12/17/06- 1:15pm. AK at Capacity - Entrance Closed

[v_misses_epcot]

I was at Down Town Disney this afternoon doing some shopping and man, that place was like a Bride's store on discount day! People were everywhere and it was just nuts! It was so bad, we left and went to another area place with rides, which was also packed!

And for those of you who are wondering why AK is packed... It's gotta be the love for P Whirl!

That's because our 40 percent discount was going to be put on block out period untill the 3rd of janurary!! I already knew what I wanted so it didn't seem so bad.

What mad me really mad yesterday that during spectro magic, both sets of stairs leading to the railroad over in the front entrace were being blocked!! THAT'S A FREAKING FIRE HAZARD! And no cast members in sight! I was ed. I told people to move out of the way and they just scoffed at me, I even called a cast member and when he came, people wouldn't budge!!

Also, I guess people haven't been to the parks on new years eve.....all 4 parks reach their capacity by 11!!! So like I said, pick one park that you want to celebrate it at, because you probrably won't be let back into any of the other parks.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

Well, that is not quite as exciting news, but I am glad that the park waits are picking up. I, too, remember in 2002 when this week and the week before were very, very slow. It does seem that WDW is regaining more of its year-long operating numbers. That's a good thing (except for those of us that enjoyed the slow periods, but part of success, I guess! :brick: :lol: ). I still think it would at least keep projects on time if not speed them up, too.

 

[csm]

Everest hit triple digits yesterday. The 40 minute wait you saw was either an anomaly or an incorrect post.

Um, he rode the ride... so I'd bet it was quite an accurate 40 minute wait for Everest, 10 for Dinosaur and less than 10 for Safari that he said it was.

 

[csm]

That's because our 40 percent discount was going to be put on block out period untill the 3rd of janurary!! I already knew what I wanted so it didn't seem so bad.

What mad me really mad yesterday that during spectro magic, both sets of stairs leading to the railroad over in the front entrace were being blocked!! THAT'S A FREAKING FIRE HAZARD! And no cast members in sight! I was ed. I told people to move out of the way and they just scoffed at me, I even called a cast member and when he came, people wouldn't budge!!

Also, I guess people haven't been to the parks on new years eve.....all 4 parks reach their capacity by 11!!! So like I said, pick one park that you want to celebrate it at, because you probrably won't be let back into any of the other parks.

That only happened on 12/31/1999, and even still I don't think DAK (which was yes, very crowded) ever actually reached capacity. DAK pretty much never reaches capacity (or I'd wage to say even comes close) for NYE, but this is no surprise given people tend to migrate towards parks with fireworks that night. On that one day, it is no indication at all on how popular (or unpopular) the park is. Studios rarely closes to capacity, as does Epcot (but that's more due to the sheer size of the park and how much it can hold.) The only place it it holds true that you can *expect* to be closed by 11am is Magic Kingdom, always, given, period.

 

[mkt]

Um, he rode the ride... so I'd bet it was quite an accurate 40 minute wait for Everest, 10 for Dinosaur and less than 10 for Safari that he said it was.

So was he, and so was I. I saw a 70 minute wait at one point, and 105 minutes at another

 

[pheneix]

AK was significantly slower today. Still a moderately crowded day, but much more in line with what was expected.

Next week will be a different story. It will probably be the park's busiest week ever.

 

[mousermerf]

That only happened on 12/31/1999, and even still I don't think DAK (which was yes, very crowded) ever actually reached capacity. DAK pretty much never reaches capacity (or I'd wage to say even comes close) for NYE, but this is no surprise given people tend to migrate towards parks with fireworks that night. On that one day, it is no indication at all on how popular (or unpopular) the park is. Studios rarely closes to capacity, as does Epcot (but that's more due to the sheer size of the park and how much it can hold.) The only place it it holds true that you can *expect* to be closed by 11am is Magic Kingdom, always, given, period.

I beleive Epcot's last real phase closing was Easter in 2002, though it had an all-time-daily-attendance record during the holiday season in the last year or two (but people came and went, not all in the park at once).

 

[jmvd20]

I'm a little confused here. The true park capacities should not be top secret Disney Company property. Unless the RCD has special regulations the maximum capacity of each park and structure contained therein should be determined by code issues. Such as ventilation, evactuation, and emergency exit capacity.

In all commercial properties the certificate of occupancy with maximum capacity is supposed to be plainly visible, or for larger facilities displayed upon request, usually kept in the maintenance office.

I'm not trying to start an argument here, just wondering if anyone knows the reasons Disney would be exempt from this common rule, and why exactly the maximum capacity would be kept secret to bvegin with.

 

[Enderikari]

In all commercial properties the certificate of occupancy with maximum capacity is supposed to be plainly visible, or for larger facilities displayed upon request, usually kept in the maintenance office.

Each individual structure(which denotes the commercial properties) do have those numbers, and are usually posted in places where people can see them

I'm not trying to start an argument here, just wondering if anyone knows the reasons Disney would be exempt from this common rule, and why exactly the maximum capacity would be kept secret to bvegin with.

The reasons (there are several) are a secret too, sorry.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Park capacities are kind of like daily attendance figures, anyone who really knows the REAL park capacities can get into serious trouble for saying said park capacities... Suffice it to say, the park capacities listed above (MK-85,000? EP-35,000? DAK - 33,000? MGM-45,000?) are at the very best, guesses... And not really good ones at that...(While not determining attendance entirely accurately, a good place to look is at Park Acreage)

Why is it that those of us who actually know you, never doubt you and take everything you say as gospel? Could it be that you're always 100% dead on with what you say? (I still say you should have Phil's job, but thats just my opinion)

Here's my "estimations"....

DAK 40-50k (Based on what ive seen firsthand on Spring Break)
MGM 45-55k (Based on some weird forecasts for the very first ESPN:The Weekend)
EP 85-105k (Based on NYE 2000 Attendance estimates and firsthand 2005 NYE fun)
MK 75-85k (based on what ive seen firsthand on Christmas)

But does it really matter? Of course not... just as so people enjoy themselves, doesn't matter what time on what day a park goes to a phased close. Because if youre at WDW, youre not online....

 

[pheneix]

MK: 80-85k-ish. MK used to do over 100k back when it was only three parks. They've lost a lot of capacity with all the closed rides and Fastpass running.

EC: 80k officially but its pretty much whatever they damn well feel like cramming the park with. The park has crossed the 100k mark on a few occasions

MGM: I'm guessing at around 45k. They've crammed more in historically, but it is a complete fire hazard to put anymore than that in the park. Capacity isn't that much of a problem at MGM these days with the attendance problem they have been having.

AK: 42k

For giggles, here are the park capacities for the competition:

USF: 48k

IOA: 43k

During HHN they go way over those numbers. One night during HHN this year they pulled in over 54,000. That was with Suess and Marvel at IOA doing overflow duty though.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Just a side thought here.... i spent yesterday at Epcot. Crowd seemed small for the start of the Holiday season. Perhaps more of an "average" crowd for an event night or even a "sub-average" night for candlelight.

Spots for illuminations were pretty wide open for World Showcase Plaza.....

 

[PhotoDave219]

MGM: I'm guessing at around 45k. They've crammed more in historically, but it is a complete fire hazard to put anymore than that in the park. Capacity isn't that much of a problem at MGM these days with the attendance problem they have been having.

Attendance Problem? What Attendance? Problem?

 

[mousermerf]

MK: 80-85k-ish. MK used to do over 100k back when it was only three parks. They've lost a lot of capacity with all the closed rides and Fastpass running.

EC: 80k officially but its pretty much whatever they damn well feel like cramming the park with. The park has crossed the 100k mark on a few occasions

MGM: I'm guessing at around 45k. They've crammed more in historically, but it is a complete fire hazard to put anymore than that in the park. Capacity isn't that much of a problem at MGM these days with the attendance problem they have been having.

AK: 42k

Epcot's high-end with all areas (think Odyssey, World Showplace, and even areas you probably didn't even know existed open) is a theorhetical of 120k.

How that number has been altered, skewed, etc.. by openings and closing is unknown. But theorhetically if everything at Epcot was at 100% (staffing and mechanically) the park could function with that many people in it.

 

[pheneix]

Attendance Problem? What Attendance? Problem?

Without going into numbers, I'll use this scale to describe my point:

MK = 10

EC = 8.5

AK = 7.3

MGM = 4

Its lagging way behind the other three parks. It has a problem.

How that number has been altered, skewed, etc.. by openings and closing is unknown.

Yeah, thats why I was told their operational capacity is around 80k. You know they'll blow past that on days like NYE though, when they know what most guests are just camping out for the fireworks and not trying to see anything. I wouldn't want to imagine 120,000 people trying to all get on Soarin. They need two or three more mega E-tickets before even trying that again.

 

[Enderikari]

MK: 80-85k-ish. MK used to do over 100k back when it was only three parks. They've lost a lot of capacity with all the closed rides and Fastpass running.

EC: 80k officially but its pretty much whatever they damn well feel like cramming the park with. The park has crossed the 100k mark on a few occasions

MGM: I'm guessing at around 45k. They've crammed more in historically, but it is a complete fire hazard to put anymore than that in the park. Capacity isn't that much of a problem at MGM these days with the attendance problem they have been having.

AK: 42k

Wrong...
wrong...
wrong...
wrong...

next player?

 

[pheneix]

Wrong...
wrong...
wrong...
wrong...

next player?

I'm going to make a guess that the place I work for puts me in a way better position to defend my numbers than you would think. I stand by what I posted...

 

[PhotoDave219]

I'm going to make a guess that the place I work for puts me in a way better position to defend my numbers than you would think. I stand by what I posted...

While that may be true, i'm going to back Enderikari on this one. I can personally vouch for him and everything he says.

 

[I-4Warrior]

It's great news to see that business is up. Though I selfishly miss the smaller crowds, it's nice to see this rebound. I don't know what the attendance was on Saturday, but I know Epcot was a mob at night. It didn't seem that bad during the day, and the lines were no worse than usual, but for whatever reason, at sundown, it was shoulder-to-shoulder all throughout World Showcase. It was as bad or worse than Food and Wine Festival has been the last few years.

 

[mkt]

Wrong...
wrong...
wrong...
wrong...

next player?

I'm going to make a guess that the place I work for puts me in a way better position to defend my numbers than you would think. I stand by what I posted...

ahhh yes... here's the thing about Walt Disney World. It is the only place in the world where there is no such thing as a concrete answer. You could be told two completely different answers to the same question, and have them both be true.

Point in question,

What Pheneix referred to is in the past. What Enderikari refers to is the present.

My point:
RCID rewrote the EPCOT Fire Codes in 2002, and fire code does play a big part in the capacity of the park. Also, in 1999, the Keel Boats, Skyway, and Timekeeper all operated regularly... as did Lumiere's Kitchen. the 20k queue (as the Fantasyland Character Festival), and all of Expo Hall. This may not seem like much, but those things being opened added to the capacity of the park.

So in conclusion, ladies, you're both pretty. Agree to disagree and shut it