What are the smallest crowds you've experienced in WDW?

[stratman50th]

We started going yearly, sometimes a couple times a year beginning in 1989. We would go in May- Mother's day as we would do EPCOT and my wife and mother both got a carnation. We also went in September after the schools were back in. Very easy going and not crowded. There were people of course but you could walk around, get a picture of your family with the castle in the background and you could actually see it! I remember being really upset in 1994 going to World Showcase. We would go in and shoot right through EPCOT to World Showcase. Do that and work our way back to EPCOT. By then the crowds had worked their way back. That year, they stopped us from crossing the bridge. World Showcase didn't open until 11:00. That was to stop people like us. We weren't happy but I get it. The countries pay rent and they wanted it full for the lunch crowd. They were losing money by not having it packed. We loved those late EMH at the Magic Kingdom. It was open until 11:00 during the week (In summer) and until 1:00am on the weekend. I recall it starting to get crowded in the mid 90's but it wasn't so bad you couldn't get on rides. Year after year it began to get heavier. We've been so many times I can't really recall when it got bad. It just seemed to creep up on us.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Last week in August. Consistently low crowds. If you can stand the surface of the heat it's great. This was in 2018.

And this was around noon at MK, FOP was pretty much the only ride with 60 minute wait times

 

[correcaminos]

Wow, that's especially impressive at MK!

I don't know if I should count this, because it was a hard ticket event, but my husband and I went to one of the nighttime events in January 2017 as well (was that the first year for them?) -- we walked 5+ minutes in MK without seeing another soul. It was really neat.

Honestly this was a little bare but not really for that time of year at that time. As the day went on and it warmed up & dried up, people came out. I think the chilly rain kept people out. As a whole crowds started to pick up as time went on and now we avoid the 1st of Dec. Kind of sad.

 

[disney4life2008]

I think the absolute lowest was January 3 to the 10 of 2009. I had got the special where you buy a resort stay and get i think $200 gift card. It was crowded January 3 but as the days went on it was empty. And it was sooo cold. I was fabulous every park including sea world and universal was walk on.

 

[disney4life2008]

I forgot another empty time was September 2017 right before the hurricane. I went the night before and the day before the parks closed for the hurricane and it was dead.

 

[mergatroid]

Why wife and I got engaged in September 2001 in Orlando shortly after 9/11. It was just a few days after the towers fell and those 2 weeks were the quietest I've ever seen Disney. After that I'd say between 13 and 19th of December 1999 (the 20th onwards increased dramatically) when I spent 3 weeks over Christmas there.

 

[DuckTalesWooHoo1987]

This time 10 to 12 years ago in May and September I've got videos of stuff being VERY light waits ALL day. Our kids can't believe how slow things used to be. The thing at MK that was consistently the longest for years was honestly maybe Dumbo when it was behind the Castle. Although during EMH back in the day things were so slow that I've even seen Chip and Dale ride Dumbo with little kids at night. I've always thought that would be a memory those kids will never lose if they were big enough at the time to remember it happening. Rafiki once watched Wishes with my little boy outside the Fire Station and literally nobody realized Rafiki was around and he came and knelt down with my little boy and watched the whole show with him and it's one of the greatest memories that I will forever cherish. He LOVED The Lion King when he was really little so that made it even more special. But today it just seems impossible for a character to be out and not get totally mauled but it was just like it was him and my little boy for Wishes and it was awesome. I miss those lighter times in the parks desperately and I feel like the only time we get to experience them these days is if we do a Moonlight Magic DVC event or something.

 

[DuckTalesWooHoo1987]

This may sound nuts, but...

...Easter week 2005, during any and all evening extra magic hours. Back in those days (or at least, during that week in those days), there was really "magic" in extra magic hours: one park was open early every day for EMH, and another park would stay open 2-3 hours later for evening EMH. While the morning EMH crowds were lighter than nowadays, the evening EMH crowds were incredible: we went to all of the evening EMH and it felt like we were practically the only people in the parks. The Magic Kingdom evening EMH crowds were the lightest of all: I remember doing Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear several times a row, not only walking onto everything but seeing no other guests, as if the attractions had been reserved solely for us. It was magical for sure!

Yeah I miss those EMH days BIG TIME. Before we had kids we'd be out til 2am sometimes at the MK. When they first built BLT and we joined DVC we'd just shut down the MK after the EMH and just walk right back down the sidewalk and go to bed and get up and do it all over again and at that time the crowds were still tons more manageable and even though you'd maybe "go go go" it still didn't wear you out as much as it seems to now because of just the stress from the sheer volume of people. It's weird to think the MK is considerably more "spacious" now than it really has ever been but it doesn't "feel" that way.

 

[DuckTalesWooHoo1987]

Wow, that's especially impressive at MK!

I don't know if I should count this, because it was a hard ticket event, but my husband and I went to one of the nighttime events in January 2017 as well (was that the first year for them?) -- we walked 5+ minutes in MK without seeing another soul. It was really neat.

Used to you could get Main Street to yourself in the mornings too if you'd book the earliest possible breakfast at Royal Table. It was awesome trying to get a pic on an empty Main St. At one point a lady even got that early breakfast for her kids and she had them run down Main St toward the Castle and filmed it and later put it in slo-mo and added When You Wish Upon A Star to it and put it in black and white and made a youtube video out of it that was really neat too. Now I think it's almost impossible to get an empty Main St pic because they let people in so early to go ahead and bypass the opening ceremonies to try and alleviate the stampedes. I miss those old days super bad.

 

[Lilofan]

The Fantasmic theatre at Hollywood Studios when full probably holds several thousand guests. When less than half occupied, the outside theatre really feels empty.

 

[HoustonHorn]

August 30, 2019 at MK.

Between Galaxy's Edge's 2nd day; Food & Wine Festival; the imminent hurricane (that missed Florida but caused people to change trips); and the general late-August slowdown, my buddy and I rode Space Mountain 3 times, Buzz; PotC; Jungle Cruise; BTMRR, Small World, Haunted Mansion and had lunch at Gaston's.

All without using a single fastpass, and all between 9 and 11:30 AM. It was glorious.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

We’ve never been when the entire week has been slow but we did have a pretty magical experience in 2014. We took our then 3 year old daughter on her first trip the week after Thanksgiving. We had several MK days planned so by our 3rd day, we had all the headliners out of the way. It was an 8am opening and we started in Adventureland. We were literally the only guests in the land. We went to Flying Carpets first and rode alone, got off, and my daughter wanted to ride again. We got back on, still alone, and when the ride ended, the CM asked if we wanted to go again without getting off. After three rides on the Carpets, we went over to Jungle Cruise. We had an entire boat to ourselves which was awesome, but a little awkward as we felt we had laugh extra hard at the corny jokes. The CM was amazing though, still put in 100% for us. Then we went over to Pirates, walked right through the queue all alone, and again, had a whole boat to ourselves. After that, we went over to Tomorrowland and it was business as usual crowd wise. To this day, that hour or so is one of my favorite Disney moments.
We actually tried to recreate it on our next trip in 2016 but our daughters (then 5 and 1) both had really rough mornings and sadly, we didn’t make it for rope drop. Our next trip is this January and I have a morning start in Adventureland for this exact reason!!

 

[ObscurityPoint]

When Fantasmic is going on at the studios, doesn’t the whole park somewhat die down, at least the Sunset Boulevard area?

 

[Goofyernmost]

After 36 years the slowest I have ever seen it was the two days I spent there on Sept. 17 and Sept. 18, 2019. That's correct, just two weeks ago. Everything was a walk on including the Mine Train, Buzz, Toy Story Mania, ToT, Haunted Mansion, Soarin and Rise of the Resistance. Actually just about all of them. I have never seen so few people there. It was the same thing at Universal.

 

[Disneyfreak Jen]

The day Hurricane Matthew arrived. It was raining in and off in the morning and turned to all rain late morning/early afternoon or so. It got progressively harder.

The parks were closing at either 4 or 5 that day. I rope dropped Epcot, went on everything I wanted, went into World Showcase. Came back around and hit Soarin’ 3 or 4 times in a row since there was only a few minute wait. Then went to Sunshine Seasons and stocked up on a few ready made sandwiches, muffins, etc, to bring back to my room to wait out the lockdown the next day. I left the park about a half hour before it closed. Wet, but one of my most memorable days.

 

[dreamfinder912]

Hmm well my dad loves to talk about his solo golf trip. He'd taken out all 99 holes of golf over the course of four-ish days....like two weeks after 9/11. The entire property was a ghost town. My mom and I came down for a girls trip early December 01...the paper fastpass time would flick not because that time slot was used, but because that time slot had already happened. I tap danced with a toy solder on Residential Street which is still all I can think of whenever I see either a toy soldier or the facade of the Golden Girls house....I was 9 my memory isn't rock solid

Other times of note, just after hurricane Irma FoP was like 20 minutes...as others mentioned Dorian spooked a lot of people...I went to the Halloween Party that Monday and had sooo much fun. No one there, pleasant winds...I really should've focused on rides but I have the party pass and I was in it for hurricane rations..aka candy.

 

[IanDLBZF]

I remember back on December 10, 2016 I visited MK and Epcot.
MK was crazy packed, but Future World in Epcot was DEAD.

Adding on, Superbowl Sunday in 2018 - MK crowds super manageable, but most if not all of Epcot felt DEAD! Then on September 1 at MK, crowds felt extremely manageable (likely due to Dorian).

 

[Genie_naughty_whispers]

Star Wars galaxies edge

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I think the absolute lowest was January 3 to the 10 of 2009. I had got the special where you buy a resort stay and get i think $200 gift card. It was crowded January 3 but as the days went on it was empty. And it was sooo cold. I was fabulous every park including sea world and universal was walk on.

Darn I was there Dec 27th 2008 to Jan 2nd 2009 lol.
That was the craziest I've ever seen the parks.

 

[draybook]

Our first trip in September of 08. I believe that Peter Pan was the longest wait around 50 minutes. Nothing else was over 20 minutes, not even the Mountains.