Was chatting to a friend the other day who's booked for him and his family to go to Disney in October for 2 weeks to stay at The Art of Animation resort. It's his first ever visit to Florida and as you can imagine, he's really excited about it all. He was asking me about the crowds as his travel agent (didn't know people still used them!!!) had told him it was the quiet season then and I explained it was quieter in comparison to other times, but not 'quiet' as such.
This got me thinking to the least crowded visits i've experienced in my many visits and when they were. I came to the conclusion that I've never experienced it as quiet as in September of 2001 shortly after the twin towers tragically came down. Mrs M (who wasn't Mrs M back then) and I had booked to fly to America on 9/12 to get engaged and obviously the day after 9/11 all flights were cancelled. We got one of the first flights over as soon as the flights resumed and arrived in a very spooky and deserted feeling Orlando International Airport. We felt a little guilty coming over to enjoy ourselves so soon after in a country that had suffered such a terribly sad loss but reasoned that if you let terrorism stop you living your life as you want to, then you're letting them win?
The 3 weeks we spent in Florida that year were the quietest I've ever experienced. Rather than it feeling all sad however, we witnessed a feeling of defiance from the people in the parks. We purchased t-shirts with the American flag on them as we'd noticed that year how many people had been sporting them and greatly admired the spirit shown by everyone. When several people heard our British accents and saw our stars and stripes t-shirts on they insisted on shaking our hands and we felt very humbled by this.
All the parks were very quiet, especially that first week. It was quite strange seeing such small queues (or none at all) for things like Space Mountain and we could practically walk on anything we wanted or eat anywhere we wanted with no problem. The cast members were particularly great that year too, they knew themselves things felt different but were extremely upbeat and seemed more inclined to chat as they didn't have as many people to take care of. Strangely after a few days I began to actually miss the crowds, not not queuing for 60 minutes but certainly walking straight on everything seemed to take away the anticipation you get whilst queuing up for certain attractions. It was nice seeing the parks so quiet for a while but I came to the conclusion that they definitely feel better with more people in them with that hustle and bustle feeling that I was more used to.
I'm sure they'll be a few on here who experienced that time in 2001 also and would like to hear their views, but I also wondered what other times were the least crowded you've experienced in the parks too?
This got me thinking to the least crowded visits i've experienced in my many visits and when they were. I came to the conclusion that I've never experienced it as quiet as in September of 2001 shortly after the twin towers tragically came down. Mrs M (who wasn't Mrs M back then) and I had booked to fly to America on 9/12 to get engaged and obviously the day after 9/11 all flights were cancelled. We got one of the first flights over as soon as the flights resumed and arrived in a very spooky and deserted feeling Orlando International Airport. We felt a little guilty coming over to enjoy ourselves so soon after in a country that had suffered such a terribly sad loss but reasoned that if you let terrorism stop you living your life as you want to, then you're letting them win?
The 3 weeks we spent in Florida that year were the quietest I've ever experienced. Rather than it feeling all sad however, we witnessed a feeling of defiance from the people in the parks. We purchased t-shirts with the American flag on them as we'd noticed that year how many people had been sporting them and greatly admired the spirit shown by everyone. When several people heard our British accents and saw our stars and stripes t-shirts on they insisted on shaking our hands and we felt very humbled by this.
All the parks were very quiet, especially that first week. It was quite strange seeing such small queues (or none at all) for things like Space Mountain and we could practically walk on anything we wanted or eat anywhere we wanted with no problem. The cast members were particularly great that year too, they knew themselves things felt different but were extremely upbeat and seemed more inclined to chat as they didn't have as many people to take care of. Strangely after a few days I began to actually miss the crowds, not not queuing for 60 minutes but certainly walking straight on everything seemed to take away the anticipation you get whilst queuing up for certain attractions. It was nice seeing the parks so quiet for a while but I came to the conclusion that they definitely feel better with more people in them with that hustle and bustle feeling that I was more used to.
I'm sure they'll be a few on here who experienced that time in 2001 also and would like to hear their views, but I also wondered what other times were the least crowded you've experienced in the parks too?
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