Crowds this July

[TXDisneyFan1]

We are there August 4 to the 10th. We haven't been to Disney in 7 years and you guys are scaring me. We used to go during the school year but now that our son is 12 we opted for the summer. We have our FPs and will rope drop as much as we can.

Has it changed so much that we are going to hate it?!

It has changed since you were there last, but there is still plenty of magic to go around. I don't understand what the PP said about fast pass lines being too long...yes, they may be long at one time, but they quickly shrink. We were just there and while it was crowded and hot, we rode everything we wanted to and never waited longer than 30 minutes for anything.

You should have better crowds since you are going in August. Don't worry! You will have a great time!

 

[brockash]

It has changed since you were there last, but there is still plenty of magic to go around. I don't understand what the PP said about fast pass lines being too long...yes, they may be long at one time, but they quickly shrink. We were just there and while it was crowded and hot, we rode everything we wanted to and never waited longer than 30 minutes for anything.

You should have better crowds since you are going in August. Don't worry! You will have a great time!

I'm guessing what they meant is how now it is VERY common to see a huge fastpass line to scan at the first check point - that NEVER used to happen before the online stuff. I will also had that we rode Space twice last night with a fastpass and both times it took over 45 mins.to ride it - yes still much less than standby, but still pretty crazy for a fastpass to us. - The fastpass lane was backed up as soon as you went down the steps when you first enter the building- again I've never seen that before.

 

[Searc]

I'm guessing what they meant is how now it is VERY common to see a huge fastpass line to scan at the first check point - that NEVER used to happen before the online stuff. I will also had that we rode Space twice last night with a fastpass and both times it took over 45 mins.to ride it - yes still much less than standby, but still pretty crazy for a fastpass to us. - The fastpass lane was backed up as soon as you went down the steps when you first enter the building- again I've never seen that before.

It is now normal for the Space FP line to be backed up to Astro Orbiter or longer. Buzz also normally has a very long fastpass line.

 

[wdwrule]

Just wantedto chime in to say my sister and her husband had that today and they both thought it was pretty terrible. - Neither are super picky eaters and my sister was excited to have chicken instead of pork, but honestly it didn't even look like chicken and the portion is VERY small.

I always had the pork too and was disappointed in the quality of the chicken as well. We ate there twice during this trip and I ended up changing my later pre-order to the French dip instead through the app. I really missed the fall-apart tenderness of the pork. By the way, I highly recommend pre-ordering if you don’t want a big line to stand in.

Our trip was last week and yes there were typical summer crowds (although they seemed much lighter than last summer) but if you have morning scheduled fast passes and are willing to collect additional fast passes via the app throughout the day, you’ll be totally fine. We had an amazing trip!! We felt like we accomplished so much and rarely went in standby lines. We even picked up same day fast passes for Slinky Dog and Flight of Passage...both with early afternoon times for our family of four.

ETA: BTG weren’t bad at all. We would see them throughout the parks but it didn’t affect our touring. We even stayed at a resort where some of them were and we encountered them more at the parks than at the resort. They were pretty quiet (non-chanting) and did their own thing. Fun to watch actually!

 

[LSUmiss]

It is now normal for the Space FP line to be backed up to Astro Orbiter or longer. Buzz also normally has a very long fastpass line.

Agreed & how it affects you probably depends on your travel party. When it was DH & I & other adults or older kids, waiting in a 20-30 min FP line was no big deal. But trying to travel with a small child, waiting in 30 min fp lines is absurd. We mostly ended up wandering around looking for something he could do. Many ppl have said it on these boards before, but this is the first time I’ve experienced it that WDW doesn’t seemed aimed at families with young children as much anymore. Many many things here now are not conducive to traveling with small children.

 

[Jules123]

We are here now and the only park we have found too crowded was Hollywood Studios. We were there today and there were long lines and it was HOT! We were able to pull multiple fastpass for MK on Wednesday. I didn’t have a FP for SDMT and wound up waiting about 45 minutes for it and that was our longest wait of the day. Epcot and AK were the same.

 

[westie55]

I just got back. I completely agree that the fp lines in MK were absurd-- unlike anything I've experienced in many trips. The fp line for splash mountain had to be 30 minutes. It was out the queue all the way to Thunder Mountain. Buzz was also very long. 7DMT was also well out the queue. This makes it really hard for families with small children when a parent needs to get back to a baby. I go every summer and this is the first time it's been like that.

 

[dlavender]

We are here now. One of the best weeks crowd wise we’ve been in a while. I agree with the others about FP lines at MK and about the PM storms. We sat in SDD today from 5-7 waiting one out. Didn’t rain but the surrounding lightning kept it down. Was a posted 50 minute wait and we made it all the way to the front...then took a nap and woke up and rode, lol. HS today was amazingly low. Besides TOT everything was manageable. Definitely worth braving the heat and humidity.

 

[dlavender]

I just got back. I completely agree that the fp lines in MK were absurd-- unlike anything I've experienced in many trips. The fp line for splash mountain had to be 30 minutes. It was out the queue all the way to Thunder Mountain. Buzz was also very long. 7DMT was also well out the queue. This makes it really hard for families with small children when a parent needs to get back to a baby. I go every summer and this is the first time it's been like that.

Yes! What was up with that??! Slash was particularly long. I’ve never experienced that before. POTC had the same issue, but that was due to the storms making everyone use their anytimes I imagine.

 

[SaintsManiac]

This thread, heck two posts above are proof that crowds are subjective.

 

[dlavender]

This thread, heck two posts above are proof that crowds are subjective.

That always cracks me up. Could be a case of being in the right spots at the right time or the wrong spots at the wrong time, lol.

 

[Captainkidd76]

I will say, to be fair, we're at Universal now and we had a couple longer than normal waits with Express. Rip Saw Falls, Jurassic Park, MIB and Mummy were all about 20 minutes. However, everything else with Express has been less than 5 minutes.

I think a big problem at WDW is the lack of things to do in DHS and Epcot. FP+ has really had a tough affect at Epcot making typical walk ons about 20-30 minutes. DHS simply doesn't have enough to do. MK, I don't know - Seems everything is busy. We did CoP 4 times because everything else was so crowded.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Been back a week from our 11 night stay over July 3 - July 14 and all I can add is the "crowds" in the parks don't have to determine YOUR wait time. I was in MK last weekend and saw the group of 100 Brazillians on Main Street covering their eyes for the group reveal (which where really from Argentina and more like 60 people) and while they took up a big area on Main Street, we were around them in less than 60 seconds. We watched them from the time they walked by the flagpole and the whole thing took less than a couple of minutes.

Focus your FP on quality and not quantity. A FP+ for Jungle Cruise in 3 hours when the wait is 90 minutes (when standby for Haunted Mansion is posted at 45, Magic Carpets at 20 and Tiki Room is 15) is more valuable than a FP in 45 minutes for Pirates.

It was easier on us for sure this trip because it was a longer one and we're fortunate to have APs so I know it's different for the guests who don't go frequently and only have one day in a particular park but in regards to Standby times, I didnt wait any longer for an attraction in July than I have for my last two trips (January and May).

 

[glocon]

We plan on being at the pool everyday between 1-4 and have ADR at 5. Also, we are planning on spending one day at Blizzard Beach and have tickets for H2O one night. Will also go play mini golf, rent a searay, and will go to the movies as well

FYI- Last year when we were there at the end of July/beginning of August, it stormed every single day early to mid-afternoon. We never did get to use the pool during our afternoon break because it was always closed due to lightning. That was our first summer trip and we are going back in a couple of days, but we will try and get to the pool early in the day then go to the parks (wearing the ponchos we bought last year again).
It looks like 50% chance of storms every day of our upcoming stay, and I’ll bet that’s for every afternoon!

 

[nerdyone]

If you have an ADR at 5, you'll want to be out of the pool by 3 and on your way to your ADR by 4pm at the very latest.

We are staying at Boardwalk and will be eating there or at Epcot primarily so we should be in good shape.

FYI- Last year when we were there at the end of July/beginning of August, it stormed every single day early to mid-afternoon. We never did get to use the pool during our afternoon break because it was always closed due to lightning. That was our first summer trip and we are going back in a couple of days, but we will try and get to the pool early in the day then go to the parks (wearing the ponchos we bought last year again).
It looks like 50% chance of storms every day of our upcoming stay, and I’ll bet that’s for every afternoon!

I've been tracking the weather as well and ride closings for lightening. It's seems like 3-5 has been the worse weather over the last few weeks.

I've developed this terrible habit of monitoring ride times during different times of day and adjusting plans way too much!

 

[Spaghetti Cat]

To address complaints that FPs are too hard to GET, they issue more, making them hard to USE. Although you're probably right about storms driving it, shouldn't the volume account for that? They have data scientists right?

Soon a third entrance will be built on major attractions for the new "Faster Pass" holders. There's a blue sky plan for a fourth "Fastest Pass" queue once demands for more faster passes make that unusable too. Then of course there's the VIP entrance, a puff of smoke followed by a family with a smiling genie guide magically appearing in front of you that you dont remember seeing earlier, hmm that's strange.

 

[teruterubouzu]

I was in MK last weekend and saw the group of 100 Brazillians on Main Street covering their eyes for the group reveal (which where really from Argentina and more like 60 people) and while they took up a big area on Main Street, we were around them in less than 60 seconds. We watched them from the time they walked by the flagpole and the whole thing took less than a couple of minutes.

Ha! Fun that we were there the same day. We saw a group do it in Fantasyland, which was a bit nuttier, crowd wise.

 

[Figment Mom]

What is the group reveal?

 

[LSUfan4444]

What is the group reveal?

It was a large group of teen girls from Argentina and their chaperons and it was the first trip for almost every girl. they lined up two by two and each girl covered the eyes of the girl in front of them. Then, they slowly walked around the town hall circle and when they all got to main street, one chaperone counted down and they all dropped their hands to look up main street and see the castle for the first time. They had a few chaperons around them filming, taking pics and making sure they didnt walk into Tomy's and order the chicken parm so it did take up alot of space.

 

[Figment Mom]

It was a large group of teen girls from Argentina and their chaperons and it was the first trip for almost every girl. they lined up two by two and each girl covered the eyes of the girl in front of them. Then, they slowly walked around the town hall circle and when they all got to main street, one chaperone counted down and they all dropped their hands to look up main street and see the castle for the first time. They had a few chaperons around them filming, taking pics and making sure they didnt walk into Tomy's and order the chicken parm so it did take up alot of space.

Thank you! I figured it was closing their eyes to see the castle for the first time but I couldn't figure out how they managed to get there with their eyes closed. Thanks for the description!

And accidentally ending up in Tony's is a real risk! Ha!