Huge Crowds at the Magic Kingdom 3/16

[WDW1974]

MK doesn't have the smallest capacity, DHS does. EPCOT has the highest capacity and MK and AK are in the middle but can't remember which way round.

When last I heard it was:

EPCOT;
MK;
DAK;
TPFKaTD-MGMS;

But capacity at both of the oldest parks have been greatly reduced over the last decade due to things being closed without replacement and FastPass.

That's why I often say a 30,000 day today feels like a 50,000 day a decade or two ago.

~Look at all the people~

 

[Captain Hank]

Epcot was freakishly busy today. Crowds were heavier than an average summer day, and Flower and Garden hasn't even officially started yet. Soarin' ran out of Fastpasses at 11:00-ish.

 

[Kobe!!]

There are several schools in NJ who are there currently for their senior class trip.

Yes, one of the schools was at Pop Century. They arrived Sunday night... I talked to one of the kids Monday night on the bus ride home. He said they had like 130 kids in their graduating class. They seemed very trashy IMO. But Disney has their money so what do they care...:shrug:

 

[brucie]

Glad to hear the parks are busy... but they are always busy this time of year. The question is, is it busier then last year this time when the parks were fully staffed and no cuts had been made. It doesn't really matter how the parks look now. If they come in lower then last year that's all they will look at, and I'm guessing it will be lower since the economy didn't reach it's worse until the fall... It seems.

 

[WDWFanatic]

I didnt realize how many places have a spring break at different times, I figured that since easter is at a certain time thats when people got their break. Im actually going april 4th -10 so it will be interesting to see if the crown is there like i figured it would be for that week. I hope not.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Guess the parks must be full of hungry thirsty birthday visitors taking a day off from Walmart shopping then

 

[blackthidot]

Think how mad youd be if you only were gonna be in MK for 1 day and you had to deal with that, and its your first trip? HA!

 

[RiversideBunny]

It's Spring Break week here. Some other nearby locations had it last week. The time varies.

Also- They are reporting on the news that few people are going to Mexico for Spring Break this year.

 

[hokielutz]

Who would have thought last December that they would be adding hours and parades in March?

Any doom and gloomers care to explain your dire predictions of massive layoffs and park closures? :shrug:


Orlando Slant-and-all ?

Kevin Y. ?

74?

Enigma......oh yeah.........nevermind that one. :lookaroun

Careful..... He'll be on here soon re-ranting that the park hours of today don't hold a candle to the marathon hours that the MK was open for during the 70s and 80s..... and how we pay more now compared to the past... etc....

come-on JT... you remember those past threads


Whoops... nevermind.. he already did

 

[hokielutz]

Glad to hear the parks are busy... but they are always busy this time of year. The question is, is it busier then last year this time when the parks were fully staffed and no cuts had been made. It doesn't really matter how the parks look now. If they come in lower then last year that's all they will look at, and I'm guessing it will be lower since the economy didn't reach it's worse until the fall... It seems.

And the one thing that the public does not have access to, which all theme parks keep under tighter lock and key than their refurb & expansion plans, is their attendance numbers.

Boy would I love to be the bean-counter that got to work with those figures.

 

[jt04]

Careful..... He'll be on here soon re-ranting that the park hours of today don't hold a candle to the marathon hours that the MK was open for during the 70s and 80s..... and how we pay more now compared to the past... etc....

come-on JT... you remember those past threads

If MK was the only theme park at WDW, it would have to stay open 24 hours a day...................like a super Walmart.:lol:



Just wanted to say that before 74 did.:ROFLOL:

Yeah it doesn't make sense to compare hours from the 1970's because of all the other stuff at WDW now. I am impressed the MK is open so late now and it's MARCH! Amazing.

 

[DoctorPrius]

If MK was the only theme park at WDW, it would have to stay open 24 hours a day...................like a super Walmart.:lol:

Why would it "have to"? Disneyland was the only park in California for 45 years before DCA came along and wasn't open 24 hours. Same thing when Magic Kingdom was the only park here. Ditto, for Universal Studios that only has 2 parks. That comment doesn't make any sense.

Yeah it doesn't make sense to compare hours from the 1970's because of all the other stuff at WDW now. I am impressed the MK is open so late now and it's MARCH! Amazing.

There was plenty of stuff that has been removed since the 70s. Including a ton of rides at MK, the train at Fort Wilderness, River Country, Pleasure Island, etc. Looks like Downtown Diseny westside may be the next thing to become a ghosttown.

 

[WDW1974]

Careful..... He'll be on here soon re-ranting that the park hours of today don't hold a candle to the marathon hours that the MK was open for during the 70s and 80s..... and how we pay more now compared to the past... etc....

come-on JT... you remember those past threads


Whoops... nevermind.. he already did

The MK was open later on average in the 70s, 80s and 90s than it has been this decade.

ALL OF THE PARKS WERE ... this is fact. I was even dumb enough to type up some schedules before realizing that once you start to hit people with facts that go against their 'World' view, they scatter like roaches when you turn on a light.

You also do pay more ... much more ... and much more than the rate of inflation to get in.

And I'd argue you get a far lesser overall product once you are in.

But you know that, of course. So why don't you just state what I'd say and I can go to bed ... I had a long night at the casino and have no idea why I am even responding to this now except because I read it and hate when things go unchallenged.

~Wanna argue that EPCOT never had regular midnight closings?~

 

[SoccerMickey]

The same "surprise" of heavy crowds came last year too. But you don't see a lot of bags, nor long lines in a lot of the gift shops. The dining plan still makes it difficult to get a table at most restaurants but its really amazing to see all the deep sales that the stores are offering. Usually you wouldn't see a sale in the store and they'd just send things to the outlets.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

At one point during my last trip Big Thunder had a 70 minute wait while all other rides in MK had 20 min or less (Splash included). I later found out that Fastpass uses one loading station while Stand-by uses the other causing the unnecessary long waits.

A similar thing happened at DHS where Rock 'n Roller Coaster had an 80 minute wait at one point when ToT was a walk on/short wait all day (single rider for Rock was walk on too). Other rides never had more than 30 minutes (for a brief time at Star Tours), with the exception of TSMM which although busy must have never reached an hours wait (and that had Fastpass too).

Test Track stand-by was 50 minutes while single rider was walk on (shorter than Fastpass).

So yes there is truth to Fastpass making the parks appear busier, but it is spring break so of course there are crowds. But if nobody's paying full price for a hotel, buying souviners or eating at restaurants (never had a trouble getting a table as a walk in at lunch and someone cancelled thier dinner at 50s Prime Time), Disney may not be raking in the dough like they hope too.

 

[krankenstein]

At one point during my last trip Big Thunder had a 70 minute wait while all other rides in MK had 20 min or less (Splash included). I later found out that Fastpass uses one loading station while Stand-by uses the other causing the unnecessary long waits.

A similar thing happened at DHS where Rock 'n Roller Coaster had an 80 minute wait at one point when ToT was a walk on/short wait all day (single rider for Rock was walk on too). Other rides never had more than 30 minutes (for a brief time at Star Tours), with the exception of TSMM which although busy must have never reached an hours wait (and that had Fastpass too).

Test Track stand-by was 50 minutes while single rider was walk on (shorter than Fastpass).

So yes there is truth to Fastpass making the parks appear busier, but it is spring break so of course there are crowds. But if nobody's paying full price for a hotel, buying souviners or eating at restaurants (never had a trouble getting a table as a walk in at lunch and someone cancelled thier dinner at 50s Prime Time), Disney may not be raking in the dough like they hope too.

This is not the case right now. Thursday, RNRC had over a 2 hour wait by 9:30. ToT was using the full extended queue backing out onto Sunset at the same time. FP distribution was already at 1 p.m. by the 9:30 mark. I can't comment on Mania, b/c I never made back there.

MK was just as bad. HM's standby line was over an hour backed up to the river boat loading platiform with full extended queue in use. Same with Pirates. The line was backed out to the little stage area across from the entrance. Heck, I saw the extended queue set up AND being used at CBJ.

Crowds are just huge right now.

 

[SoccerMickey]

Fastpass does make for unnecessary longer wait times for Standby. I would love for Disney to test what the wait time would be for Toy Story Mania if they didn't run FastPass to see what the end result would be.
Also, I speak from experience seeing that if you have a merger that doesn't know how to merge FastPass with Standby efficiently that makes the standby queue backed up for an even longer period of time.

 

[mystical magic]

Guest spend is what matters and those numbers haven't been good. They may actually improve this month because young people tend to toss money around on spring break ... we'll see.

I had noticed the eerie void of Disney bags in the parks during our trip in Feb. Usually you see people carrying around bags of stuff, not so this year. I noticed this uninfluenced previous discussions, before I had even read hints of an issue on the boards.

Oh, there is a poll on the DIS about break times and this week is as popular as the week preceding Easter and President's Week. So it's not suprising that the parks are crowded.

Disboard Spring Break Poll

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I never carry bags I have them sent to he resort. :shrug:

 

[kadesha]

Our spring break (and all of the surrounding schools) is in April. Ours is April 6-10 and then Easter is right behind that. Don't expect the crowds to die down anytime in the next few weeks.