Current crowds?

[MarkC]

Just curious if gas prices and the state of the economy are having any affect on park attendance this summer. I'm sure it's still crowded, but does anyone have any comparisons to the most recent couple of summers? Just curious since we will be there in 7 weeks. Thanks, Mark

[djsharp]

I read on another board that someone had been there over Memorial Day weekend and they said it felt less crowded then in previous visits for a holiday weekend. 15-20 minute wait times and everything.

[Lodger]

I'm sorry I don't know the answer to this, but I am also curious about the effect of high gas prices too.

[CaptSmee]

From what I hear it's crowded, but not that crowded...does that make any sense?:confused:

[stephntampa]

I was at Mk twice last week, on the 17th and the 19th. Both days I got there around 1:00 PM and the place was packed. We don't ride any of the mountains, Pooh was 40 minute stand-by, Peter Pan was 60 minute stand-by, but fass passes were still available. All of the seasonal food operations/carts seem to be in full swing, lines everywhere. Walking through Fronteirland was an exercise in patience. Conversely, we were at HS on the 19th early AM (9:30) and it was delightful. We bee-lined to TSM, grabbed a fastpass then got in line for the ride. HS was quiet the whole time we were there. I know it was AM EMH at MK on both the 17th and 19th, maybe that was the reason?

[Texas Tinkerbell Too]

I know this is comparing apples to oranges, but we went to Six Flags Over Texas on Friday. I had told my boys on the way there that we would probably only get to ride a few rides because it was going to be crowded. We arrived 3 hours after the park opened. We parked in one of the front lots (which almost never happens). There were no crowds once we got into the park. We walked up to most of the rides. It was GREAT! I was also told that SFOT had lowered their park admission price due to the effect the economy was having on park attendance.

I know I should not compare SFOT to WDW. :nono: But, I would think WDW might be feeling some of the impact also.

[Fangorn]

We're at the World now, and the crowds are pretty heavy. Magic Kingdom on Thursday was very crowded. 45 minutes for HM, 90 minutes for Peter Pan (Fastpasses sold out), 20 minutes for Pooh. Even IASW had a 20-30 minute wait.

On the other hand, the park was open to midnight, but it literally drained of people after the fireworks at 10. We watched the second SpectroMagic from Frontierland and it was virtually deserted.

On Friday evening, Soarin' was a 90 minute wait (even though the sign said 50).

Yesterday we went to the Studios for the Star Wars Weekend. I anticipated crowds, but it didn't think it would be that crowed. We didn't get there until 11:15, and tried to go straight to Toy Story Mania. It took us 20 minutes just to wend our way through the masses of people. When we got to TSM, fastpasses were all gone (one of the CMs said they were gone by 10:30) and the standby sign said 80 minutes. Since the outside portion of the line was just a few people long, and this was our first time on TSM, we chose to go for it. 2 hours later we were still waiting in line, and finally got to play at about the 130 minute mark. When we walked by there later in the evening, the outside queue was quite long and the sign said 50 minutes. We asked the CM and she said, it was more like 150 minutes.

We left DHS around 6, went to POR and had a fine dinner at Boatwrights. But even there it seemed more crowded than I remember it being.

Steve

[Nascfan]

Just back, gas prices and the economy do not seem to be affecting WDW attendance at this time. Seemed to be pretty typical summertime levels, with Star Wars Weekends taking some away from the other parks on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

[junedis]

We just got back from our trip June 19-22, and it was crowded and hot. But, I will say we got a ton of riding in during parades and during both MK evening EMH. We never did the mornings, but really enjoyed the evenings! Have a great trip!!:mickey: