Crowds - Is this normal!?

witandwander

witandwander

Active Member
Original Poster
What’s going on with crowds right now at Disney World? I thought this was supposed a low crowd time. But two hour waits on a random Monday in January?

Has anyone been there this month? Is it really that crowded or are rides not running at full capacity?

Do any insiders know if this will be a consistent pattern this year? (Trying to plan our days for our first week of May vacation and freaking out a bit)
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
witandwander said:
What’s going on with crowds right now at Disney World? I thought this was supposed a low crowd time. But two hour waits on a random Monday in January?

Has anyone been there this month? Is it really that crowded or are rides not running at full capacity?

Do any insiders know if this will be a consistent pattern this year? (Trying to plan our days for our first week of May vacation and freaking out a bit)
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They fell behind their comfortable capacity 15-20 years ago because the normal crowds have grown over time and they stopped building things to comfortably handle it…

and not everything is back open that adds to the strain

and they are using both to try to sell more night tickets and/or ride line skips.

in a nutshell…there are other reasons
 
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
There hasnt been what we used to see as a low crowd season for many years, except when Covid and Disney intentionally drove the numbers down momentarily. Disney has started to rebound as guests are fitting in trips that had previously been cancelled or put off. Winter has also started to drive people south and Disney is one of the destinations.
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
JIMINYCR said:
There hasnt been what we used to see as a low crowd season for many years, except when Covid and Disney intentionally drove the numbers down momentarily. Disney has started to rebound as guests are fitting in trips that had previously been cancelled or put off. Winter has also started to drive people south and Disney is one of the destinations.
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Another thing…crowd dispersal and off seasons have more or less been eliminated.

the most comfortable crowd times I’ve seen in recent years has been spring break and mid summer…which is counterintuitive but ultimately reactionary.
 
L

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
witandwander said:
What’s going on with crowds right now at Disney World? I thought this was supposed a low crowd time. But two hour waits on a random Monday in January?

Has anyone been there this month? Is it really that crowded or are rides not running at full capacity?

Do any insiders know if this will be a consistent pattern this year? (Trying to plan our days for our first week of May vacation and freaking out a bit)
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At least you are enjoying the crisp sunny warmish weather. Two hour waits in 100 degree heat in July is another issue.
 
D

DisneyJoe

Well-Known Member
witandwander said:
What’s going on with crowds right now at Disney World? I thought this was supposed a low crowd time. But two hour waits on a random Monday in January?

Has anyone been there this month? Is it really that crowded or are rides not running at full capacity?

Do any insiders know if this will be a consistent pattern this year? (Trying to plan our days for our first week of May vacation and freaking out a bit)
Click to expand...
- pent up demand for travel due to COVID and cancelled/delayed trips
- difficulty in staffing all around (not just Disney), but this can cause rides and restaurants not to operate at former full capacity - note the recent Disney job fair where $1500 hiring bonus was offered
- WDW 50th Anniversary causing greater interest
 
disneyflush

disneyflush

Well-Known Member
Sirwalterraleigh said:
Well I hope too…
I just that higher prices drop some away (likely off-property) and standard longer hours dispersed them.

but they are playing games with hours now too.
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Disney acts as if an attendance drop is the goal to all of this instead of stating that an actual attendance drop would be a pain point Wall Street would crush them for. It all rings so hollow. They could double prices overnight for all food, all beverage, all trinkets, and park tickets and attendance still wouldn't budge. The magic dust is an immensely powerful drug.
 
larryz

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
witandwander said:
What’s going on with crowds right now at Disney World? I thought this was supposed a low crowd time. But two hour waits on a random Monday in January?

Has anyone been there this month? Is it really that crowded or are rides not running at full capacity?

Do any insiders know if this will be a consistent pattern this year? (Trying to plan our days for our first week of May vacation and freaking out a bit)
Click to expand...
Somebody made the mistake of telling everyone on the interwebz that January was a slow month at WDW, so everybody decided to go in January to avoid the crowds.
 
witandwander

witandwander

Active Member
Original Poster
I didn’t think of everything not being open contributing to a crowd dispersal issue. But I can definitely understand that.

I also wonder how many less people are waiting in line for characters, now that you can’t actually “meet” them. I don’t care what anyone says, a distance selfie is not cute and no where close to seeing your 2 year old hug Mickey.

Now that they’re adding Genie+ to the character meetings, I wonder if we’re any closer to interacting with characters? That would probably help crowd dispersal a bit.

This is nuts. I knew crowds had gone up in “slow” times in recent years, but I thought it was still around an hour max wait for the big rides (with the exception of a new opening).
 
J

jpinkc

Well-Known Member
witandwander said:
I didn’t think of everything not being open contributing to a crowd dispersal issue. But I can definitely understand that.

I also wonder how many less people are waiting in line for characters, now that you can’t actually “meet” them. I don’t care what anyone says, a distance selfie is not cute and no where close to seeing your 2 year old hug Mickey.

Now that they’re adding Genie+ to the character meetings, I wonder if we’re any closer to interacting with characters? That would probably help crowd dispersal a bit.

This is nuts. I knew crowds had gone up in “slow” times in recent years, but I thought it was still around an hour max wait for the big rides (with the exception of a new opening).
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Yeah slow times is a thing of the past for now. To much revenge travel and thats not going away soon. I would have thought it would be petering out by now but not according to our travel agent. They still have quite a few waiting on Covid or some even that havent used there previous reservations that covid canceled for them.
 
Club Cooloholic

Club Cooloholic

Well-Known Member
Folks throw our your crowd calenders and just assume red days. People have backed up vacation days, backed up DVC points and kids they want to just forget their troubles for a bit and make happy. Traveling out of the country has been harder, passports taking longer and restrictions to other countries constantly changing. Cruises are not happening or as appealing with restrictions. So yeah Florida is a safe bet, they aren't going tighten rules and people are flocking there.
 
CntrlFlPete

CntrlFlPete

Well-Known Member
personally, I was surprised by the crowd at the Magic Kingdom yesterday (Monday 1/24). I am sure having Splash down hurts, but I am just talking about the steady flow into the park.
 

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