Record crowds this month?

[Susannah]

I think that's why Disney is also having a party on Tuesday night (to add to the coffers since Halloween is falling on a Monday this year).

I should probably use some common sense (and Google) and look this up myself, but isn't there always a party on 11/1, regardless of what day of the week Halloween falls on?

I know it's a money making thing (which is why there are Halloween parties in mid-September) but I like the idea of an 11/1 party. Of course, I'm a Halloween lover, and I see nothing wrong with having an extra day to celebrate, so my opinion is slightly skewed.

 

[janoimagine]

Possibly because it's on a Monday?:shrug:

That or in a blatant attempt to make more money they increased the number of tickets they normally allow for the party on Halloween.

:shrug:

 

[pax_65]

So any crowd predictions moving forward? Does the "perfect storm" of circumstances in October continue into November? I'm going in mid-November toward the end of F&W, but before Thanksgiving Week. I expect Epcot to be mobbed for F&W in the evening, especially over the weekend, but I'm hoping the rest of the parks aren't too crazy.

A side note as I think about F&W crowds... it always amazes me how many people are visibly drunk during F&W. I mean, I'm very fond of good beer, and I totally appreciate the concept of being on vacation and having a good time. I will raise my Epcot beer mug in toast to that. But getting completely sloshed in front of the kids in WDW, while paying a premium for every beer or glass of wine? That I just don't quite get. But to each his or her own, I guess.

Frankly I think Disney allows more drunken behavior than I would have expected they would, but considering the markups, they must be making a TON of money on alcohol sales. $$$

 

[wdwfan22]

I should probably use some common sense (and Google) and look this up myself, but isn't there always a party on 11/1, regardless of what day of the week Halloween falls on?

I know it's a money making thing (which is why there are Halloween parties in mid-September) but I like the idea of an 11/1 party. Of course, I'm a Halloween lover, and I see nothing wrong with having an extra day to celebrate, so my opinion is slightly skewed.

You are correct, for the past couple of years they have always had a Halloween party on November 1st as well.

 

[amypooh]

Went to all the parks 2 to 3 times during this period, also went to DD and Blizzard.

I have never seen crowds, even during the week as large as they were. I would estimate at least twice as many people in the parks as I have ever seen (I have been going to the parks in the middle of October almost every year since 1995).

If I return to the parks, I will re-think when we go, and probably do the 1st or 2nd week of December.

Just watch out for the Pop Warner dates! Gets very crowded during that week also!

I think as someone else said, everyone's now trying to hit the "downtime" target, so (good for Disney, bad for those who want walk-on rides) no more "downtime"!

 

[Susannah]

You are correct, for the past couple of years they have always had a Halloween party on November 1st as well.

Thank you! I thought that was the case. I still should have looked it up myself. :lol:

Just watch out for the Pop Warner dates! Gets very crowded during that week also!

I think as someone else said, everyone's now trying to hit the "downtime" target, so (good for Disney, bad for those who want walk-on rides) no more "downtime"!

Like I said in my previous post, I went to WDW the first week of December last year and it was wall to wall people except for my very last day. Everywhere I went people were saying, "This was supposed to be the slowest week of the year! The Internet said so!" That's the thing about predictions. If you and I can read them, so can the rest of the world.

 

[Goofnut1980]

I doubt there would still be much residue from the 40th last week. My money is on "free" dining. To my knowledge, Disney has offered free dining more aggressively for this period than it has in the past (those who are experts in this area feel free to contradict/supplement, but this is what I've seen) as they offered it as a bounceback offer last year, then started offering it at the beginning of the year, then offered it as a PIN code, and recently started offering it again. My guess is that the locals are always there this time of year, but the real increase is caused by DDP. This is also a very popular time of year among the annually-increasing DVC crowd (it's a low point season and a time of year they're more likely to come, anyway), so the annual increase in DVC'rs could explain some of this increase.

I quoted myself in the Fantasmic thread, but now this seems more relevant here, so I'm moving it:

To your F&WF 2011 prices, I commented on something similar in my trip report. Since I'm sure you'd never bother reading something as silly as a trip report, I'll copy and paste the pertinent portion here:

Off topic - but it was cool to say a quick "hi" at The Seasons when you and the Mrs. were having lunch, but I don't think that week was busy at all. I am not sure how lines were for you two, but for us, I didn't wait more than 15 minutes at most for any ride. I did however leave on Oct 2nd so the crowds might have picked up more for F&W.

 

[WDW1974]

Great, now we need to change the name of our podcast.

You should have a renaming contest. :ROFLOL:

Maybe offer a year's supply of Duffy plush for each holiday to the winner.:xmas:

~GFC~

 

[WDW1974]

Quote:
Originally Posted by WDW1974
... now, perhaps mindless Pixie Dust smoking, Duffy clutching, Turkey-leg chomping fanboi would be a putdown!

~GFC~

I don't post very often but.....THIS was funny!:ROFLOL:

If I've made someone laugh (or think) then I have accomplished something!

~GFC~

 

[WDW1974]

I should probably use some common sense (and Google) and look this up myself, but isn't there always a party on 11/1, regardless of what day of the week Halloween falls on?

I know it's a money making thing (which is why there are Halloween parties in mid-September) but I like the idea of an 11/1 party. Of course, I'm a Halloween lover, and I see nothing wrong with having an extra day to celebrate, so my opinion is slightly skewed.

I know this isn't the first year they have done this. But I don't believe it is an annual deal, no.

But this year they had to wait until the second week of September (imagine that!) to start them. Last year, in an incredibly tacky, money-grubbing move they actually had a party the Friday night PRIOR to Labor Day Weekend (you know, the final holiday weekend OF SUMMER!)

I love Halloween, don't get me wrong. But I believe everything has a season and once a holiday is over, it's over. When I've been to WDW resorts and seen X-mas decoration still up on MLK weekend, I've felt that was just so ... tacky.

A Halloween party on 11/1 isn't quite so bad, but I still don't get it.

~GFC~

 

[WDW1974]

So any crowd predictions moving forward? Does the "perfect storm" of circumstances in October continue into November? I'm going in mid-November toward the end of F&W, but before Thanksgiving Week. I expect Epcot to be mobbed for F&W in the evening, especially over the weekend, but I'm hoping the rest of the parks aren't too crazy.

You are 'probably' safe, but who knows? I'd guess you should be in a relatively quiet period, but with free dining around and who knows what conventions ... you could have crowds.

A side note as I think about F&W crowds... it always amazes me how many people are visibly drunk during F&W. I mean, I'm very fond of good beer, and I totally appreciate the concept of being on vacation and having a good time. I will raise my Epcot beer mug in toast to that. But getting completely sloshed in front of the kids in WDW, while paying a premium for every beer or glass of wine? That I just don't quite get. But to each his or her own, I guess.

Frankly I think Disney allows more drunken behavior than I would have expected they would, but considering the markups, they must be making a TON of money on alcohol sales. $$$

I always see that to some extent, but this year was worse. Of course, some of that was just there being more people. I love drinking around EPCOT (although seeing margaritas going from strong drinks for $6-7 to weak slushies for $9.38-12.50 took my desire away some), but not to excess. But I certainly noticed almost a competitive 'how much can you drink (or eat?' deal going on with guests ... hell, even getting stamps at booths where you bought a sample seemed to encourage the thing.

So, Disney certainly didn't have a problem with it. But nothing like seeing an obnoxious 26-year-old who can't hold his/her booze being loud/obnoxious and hurling f-bombs around to make you feel less than MAGICal.

But I didn't see security anywhere or anyone having fights, so I'm sure Disney is fine with it. Just like they were fine with PI until it started costing too much to operate.

They aren't concerned with being family friendly when they can make money by the truckloads by letting people get pooh-faced at EPCOT!

~GFC~

 

[BeachClubNut]

I just got home from a five day trip, and I was actually surprised at how wrong the touringplans crowd predictions were.

To needlessly reiterate everything everyone has been posting, we go to WDW the same week every year, and this is by far the most crowded it's ever been. It was a far cry better than, say, the first week of December 2010 (which was ironically predicted to be one of the best weeks to visit) when we could barely move, but it was nothing like the years when we had practically zero wait time for most attractions. Our Halloween party was also very crowded.

It was still a great trip. Not complaining, just shouting an "A-men!" from the back pew. :wave:

Touringplans has been terribly wrong lately, last March and last week. I emailed and was told they base it on wait times to rides, how does wait times predict future crowds in let say December, I feel its all guess work. I wonder if they actually know resort capacity, if not I cant see how there predictions can be anything but a guess. I have been here since 22nd an until Wednesday it has been jam packed, yesterday and today its packed again, here until Wed and one thing I know is that I wont be in parks tomorrow ans Sunday, this Sunday I believe is a 2 which last week was and you could not move. Touringplans data is seriously flawed. Although hanging at The Resort is better than snow!

 

[Kuhio]

I just got back from spending a couple of days at WDW. Monday at the Magic Kingdom was the busiest I've ever seen it. I've never been to the parks during a really busy period like the holidays, but it was more crowded than any spring, summer, or fall weekend I've experienced -- and far more crowded than one would expect on a Monday in October. I can't recall the last time I saw so many 80+ minute standby waits posted.

One CM I spoke with said that last Saturday set some kind of record at the MK, which was open from 8:00 or 9:00 until 1:00 in the morning -- without EMH. I'm not sure whether she meant it was a record for the month of October or for a fall weekend, but it certainly wasn't hard to believe that there must have been a heck of a lot of people in the park that day.

The other parks on Tuesday through Thursday were much more manageable -- moderately busy, but not too bad. With a few exceptions, lines at F&W kiosks were never more than 2 or 3 minutes.

On a side note, I was really pleased with all the CM interactions I had on this trip, both in the parks and the resorts -- I met lots of very helpful, knowledgeable, and efficient people, which hasn't always been the case in the past.

 

[Cactusspade]

My wife and I just got back and yes, the parks were PACKED. The Food & Wine festival crowds were INSANE. I mean it was insanity. Lines 50 people long per foodstand, plus thousands and thousands and thousands of people just completely filling up the entire World Showcase area.

Monday night, the MK was so packed, I was in shock. It took us 20 minutes just to get down Main Street. Disney Studios ws packed too. Strangely, most rides were not too bad a wait. Many were only 5-10 minutes, most were 15-20. Only Soaring was long, at 1 hour.

I guess there is no offseason any more at Disney. We went in October because I heard the crowds were fairly light. I guess I was wrong.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

I just got home from a five day trip, and I was actually surprised at how wrong the touringplans crowd predictions were.

To needlessly reiterate everything everyone has been posting, we go to WDW the same week every year, and this is by far the most crowded it's ever been. It was a far cry better than, say, the first week of December 2010 (which was ironically predicted to be one of the best weeks to visit) when we could barely move, but it was nothing like the years when we had practically zero wait time for most attractions. Our Halloween party was also very crowded.

It was still a great trip. Not complaining, just shouting an "A-men!" from the back pew. :wave:

I wonder how popular those prediction sites are? Can they have enough of a following to actually cause the crowds?

 

[Cosmic Commando]

I should probably use some common sense (and Google) and look this up myself, but isn't there always a party on 11/1, regardless of what day of the week Halloween falls on?

I know it's a money making thing (which is why there are Halloween parties in mid-September) but I like the idea of an 11/1 party. Of course, I'm a Halloween lover, and I see nothing wrong with having an extra day to celebrate, so my opinion is slightly skewed.

Yes, you could say that it's a money thing, but I always looked at it this way: I'm sure every year there are people who don't buy tickets ahead of time and just show up on Halloween expecting to get in even though the 10/31 tickets normally sell out a couple weeks in advance. If they have a party on 11/1, then they have a very good second option to offer those people. Given the speed at which the Christmas decorations go up after the last MNSSHP, I'd bet the MK operations people would like to have that extra day to put up/take down decorations between MNSSHP and MVMCP and have an extra party in September, but the 10/31 overflow makes a lot of sense.

Here's Town Square the afternoon of 11/3/2010:

And here's Town Square at 8:15 AM 11/4/2010:

Not only are scarecrows swapped out for the toy soldiers and candy canes, but all the flowers are changed and the Mickey wreaths are up on the lamp posts.

 

[nbaresejr]

I was there from the 12th to the 17th and it was very busy. There was no free dining during that period and looking back during our planning it seemed like low crowd numbers according to touring plans. There was no way the touring plan # were accurate for the dates i went. Epcot was so crowded for Food and Wine on a thursday that my wife and I decided just to go home early that night instead of staying for illuminations.

We noticed alot of tour groups and on the flight home talked to a family from scottland and she said they had 2 weeks off from school for autumn holiday. I would say majority of people in Disney were not from the US during my stay.

We still had a great time and through our park experience easily did all the rides we wanted multiple times. The weather was fantastic and the MNSSHP was fantastic!

 

[Hrudey3032]

We were at the parks 2 weeks ago and while the parks were much fuller than we are used to(we tend to go in January or February) it was still alot of quick lines to the rides. The longest line we stood in was for the Haunted Mansion or POTC and that was for about 30 minutes. I will say I had not seen Epcot as busy as I did on Saturday Oct 15th. It was absolutely nuts seeing that many people there(Lord knows I can not even imagine the NYE,XMAS or 4th of July holiday crowds! ) I do not envy you parents out there that only have the summer months/breaks in kids schooling in order to go to the parks.

 

[desertrat]

We were there the first 2 weeks of October. The parks were more crowded than we have experienced in May, but the deluxe resorts seemed empty. It was our first time at beach club, and I have always read about how crowded the pool is. There was hardly anybody there. I would say only 40% of the chairs were in use each day, and the weather was nice. We had lunch at the poly one day, and at 2pm I would estimate there was less than 10 people in the pool. I wonder if this is result of no room discounts. I have a feeling many of those people in the parks were staying offsite. We have always gone in May with a 40% room discounts, and the pools and the poly and BC have been packed. We had a bb for this trip, and without we would not have stayed in a deluxe resort.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

We stayed at the World until October 13th and I never had the impression that the parks are full, not to mention record crowds. Perhaps it changed after the first two weeks but with the exception of TSM we didn't experience long waits. And even at TSM we saw only 60-90 minutes standby during daytime compared to 120-180 minutes we saw during our trip last year.
Definitely no record crowds at none of the parks. Perhaps EPCOT was a little more crowded due to the Food and Wine Festival, but even there we were far away from record crowds. Soarin' standby on afternoons at less than 60 minutes? That's not even close to crowded.