Crowds right now - Feb 8th

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sfein
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Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by sfein » Feb Tue 09, 2016 8:07 am

So I got an unexpected trip to Florida and am down at Disney right now. I figured, early February, no crowds. I was shocked to go to MK on Monday 2/8 and see huge crowds. I went last in July. The crowds walking were less - though pretty darn packed in some areas. But the wait times for rides were almost as bad. Some examples from Monday:
7 Dwarfs Mine - 100 minutes
Peter Pan - 65 minutes
Space Mountain - 90 minutes
It's a Small World - 40 minutes

I fast passed Haunted Mansion and the line for fast pass was past the entrance, past the curve towards Liberty Square, almost half way to the closest restaurant (forget the name). I did not wait, got on app and changed the fast pass time and went elsewhere.

I was not expecting to have to fast pass my rides again. The crowds shocked me. It may not have been as bad as July, but a lot worse than the last time I went in October (2005). Is there no uncrowded time to go anymore??

Amy
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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by Amy » Feb Tue 09, 2016 2:17 pm

I think it is getting to where it is rarer and rarer to have the really slow times at the parks. Between the different food and festival events, marathons and other promotions, the parks seem pretty busy all the time now. I've noticed on Facebook that several people that have been at the parks here this past few days are dealing with the huge Brazilian Tour Groups. Did you happen to notice if there seem to be a lot of the tour groups there? Otherwise it does seem like this should normally be a fairly quiet time to go.
That's pretty near that you got an unexpected trip ~ even a slightly busier day than expected at WDW is better than a day not spent at WDW though right? ;)

sfein
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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by sfein » Feb Tue 09, 2016 3:26 pm

There are some tour groups here. Matter of fact, we asked the HM person if the ride broke down when the fast pass got backed up and they said no, a large group of 80 people came at once.

I almost wrote "is there no good time" instead of "is there no crowded time" and I thought, well even in July, it was good. So I had to change it. Because any time is a good time. :)

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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by Amy » Feb Tue 09, 2016 7:26 pm

sfein wrote:There are some tour groups here. Matter of fact, we asked the HM person if the ride broke down when the fast pass got backed up and they said no, a large group of 80 people came at once.

I almost wrote "is there no good time" instead of "is there no crowded time" and I thought, well even in July, it was good. So I had to change it. Because any time is a good time. :)
Oh my gosh, I didn't even think about huge tour groups descending on the FP lines ~ ugh. I suppose you just have to be sort of aware of what is happening around you in the parks and be willing to change plans on the fly.

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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by sfein » Feb Tue 09, 2016 7:53 pm

Luckily I could use the my experience app. We saw the line, I jumped on the app moved the fast pass an hour later, moved its a small world up in the list and rode that instead. The app does well for me for that. Now if I could just get new fast passes using the app after I use my three and it will be great. I hate looking for kiosks now.

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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by Amy » Feb Wed 10, 2016 9:02 am

sfein wrote:Luckily I could use the my experience app. We saw the line, I jumped on the app moved the fast pass an hour later, moved its a small world up in the list and rode that instead. The app does well for me for that. Now if I could just get new fast passes using the app after I use my three and it will be great. I hate looking for kiosks now.
You're lucky the app worked that well for you ~ I just didn't have any luck with using it on my phone. I started changing the FP on my computer in the room either in the evening or morning because it would change on there. But then it wouldn't show up in the app when I was in the parks :roll: It was very frustrating.
Aren't you supposed to be able to choose more FP through the app after your three are used? I did see the kiosks scattered here and there but they were generally pretty full so I wouldn't have wanted to stand in very much of a line to make a new FP reservation.

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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by sfein » Feb Wed 10, 2016 9:40 am

My understanding is no. After 3 you have to use kiosk. I did try and I couldn't get it to add a fastpass. I know others have had issues, but even when I went in July, I still had good luck (knocking on wood). I did use the kiosk in July and added a fatspass. As a matter of fact, after adding it, I was able to change it on the app to a different ride that was not available on the kiosk (either it opened up quickly or kiosk takes longer to get its updates - not sure why). So again worked out well for me. (and again knocking on wood) :)

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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by cy1229 » Feb Wed 10, 2016 10:26 am

What I have to say has little to nothing to do with the FP/app debacle..... Ai yi yi what a mess that is turning out to be.

I know that there was a dance team competition down there not too long ago. My high school classmate's daughter's team was down there for it. (They placed third, woohoo!) I think I remember that most of those kinds of things are in the used-to-be slower times of the year. But I think you two are right, there really isn't a "slow" time to go to Disney anymore. I'm headed to DLR in 10 days ( :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :D :D :D :D :D :D :ccat: :ccat: :ccat: :ccat: :donald: :donald: :donald: :!: :!: :!: :!: ) and even at this time of year the crowd calendar at Touring Plans rates 6-8. Oh, Tuesday is a 5, but I'm in training all day. Of course.
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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by Amy » Feb Wed 10, 2016 2:50 pm

cy1229 wrote:What I have to say has little to nothing to do with the FP/app debacle..... Ai yi yi what a mess that is turning out to be.

I know that there was a dance team competition down there not too long ago. My high school classmate's daughter's team was down there for it. (They placed third, woohoo!) I think I remember that most of those kinds of things are in the used-to-be slower times of the year. But I think you two are right, there really isn't a "slow" time to go to Disney anymore. I'm headed to DLR in 10 days ( :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :D :D :D :D :D :D :ccat: :ccat: :ccat: :ccat: :donald: :donald: :donald: :!: :!: :!: :!: ) and even at this time of year the crowd calendar at Touring Plans rates 6-8. Oh, Tuesday is a 5, but I'm in training all day. Of course.
Wow ~ I can't believe they are going to be that crowded when you are there. I suppose it is because you are looking all at weekend days? I suppose it would be suspicious if you didn't feel good on one of the workshop days?

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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by cy1229 » Feb Thu 11, 2016 9:41 am

Amy wrote:
cy1229 wrote:What I have to say has little to nothing to do with the FP/app debacle..... Ai yi yi what a mess that is turning out to be.

I know that there was a dance team competition down there not too long ago. My high school classmate's daughter's team was down there for it. (They placed third, woohoo!) I think I remember that most of those kinds of things are in the used-to-be slower times of the year. But I think you two are right, there really isn't a "slow" time to go to Disney anymore. I'm headed to DLR in 10 days ( :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :D :D :D :D :D :D :ccat: :ccat: :ccat: :ccat: :donald: :donald: :donald: :!: :!: :!: :!: ) and even at this time of year the crowd calendar at Touring Plans rates 6-8. Oh, Tuesday is a 5, but I'm in training all day. Of course.
Wow ~ I can't believe they are going to be that crowded when you are there. I suppose it is because you are looking all at weekend days? I suppose it would be suspicious if you didn't feel good on one of the workshop days?
Hah. yeah. My boss knows me better than that. Not to mention, I'm actually IN training this time, and my company is paying the $1900 training price, $400 exam fee, plus all my travel for the week, so I'd better not miss a single day of the training. I'd probably not pass the exam if I did that, too, so... yeah. There's time in the evenings but I'm leaving that open for studying. So sneaking away for some time with our favorite Mouse isn't an option. I'm really content to have Saturday afternoon, Sunday, and the following Saturday though. And, when Jeff and I were there in July, the crowd ratings were the same. It only got really unbearably busy in the afternoon, so I figured I would eat lunch, then use that time to do less popular things, or people watch, or something like that, and do my ride-riding in the mornings and evenings. Plus, I'll be alone, so I can utilize single rider for some things. I plan to take it really slowly, soak in and savor the atmosphere, and not rush from attraction to attraction.
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Amy
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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by Amy » Feb Thu 11, 2016 12:53 pm

Sounds like you've got a good plan. I wonder if some of the crowd ratings are also because of so many attractions being closed at DL when you are there? I hope you'll have time to go see the original Frontierland Station that they have open because the train is down with the Star Wars construction. That seems like it would be a cool thing to do as it normally isn't open to guests.

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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by cy1229 » Feb Fri 12, 2016 9:57 pm

Amy wrote:Sounds like you've got a good plan. I wonder if some of the crowd ratings are also because of so many attractions being closed at DL when you are there? I hope you'll have time to go see the original Frontierland Station that they have open because the train is down with the Star Wars construction. That seems like it would be a cool thing to do as it normally isn't open to guests.
Oh I didn't know that. Have a link? (I don't know why I'm asking this, of course you can squirt a link in here pretty fast. You're just. That. Good) I didn't think there were *that* many attractions closed down. I mean, it's the Jungle Cruise, plus all the stuff on the rivers, plus the railroad. Doesn't strike me as big crowd-drawers in the first place.

Tell ya what, if I can get in there, I promise to take pics.
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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by Amy » Feb Sat 13, 2016 8:52 am

cy1229 wrote:
Amy wrote:Sounds like you've got a good plan. I wonder if some of the crowd ratings are also because of so many attractions being closed at DL when you are there? I hope you'll have time to go see the original Frontierland Station that they have open because the train is down with the Star Wars construction. That seems like it would be a cool thing to do as it normally isn't open to guests.
Oh I didn't know that. Have a link? (I don't know why I'm asking this, of course you can squirt a link in here pretty fast. You're just. That. Good) I didn't think there were *that* many attractions closed down. I mean, it's the Jungle Cruise, plus all the stuff on the rivers, plus the railroad. Doesn't strike me as big crowd-drawers in the first place.

Tell ya what, if I can get in there, I promise to take pics.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/disn ... force.html ~ slides 9-16 show the railroad portion. I suppose it isn't a big draw for most park visitors, but I would want to see it just because it is something you are normally not able to do :D

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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by ImagineerWannabe » Feb Mon 22, 2016 8:31 pm

sfein wrote:There are some tour groups here. Matter of fact, we asked the HM person if the ride broke down when the fast pass got backed up and they said no, a large group of 80 people came at once.

I almost wrote "is there no good time" instead of "is there no crowded time" and I thought, well even in July, it was good. So I had to change it. Because any time is a good time. :)
Oh those tour groups. I've had a few experiences being there at the same time they are. The dance/cheer teams seem to break into reasonable sized groups for touring the parks. I wish the South American ones would as well.

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Re: Crowds right now - Feb 8th

Post by Amy » Feb Mon 22, 2016 9:15 pm

ImagineerWannabe wrote:
sfein wrote:There are some tour groups here. Matter of fact, we asked the HM person if the ride broke down when the fast pass got backed up and they said no, a large group of 80 people came at once.

I almost wrote "is there no good time" instead of "is there no crowded time" and I thought, well even in July, it was good. So I had to change it. Because any time is a good time. :)
Oh those tour groups. I've had a few experiences being there at the same time they are. The dance/cheer teams seem to break into reasonable sized groups for touring the parks. I wish the South American ones would as well.
Agreed ~ I think the Brazilian tour groups only come with one or two chaperones where the dance/cheer teams come with several. Plus I just don't think the Pop Warner groups are as large a group to begin with. My Mom and I actually had a very nice chat with some of the girls from Brazil on the bus from the All Stars to one of the parks on one of our trips. It was just two or three of the girls and they were quite eager to use their English skills. They were very sweet. But put the whole group together and oh boy :shock:

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