Too many people? Hotels FULL!

[dinahvixen]

Hi, we're going down in 10 days and I extended part of my dad's stay for an extra two days after we leave. The ONLY hotel with room (a Sun, and Mon) was CBR. Do crazy full hotels mean huge crowds? We planned in Sept to avoid the crowds! Or are the hotels generally full anyway???

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

WOW!

I hope the parks aren't full because like you this is half of why we return in Sept. It's always been slow and not crowded then. We are staying at the CBR for the first time and I hope it's not packed. It's nice to not have kids running in the hall at 6 am waking you up. If it's packed it's more likely to happen.

[Pirate Granny]

No real corridors at CBR...I ask for a room on the second floor, less foot traffic, especially since there are no elevators...and it's probably so crowded due to free dining...which is one reason we aren't going until the end of the month...we were there last year during free dining, at the Pop and it was a zoo at meal time...we weren't on free dining...long story, but cheaper for us in the long run...
:pirate:

[Strmchsr]

You cannot gauge crowd levels at parks because of room availability. I see posts like this all the time with folks thinking the parks are going to be nuts because they checked online and couldn't find a room. Disney only releases the number of rooms they think they will use. If they expect 75% capacity, they will only have 75% capacity available. That's part of cost management. They won't want to have staff for all the rooms when all the rooms won't be full. That said, this free dining dining has become extremely popular so I would expect significantly larger crowds than previous years.

[Sean Riley Taylor's Mom]

That said, this free dining dining has become extremely popular so I would expect significantly larger crowds than previous years.

We love September and even though we can't get FD (DVC) we still decided to go during that time frame since the crowds in the parks are usually low. I know the resorts are usually a different story but, that does not bother me.

I think you might be right with the crowds being larger this year. :(

[MsMin]

I've been there a couple times with the rooms filled in Dec. during value season and the parks were not crowded. You would get swells sometimes when it seemed everyone hit the same park like a sold out MVMCP or a late EMH.
Free dining probably has a greater draw from the outside hotels --

[glenpreece]

I've been there a couple times with the rooms filled in Dec. during value season and the parks were not crowded. You would get swells sometimes when it seemed everyone hit the same park like a sold out MVMCP or a late EMH.
Free dining probably has a greater draw from the outside hotels --

That's what I think too. That there are just more people staying on property for free dining than off. We went last for fdp and it wasn't bad at all. We had gone in Aug the year before and found it to be the same or a bit less crowded than that year. As long as I can get a FP for Soarin' I am good!!!

[PeterPan]

You really cannot link resort capacity with park attendance. Think of it like this...if EVERY ROOM at EVERY RESORT were full, and ONLY Disney Resort guests were allowed into the parks, there still would be PLENTY OF ROOM for everyone. The parks hold HUGE amounts of people (up to 90,000 each). You could easily have a quarter of a MILLION guests on property and the theme parks will not have reached capacity.

A LIGHT day at the MK is 20,000 people. That's when you look around and hardly see a soul. 50,000 is managable in the MK. 75,000 and you are waiting in lines. 90,000 and you cannot move (like New Year's Night or 4th of July Spectacular).