Why are the parks so busy now?

[draybook]

It's really just an illusion though. When you get "free" dining, you're paying rack rate for the room, which most guests NEVER pay. So what you save from not paying for the dining plan you make up for in the cost of the room. On the same token, when you actually pay for the dining plan you're usually getting a cheaper nightly rate on the room but the total cost adds up to roughly the rack rate for the room anyway in most cases. So there's no real savings either way.

Not according to my math. And it really depends on the size of the party.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I think it's nearly impossible to just point to one thing causing crowds during traditionally slower time periods. Just some likely reasons include:

1. Larger population...resulting in just more people in general going to parks at all times, both domestic and from abroad.
2. "Smarter" guests...more and more people finding out about websites that help them to know the 'best' or 'better' times to go to the parks, bringing them here during "off" times, hoping to avoid crowds and lines.
3. Non-traditional schedules...between the Internet being used for work and classes, changing school calendars and a more service-focused economy and jobs, not everything revolves around the same schedule cycles as they used to.
4. Disney events...WDW seems to be doing a good job of promotions, discounts and events to give guests different reasons to come during what used to be slower times.
5. WDW fans/the obsessed...those who love to get to WDW as soon as possible whenever something new or big opens up, as well as fans who make it a tradition to come to things like F & W, MNSSH, etc.

I'm sure there are a litany of other reasons too that I'm not thinking of right now.


I also think there is something people have to keep in mind when looking at websites that offer crowd level predictions...

I don't think that you can really compare crowd predictions year over year. In other words, a crowd level of a '1' or '2' for a particular day this year isn't necessarily going to be the same as a level '1' or '2' from years ago (or even the year before). A crowd level of '3' today might have been a '5' or '6' several years ago, but because the parks are more crowded overall, the crowd levels seem like they are only to compare days against the same year rather than being a number that represents a specific crowd level year over year. (Hope this makes sense)

For the last time, there are no slow periods anymore.

@lentesta proved this with some really pretty infographs earlier this year.

 

[dynamix_disney]

Henry and Carrol both have the long weekends as well...

Henry county just had off the week of Oct 6-10. Not just a long weekend and returned back today.

 

[dynamix_disney]

I was looking at Cobb's schedule, and was shocked they are out the whole week of Thanksgiving.

I really wish the Govt would get their rear in line with businesses, as having a kiddo out a whole week of school can be a major drain on the budget if your work doesn't agree with the schedule.

Even when I worked for the Govt ( as a contractor) the GS folks didn't get the whole week of Thanksgiving off.

That's just insane.

Henry county has had the thanksgiving week off for the 15 yrs of my kids going there.

 

[ChrisM]

Henry county just had off the week of Oct 6-10. Not just a long weekend and returned back today.

Henry county has had the thanksgiving week off for the 15 yrs of my kids going there.

Henry County ****ing sucks.

 

[disneydudette]

Must just be some schools or districts. I live in Raleigh and my kids go to a year round school. Most year round schools have multiple tracks, so someone is always off. About half the elementary schools are year round, the othe half have a traditional schedule and don't have a fall break. For the most part, we didn't have any issued with crowds when we were there 9/26- 10/4. PotC did have some technical issues though and was not always the walk on it used to be. I find these reports concerning because right now we are booked for 10/2-10/11 next year.

*waves* we're in Holly Springs!

For those curious what track-out/year-round schooling looks like... here's a sample of what it's like in Wake County, NC. The majority of elementary schools and several middle schools follow year-round scheduling.

http://www.wcpss.net/parents/calendars/2014-15/year-round-14-15.pdf

As you can see.... it's a 9 week in/3 week out track system that rotates through 4 tracks. Anybody who's 'Track 4' in Wake County right now (which is the most requested track I believe) is currently on 'vacation' the entire month of October.

As for crowds in general?

When attempting to book our 10/14 trip... it was a nightmare. Free Dinning sold out at all [offering] resorts within a week of public release for our date period. Knowing that as two people looking to stay deluxe, a room discount would work out better, we held out for RO discounts.

What a mistake.... once released... we had 3 deluxe options: GV at the Grand, 1-bedroom at SSR, and a 2-bedroom suite at AKL. Since they excluded POR and POFQ from free dinning... both those resorts had ample availability... but not nearly as good of a deal using a RO discount vs. Free Dinning at the moderate level. Meaning... if we had wanted to stay at a moderate... the savings were better during FD than a RO.

For all the "Resort Occupancy is suffering" talk I've read on these boards... it definitely didn't show for the month of October.

We've yet to make it down for F&W and unfortunately had to cancel our late Oct. trip this year... but based off crowd reports for the last few years... if we do go down for the festival... it will solely be for that event... and ideally mid week!

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Henry county just had off the week of Oct 6-10. Not just a long weekend and returned back today.

I knew they were off...and believe they are on balanced schedule as well...

 

[BigTxEars]

Not according to my math. And it really depends on the size of the party.

And how you eat as well. We are going without DDP this trip to test those waters. Buying the TIW card and seeing how we do. I am not sure how it will turn out. There are 6 of us in a 2 bedroom villa at AK so we might eat breakfast there.

At the end of the day (or the trip in this case) if we don't feel like we save a good bit of money not buying the DDP we will buy it again next trip. I love the worry free stress of not having to try and budget meals during my vacations.

 

[bethymouse]

@George Me too! West Virginia ( Jefferson County anyhow) voted against a "balanced " calendar! But, as a teacher, I voted for it! We already have to make up snow days anyway!

 

[PhotoDave219]

aboot the crowds ...

yea got into a bit of a "who can belly up to the bar 1st"with some over zealous guest at rose and crown saturday afternoon
kept looking back at my lady to see her make the face that said to just " let it go", which i did and immediatly shook the other gents hand and said no hard feeling right? ..this was kinda fun and jostling in big crowds does not bother me as im 6-6 and head and shoulder above the din..

Stop and think for a second. Think.... "What would Dave do?" Then, do the opposite

Seriously, gotta walk away from these things. While F&W have vastly improved the alcohol situation from the last year, its still wall-to-wall people.

 

[draybook]

And how you eat as well. We are going without DDP this trip to test those waters. Buying the TIW card and seeing how we do. I am not sure how it will turn out. There are 6 of us in a 2 bedroom villa at AK so we might eat breakfast there.

At the end of the day (or the trip in this case) if we don't feel like we save a good bit of money not buying the DDP we will buy it again next trip. I love the worry free stress of not having to try and budget meals during my vacations.

Yeah, with us having bought APs, we decided to buy the TiW card for next year's trip.

 

[BigTxEars]

Yeah, with us having bought APs, we decided to buy the TiW card for next year's trip.

Looking forward to ours, we arrive Saturday, eating QS at the AKL that night and getting our TIW card the next morning on the way into DHS. And discounts on food and drinks to follow!

 

[The Visionary Soul]

No, this isn't just an October thing. The same thing goes for September and quite honestly I would lay the "blame" on more people taking advantage of Free Dining and word getting out about F&W.

Um, no. Generally the week after Labor Day through the 2nd or 3rd weekend of September is almost completely dead in the parks.

It's crowded now due to Halloween. Plain and simple. The parks learned how to market it.

 

[The Visionary Soul]

Word is out that there's a new lumberjack show at the Canada Pavilion in the World Showcase and that's been drawing the big crowds.

If only they knew that the show is actually about 20 years old and they just finally brought it back.

 

[Tuvalu]

Um, no. Generally the week after Labor Day through the 2nd or 3rd weekend of September is almost completely dead in the parks.

Not this year. We were there the exact time you quoted and all 4 parks were far from being "completely dead."

 

[WondersOfLife]

I was at Epcot from 4 to 8 and didn't think it was that bad considering F&W was on. But Imagination and Ellen were both closed. Soarin' was 45 and SSE was 15.

Really? That doesn't sound that bad actually.. Soarin' was over 90 minutes all day when I went and Ellen and Imagination were both open. .-.

 

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

Not according to my math. And it really depends on the size of the party.

Yeah. Depends on not only the size, but also the age of the party, the class of resort you are going to stay at, and your eating habits. We are going with a large party in December and staying at a value. We have little kids so wanted some character meals. For us the free dining worked out to a greater discount than room only.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

*waves* we're in Holly Springs!

For those curious what track-out/year-round schooling looks like... here's a sample of what it's like in Wake County, NC. The majority of elementary schools and several middle schools follow year-round scheduling.

http://www.wcpss.net/parents/calendars/2014-15/year-round-14-15.pdf

As you can see.... it's a 9 week in/3 week out track system that rotates through 4 tracks. Anybody who's 'Track 4' in Wake County right now (which is the most requested track I believe) is currently on 'vacation' the entire month of October.

As for crowds in general?

When attempting to book our 10/14 trip... it was a nightmare. Free Dinning sold out at all [offering] resorts within a week of public release for our date period. Knowing that as two people looking to stay deluxe, a room discount would work out better, we held out for RO discounts.

What a mistake.... once released... we had 3 deluxe options: GV at the Grand, 1-bedroom at SSR, and a 2-bedroom suite at AKL. Since they excluded POR and POFQ from free dinning... both those resorts had ample availability... but not nearly as good of a deal using a RO discount vs. Free Dinning at the moderate level. Meaning... if we had wanted to stay at a moderate... the savings were better during FD than a RO.

For all the "Resort Occupancy is suffering" talk I've read on these boards... it definitely didn't show for the month of October.

We've yet to make it down for F&W and unfortunately had to cancel our late Oct. trip this year... but based off crowd reports for the last few years... if we do go down for the festival... it will solely be for that event... and ideally mid week!

Ehh Almost 90% of October was excluded from free dining. So it wasn't that.
And just because the parks are packed, doesn't mean the resorts are... lots of offsite guest too.

 

[draybook]

Um, no. Generally the week after Labor Day through the 2nd or 3rd weekend of September is almost completely dead in the parks.

It's crowded now due to Halloween. Plain and simple. The parks learned how to market it.

Um, no. We've been going in early-mid September since 2008 and it's only gotten worse since 2011. So yeah, my comments still stand.

 

[MichWolv]

It's really just an illusion though. When you get "free" dining, you're paying rack rate for the room, which most guests NEVER pay. So what you save from not paying for the dining plan you make up for in the cost of the room. On the same token, when you actually pay for the dining plan you're usually getting a cheaper nightly rate on the room but the total cost adds up to roughly the rack rate for the room anyway in most cases. So there's no real savings either way.

Numbers don't lie. And I'm really good with numbers.

The rack rate I'm paying for my room for 12 days over Xmas and New Years is indeed quite high -- about $300 per night with tax. But I get free dining for four adults with that. At $60 per day per adult, that's $240. No discount would have been 80% off the rack rate, which is what it would have taken for all things to be equal.

Now, you can certainly make the argument that the dining plan isn't worth $60 per person per day, and that without it, I wouldn't have spent that much. And you'd be right -- my Tables in Wonderland discount, combined with eating less, probably means that the free dining plan only saves me around $45 per person per day, or $180, meaning that I'd only have needed to get a 60% discount on the room to make it all wash out in the end. That's probably not anything that was going to happen either. There is no way "the total cost adds up to roughly the rack rate" in this case.