Insane crowds, more space needed

[Minnesota disney fan]

Seeing a lot of great comments here. To reiterate a previous point I made earlier in the discussion (only because I'm seeing a lot of comments that address this) a new park, a new area, or crowd limits will not fix the issues at MK. The issues lie in the 'bottle-neck' of Main Street USA, where the viewing of the nightly show takes place. Despite spreading people to a new area or new park, people will, as seen in the past, flock to MK for the fireworks at night. It's the most narrow area of the park, and it's the most traveled because it's the only exit and entrance, so unless they can figure out a way to disperse the crowd in that area (which I have no suggestions, unfortunately) it will remain crowded. My advice, don't rush out of the park, take your time.

We just don't go when the fireworks are scheduled. But we are not fire works people, seen one seen them all, I guess!
Also don't care for the huge crowds that come with it, so we stay away from the park then, and make room for those who want to see the fireworks.

 

[geekza]

I just picked a night on our upcoming trip when the park will be open until midnight to watch the fireworks. We're going to DHS during the day, leaving around 2pm to go back to the hotel, and then heading to the MK around 7pm. That way, we'll be rested up for the massive crowd maneuvering and, hopefully, will have a couple of hours in the MK with (slightly) smaller crowds. I'm just hoping my body hasn't rebelled against the tons of walking I will have done in the previous five days that we're in WDW. My wife isn't so sure I'll make it. I've just told her, "But... but... it's Disney World! The adrenaline will keep me going!"

 

[thomas998]

We just don't go when the fireworks are scheduled. But we are not fire works people, seen one seen them all, I guess!
Also don't care for the huge crowds that come with it, so we stay away from the park then, and make room for those who want to see the fireworks.

Maybe one simple solution for the crowds is not to do fireworks every night... in fact don't even tell people when or what time they will happen make it a magical surprise that if your lucky you get to catch. That would hopefully stop people from camping out an hour or sometimes longer along the sidewalk. Although I guess it would make it more difficult for them to sell their dining/viewing packages.

 

[geekza]

Maybe one simple solution for the crowds is not to do fireworks every night... in fact don't even tell people when or what time they will happen make it a magical surprise that if your lucky you get to catch. That would hopefully stop people from camping out an hour or sometimes longer along the sidewalk. Although I guess it would make it more difficult for them to sell their dining/viewing packages.

The fact that there is a huge fireworks and projection display, the likes of which most people only get to see in a park like the MK is a selling point to attract guests. They want people to crowd into the park.

 

[thomas998]

The fact that there is a huge fireworks and projection display, the likes of which most people only get to see in a park like the MK is a selling point to attract guests. They want people to crowd into the park.

Sure they want people to crowd into the park, but I'm pretty sure people would still be crowding into the park whether they had fireworks or not, they just wouldn't be clogging up mainstreet and sitting on the sidewalks doing absolutely nothing for 2 hours (not buying any mouse ears just acting like a clog in an artery). If you look at DL they don't have fireworks every night year round so it isn't like you have to do it every night. Granted DL still lets people know when they will and when they wont ahead of time which still creates crowd clogs in DL, but again they don't have to tell you when something will happen just like the don't advertise some of the character meets that randomly happen.

 

[geekza]

Sure they want people to crowd into the park, but I'm pretty sure people would still be crowding into the park whether they had fireworks or not, they just wouldn't be clogging up mainstreet and sitting on the sidewalks doing absolutely nothing for 2 hours (not buying any mouse ears just acting like a clog in an artery). If you look at DL they don't have fireworks every night year round so it isn't like you have to do it every night. Granted DL still lets people know when they will and when they wont ahead of time which still creates crowd clogs in DL, but again they don't have to tell you when something will happen just like the don't advertise some of the character meets that randomly happen.

It's kind of unfair to compare DL with WDW, though. WDW has higher attendance than any other place, much less Disneyland. Plus, WDW has more international guests than DL. I completely understand why MK still does fireworks every night.

 

[ABQ]

The fact that there is a huge fireworks and projection display, the likes of which most people only get to see in a park like the MK is a selling point to attract guests. They want people to crowd into the park.

The projection aspect is pretty much what creates the bottleneck along main street, the fireworks look great from Frontierland and near the SDMT, but no projections in sight, which, as Happily Ever After rather relies upon them to tell its story, is a problem. Too bad they couldn't project something on the rear of the castle.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Maybe one simple solution for the crowds is not to do fireworks every night... in fact don't even tell people when or what time they will happen make it a magical surprise that if your lucky you get to catch. That would hopefully stop people from camping out an hour or sometimes longer along the sidewalk. Although I guess it would make it more difficult for them to sell their dining/viewing packages.

Not good enough. Keep it a secret which castle park around the world gets fireworks that night.

 

[BraveGirl]

I haven't read through all nine pages so I don't know if it's been mentioned, but this is where we watch the fireworks from. Frontierland! We usually plan to go on as many rides as possible during any and all fireworks shows, at all parks. That's when the lines are the smallest and honestly - once you've seen fireworks, you've seen fireworks. Yes, there are the projections on the castle that you can't see from the back of the park but that's an ok trade off to me. It's so much more enjoyable when you have the entire half of the park almost to yourself and don't have to fear for your life. We made the mistake of trying to get a good spot for Happily Ever After on a recent trip and literally almost got smothered. Never again. #frontierlandforlife

 

[thomas998]

It's kind of unfair to compare DL with WDW, though. WDW has higher attendance than any other place, much less Disneyland. Plus, WDW has more international guests than DL. I completely understand why MK still does fireworks every night.

Those international visitors would be the perfect reason to do random fireworks. Odds are those visitors would be more likely to spend more time in your park and not in Universal as they hoped for the firework magic.

 

[MsAnniee]

I didn't notice the terrible crowds after the fireworks when there were two parades (Electrical Parade??) with fireworks in between. Cutting down on hours and evening parades certainly seems to be one of the culprits.

 

[Beacon Joe]

This is somewhat related, but I swear that years ago, I was able to hop on the train in Frontierland at night and make my way to the Main Street station to bypass fireworks crowds. Maybe it's an old memory from Disneyland. Or maybe it is a memory from Disney World and I was bypassing nighttime parade crowds. I forget. But I was surprised when we first took the kids (after a ~ 12 year break from visiting), and we made our way to the Frontierland station at night so we could get out before the fireworks even started, and found it closed.

 

[geekza]

I didn't notice the terrible crowds after the fireworks when there were two parades (Electrical Parade??) with fireworks in between. Cutting down on hours and evening parades certainly seems to be one of the culprits.

The differences are that attendance has exploded since the time when we had an evening parade and the parade could be fully enjoyed from a large part of the park. The projections force anyone who wants to get the full effect of them to squash into a space that wasn't meant to hold so many people at one time.

 

[Bpmorley]

Enough is enough, there are no longer quiet periods in Orlando for the parks. It's growth is continuing upwards. There just needs to be more space, more land areas for the public to be spread out.

Watching the fireworks tonight was borederline dangerous how everyone was squashed into the tight lines.

It just made for a really miserable experience. Magic Kingdom suffers badly obviously as it's the busiest. Perhaps now it's time to look at stop navigating people one way up Main Street. Perhaps we need a side street. Exiting the park is thoroughly horrendous once the fireworks close.

There actually is a side street in both MK and HS. I was told they only open them up during busy after hour events.

 

[FinePhotoGraphx]

This will probably get some negative comments, but hear me out...

I would love to see another Disney theme park in the US, other than California or Florida. I know this won't solve the Main Street USA fireworks issue, but our family has opted for different vacation experiences the past few years because of the crowds at Walt Disney World and we always went there in off season. There is no place like it on earth, but using apps to beat lines, all the strategies to maximize FastPass+ and still waiting in crowds for just about everything just seem so opposite of Walt's vision.

Yes, he was a savvy businessman. Yes Disneyland was an ingenious way to have marketing synergy with the films. But early on Walt wrote about wanting the place to be "relaxing" and a place where "kids could play." He was heavily influenced by Griffith Park in LA, Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Electric Park in Kansas City. Honestly, I think he would be horrified by the exiting stampede on Main Street USA and would be pushing Roy for another park or two even.

Disney toyed with building Mineral King at Sequoia National Park in the 1960s and more recently Disney's America in Williamsburg, VA. in the 1990s. I wonder if another park would thin out crowds at existing parks a little bit. I've written before that maybe Disney could even create smaller scale, innovative experiences in several locations around the country. This is Disney we're talking about, the Imagineers.

We want to take our son to see the new Galaxy's Edge before he graduates high school, but hearing podcasts say it will be overrun with crowds for the first few years just discourages us from going. It's a big investment for us.

Disney sets the standard in THEME parks. There are plenty of thrill ride amusement parks in the US, but few theme parks. I'd give Busch Gardens, Williamsburg a huge honorable mention with it's Europe themed lands, great rides, smaller crowds, decent shows and beautiful landscaping, but it's no Disney and I always leave there feeling like I wish I could have the crowds of Busch Gardens with the amazing features of Disney. Busch Gardens isn't even a full year park, but they've learned to do off-season Halloween and Christmas events.

Can we at least dream about a new park and enjoying the magic again? In the mean time, for goodness' sake create some other views of the nighttime show, fly some more amazing character drones that can be seen anywhere around the castle, stage some other popular experiences off Main Street each night, pretty up some extra exits.

 

[Kristamouse]

These two statements actually contradict each other. More lands, more space, more attractions would spread people out during the daytime. However, they would also increase total crowd levels in the park and those bigger crowds are still going to disproportionately flock to the hub and Main Street during parade and fireworks time. Just because more space means the guests CAN spread out doesn't mean the guests actually WILL spread out.

Disney doesn't need more, they need better distribution.


I definitely agree with this.


Certain times are absolutely scary and dangerous. The worst I've ever seen was around 10:00 PM on May 24, 2013, which was the 24 hour event to kick off #MonstrousSummer. The parade/fireworks had just ended so loads of people were trying to leave, but Epcot and Hollywood Studios had also just closed so people were also trying to force their way in for the all nighter event. It was nighttime rush plus rope drop all at the same time. I was legitimately scared that people were going to get seriously injured.

I was there with our 4 kids and pregnant! I had a panic attack trying to exit at 9:30 that evening...

 

[MaryJaneP]

This is somewhat related, but I swear that years ago, I was able to hop on the train in Frontierland at night and make my way to the Main Street station to bypass fireworks crowds. Maybe it's an old memory from Disneyland. Or maybe it is a memory from Disney World and I was bypassing nighttime parade crowds. I forget. But I was surprised when we first took the kids (after a ~ 12 year break from visiting), and we made our way to the Frontierland station at night so we could get out before the fireworks even started, and found it closed.

Train stops running around 8 pm. Our ride on a recent trip began in Frontierland at 7:45 pm. Before we boarded, we were told the train was not going all the way to main street station and we had to get off at the Fantasyland station. We assumed, but were never explicitly told, this was because the train was being returned to the roundhouse and thus put on the track that runs it back to the service area around the space mountain area. The result, we were put in the back of the park and had to squeeze our way through the hub crowd to leave. Ah, the challenge.

 

[Minnie1976]

Enough is enough, there are no longer quiet periods in Orlando for the parks. It's growth is continuing upwards. There just needs to be more space, more land areas for the public to be spread out.

Watching the fireworks tonight was borederline dangerous how everyone was squashed into the tight lines.

It just made for a really miserable experience. Magic Kingdom suffers badly obviously as it's the busiest. Perhaps now it's time to look at stop navigating people one way up Main Street. Perhaps we need a side street. Exiting the park is thoroughly horrendous once the fireworks close.

I think it was back in 2007 my daughter-in-law, grandchild and myself decided to go back to the MK not thinking the fireworks had just finished and were in that crowd. I never saw anything like it, insane. Evidently, over 11 years later it is still the same. We now stay away from Main Street and go to other areas until the crowd goes down.

 

[MattFrees71]

One of the worst places is in Frontierland in between Thunder and Splash mountain. It's narrow, and gets to be a gridlock sometimes. Of course because it is right where 2 of some of the most desired rides in MK are, and from what I observed, some people just tend to stop there with their group deciding what to ride and are oblivious to other people trying to get through.

 

[Trackmaster]

Maybe one simple solution for the crowds is not to do fireworks every night... in fact don't even tell people when or what time they will happen make it a magical surprise that if your lucky you get to catch. That would hopefully stop people from camping out an hour or sometimes longer along the sidewalk. Although I guess it would make it more difficult for them to sell their dining/viewing packages.

Without stuff like fireworks, all of those people would be standing in line. Ergo, I think that stuff like that is good for keeping the FP+'s available and the stand-by lines down.