Anyone know why it's so busy right now?

[hllb]

Here are the year over year comparisons for this past weekend:

Sat, Jan 21, 2017: Resort Crowds 7, MK 7, EP 7, HS 6, AK 8
Sat, Jan 20, 2018: Resort Crowds 8, MK 9, EP 7, HS 8, AK 9

Sun, Jan 22, 2017: Resort Crowds 4, MK 3, EP 4, HS 5, AK 4
Sun, Jan 21, 2018: Resort Crowds 7, MK 7, EP 5, HS 9, AK 8

So, while both days were above predictions, Sunday was significantly above, while Saturday only slightly.

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

Anyone there today? Wondering if this craziness is still going on? I’m getting nervous.

 

[back2disney]

I just did a conference trip 1/16/18 to 1/21/18. It was packed, much more crowded than I expected.

1/16/18 MK was so crowded. 45min for ITaSM, 70 for pirates, even 30 for Philharmagic. These are much higher wait times than we had in June.

I think the parks were so crowded as the closing time is 8PM, so everyone is there trying to get their rides in before 8PM.

June park hours are so much later, it disperses the crowds and crowd levels drop off the later the hours go.

Except last year when they cut many June/July closings to 10pm I believe. So best to still go now, as in the future it will be for the megarich and others will be able to go via lottery only.

 

[LSUmiss]

It feels very disappointing for the crowds to be significantly heavier than anticipated. So much planning and money goes into these trips. No one has a crystal ball, but when you plan to go at a time that has been historically less crowded than others and it ends up not being that way, I think it's OK to be a bit deflated about it.

I used to feel like this all the time. But what I learned is it’s not about chasing the elusive lower crowds, it helps to just plan for it to be crowded. Some weeks are better that others, but it always feels crowded now b/c of how WDW structures staff & hours. It probably took me about 8 trips to come to terms with this, but I enjoy my trips more.

 

[hllb]

Anyone there today? Wondering if this craziness is still going on? I’m getting nervous.

Current wait times look like medium to high crowd levels. I'm guessing that tomorrow we'll see today was again higher than anticipated, but not by as much. I'm predicting no 8's. Let's see how I do LOL.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I used to feel like this all the time. But what I learned is it’s not about chasing the elusive lower crowds, it helps to just plan for it to be crowded. Some weeks are better that others, but it always feels crowded now b/c of how WDW structures staff & hours. It probably took me about 8 trips to come to terms with this, but I enjoy my trips more.

Yep this is my mindset now. We are returning Labor Day week and even though everyone says it's a "slow" time I am expecting huge crowds.

 

[Canesfan3234]

was at epcot this past saturday and the lines were not bad at all.

 

[hllb]

OK, in looking at the wait time charts for TP, and comparing to current wait times at MK, I think it would end up being a 4, which is pretty good. However, the charts are average wait times for the entire day, and I'm looking at a single point. So, maybe it's looking better today, and maybe not LOL. MK is predicted to be a 5 today, and it seems like there's a decent chance of hitting that.

 

[memo10]

Anyone there today? Wondering if this craziness is still going on? I’m getting nervous.

We were at MK yesterday. Arrived around 3:30pm and left after close. It was a great day and we got a ton of stuff done! The only areas that felt remotely crowded were in Fantasyland. I would say maybe a 5?

 

[LSUmiss]

Yep this is my mindset now. We are returning Labor Day week and even though everyone says it's a "slow" time I am expecting huge crowds.

It was the slowest time I’ve ever been, but it was 2 years ago & there was a hurricane or ts threat (I had to move flight up to get there before MCO shut down). It wasn’t a major storm & it ended up skirting coast so all we got was a little wind. Parks never shut down but ppl probably postponed or cancelled.

 

[hllb]

We were at MK yesterday. Arrived around 3:30pm and left after close. It was a great day and we got a ton of stuff done! The only areas that felt remotely crowded were in Fantasyland. I would say maybe a 5?

It was a 7 yesterday.

 

[hllb]

It was the slowest time I’ve ever been, but it was 2 years ago & there was a hurricane or ts threat (I had to move flight up to get there before MCO shut down). It wasn’t a major storm & it ended up skirting coast so all we got was a little wind. Parks never shut down but ppl probably postponed or cancelled.

I think we went that same time, but to Universal (2015?). It was fantastically empty and I don't remember it raining much at all.

 

[crayon3448]

We were there this weekend and it didn't seem too crowded. But we also were making just a two day trip so knew we wouldn't be able to get everything done so had no real expectations. The biggest snafu in out plans was TT being down for rope drop on Saturday. We did EP-HS-MK on Saturday and MK Sunday.

 

[Dug720]

I wonder if some of this is still residual hurricane cancellations. Not everyone would have been able to reschedule last-minute for the fall and might have opted for early this year to avoid hurricane season next year.

 

[hllb]

OK, I reviewed the wait times in all the parks as of right now and compared them to the CL definitions for average wait time (across the entire day). Very unscientifically, it seems like it's slowed down a bit. If I had to guess (again, based on wait times right now, and not over the entire day like they should be), it seems like we'd see: MK 4/5, AK 4/5, EP 2/3, and HS 4/5. Predicted is MK: 5, AK: 4, EP: 4, HS: 6.

 

[AquaDame]

Yep this is my mindset now. We are returning Labor Day week and even though everyone says it's a "slow" time I am expecting huge crowds.

It was the slowest time I’ve ever been, but it was 2 years ago & there was a hurricane or ts threat (I had to move flight up to get there before MCO shut down). It wasn’t a major storm & it ended up skirting coast so all we got was a little wind. Parks never shut down but ppl probably postponed or cancelled.

We went over Labor Day last year and I would not consider that a "slow" weekend by any stretch... it was the opening of F&W so it was pretty darn busy! We did get a nice rate on our hotel room though it was SO hot and sticky I'm not sure we'd go at that time again. If it is going to be that hot I'd rather go in Summer before the hurricane season and when the hours are longer.

 

[N Shah]

I am going Feb 1-4.
Impossible to get FP to either Frozen (Epcot) or Avatar FOP (Animal King). I have been checking every day at least 5x a day. Completely sold out.

Frozen FP is available 30 days out - even then, only at 5PM+.

Crazy packed this month/Feb, when historically, this is the slowest time of the year.

 

[N Shah]

OK, I reviewed the wait times in all the parks as of right now and compared them to the CL definitions for average wait time (across the entire day). Very unscientifically, it seems like it's slowed down a bit. If I had to guess (again, based on wait times right now, and not over the entire day like they should be), it seems like we'd see: MK 4/5, AK 4/5, EP 2/3, and HS 4/5. Predicted is MK: 5, AK: 4, EP: 4, HS: 6.

Wait time for Avatar FOP is 120+ minutes. All FP+ are sold out for major rides. Its crazy busy.

 

[deide71]

Wait time for Avatar FOP is 120+ minutes. All FP+ are sold out for major rides. Its crazy busy.

Keep refreshing the app and more FP will show up.
120 minutes for Avatar is not bad, certainly not crazy busy.

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

Wait time for Avatar FOP is 120+ minutes. All FP+ are sold out for major rides. Its crazy busy.

I think that’s on par with normal FOP wait times.