MK 10/14/15 extra magic hours

[Hudson Hornet]

As I ride back to my resort on on a WDW bus, it occurred to me that this is the perfect time to share my frustrations. WDW has to stop trying to make everyone happy and lower the maximum capacity for MK at least.

I know that their business M.O. is making people happy and that Walt's charge to his cast members was to make someone have a magical moment, but enough is enough. I witnessed and personally lived through a stampede. I saw some that weren't so lucky: one gentleman carrying a child was knocked down flat. The child was alright, but the man was not so fortunate. Did they make his day by allowing so many people into the park? They didn't make my experience magical by making it take 3 hours to get back to my hotel. Actually I'm not there yet, so 3 hours and counting.

They simply allow too many people into that park. First, it becomes too crowded to enjoy anything, and second, and more importantly, it is too crowded to evacuate safely should an emergency occur. There are too many choke points exiting to have a crowd that large, not to mention that the exit and the area between the exit all the way to the bus area is too dark and people were tripping and running into others and skinning ankles with strollers. It was hectic.

Anybody else out there that was there too that experienced this insanity? What were your impressions of MK 10/14/15?

 

[Gracefulskinny]

While I am not currently at the parks and can not directly attest to the size of the crowds, I do know that I have yet to hear of any phased closures for the day. Meaning.... MK is not likely at Max Capacity.

Something to remember is that crowds tend to get a pack mentality. Knowing this and purposely finding ways around the it make a world of difference. There have been quite a few times where I have read other's trip reports from a particular day at the park and we both ended up experiencing significantly different crowd levels (Same Park, Same Day, Same TIME, different sections of the park). I know those crowds are frustrating but next time you stay till close may I suggest finding a peaceful place to sit or wander for an hour and then SLOWLY make your way out of the park. You will be flabbergasted at the difference this makes and not only will that hour be spent enveloped in the peaceful magic of the park emptying for the night once you do leave the traffic issues are basically gone.

 

[Hudson Hornet]

While I am not currently at the parks and can not directly attest to the size of the crowds, I do know that I have yet to hear of any phased closures for the day. Meaning.... MK is not likely at Max Capacity.

Something to remember is that crowds tend to get a pack mentality. Knowing this and purposely finding ways around the it make a world of difference. There have been quite a few times where I have read other's trip reports from a particular day at the park and we both ended up experiencing significantly different crowd levels (Same Park, Same Day, Same TIME, different sections of the park). I know those crowds are frustrating but next time you stay till close may I suggest finding a peaceful place to sit or wander for an hour and then SLOWLY make your way out of the park. You will be flabbergasted at the difference this makes and not only will that hour be spent enveloped in the peaceful magic of the park emptying for the night once you do leave the traffic issues are basically gone.

The thing is, we left "early". It was extra magic hours day until 1AM. We left before the fireworks. The park was full of people riding rides and eating. A proportionally small amount of people was leaving compared to the amount that were still in the park, yet once we got to the exit it was like driving in New York City in a traffic jam. There needs to be a better system for getting guests out of the park safely and quickly.

I know that they were probably within their capacity limits and therefore had a "safe" number of guests, but in the case of an emergency that number would be anything but safe. Also, I do not believe that they are accurately keeping track of the number leaving the park. I have been watching; I am one of those people that watches closely how things operate with security bag checks and other safety measures and I have been watching the folks at the exit. I have noticed that the people at the gates have not been marking the number exiting. While they may have a pretty accurate count of people entering the park (minus the 2 and under crowd), they are more than likely guesstimating the actual number leaving the park and therefore are estimating the total number of guest in the park. Correct me if I'm wrong, but those are my observations over the last few years.

Furthermore, this is not the first time I've seen large crowds. I am a 30+ year Disney veteran. I have been there during capacity crowds and left with the crowd after fireworks. Last night was worse! I'm not saying there were more people, though I do suspect that Disney has expanded their maximum capacity for MK, either officially or unofficially, judging by the crowd last night.

My complaint is that it would be unsafe in an emergency evac situation. lowering the max capacity would be a fairly easy way to fix that. And with lower capacity, gust just might be more willing to shop and eat if they didn't have to wade through such thick crowds and wait in such long lines for quick service food. And with the prices they charge for something simple and easy like a hot dog, they would make the loss of revenue from ticket sales up in a heartbeat.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Since posting this morning I have noticed a few tweets from Josh at EasyWDW commenting himself on the wait times that got pulled from yesterday.

though I do suspect that Disney has expanded their maximum capacity for MK, either officially or unofficially,

This might be the case. With the Expansion of New Fantasyland they might have been able to officially up the max capacity as well. If that is what they did it kinda makes me worried for DHS after those expansions are done.

 

[Accident]

As with PP, that's a huge concern I have. MK being the "most disney park", is not going to get less crowded when more people come in for the new expansions. I think it's going to head the other direction and it's going to be worse and worse at MK. I really really hope they have some expansions planned to put in a few more rides. It's obvious the hub expansion and fanstasy land addition (that's always a ghost town at night) has allowed them to have a larger fire safety capacity limit. I think the crowd meters need to adjust so they can reach 11 as I think 10 is the old 9 now.

 

[jmassey1samchi]

I was not at the park yesterday, but I was keeping an eye on the wait times with my mde app. I was in shock seeing wait times 60-90 minutes as late as 10:00pm! My past experience has been that if you're there after 9 or so, you can get onto pretty much anything within 15 minutes. I do recall wondering if that was due to the extra magic hours. Looking recently today the wait times are much less during the middle of the day then at 10 last night.
I am going in December, and will be sure not to go on extra magic hours days.

 

[Hudson Hornet]

I was not at the park yesterday, but I was keeping an eye on the wait times with my mde app. I was in shock seeing wait times 60-90 minutes as late as 10:00pm! My past experience has been that if you're there after 9 or so, you can get onto pretty much anything within 15 minutes. I do recall wondering if that was due to the extra magic hours. Looking recently today the wait times are much less during the middle of the day then at 10 last night.
I am going in December, and will be sure not to go on extra magic hours days.

The extra magic hour days have been atrocious this trip. I wish they would either post them 6 months in advance or maybe just alert guests staying on property. We planned our trip with ADRs months in advance. I would have avoided the parks with EMHs, but it would have been royal pain to reschedule the ADRs and all of the fast passes.

It was pretty miserable trying to get to rides, but exiting is my main gripe. I've been to New York, London, Madrid, and Vatican City when the Pope is giving Mass, and I have never seen that many people trying to walk together over such a small amount of real estate. That was the highest population density I have ever seen!

 

[jmassey1samchi]

I think most people try to take advantage of the emh during times when there are separate ticketed events, such as the Halloween and Christmas parties. I have always enjoyed going to the parks on the days when there are the separate events as those days its generally quieter. I guess the folks who plan on getting their value and spending a whole day at the parks figure they wont get enough time when the park closes at 6 or 7. I'm sticking with my no emh days this Christmas. Sorry to hear of the horrible crowds.

 

[TrampDog]

Hi there! I'm a lurker (check my join date and number of posts), but I feel the need to chime in.

I'm probably what would be considered a Disney veteran. Multiple visits a year (from out of state) for the past twenty years. Before that, semi-regular visits. To get a handle on that, I am 51. Most of the time I am traveling alone because business takes me there. Sometimes, I have family, friends, or even colleagues in tow. I have been to the parks on odd times of the year and I have also been there various Holidays and on New Years Eve (2014-2015). I have done four parks in one day with almost every attraction, and no parks in one day. I know the shortcuts, know how to re-route myself if there is a crowd ahead for a parade, show, etc. I even know what aisles to avoid when taking the shortcut through the stores when main street is packed. I have stayed in almost every resort on property. I have been an annual passholder for a few years and just recently (two weeks ago) became a DVC owner. Having said that, here's my take:

I find that the majority of guests are there for fewer than four days. If you have it in your mind that you are going to cram everything in that period of time, you will be frustrated and disappointed.

There are times of the day that are more crowded than others. I find the first three hours of the park to be the best time to "commando" the rides. For example, I was at rope drop on October 4 (a VERY high capacity day). I had fastpassed "the mountains" starting at 10:45 and each hour after that. In the time before my first fastpass, I had already completed PP, SDMT, PoC, JC, HM, and SW. By 1:00 PM I was done with everything I would consider "major" (FP got me on Space, Splash, and Thunder mountains) and the crowds were now at what I think are out of control. At that point, I switch to enjoy mode. Time to do everything no one else wants to do and also get out of the heat. That leaves me with walk ons to CoP (my favorite attraction), People Mover, CBJ, Tiki Room (second fave), Stitches Great Escape, Laugh Floor, and the River Boat. The rest of the time is spent sitting on a bench in the pathway that runs along the river in FL (there is actually shade there and a cool alligator in the river), eating, and wandering through the stores on Main Street. By three I considered it over and crowded, so I spent the rest of the day resort hopping on the monorail (have a drink at a bar in each resort). My ADR was for California Grill at 5:30 and then back to the poly to watch fireworks. I would say a perfect day. But, that may not suit everyone and I get it.

Now, I'll let you in on something else. That same itinerary above was done on New Years Eve (yes, the day MK was closed by 11:00 AM). Not only that, I stayed at MK with my son until 9:30 PM to watch the hallucination show on the castle. We both wanted to stay until midnight, but we got tired of the crowd and had a better time watching Dick Clark's New Years Rockin Eve on TV and listening to the fireworks go off.

So, do the parks get crowded? They sure do, but you need to remember there are other things to do and other days to do the things you want to do. The people on this board can't do anything about the crowds and Disney is not going to change anything as long as people keep coming (and they will). Just try other things.

The buses are what the buses are. They are sardine cans with wheels that never take less than 20 minutes from destination to destination. I plan on that or worse. If I see that a bus queue is going to be more than two buses and I am getting impatient, I walk over to the Contemporary and use Uber, It costs less than $10 to get anywhere. What's $10 in the grand scheme of things?

Let's skip over to Epcot for F&W. Night time is going to be a mad house. It wasn't always like that, but it started to ramp up about four years ago. This year was at least 20% more than last. Friday night (Oct.3) was the worst I had ever seen. It took 45 minutes to get a lobster roll. At that point, I realized if everyone is there, than they are not on the Boardwalk. Walked out, into the Brewery and sat right at the bar. A/C, TV, beer (in pint glasses, not those silly 3 oz dixie cups), and a steak on a normal plate. Sure I like trying all the foods and beers at F&W and I did that quite a few times during the trip. I just made it more enjoyable by getting it done before 3 PM.

Hope this helps you plan a little better for those monster days. Sony for the mini trip reports I threw in there .

 

[Boopuff]

I was also there on the 14th. We foolishly thought going back to the park around 11:30pm would allow for some of the crowd to thin. I was also shocked to see so many strollers! Sleeping kids all over! and this was on the way INTO the park!! The wait time for 7DMT was "listed at 40" at the ride entrance. The line was full. But since it was EMH the CM was scanning and turned several people away . Overall I felt the crowds were heavy but it did thin out noticeably around 1am. We also went to F&W it was crazy busy. So much for Oct. being a quiet time to visit...

 

[Hudson Hornet]

I was also there on the 14th. We foolishly thought going back to the park around 11:30pm would allow for some of the crowd to thin. I was also shocked to see so many strollers! Sleeping kids all over! and this was on the way INTO the park!! The wait time for 7DMT was "listed at 40" at the ride entrance. The line was full. But since it was EMH the CM was scanning and turned several people away . Overall I felt the crowds were heavy but it did thin out noticeably around 1am. We also went to F&W it was crazy busy. So much for Oct. being a quiet time to visit...

Did you notice the pandemonium of people trying to get out of the parks? I appreciate what some others have said about trying to plan around the crowds, but my point is that with that many people, there is no safe way to evacuate. Disney should lower the maximum capacity in case an emergency should arise and the park need be evacuated. There is no way to plan around that.

If you were there too surely you saw how difficult it was for the throng of people exiting to get my out and how that number was small compared to the number still in the park at 11:30. I should know, it took me over an hour just to get out to the buses. I was still lined up for the buses at that time *sigh* Did you see how many choke points there are for exiting? The entrance and exit areas need to be redone to allow for greater numbers to get out quicker so that doesn't happen.

 

[Hudson Hornet]

I think most people try to take advantage of the emh during times when there are separate ticketed events, such as the Halloween and Christmas parties. I have always enjoyed going to the parks on the days when there are the separate events as those days its generally quieter. I guess the folks who plan on getting their value and spending a whole day at the parks figure they wont get enough time when the park closes at 6 or 7. I'm sticking with my no emh days this Christmas. Sorry to hear of the horrible crowds.

Well, we made up for it by going to the Halloween Party at MK. Nice crowd level, great shows, great parade, and lots of rides. Tickets are expensive, but totally worth it.

 

[Boopuff]

Hudson, I totally agree with you about the crazy exit choke points. They try to funnel everyone out through the far side turnstyles rather than just letting people out through the unused entrance. But trying to enter during that time is crazy!

 

[Hudson Hornet]

Hudson, I totally agree with you about the crazy exit choke points. They try to funnel everyone out through the far side turnstyles rather than just letting people out through the unused entrance. But trying to enter during that time is crazy!

No doubt! I saw the people trying to enter the park as we were leaving and had I been one you, I probably would have turned around and fled! There was really no way to exit or enter in a quick and efficient manner that night. It was hectic!