How Busy Will It Be?

[disneydreamer781]

We were there the 2nd week of December and it was undeniably nuts! It was wayyyy worse than the July 2018 crowds we experienced. Unfortunately, that last Christmas trip we took almost didnmy husband in. He is a cruise guy, and what he experienced the 2nd week of December was shocking to him. We are giving it another go in July 2019, he said if it’s still absolutely nuts again, we will be taking a Disney break for a few years.

I with you. Also , my husband isn't a Disney guy at all and he's not young anymore. We did a 9 day trip and by Day 5 we were dead. Very stressful with those kind of crowds. Low crowds are a thing of the past I think and with Star Wars opening it's hard to believe it will get any better. We ended up only doing MK once even though I planned on 2 days there. The one day we did MK it was just too crowded. Probably the worst we've ever experienced and we go once or twice a year. I love WDW but a break isn't the worse thing.

 

[kathy884]

I with you. Also , my husband isn't a Disney guy at all and he's not young anymore. We did a 9 day trip and by Day 5 we were dead. Very stressful with those kind of crowds. Low crowds are a thing of the past I think and with Star Wars opening it's hard to believe it will get any better. We ended up only doing MK once even though I planned on 2 days there. The one day we did MK it was just too crowded. Probably the worst we've ever experienced and we go once or twice a year. I love WDW but a break isn't the worse thing.

I can relate to having a husband who isn't a Disney guy. Christmas week once did DH in for sure, and now if we do a Disney trip, it's me and DS doing a mini budget trip and DH usually staying home with our main vacations being elsewhere and something we all enjoy. Our last trip to WDW was early Nov. of 2017 and I was really disappointed in expected crowds based on touring plans and other sites and actual crowd levels. Much of this was due to Hurricane Irma in September and people rescheduling trips for later, so not something that would have been planned. Also for MK crowds, during party season (main season is Oct. - Dec. but constantly being expanded to be earlier and earlier) parties really skew MK crowds. Full regular days at the MK are really crowded as so many want a full day at the MK vs. a short day where they have to leave early because of a party later. This works great if you don't mind doing the MK and leaving early on a party day (crowds are lower than normal), but means a heavy crowd day for the days when parties aren't in session. Because DS likes a full MK day and we don't do more than one day there, because we don't do parties, and because we don't do park hoppers, I am trying for future to avoid party season.

For OP -- the period you are planning to go looks like a good choice. If a typically lower crowd period works for my schedule that has a reasonably decent chance for good weather too, I go for that. I still prepare, though, with rope drop plans and a touring plan. But we usually are only doing two park days (SeaWorld and the MK), with a relative visit day in between, so really want to make the most of our park days.

 

[Missyrose]

I wouldn't go by TP. They had crowd levels at 3-5 for the week I was there and then they raised them to 6-7 right before we went. It seemed higher than that to me.

Part of the problem seems to be how Disney monkeys with attraction capacity and staffing for lower-crowd times. Fewer staff and less attraction capacity leads to longer wait times, which means more people in the walkways instead of in line. Longer waits= higher crowd numbers for TP, more people in the walkways = the parks feeling much more crowded than before.

 

[mamaofsix]

I think you picked a great time to go - it will be much less busy than many other times of the year. I understand the sentiment behind "it's always busy," in that it's never dead or empty. BUT, we went for the first time this past November thinking it was going to be crazy after everyone on the DIS boards kept saying 'it's always busy,' and it just wasn't true! Compared to our Spring Break visit during March, 2016, this past November was AMAZING! Spring break you can barely walk and even the least popular rides are a 45 minutes wait. November was uncrowded walkways and several walk on rides. February is similar to November in most crowd prediction models. It's moderate crowds. Not empty, but not a zoo as some might think.

Make your fps and meal reservations, make a solid plan and you will have an amazing time