Magic Kingdom closed to ALL guests due to reaching absolute capacity (phase 4)

[SirGoofy]

Sunday might be more of a traveling day for vacationers, so crowd levels wouldn't be too horrible.

Usually that's so. I've been there for Easter Sunday before, and it was a nightmare, but I'm sure it changes.

 

[hokielutz]

Rick2121

Thanks for posting pictures and glad you had a fun time. The crowds from the pictures you and others posted really looked thick last week.

But its great you had a positive attitude going to the parks and I'm sure that carried you and your group through the day.

 

[Gucci65]

There is no possible way I could even remotely enjoy myself seeing those pictures. I would be frustrated to no end trying to navigate the crowds. How long were the lines in the bathroom i wonder?

Ya know, I only encountered one or two lines for the women's bathroom - but as a female that is always to be expected.

What I did NOT expect was to stand in a line to get into Cosmic Rays for lunch!!! But I gotta hand it to Disney - we were able to find a table with no problem. They got this crowd thing down to a science!

 

[pacochran]

Thanks for the pictures. Sure glad we weren't there this past week. We are so spoiled with the first week of December can't imagine these long lines.

 

[Disney4Eva]

YEESH...
I applaud your ability to have a good time in those crowds, Rick2121 :wave:

I'll be at WDW Wednesday & Thursday, and Universal on Friday. Here's hoping the madness will have died down at least a little now that Easter is over. Especially since we'll have a 2-year-old and a 6-month-old with us

 

[SirGoofy]

YEESH...
I applaud your ability to have a good time in those crowds, Rick2121 :wave:

I'll be at WDW Wednesday & Thursday, and Universal on Friday. Here's hoping the madness will have died down at least a little now that Easter is over. Especially since we'll have a 2-year-old and a 6-month-old with us

I think you should be okay. All the parks will probably still be crowded, but shouldn't be anything like last week.

 

[WDWFanatic]

I was there! It was nuts, I will never go back during that time again. Stayed till close to get in every ride possible. Test track was 3 hours wait time while i was down there too. There was also a pretty bad accident right after the water bridge that we had to be backed out of and taken around the back of MK to get out.

 

[Gucci65]

We should get shirts that say "I survived Spring Break at WDW" :sohappy:

 

[WDW1974]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigart
Easter Sunday wasnt too bad..crowds surged midday but thinned by afternoon and wait times were very resonable. A code 4 closing earlier in the week is surprising based on what I saw Sunday. I thought it would be much more crowded on Sunday. We had a very enjoyable time.

Sunday might be more of a traveling day for vacationers, so crowd levels wouldn't be too horrible.

Yeah ... that makes sense. It only being Easter and all ..

~Sooo nonphased~

 

[WDW1974]

What I did NOT expect was to stand in a line to get into Cosmic Rays for lunch!!! But I gotta hand it to Disney - we were able to find a table with no problem. They got this crowd thing down to a science!

Curious here ... but were ALL the registers open at Cosmic Ray's?
Been told by some CMs that many quick serve locations have not been close to fully staffed causing huge waits.

~I'll have Fuddrucker's myself~

 

[WDW1974]

I think you should be okay. All the parks will probably still be crowded, but shouldn't be anything like last week.

Well, how last week was is still debatable ... it sounds like for MK there was one crazy busy day and one that was fairly packed ... the rest were all pretty typical (or less than as WDW is traditionally packed these weeks) ... the other parks appeared to be typical (busy, but nothing out of the ordinary) as well.

~What Will YOU Celebrate? No more breathless phased closing threads!~

 

[Arch Angel]

Well, how last week was is still debatable ... it sounds like for MK there was one crazy busy day and one that was fairly packed ... the rest were all pretty typical (or less than as WDW is traditionally packed these weeks) ... the other parks appeared to be typical (busy, but nothing out of the ordinary) as well.

~What Will YOU Celebrate? No more breathless phased closing threads!~

The days of making a big thing out of phased closings should be over now. I'm sure the occasional holiday like july 4th. will reach capactiy but the large numbers will not be coming down to WDW anytime soon until they get some real rides to go on and create more bang for the buck.

 

[ms9220]

The days of making a big thing out of phased closings should be over now. I'm sure the occasional holiday like july 4th. will reach capactiy but the large numbers will not be coming down to WDW anytime soon until they get some real rides to go on and create more bang for the buck.

What is your problem with WDW? Are you atti Disney?

 

[goodtimes5286]

The days of making a big thing out of phased closings should be over now. I'm sure the occasional holiday like july 4th. will reach capactiy but the large numbers will not be coming down to WDW anytime soon until they get some real rides to go on and create more bang for the buck.

Bro it just happened last week DURING THE WEEK, whens the last time that happened in april at any other theme park, especially at a water park? I still think it's big news and it's interesting to hear disney complain about not being able to get profits, but yet the hotels are selling out and so are the parks. if you want to enjoy FREE disney information, come onto the site, if you dont care then move along

 

[JeffH]

Seemed fine to us?

We were there Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 and it didn't seem too bad (I've seen it on a NYEve before, now THAT was scary). We slept in (all week) and didn't arrive until the 5:15pm Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party. We followed that "parade" up Main Street and met with a "light" crowd at the castle hub where Tasha danced and limboed without being crowded at all (in fact she easily found her way up to the front where the lead dancers were). After that we headed back to the Fairy meet and greet where we did find a FULL line (at least a 2 hour wait in that VERY slow line), so we trained back to Frontierland (train was full but we didn't have to wait), where we headed over to Pirates of the Caribean and found it's line FULL (~40min) so we had a nice dinner at Peco's Bill (it was a little after 7pm, but we had little trouble finding a table and there was NO wait in line). After dinner we hit Country Bears (straight in, no wait), then found Tiki Room broken so we returned to find the Pirates line significantly shorter with only a couple of lines outside the doors (~20min) and rode. After we found the Tiki Room operating and enjoyed the show (no crowd, no wait, no surprise) Now, at about 8:20pm, we still had little trouble walking through Frontierland dispite the people gathering for the 9pm SpectroMagic parade and we rode the Haunted Mansion (whose line was less than 20min) we then walked through Fantasyland (where the area behind the castle was roped off (I guess for the 10pm fireworks? Seemed a bit early to block off all those walkways?), so we continued around through Tommorrowland (still didn't seem all that crowded) and back around to the Noodle Station where we got a great table out on the "balcony" right under where Tink flies, as SpectroMagic worked it's way down Main Street. I encountered NO LINE as I bought a couple of dinners for us to enjoy as we waited for the 10pm fireworks (which were magnificent). After the fireworks we hurried over to Main Street to get a spot for the 11pm SpectroMagic and got just the spot I was looking for (in front of the ice cream shop). I noticed them letting people out the back way (behind Main Street east) as we went by.
I imagine that all the "mountain" rides had long lines, but the crowds didn't seem very "thick" to me.
After the 11pm parade the fairy line was only about 15 minutes, and the Winnie the Pooh ride had no line at 12:15am.

We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the cold (in our Disney hoodies).

A NEW NOTE: I did overhear a CM quoting 70,000 people in the park.

 

[WDW1974]

Bro it just happened last week DURING THE WEEK, whens the last time that happened in april at any other theme park, especially at a water park?

Not sure I get your point. Disney routinely closes its water parks due to capacity and does so during spring break. Nothing special about it.

I still think it's big news and it's interesting to hear disney complain about not being able to get profits, but yet the hotels are selling out and so are the parks. if you want to enjoy FREE disney information, come onto the site, if you dont care then move along

Disney isn't complaining anymore than any other company, and actually much less. You don't see them on Capitol Hill trying to get taxpayer money (even if they would if they could).

And the hotels aren't selling out. They have very healthy load levels now, no doubt. They also are giving people huge discounts as well.

~Haven't we gone over this?~

 

[WDW1974]

We were there Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 and it didn't seem too bad (I've seen it on a NYEve before, now THAT was scary). We slept in (all week) and didn't arrive until the 5:15pm Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party. We followed that "parade" up Main Street and met with a "light" crowd at the castle hub where Tasha danced and limboed without being crowded at all (in fact she easily found her way up to the front where the lead dancers were). After that we headed back to the Fairy meet and greet where we did find a FULL line (at least a 2 hour wait in that VERY slow line), so we trained back to Frontierland (train was full but we didn't have to wait), where we headed over to Pirates of the Caribean and found it's line FULL (~40min) so we had a nice dinner at Peco's Bill (it was a little after 7pm, but we had little trouble finding a table and there was NO wait in line). After dinner we hit Country Bears (straight in, no wait), then found Tiki Room broken so we returned to find the Pirates line significantly shorter with only a couple of lines outside the doors (~20min) and rode. After we found the Tiki Room operating and enjoyed the show (no crowd, no wait, no surprise) Now, at about 8:20pm, we still had little trouble walking through Frontierland dispite the people gathering for the 9pm SpectroMagic parade and we rode the Haunted Mansion (whose line was less than 20min) we then walked through Fantasyland (where the area behind the castle was roped off (I guess for the 10pm fireworks? Seemed a bit early to block off all those walkways?), so we continued around through Tommorrowland (still didn't seem all that crowded) and back around to the Noodle Station where we got a great table out on the "balcony" right under where Tink flies, as SpectroMagic worked it's way down Main Street. I encountered NO LINE as I bought a couple of dinners for us to enjoy as we waited for the 10pm fireworks (which were magnificent). After the fireworks we hurried over to Main Street to get a spot for the 11pm SpectroMagic and got just the spot I was looking for (in front of the ice cream shop). I noticed them letting people out the back way (behind Main Street east) as we went by.
I imagine that all the "mountain" rides had long lines, but the crowds didn't seem very "thick" to me.
After the 11pm parade the fairy line was only about 15 minutes, and the Winnie the Pooh ride had no line at 12:15am.

We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the cold (in our Disney hoodies).

Thanks for the report!

Glad you had a great time!

~Zac's on Dave!!!!!!!:sohappy:~

 

[lbrad]

Just returned from 8 nights. Wanted to share a firsthand experience of what it was like on this day. We had a great time. Very much reminded me of summertime in the 70's, everything was open and working to capacity...a rarity these days. We were at the MK on Tuesday during the closures and I really didn't think it was that horrible. We were a party of 9 ranging in age from 12 to 70. It was actually an enjoyable day still.

Were at the park from 11:00 till 12:30am. Rode TTA, Carousel of Progress, Haunted Mansion, Philharmagic, Small World, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain, Big Thunder, Splash Mountain, Stitch, Buzz Lightyear, and finished with a second ride on Space Mountain. Enjoyed a sit down dinner at Liberty Tree, and took time out for a monorail ride including transfer through EPCOT after dinner.

We slept in a bit and did not leave resort (All Star Music) until 10:15. Was a 45 minute bus ride due to traffic on World Drive. Bus followed Buena Vista to Bonnet Creek, past Fort Wilderness to World Drive to avoid the back up on World Drive Heading into TTC. We entered the park at 11:00, Headed for Tomorrowland picked up Space Mountain FP with a return time of 5:05.

Hopped on TTA (through a temp roped off queue below and then full queue open once up on platform!) Then across to CoP, got in on next show but was running full theaters.
Next up was Haunted Mansion; queue was past riverboat using both the old fastpass area as well as old Keel boat dock and all switchbacks in main queue including a loop around the planter and past the "hearse" out front.
Columbia Harbour House was lined up outside by this time (1:15) spilling over in frt of mansion line. We split into groups to collect food and Jungle Cruise Fastpasses (4:30-5:30 return time) including Pretzels and Churros in Frontierland, Dole Whips in Adventerland (no line!!), and snacks and sandwiches from Sleepy Hollow, finding a nice table behind Sleepy Hollow to relax and eat. Sleepy Hollow had temp queue out front with switchbacks roped out and was also serving hot Pulled BBQ pork sandwiches.

From there it was over to Philharmagic - both queues open and fastpass turned off, got in after 2 show cycles. Across to Small World again with queue stretched out to old skyway station using temp ropes.

Then squeezed through crowd...

to collect Big Thunder Fastpasses meeting the rest of our group in front of Pirates. Pirates was the longest line we waited in. Posted time was 60 min and it took it all. Complete exterior queue was in use included two additional temp switchbacks roped off in front of entrance. The only other time I had personally seen full exterior queue on this was July 4th 1983!

After Pirates it was over to Jungle Cruise to use our Fastpasses (standby at this time (4:30) was 80 minutes)
Then to Space Mountain to use fastpass there (standby still 90 min and using all switchbacks) and back across park to Liberty Tree for family Dinner to celebrate my Dad's 70th Birthday. ADR's were for 6:00, we checked in at 5:30 and were seated at 5:35!
After that Dad wanted to ride Monorail so we walked out and rode to TTC, transferred to EPCOT line, rode though EPCOT, transferred to resort line and then back to MK.
At this point it was 8:30, we rode Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain (very cold), Buzz Lightyear, picked up Hot Chocolate at Auntie Gravity's (Still Cold!!), Stitch, and then finished with late night ride on Space Mountain through standby line (posted 60 min-took 40 min) leaving the park at 12:30.

All in all not a bad day considering crowds, lines were all moving pretty quickly due to everything operating at peak. 60 Minutes was our longest wait all day.

WOW!!! What a day you had. I'm glad you were able to enjoy it:sohappy:
Thanks for the blog and great pictures!

 

[Gucci65]

Curious here ... but were ALL the registers open at Cosmic Ray's?
Been told by some CMs that many quick serve locations have not been close to fully staffed causing huge waits.

~I'll have Fuddrucker's myself~

Great question and the answer is YES. Once allowed in, I walked to all three bays to see if in fact they were all open (and registers staffed). By limiting the number of people entering the building they were able to keep the lines at the registers from reaching the back of the walls - which kept an area open for walking when you received your food and headed for the tables. Finding a table was much easier than during a day trip in July.

It was busy and to tell the truth I was really worried about the crowds prior to arriving, but kudos to the cast members for handling the crowds in a professional and safe manner. I had an excellent vacation!!

 

[ProfSlim]

how are the crowds looking this week (week of April 13th) ?