HEAVY crowds.. What to do?

[disneysince71]

So looking for advice for what you do on Heavy Crowd days.
A little back ground. I always go on heavy crowd days. My husband and I are teachers so we are at Disney a few times a year at the peek seasons.
When we go on these weeks we look around and wonder how peoples vacations are going with the long wait times...
An example would be a couple of years ago on New Years Test Track had a 385 min wait... (We left the park as fast as we could)!
Now the good thing about going so much is we do NOT have to see everything, every time and we are ok with that. But for other Disney guests who have to go at busy times, and this is there once a year or less trip..... What advice would you give them to have a great vacation at a busy time... ???
**** Stay home is not an option!*****

 

[Genie of the Lamp]

So looking for advice for what you do on Heavy Crowd days.
A little back ground. I always go on heavy crowd days. My husband and I are teachers so we are at Disney... Christmas week, Spring Break (Easter), Summer Break , Food and Wine, and PW week.
When we go on these weeks we look around and wonder how peoples vacations are going with the long wait times...
An example would be a couple of years ago on New Years Test Track had a 385 min wait... (We left the park as fast as we could)!
Now the good thing about going so much is we do NOT have to see everything, every time and we are ok with that. But for our other Disney guests who have to go at busy times, and this is there once a year or less trip..... What advice would you give them to have a great vacation at a busy time... ???
**** Stay home is not an option!*****

Well you could tour all the different WDW on property resorts and do resort activities, go to the water parks, visit DTD and ESPN WWOS, do the water sports on Bay Lake, go golfing at WDW golf courses. That's a start. I'm sure there's more you and I could think of being that it's a 43-44 square mile resort and all.

 

[RonAnnArbor]

You could also follow the touring plans that work pretty well on even high crowd days
Myself, as a repeat visitor with annual pass, I find I actually enjoy the parks more these days when I DONT have to run from attraction to attraction -- I've done every headliner so many times, I can enjoy things like the shows more, taking photos, enjoying the B-level attractions like the 3D movies and such, and just having a great time. You fastpass one or two attractions, and your good to go.

 

[Neverland]

Get there early and stay super late! Not necessarily at the same time. Crowds generally pick up at 11 each morning, so lines are pretty okay until then. Do what you want to do early. And take advantage of late nights! If the Magic Kingdom is open until 1, sleep all day and play at night, when the crowds are gone. If you're staying in a Disney resort, use those late EMHs.

As for going in the peak of daytime... Fastpass! Get as many of those as possible (early start is required for this). You can get one every two hours (or less, if your FP becomes valid sooner than that), so you can potentially get quite a few. In between FPs, do things with short waits, like Imagination, the Tiki Room, Philharmagic, and Rafiki's Planet Watch. Eat lunch and dinner at odd times (for instance, lunch at 10 or 3 instead of 12) to avoid massive crowds at quick service food locations. Make reservations in advance. Sit-down restaurants will be crowd-free if advance reservations are needed.

 

[disneysince71]

Well you could tour all the different WDW on property resorts and do resort activities, go to the water parks, visit DTD and ESPN WWOS, do the water sports on Bay Lake, go golfing at WDW golf courses. That's a start. I'm sure there's more you and I could think of being that it's a 43-44 square mile resort and all.

Good points! WE love the small speed boats at BLT. Love the mini golf courses... Love the water parks... and nothing like a day at DTD!

 

[disneysince71]

You could also follow the touring plans that work pretty well on even high crowd days
Myself, as a repeat visitor with annual pass, I find I actually enjoy the parks more these days when I DONT have to run from attraction to attraction -- I've done every headliner so many times, I can enjoy things like the shows more, taking photos, enjoying the B-level attractions like the 3D movies and such, and just having a great time. You fastpass one or two attractions, and your good to go.

I agree... its almost like you enjoy it more when you are not so rushed... and not going open to close... or if you do you have an afternoon break by the pool

 

[disneysince71]

Get there early and stay super late! Not necessarily at the same time. Crowds generally pick up at 11 each morning, so lines are pretty okay until then. Do what you want to do early. And take advantage of late nights! If the Magic Kingdom is open until 1, sleep all day and play at night, when the crowds are gone. If you're staying in a Disney resort, use those late EMHs.

As for going in the peak of daytime... Fastpass! Get as many of those as possible (early start is required for this). You can get one every two hours (or less, if your FP becomes valid sooner than that), so you can potentially get quite a few. In between FPs, do things with short waits, like Imagination, the Tiki Room, Philharmagic, and Rafiki's Planet Watch. Eat lunch and dinner at odd times (for instance, lunch at 10 or 3 instead of 12) to avoid massive crowds at quick service food locations. Make reservations in advance. Sit-down restaurants will be crowd-free if advance reservations are needed.

One thing you just reminded me of... Maybe we should make our ADRs during peek times... then do the slow rides, shows ext after...

 

[Weather_Lady]

You can totally do it -- we always used to visit during Easter break, as my parents and sister are/were teachers, too) -- you just have to plan your strategy more vigilantly than others! Arrive every day at park opening (with or without a morning extra magic hour), hit the headliners (to use your example, in Epcot: Soarin', Test Track, Mission: Space) in the first hour, gradually tapering off toward attractions that don't have a long wait (e.g., Spaceship Earth, Ellen's Energy Adventure, Imagination). Leave the park at or before lunchtime when the crowds are reaching their peak, and go take a nap or a swim. Return around 4pm when some of the families with small children are starting to leave. Grab a Fastpass for a headliner of your choice (if under the old/current system) and plan to hit any other headliners during parades or at the end of the night, when lines dip. In the alternative, as soon as you use your Fastpass, get another for the headliner of your choice.

Of course, the key to this approach is knowing which attractions tend to have the longest wait times (and when, and how quickly, those lines build), and which ones are nearly always a walk-on. For this, I recommend the Unofficial Guide and its website, touringplans.com, or the free website easywdw.com.

 

[littleroo]

We tend to open the parks everyday and stay for four or five hours. Crowd levels arel low and tempertures are hopefully lower. Then it is pool time and nap time. Then back to a park for close to lull around and SHOP!

 

[Mattius]

I always have to go during heavy crowds as well (New Years, Mid-Summer). Seeing a 400 minute wait on Toy Story Mania on the first day of vacation isn't very magical...
The best advice I can give is to avoid the mid-day crowds. During the morning and late night you can be surprisingly productive. We usually like to leave the park in the afternoon for a swim, nap, Downtown Disney, or Monorail loops. Also, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom seem to be less affected by the high crowds.

If the crowds do get overwhelming during the afternoon, find a good place to eat (preferably between 2PM-4PM). Tony's on Main Street and Rose and Crown at Epcot weren't super crowded and had great food-without a reservation.

I hope this helps

 

[righttrack]

Attraction strategy, is to make the first hour productive and get a fastpass fairly quickly. One ride, one fast pass, move on to the next "land" or area. Quick ride, maybe two then likely back to your fastpass. Get a new fastpass, eat, lesser attraction wait in line, second lesser attraction wait in line, get another fastpass and ride your second fastpass. It's a bit jumpy and unnerving but you can do it. You need to push it the first few hours and then you can lay back. Above all, be observant. Sometimes you can see and go where the crowds aren't (at the moment). This is really easy for those of us from the NYC area. I realize for others it's a learned skill. Good luck!

 

[bethymouse]

Hello fellow teachers! Fast Pass is always a good option, but we love the early extra magic hours. There's always a short wait , and we get it all done before noon! Doesn't seem to help much w/ DHS ans TSM! We went late magic hours, and it was more crowded than day!

 

[PUSH]

You must panic. Run around in circles while flailing your arms; it's the best thing one can do in these stressful times. Find a somewhat less crowded corner in the shade (limited availability, these are first come, first serve) and curl up in a ball and cry yourself to sleep. After you wake up go straight to Figment. There will be low crowds.

You're welcome in advance,

PUSH

PS- I am a future teacher myself! Unless I change my major, which has already happened once (from accounting, I ended up getting bored with the work).

 

[cowanfamily]

Arrive early and knock out your must sees. Then hit lesser attractions and shows later in the day. Shows seem to allow for alot of people. (FOTLK, IJSS) For the rest of the time, grab a dole whip float and a bench and people watch. No FP needed and more entertaining than anything you will see on property!

 

[Bama14]

Another future teacher here! I was thinking about this while I was booking my trip this year. I always go at the end of my semester, which is early May, but I'm almost done with my Masters. That means hopefully I can find a teaching job, and also that my early May trips are forever a thing of the past.

 

[rsoxguy]

1. Do not shower for a week.
2. Do not launder your clothing for several uses.
3. Memorize the phrase, "Is my condition airborne?".
4. Carry a live chinchilla on your shoulder.
5. Place "Nixon is the one" pins on your lanyard.

You're welcome.

 

[mickey2008.1]

park hopper for us. With new technology we can see wait times at parks, qnd decide when to lewve and whentongo. Ifnall else fails, back to the resort for a while and just chill, ornhit DTD.sorry for the typos, new tablet..

 

[Poofiesdream]

I always do the rides on off times. Times when people are eating, in the afternoon when people go back to their resorts for a rest, during parades and shows, right before closing.

 

[plaz10]

We are going the week before Easter (Spring Break for my sister who is a teacher!) and Touring Plans have all the parks at a 10! Quite the change from my trip in September with the fiance when we walked on every ride. But we plan to be at the parks as early as possible - grab a FP and then standby our favorites. The only things we really MUST see are Little Mermaid and Test Track as they weren't open in September.

We plan to do what everyone else said - Early mornings, use of FP and staying late. We also didn't make ANY ADRs (crazy for me) so we can just grab something when we need it and don't have to worry about eating at a specific place at specific time.

 

[case88]

The DW is a teacher - so it's always spring breaks and christmas breaks for us. Late nights are the best time for us to be in the parks. We get so much done even on the busiest days. We have two small kids and they are always game for the late nights. We keep every afternoon open for nap time. Plus, the smallest one falls asleep on the way back to the resort - so it's easy enough to get him down for the night.