Non-local here, but we were there today for our first day, and as "sort of" seasoned WDWers, we thought the crowds were nuts. We've been to WDW in the months of July and August twice, but I know it's difficult to compare them for many reasons. We still had a fantastically, exhausting day!
We got the HM fastpasses first after we got there at opening (not emh for us,) and our return time was 11:30-12:30, so we road Star Tours right away with a relatively short wait. We road the matterhorn, submarines, and something else, and returned to find that HM was temporarily closed. We grabbed lunch/ a snack, and it was open again.
Hubby, DSl, my mom, and I loved it, but DS2 was not a fan. It will be interesting to see how he feels about it another day....
We're just not used to these crowds. I'm hoping they improve a little, but I'm glad we set our expectations appropriately!