Current Park Attendance

[Susanne]

I've just found this site and it seems great!

Does anyone have any idea about current attendance at WDW? We are coming over for 5 days at the beginning of February to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. As we will only have 4 full days in WDW - i.e. a theme park a day - and it is our first visit I want to know what to expect - do I need to plan all my queuing strategies or will it be quiet? I've got the "Unofficial .." guide book, but when I made all my plans for our first visit to Disneyland we went on a quiet Friday in mid October and I found all the planning was unnecessary!

Are things generally quieter as a consequence of September 11 or should we expect "normal" February attendance? We have already had our accomodation moved because we were told they had closed the Port Orleans accomodation and I wondered if this was a consequence of low attendance.

Sorry - long first post from me, but we are very excited about he trip and want to get as much out of it as possible. So any tips for tow first timers who are kids at heart will be welcome.

 

[markymark]

Welcome Susanne !! Another Brit!! :sohappy:

We went at the end of September, and found it very quiet. I think things are picking up a bit now though. i am sure one of our friendly locals will be able to help you better.

I really just wanted to say hello!

 

[Susanne]

Originally posted by markymark
Welcome Susanne !! Another Brit!! :sohappy:

We went at the end of September, and found it very quiet. I think things are picking up a bit now though. i am sure one of our friendly locals will be able to help you better.

I really just wanted to say hello!

Thanks for the welcome!

 

[wdwmagic]

Welcome susan, I am glad to see you made it in!

Attendance is going to be pretty low at that that time. I would suggest still making some plans since it is your first visit, but I wouldnt go overboard. Just have a general idea of what you plan to do at each park.

Have a great trip!

 

[The Mom]

I just booked my room at WDW for Feb 8 -10. Although I really wanted the first week of March, the "High" season starts Feb 15th (President's Day Weekend...no school on Monday)and continues until after Easter...so I opted to go earlier than originally planned to 1. save money...$187 vs $355 2. avoid the crowds. You should be ahead of all of the Spring/Winter breaks...the only surprise might be convention groups, but since they usually book well in advance, and tourism was down in the fall, there may not be many this year.

 

[Susanne]

Another quick question. Does anyone know if E-Ride night is happening at the moment? I've tried searching on the official page, but the search yielded nothing

 

[WDWJUNKY]

We were there the last week of February last year. The crowds were reasonable, but we found numerous latin school tour groups. We were careful to try and avoid the areas they were touring because there was enough of them to have a big impact on attendance. The day we were at Blizzard Beach there were virtually no lines until they arrived, but the lines soon became unbearable on the Summit Plummit and other top slides.

 

[cm1988]

Originally posted by Susanne
Does anyone have any idea about current attendance at WDW?... Are things generally quieter as a consequence of September 11 or should we expect "normal" February attendance?... any tips for two first timers who are kids at heart will be welcome.

Susanne - welcome. Early February is a great time to visit - usually warm enough for swimming (or just getting some sun, if you prefer)... and attendance is moderate.

My suggestion is that you pick out a few attractions/shows/restaurants/recreation activities... whatever interests you... plan on seeing them, and the rest of the time, just take it easy. Explore at
a leisurely pace.

Even in the busiest times, you can have a fun, relaxing vacation if you don't try to see it all, and keep just a few tips in mind.

• See a long line? Pick up a FastPass or head elsewhere.
• Visit the theme parks early or late
• Souvenirs to buy? - any time except late in the day. Use the free 'package pickup' if you don't want to carry purchases around the parks.
• Enjoy swimming? - midday break is perfect for that.
• If there's a special restaurant you want to try, book a preferred dining time, or plan an early or mid-afternoon meal.
• Enjoy the amenities unique to each resort

 

[Cindy Rella]

Our family spent one day at MK about Feb 1st last year and it was very quiet. It was a Wednesday and it was "spitting" a bit of rain on and off which at first sight in the morning bummed me out but when we got to the park and saw how empty it was we were thrilled. I had done considerable planning of our time since we only had one day and it was the kids first visit but it was almost unneccesary. There were no lines until about 11:30 at which time we had done all of our "top 10" rides choices at least once and then some. We rode the mountains and whatever rides we all really liked several time in a row!!!:sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: We ended up doing almost all of the attractions in the park and I believe the longest we waited for a ride all day was about 15 minutes for Tommorowland Speedway ( I have a 6 yr old son). I hope you have such luck!

Now we are planning a return trip when we can spend some time at all the parks. We were so spoiled with lines last time, I am afraid anytime will seem really crowded. Thinking May at this point but may have to wait untill next Oct or Nov. Has anyone any thoughts on a May trip? My son is SO into Star Wars it would be cool to meet some characters and go to some events.

 

[ToTBellHop]

it should be quiet until about Feb. 13. It escalates from then on and on Feb. 16, 17, and 23, the Magic Kingdom will probably reach maximum capacity. It always does on weekends when I go...so I avoid the MK...especially that first weekend...all throughout the northeast, people have that week off, so we take a big exodus to disney and all the families go to the Magic Kingdom first...making that first saturday ATROCIOUS. Last year, Peter Pan and Pooh had two hour lines by 10 am...craziness...we took the monorail to Epcot...if you are there before the 13, expect small crowds. If you are there before the 9th, Splash and Big Thunder might be closed, which means Space Mountain will be...well...just get a Fastpass early in the day. When I went last year (during Presidents Week, of course), Splash was handing out Fastpasses for 8 pm at 2pm, and all three mountains were open...eek!
Kyle

 

[ksdave]

Cindy Rella;
About your May trip:
I took my family, plus my friend's family, his sister-in-laws, their spouses, (etc., etc....) last May. We went the Tuesday before Memorial Day through Memorial Day. The first two days at USF/IOA there were very few lines. The worst one was (30) minutes for Pteranodon Flyers, which is always long. Everything else was either a walk-on or (10) minutes tops. Then we did Thursday at MK, and we did everything we wanted before the park closed (it was an EE day). Friday at EPCOT was fine. No major lines and we got to do TT twice. That Saturday we did the "off-day" of horseback riding, shopping at DD, and speedboating. Seemed like a zoo at DD, but we figured it was probably just the locals out on a nice day.
Then, Sunday at MGM and Monday at MK and EPCOT it was packed! Lines were over an hour at some rides and the restaurants were impossible.
If you go in May, go before Memorial Day weekend.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I don't see Animal Kingdom on that schedule! Did you forget about the 4th park???

 

[ksdave]

No, we didn't forget. Unfortunately, with the crowds the way they were, we felt we would not be able to cover all the things we wanted to in AK, so we decided to redo a few of the big attractions at opening of MK, then slid over to EPCOT to finish that and get away from the crowds. From what we heard that night, AK was a real zoo (pun intended) on Memorial Day and the lines were unbelievable.

 

[Cindy Rella]

thanks ksdave, will plan to avoid Mem day

 

[ToTBellHop]

oh...okay. As long as you had a reason to miss my favorite park

 

[TURKEY]

You should be dealing with some minor crowds. Nothing major though.

Do MK in the middle of the week. Possibly MGM as well. AK should be the best to go to on the weekends as it is usually the least crowded.

When I was there working in Feb 2001 the crowds started picking up the week before President's Day. I met a lot of families that took a week/partial week off from school to get there with smaller crowds.

Do make a list of what you want to do most. If for some reason the parks are super crowded, hit them and forget about the other stuff.

 

[Demon Snow Dog]

Susanne, replying to your question about E-ride nights: These nights have been announced for January and March, but nothing yet for February. Keep your fingers crossed though and ask at Guest Relations at the Magic Kingdom upon your arrival! Please enjoy!

 

[ToTBellHop]

where are these E-Ride Night dates? I would think if they have em in Jan. and March, they will have em in Feb...hope so...22 days!
Kyle

 

[Susanne]

Originally posted by Demon Snow Dog
Susanne, replying to your question about E-ride nights: These nights have been announced for January and March, but nothing yet for February. Keep your fingers crossed though and ask at Guest Relations at the Magic Kingdom upon your arrival! Please enjoy!

Thanks for this. We only have 4 days to do the 4 parks and with all that activity and jet lag I'm now not sure we'll have energy for E-ride nights! I think we will just have to hope for low park attendance so that we can do everything we want during the day.