any crowd updates??

[FenwayGirl]

we are booked 5-14 through 5-19...

[Strmchsr]

The crowd prediction calendars are still saying 8-9 out of 10 on the crowd levels for the whole month of May and the trend towards higher than normal crowds seems to be continuing.

[DisneyorBust]

Considering the downturn in the economy, any guess as to why the crowds are higher than normal? :confused:

[Captain_Nemo]

Because of the promotions WDW has been offering to guests. The buy 4 get 3 deal reserved many rooms quickly, even in Moderate - Deluxe resorts. With its success came extension of the promotion thru the rest of 2009 I believe. Disney is also adding free dining plan for guest who book before, end June I think? That promotion will no doubt be extended. I was in WDW during off peak dates in Jan and it was still pretty much packed. I picked this time 4/26 - 5/3 as it is usually off peak but I am not holding my breath!

[Captain_Nemo]

Oh and also Southwest Airlines $52 each way flights to MCO (Orlando Intl.). From PHL (Philly)anyway :thumbsup:

[morebroccoli]

Because of the promotions WDW has been offering to guests. The buy 4 get 3 deal reserved many rooms quickly, even in Moderate - Deluxe resorts. With its success came extension of the promotion thru the rest of 2009 I believe. !


the 4/3 deal only runs through the middle of August i believe. i know you cant book that deal anymore. Thank goodness too cause if the 4/3 deal was going on along with the food and wine fest AND free dining... well, my Sept trip would be like the 4th of july.

[Captain_Nemo]

yea I hope disney keeps it up every year though, I saved alot of money getting 4/3 deal. southwest always has cheap flights this time of year if you book early enough. usually first flights out in the morning are the cheapest.

[BMan62]

Oh and also Southwest Airlines $52 each way flights to MCO (Orlando Intl.). From PHL (Philly)anyway :thumbsup:

That must be on today's sale. Tickets are still $69 out of Baltimore!!! Waiting for them to drop before I buy in.

4/3 ends August 15th. 'Free' DDP starts August 16th and runs through October 3rd. They are NOT concurrent.

[doodleboy]

yea I hope disney keeps it up every year though, I saved alot of money getting 4/3 deal. southwest always has cheap flights this time of year if you book early enough. usually first flights out in the morning are the cheapest.

Did you really save that much $$? After looking at it you have to book rooms at rack rate. I looked at doing this for a week at the Floridian and was not that impressed by my savings. I think that I have gotten close to this in the past with AP, not sure about AAA.

[mickey001]

I just returned, and the crowds were not so busy during spring break (4/17-4/24 we stayed) but maybe thats just me, get there early and you should be fine. Heck, don't take my word for it just go there!

[Captain_Nemo]

Did you really save that much $$? After looking at it you have to book rooms at rack rate. I looked at doing this for a week at the Floridian and was not that impressed by my savings. I think that I have gotten close to this in the past with AP, not sure about AAA.

the value resorts is where your going to save the most money at. I am staying at Pop Century and for upgrade to Port Orleans it was $360 more for the seven night stay. I declined the upgrade (IMO I don't go to WDW to sit at the hotel though I do think they are amazing to visit)

2 Guests
7 night stay Disney's Pop Century Resort
7 day Magic your way w/ park hopper option
$1062

Southwest Airlines
PHL-MCO Round Trip
total price for (2) guests combined
$278.40

GRAND TOTAL w/out dining plan that I added later on
$1340.40 for 2 guests

Flight leaves in T-12:24:34 and counting :) no way I am sleeping tonight!

[dmosher]

My guess is that for now we will see higher crowds as those who have pre-planned their trips go to WDW. Once that has passed, I expect to see a slight decrease in crowds by the end of summer, early autumn.
:pipes:
D

[SBETigg]

Just got back (April 19-25) and was pleasantly surprised by very manageable crowds. One site that tracks crowds had them listed as a 7 for the week out of 10, but I would say it was between 4-6. We never waited long. We got on all of our favorite rides, often with no need for fastpass. Either we picked the right parks on the right days or things were not nearly as crowded as predicted. We did run into a lot of MA and NY people, which is no surprise considering the school breaks going on up here for the week. I would plan for crowds, but not stress about it. Getting started early in the day instead of sleeping in and starting later usually does help.

[PetefromRI]

The 4/3 deal is actually similar to the bounce back or AP deals.It just sounds great when they say 3 days of passes free which amounts to about 6.00 per person.I'm not saying it's bad,I bit on the deal,but I've seen deals just as good in the past.Actually you'd get the best bang for your buck by staying in the higher end resorts.3 free nights at a value is about 300.00,3 free nights at the Poly is about 1100.00.

[marlaine]

I booked our trip at the Poly for this Sept. back in February. I got a 40% off room pin in my e-mail account. For a 5 night stay, I saved about $800.00!:)
When they came out with the free dining, I called and was told that you can't get 2 types of discounts at once. The operator on the phone figured it out for me and I was saving more with the 40% off than the free dining.
Between the great offer and cheap plane fare, we're saving about $1700.00 from last year!

[Grim Grinning Marathon Runner]

I just don't get it. The crowd calendar sites have it listed as around a 7/10, but the park hours are LATE!! That other park in town closes at 6:00 for the next little while. What is up??

[c&d]

Just got back (April 19-25) and was pleasantly surprised by very manageable crowds. One site that tracks crowds had them listed as a 7 for the week out of 10, but I would say it was between 4-6. We never waited long. We got on all of our favorite rides, often with no need for fastpass.

:ditto:

We were at Studios Wednesday and ToT was a walk on at about 3:00pm. We did it 4 times in a row. For EMH hours TSM was only about 15 min wait.

The only real wait we had was on Saturday the 18th, there was quite the wait for SM. We got to the park at about 4:00pm and our FP's were for 11:10pm. Even TTA was crowded that night. I guess everyone wanted one last ride. :D

I was really amazed at how empty the parks seemed to be. And we never get to the parks before noon. All in all I was very pleasantly surprised by the non crowds.

[FenwayGirl]

Bump.

touring plan is predicting crowds between 8 and 9 starting today. Any updates?

[i'm grumpy]

We booked 5 days but seem to be missing the EMH and the regular hours are short. :(

[Captain_Nemo]

crowds were not bad at all last week. Last weekend was a little heavier because I think there was a cheerleading championship going on, there was cheerleaders everywhere lol.

[Captain_Nemo]

BTW I guess I got there the day SM and TTA went down for rehab, MK just was not the same.:(

[Strmchsr]

Bump.

touring plan is predicting crowds between 8 and 9 starting today. Any updates?

I would say crowd levels have been more at a 6 or 7 this week given the criteria they have. They've definitely been heavy and the "main" attraction rides at MK have been 45+ min almost all the time (Pooh, BTMRR, Peter Pan, etc). Splash has been hovering in the 30 min range. At the other parks times have seemed to ebb and flow. Sometimes long lines, other times not so bad. So, not the 8 or 9 predicted, but still much heavier than normal early May crowds. Using Fastpass it's been manageable.

[sillyolbear]

I would say crowd levels have been more at a 6 or 7 this week given the criteria they have. They've definitely been heavy and the "main" attraction rides at MK have been 45+ min almost all the time (Pooh, BTMRR, Peter Pan, etc). Splash has been hovering in the 30 min range. At the other parks times have seemed to ebb and flow. Sometimes long lines, other times not so bad. So, not the 8 or 9 predicted, but still much heavier than normal early May crowds. Using Fastpass it's been manageable.

Thanks for the update. Hope the crowds stay the same through next week.

Enjoy the rest of your vacation!

[FenwayGirl]

bump