How are the crowds NOW?

[Minky]

Any locals or anyone just back, Im very curious to know what the crowds are like we have been to WDW MANY MANY times, but this is our first trip to DL...I AM SO EXCITED!!! But I am hearing scary stories about the crowds, we are supposed to leave in 2 weeks....any input?

 

[sarha]

We have been at DL since Tuesday, and the park gets crowded very quickly. By about 11am most big rides had waits of 45 minutes and Splash Mountain's wait was 90 minutes in the early afternoon.
It seemed almost as bad as Eastertime at WDW.

But, if you get there at opening you can get an awful lot done before the crowds roll in.
We are very grateful to these boards for mentioning the AAA package with the 'enhanced fastpass". It really made a big difference, but my biggest piece of advise is GET THERE EARLY because it get very crowded after about 10-11 am.

Also, Hydroman had some excellent advise for using fastpass,both regular and enhanced, so search for that.

CA seemed way less crowded than the MK.
This is our first visit to DL, we've been to WDW many times. I really like the MK here, many of the rides seem "better" here, and my kids loved Indiana Jones.

So, to recap; yes, it's crowded so GET HERE EARLY. It willmake a huge difference in your day. Then head back to the hotel in the heat of the day to relax, and come back after dinner.
Hope, this helps...Sarha

 

[HydroGuy]

Any locals or anyone just back, Im very curious to know what the crowds are like we have been to WDW MANY MANY times, but this is our first trip to DL...I AM SO EXCITED!!! But I am hearing scary stories about the crowds, we are supposed to leave in 2 weeks....any input?

The word is that the crowds are lower this summer than last summer. We went the first week of August in 2005, and on a day trip yesterday - exactly one year later. And I can tell you the crowds were noticably lower. Almost all of the wait times for rides mid-day that I noticed were much lower than 2005 - often half as long.

We did 22 rides yesterday between DL and DCA, with two rides on Space Mtn and Splash Mtn and a few others. Plus we saw the Remember Dreams Come True fireworks/laser/special effects show. DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW. You need to see it from the hub to see all of the effects on the castle, and last summer we had to get to the hub 1 hour early to get a decent spot. Last night - a Wednesday, so not as crowded as weekend nights FWIW - we could have gotten a fine spot 20 minutes before. We got there about 55 minutes early, but if I were to do it again I would shoot for 30 minutes early, FYI.

Here is a link to my "A DLR Guide for WDW Vets" - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

 

[stampinshauna]

Thanks for the info. I was just going to ask the same question. I can't wait for tomorrow when I can be there!!!

 

[blackjackdelta]

Thanks again, Hydroguy. We were there last August, so hopefully in 12 days the crowds this year will be less. And thanks for the FP advice, it worked great last year.

Jack

 

[minnietoo]

I frankly don't find the crowds that bad - it does fill up at 11ish - and weekends are worse. We went on 6/26 - opening day of priates and were amazed that the crowds seemed lighter than expected (this was however a Monday).

Christams and the day after are my gauge - and they were very crowded.

Just go to California Adventure when DL gets crowded and then come back later.

 

[Ella1]

We were there the first 2 weeks in July and didn't find it that busy. One day we went on California Screamin 6 times in a row as there was no queue (this was at lunchtime on a Friday) and I heard one of the CM's say that he has seen busier days in February and March!!
Love Ella

 

[doombuggy]

I was hoping that going in late August would = less crowds. I am a morning person, so getting their early is no problem for me, and we are staying accross the street, so I'll use my feet! Thansk for the tips!

 

[lsim]

We went yesterday. Crowds were not too bad. We got there at opening and the crowd did get heavier later in the morning, but not bad. It really started clearing out in the evening. TOT had only a 13 minute wait!!

Lisa

 

[saschuster]

I was just there on July 28th and 29th. The Friday was very very crowded so we went accross to DCA and it was empty. Saturday was better but crowded by Pirates and Splash Mountian. We had a great time when we went!

 

[Ginarella]

I'm still trying to figure out how Hydroguy did 22 rides in one day Did you fly to each ride?

I was there yesterday at DL myself and I did half of what Hydro did. Maybe it was the timing and all the resting and eating I did too. The crowds were not too bad, but it was crowded.

We got a fast pass for Splash mountain right away. We were there by 10:30 in the morning and the fast past return was for 12:15pm. I say get that FP first unless you want to wait the 90min standby line. Cuz by the time we got on Splash mountain around 1:30pm, the FP times were at 7:30pm.

Thunder mountain, Haunted mansion, Astro Blasters, and Matterhorn were all 20in wait

Pirates was about 30min wait. Indian Jones was 55min wait standby.

Space mountain max wait was 70min wait. Get a fast pass for that and the Autopia was also a 60min wait.

Oh, and if you get the chance go inside the GALLERY. The Bone throne is on display from the POTC2 movie. It's pretty cool.

And don't worry about the crowds too much. Check out the parade times and go on the rides then. Most likely the crowds will be at parades than on the rides.

 

[HydroGuy]

I'm still trying to figure out how Hydroguy did 22 rides in one day Did you fly to each ride?

Well, it was a Wednesday with no Early Entry and we were one of the first in line at 8AM. So that got us off to a good start and crowds were especially low because of the day of the week. And of the 22 rides, 12 used FastPass and one used Single Rider at Splash Mtn, which is like using FastPass. Plus we were were a group of two - only me and DS13 - both in good physical shape and no need for frequent restroom stops because our group was so small. And we hopped into DCA twice and did 8 of our rides there - 6 with FP. Plus we did minimal shopping - its a guy thing you know.

If we had the whole crew (four boys in the family) we would have not been able to do as much.

 

[HydroGuy]

Double post

 

[Ella1]

We were there when the parks opened and did Splash Mountain 3 times in a row and then got a fastpass for Indiana Jones,before riding BTM twice in a row. So in the first hour we were there, we had done 6 rides in an hour.
We then went on to ride loads more before we left the park at 3.30pm to go to the pool for an hour and have something to eat.
When we returned to the park, we did many more rides before leaving the park at around 11pm.
I reckon we must have done well over 20 rides that day. If you use your time well in the morning when it's quiet, use fastpass and take advantage of the fireworks being on etc, you can do loads of rides in a day, even in july.
Love Ella

 

[sarha]

We just got home, and we had a great time. Really loved Disneyland.
We were able to get a lot of rides done early in the day, and made good use of Fastpass.
It really makes a difference to get to the park early, but since we have 2 sleep loving teenagers this wasn't always possible. On the days when I couldn't get everyone moving till after 10 am, I was very glad to have the AAA Enhanced fastpass. This allowed us to get all out fastpasses at once, and that makes a huge difference if you don't get there at opening.
California Adventure never seemed too crowded, waits of maybe 20 minutes at TOT, and less at Cali Sreamin".

 

[MulanFan]

Ours was a bit different, since we did not go for the big rides as we had a 2 year old (rode the carousel 3 times ... instead). But I did not think the parks were as crowded as I expected them to be (I don't have a year to year comparison). We were there Aug 3 and 4. The mornings were not very crowded compared to late morning and afternoon. Worst crowds were after the parade and in New Orleans square (although we did get there around noon, I don't know what it was in the am). We didn't make it to DCA very much, but there were not a lot of crowds there either.

 

[minnietoo]

Went yesturday - arrived at 7 PM. Very crowded (and Wed supposed to be the slow day) - it seemed like a "normal and crowded" summer day - not a lower than average summer day - resturant I wanted (NO Cafe) had no more seating - and the fireworks were cancelled.

I am guessing people are doing August - so maybe Sept and later will be better again.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Will be in the park 8/15. Any updates on the crowd levels from this last week.

Thanks for your time,

Jack

 

[HydroGuy]

Previous Wed Aug 2 was much less crowded than Aug 2 2005, when I was also there - for four days in 2005. I could not believe how short many of the lines were last week. This is consistent with what others have been posting about this summer - much lower crowds than 2005 and more reasonable.

For others going after Aug 20, remember than the AP blackout date lifts and the crowds will pick up again for awhile at that point with AP holders.

 

[Master Mason]

I was there 2nd week of July. We went Saturday afternoon, all day sunday, and all day tuesday. And the busiest day by far was tuesday. It was really wierd to me figured the weekend would be bad, which it wasn't, but man tuesday was terrible.