People around here wouldn't exaggerate or inflate anything to further an agenda, would they?
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Crowds are down? Curious about the claims . . .
- Thread starter KeithVH
- Start date
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Yeah, those pics from 4th of July weekend clearly had people photoshopped out and all of the reports of 30-minute waits for Soarin and Midway Mania at mid-day were lies put forth by co-conspirators with a clandestine agenda to slander their favorite vacation destination.People around here wouldn't exaggerate or inflate anything to further an agenda, would they?
You need to loosen your aluminum foil hat. It's cutting off oxygen-flow.
We just got back from a 10 day trip. We go every July and have been other months of the year as well. No sign of Brazil tour groups (for the person that asked-they wear shirts which normally tell where they are from), we noticed other groups though. I would say not as bad as past years. Wait times/crowds were strange. We noticed normal/long wait times on the popular rides (space mountain, 7dwarfs, splash, pan,ect) but HM was hit or miss on wait times, now we did notice that while parts of Animal Kingdom seemed very crowded, some areas were scarce. Went a couple different days, different times of day and never saw a wait for the safari. Rode it at about 5/6pm and one day at 8:30pm -which was a bit creepy because we walked thru the line and we were the ONLY people. Hollywood studios seemed crowded the days we went, but was able to do Star Tours with 20min wait and meet Olaf with 10 min wait. Epcot was not horrible, we had fast passes for the big ones, but did manage to snag meet and greet with Anna/Elsa with a 15 min wait.
yepitsandy
Active Member
Just returned from a three day trip, one park day being Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. Hours were expanded from 9-10 with EMH from 10-12 to longer hours of 8-11 with EMH 12-1am. Crowds were there but not insane, and didn't really show until about 11 and were gone after Wishes/Celebrate the Magic at 9:30. The usual suspects - Space, Pan, Mine Train - got up there quickly, but we were smart enough to FP+ everything we wanted. The longest waits we experienced were for the two sets of princesses, about 45 minutes each without passes, and Pirates at about 40 (listed at 50). Overall, it was not as horrible as I had feared, but I also stayed on top of FP which helped a LOT. Otherwise, standby waits we experienced were small world at 10 minutes, Dumbo at 10 (wasn't even that), Philharmagic at 10, Tink at 15, and Mickey at about 40 (right after the fireworks). It was... good.
Art of Animation wasn't packed. Disney Springs had fairly light foot traffic yesterday.
Art of Animation wasn't packed. Disney Springs had fairly light foot traffic yesterday.
HauntedMansionFLA
Well-Known Member
I just came back from Disney, so I'll share my experience here. So, are crowds down? My answer is NO. At least, not by much. People say that there aren't as many tour groups. Well, that wasn't true for me. I've gone to WDW plenty of times and I've never really seen the tour groups. However, this time was different. There were multiple tour groups in each park we went to. Never had I seen so many! We went to MK, Epcot, AK, and even Typhoon Lagoon, and they were there too. Aside from them, wait times still seemed to be normal and long as always. What gives?
mouse_luv
Well-Known Member
The Brazilian tour groups are down, not the Argentinian ones who are there now.
Actually, there was a little bit of everything, I think. I know I saw some Brazilians (.br website, right?). Besides, all tour groups raise waits and crowd restaurants.
mouse_luv
Well-Known Member
I never said there weren't any Brazilians there, I say it was down in terms of groups of them there and it was mostly Argentinians.
And yes, tour groups of any kind raise waits and crowd restaurants (gone 25+ times, so I definitely know). Hence why I avoid certain times of the year.
Rider
Well-Known Member
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-cfb-tourism-column-07252016-20160722-story.html
A little more than a week after opening Skull Island: Reign of Kong, Universal Orlando has lifted blockout dates for the remainder of the summer.
That's likely a sign that attendance is below expectation, said Duncan Dickson, a former Disney executive who's now an associate professor at UCF's Rosen College of Hospitality Management. Lifting blockout dates brings in people who might spend additional money on food or merchandise.
Blockout dates at Universal affect visitors with lower-priced passes. Typically those guests can only visit one park during the busiest times of year. Generally the park with the newest attraction is the one that's off-limits. This year, the summer blockout dates were for Universal's Islands of Adventure, where Kong just opened.
Universal had already lifted blockout dates during June, before Kong's official debut.
A little more than a week after opening Skull Island: Reign of Kong, Universal Orlando has lifted blockout dates for the remainder of the summer.
That's likely a sign that attendance is below expectation, said Duncan Dickson, a former Disney executive who's now an associate professor at UCF's Rosen College of Hospitality Management. Lifting blockout dates brings in people who might spend additional money on food or merchandise.
Blockout dates at Universal affect visitors with lower-priced passes. Typically those guests can only visit one park during the busiest times of year. Generally the park with the newest attraction is the one that's off-limits. This year, the summer blockout dates were for Universal's Islands of Adventure, where Kong just opened.
Universal had already lifted blockout dates during June, before Kong's official debut.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
I never have noticed them. Or did and just didn't care enough to remember.lol. But in the past 10 years I've only been in June once. Haven't been during July or August in close to 20 years. I'd have to say that there is probably more tour groups than just Argentinians and Brazilians, right? Are they just the ones that bother people the most?
LudwigVonDrake
Well-Known Member
I just got back from 10 days in the parks and I'd say the crowds are down. With the exception of the rides that you expect the long lines on like Dwarfs, Peter Pan, Soarin', Test Track etc. I didn't wait more than 20-25 minutes on a standby line and most times less. The parks just didn't seem as crowded as years past.
I also saw some Brazilian tour groups but they weren't over running the parks like years past.
And either crowds are down or adding the third track has basically lowered the wait time for Toy Story Mania by more than half. I had two FP's for TSM and waited on the standby twice and waited no more than 20 minutes.
I also saw some Brazilian tour groups but they weren't over running the parks like years past.
And either crowds are down or adding the third track has basically lowered the wait time for Toy Story Mania by more than half. I had two FP's for TSM and waited on the standby twice and waited no more than 20 minutes.
Last edited:
mouse_luv
Well-Known Member
The S. American tour groups tend to come Mid July-Mid August and then in January you will see Argentinian groups again. Yes, as I said in my last post there are tour groups of all kinds at different times of the year at WDW (Pop Warner etc), but the Brazilians are most known because of their loud, obnoxious, brash behavior over the years.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
I guess spending most of my life surrounded by Latin people and plenty of Brazilians makes me immune to them.
IanDLBZF
Well-Known Member
@21stamps correct. It's not just Brazilians and Argentinians, its also the Paraguayan, Guatemalan, and Uruguayan groups that get some people upset as well.
@mouse_luv Correction, they usually come during TWO times:
- Early-December to Mid-February (take note that they die down and are GONE at the end of February)
- Mid-June to Early-August
mouse_luv
Well-Known Member
If you would go back and read upthread I had said SOUTH AMERICAN GROUPS/CENTRAL AMERICAN GROUPS. Gah!
And thanks for reconfirming the times I said upthread as well. You won't see the Latin groups in December as much you will see them though in Jan/early Feb. December is usually Pop Warner kids.
Guess you missed the sarcasm, but that's OK. I never mentioned the July 4th weekend, did I? People here were trying to state that crowds were down over 30%, and I call bunk on that. And the reason I called bunk is all of the posters here stating that when they were there, yes the crowds may have been smaller, but not by much. And you know as well as I that there are people here with certain agendas, and lower crowds bring out all sorts of reasons for them to spout off nonsense as to why, to further their agenda. No tin foil hat here. Just cold, hard reality. Try it sometime.
Beacon Joe
Well-Known Member
This past week, crowds were big in MK, EPCOT Center, and AK. EPCOT and AK appeared comparable to the same period of time I've observed over the past several years. MK was the worst I've ever seen. When Peter Pan's standby line routes you through the inside section before 10 am, that's a bad sign.
Our other observation: the Brazilian tour groups are way, way down in number and size compared to comparable weeks over the past few years. The largest Brazilian contingent I encountered was only about 50-60 strong. Notably, for the first time I actually noticed many relatively small school-age tour groups from Spanish-speaking countries (possibly Argentinians, based on the accent).
Our other observation: the Brazilian tour groups are way, way down in number and size compared to comparable weeks over the past few years. The largest Brazilian contingent I encountered was only about 50-60 strong. Notably, for the first time I actually noticed many relatively small school-age tour groups from Spanish-speaking countries (possibly Argentinians, based on the accent).
21stamps
Well-Known Member
..or possibly From Uruguay...
I just find it very interesting to read on here about the Brazilian and Latin tour groups.. Without a shirt stating what country they are from I just have a hard time believing that someone who does not speak Spanish can recognize the accent.
Even people who do speak Spanish have a difficult time sometimes. Cuba, Mexico, and PR are pretty easy, but beyond that- just by overhearing a group in a crowded theme park it has to be tough.