rides that same day is FANTASTIC !!!! Plus having to get them all for a party of 9 is even harder ... CONGRATS !!!!!

 

[MarvinTheSpartan]

SDMT is a 200 min wait??? That just seems insane.

When I left MK today after lunch it was up to 230 min.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Yes it did. The original FastPass slogan was "Get a Time, Why Wait in Line?"

Quoting a brochure from 2000: "This free new guest service gives you a designated ride time to come back later and hop right on some of the most popular Walt Disney World attractions. With no further wait! Look for details in Park Guidemaps."

And someone believed that?????

 

[ChristineOH]

I was at WDW from Monday, 3/26 to Friday, 3/30. While I was pleasantly surprised at some of the 4th FP I was able to get, it definitely was much more crowded than when we usually go in June. Two parades a day really clogs up MK as well.

To the OP, we rope dropped RnR on Tuesday too. DHS is actually not too bad, if you rope drop one ride, you can have FP for the other three and not have to do standby for anything but the shows, which is easy. I didn't enjoy the RD process for RnR though. It was a madhouse. I much prefer to avoid it.

 

[aprincessatlast]

When I left MK today after lunch it was up to 230 min.

I was in serious disbelief when I saw that today. 4 hours!!! That is a flight time from the east coast to LAX. I get bored on a plane but at least have movies and food/drink service along with the ability to use the bathroom. I could not imagine having to move every few feet for hours at a time. All for a 2 minute ride??
Just how inaccurate is the wait time. Is it more like yeah you will be in this line for 2 hours so we put 4 just so people won't bother? Has anyone ever truly heard someone say they actually waited 4 hours to ride a ride at wdw?