Crowds - Is this normal!?

[Rickcat96]

But why wouldn’t the wait times have been this elevated at Christmas, if the situation were entirely the fault of Genie+ (which was already fully implemented then)?

During Christmas- You had the after hours Christmas events-no need for Genie, in MK, Epcot still had Virtual Q for Rat, I was there 12-18 December and never used it-It appeared everyone was rope dropping, then ran out of steam and left parks @2-3 pm. Night time was pretty open.

 

[castlecake2.0]

But why wouldn’t the wait times have been this elevated at Christmas, if the situation were entirely the fault of Genie+ (which was already fully implemented then)?

G+ isnt creating this, two years of global travel restrictions is.

 

[pb2014]

G+ isnt creating this, two years of global travel restrictions is.

Pent up demand, the end of masking requirements at Disney, the sharp decline in Omicron cases, a week of vacation from school for much of the Northeast, President’s Day on one side and a marathon weekend on the other… it’s the confluence of a lot of things.

 

[castlecake2.0]

Pent up demand, the end of masking requirements at Disney, the sharp decline in Omicron cases, a week of vacation from school for much of the Northeast, President’s Day on one side and a marathon weekend on the other… it’s the confluence of a lot of things.

Totally agree, and as I said in another thread I predict the rest of the year to be like this. As much as people hate the reservation system I feel this would have been a record breaking year for phased closings without it.

 

[noquacks]

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.

LOL. What they really should have advised was the real secret- go on a rainy day. (dont blame me now for breaking out that secret). Seriously we tried that and it didnt work.

 

[Lilofan]

Pent up demand, the end of masking requirements at Disney, the sharp decline in Omicron cases, a week of vacation from school for much of the Northeast, President’s Day on one side and a marathon weekend on the other… it’s the confluence of a lot of things.

Pent up demand but supply chain issues preventing all merchandise locations to open. What a dilemma, money to spend but where to spend it.

 

[Wilbret]

In the 15 years of our nerd-dom actively going to the parks (with kids), we have 3-4 trips that were exceptional in terms of crowds.

One year we arrived the weekend AFTER Thanksgiving, and it was nuts. The kids literally rode 7DMT a dozen times one day.

Two years in a row, or maybe 2 out 3, there were big hurricanes barreling toward Orlando. We live within driving distance, so we gambled and won. It was amazing!

After the parks re-opened, our first visit late summer was a dream. 35 minute wait for FOP. I thought it would be like that again... nope next couple visits, pre and post Genie, were elbow to elbow humanity. We still got to ride every single ride, but the waits were long, and honestly unbearable if you add in the breakdowns.

 

[danlb_2000]

How has the accuracy of the crowd level web sites, for example Touring Plans, been this year? The crowd patterns have changed so much I question how they can make accurate predictions. I hope Touring Plans is accurate since they have pretty low crowd levels for my trip at the end of April.

 

[TOMIESTEEL]

The large crowds are part of the experience

 

[Skibum1970]

How has the accuracy of the crowd level web sites, for example Touring Plans, been this year? The crowd patterns have changed so much I question how they can make accurate predictions. I hope Touring Plans is accurate since they have pretty low crowd levels for my trip at the end of April.

I was at WDW two weeks ago (2/14/2022). Touring Plans had called for levels 5/2/3/7 (Monday through Thursday). By the end of each day, they were acknowledging that it had been 8/9 (part of their normal daily lookback) each day. I still don't know why that week was packed as it wasn't a holiday week (I wouldn't expect too much business outside of Valentine's Day) or a marathon week.

 

[PrinceCharming617]

I think people are just making up for lost time. Especially the brits, who haven't been able to go until November (I believe).