Crowd Update - Who just got back from last week?

[Gregandmel]

So - just curious to know if the week of May 2-9 was as bas as everyone feared. This was a hot topic a month or so ago with crowd levels going from a 4-5 up to an 8-9 due to the promotions going on. If you were there last week - what did you all think??? Looking forward to some feedback on the park crowds! Hope all of you who went had a GREAT time no matter what though! :thumbsup:

[SBETigg]

I've been reading trip reports that seem to indicate crowds weren't nearly as bad as predicted. Still somewhat crowded, but not in the range that had been speculated.

[Strmchsr]

I was there May 2-9 and it was crowded, but not a 9. I saw 1 day that was an 8 for a while, but I would say an average for the week of about 6.5. There were times when it was a 7-8 and there were times when it was a 5. Crowds seemed to ebb and flow throughout the day. The worst line I saw was on May 7 when Test Track was 130 min and Soarin was 95. Most of the MK popular rides stayed in the 45-60 min range, though there were times when POTC and HM were 10 min. I even walked on POTC once. Using Fastpass everything was very manageable. You might can't do rides multiple times like during a less crowded time, but you can certainly do whatever you want. The worst thing throughout the week were the shows. They were packed to the gills so you had to wait in long lines and then be packed like sardines into the theater for all the shows.

[Belle_0717]

DH & I were there 5/3-5/8.

We felt the crowds were manageable but thought that the same time period two years ago, there were less guests. Disappointed that AK's PM EMH had E:E closed - never got to ride. Did hop over to MK and walked onto almost every ride we wanted - FP for BTMRR (20 min wait) but less than 5 min for SplMtn. Felt crowds 5/7 & 5/8 were unmanageable - grabbed some ice cream and headed back to SSR.

Planning next trip November 09 with family!

[DawsonAR]

We were there 5/2-5/9. We found it much more crowded than what I would normally expect for May but not at an 8 or 9 level. It was difficult from time to time and seemed to be busier on Thursday and Friday due to school trips.

[javamama]

We were there 4/27-5/4, we basically had the park(MK) to ourselves the first 4/5 days then it got busier towards the end of the week. Epcot was crowded Friday morning when we got there after breakfast, but not horrible this was due to school groups. Then we returned after dinner it was right during Illuminations so it was a bad time to walk into world showcase.

Ak was busy on Saturday but not crazy during late morning and early afternoon. Then around 7-8pm I returned to MK and it was fine, ds and I did a few rides w/in 1 1/2 hours.

HS was the same as AK Sunday late morning, but we still rode Toy Story and only waited 30 minutes---a shocker.
MK was open to 2am that night, but not really busy that night either.

Obviously the weekends are going to be busier than the week. I have no complaints at all, I was waiting for the huge masses of people to arrive, but was thrilled when they never showed up:secret: It was a great time crowd wise to go for us. It never was a 9 the whole time I was at a park, I could have been at the pool though working on my tan though during the 9's:D

[Mousemates]

Disappointed that AK's PM EMH had E:E closed - never got to ride.

what's the point of having EMH at AK without EE. Glad you were able to hop to MK.

[i'm grumpy]

We pretty much walked onto Pirates, Small World, Space Ship Earth. The wait for Toy Story was 100 min!! We said forget it. Only rode RNR once. :fit:

[barbiegirl314]

We were there 5/1-5/10 and I was pleasantly surprised at the crowd levels. I feared that it was going to be wall to wall people and it never happened. We walked on to Pirates, Peter Pan, Pooh, Test Track and Goofy coaster. We were able to get FP for Splash Mtn, Thunder Mtn, Soaring and Toy Story and they were all to be used within a two hour period. My husband and I kept saying to each other that we couldn't believe how great the crowds were.

[Strmchsr]

We walked on to Pirates, Peter Pan, Pooh, Test Track and Goofy coaster. We were able to get FP for Splash Mtn, Thunder Mtn, Soaring and Toy Story and they were all to be used within a two hour period.

That really shows the ebb and flow of the crowd because I also saw pretty much every day standby waits of over 45+ min for all of those rides except POTC, but we got lucky and were able (once) to walk on to Splash. A couple of hours later and the Splash standby time was 80 min.

[disneyfan328]

That really shows the ebb and flow of the crowd because I also saw pretty much every day standby waits of over 45+ min for all of those rides except POTC, but we got lucky and were able (once) to walk on to Splash. A couple of hours later and the Splash standby time was 80 min.

I have to agree with the above. you must have picked the right parks on the right days as we say pretty much the same crowds at strmchsr. test track at 120 mins and soarin at well over 90 but with fast pass it was doable. however when we went back to use our fast pass TT was down so we didn't get to ride until another day.

it was crowded but not unbearably so. the heat was what made it bad last week and there were some pretty rude people there. lots of line jumpers and people running into you and I swear people have forgotten that the word excuse me still works. If I am in your way and I don't realize it, just say excuse me and I'll be happy to move. you don't have to run me over!!!!!

Also I swear there was a school or tour group in every park we visited no matter the day. it made getting around the parks a little difficult.

[Bluesky481]

DH and I were also there May 2-9. I must admit I was a little concerned about the predictions before leaving for our trip, but was pleasantly surprised that we never really did experience the 8's or 9's we were anticipating. I personally felt most parks were in the 6 to 7ish levels--not terribly light, but manageable. My DH counted about 10 large groups on our first day in the parks (MK on Saturday). This seemed to be the trend throughout our stay--lots of school groups, but we were successful at steering clear of the mobs. We opened the parks, left around noon, and returned around 5:00, so we never did experience the peak crowds or crazy, hot weather. We had a blast, as always! :mickey:

[PetefromRI]

We were there May 2nd-11th and I'd say crowds were anywhere from 5-8 depending on which day and time you were there.Whatever park had the late EMH was the park to avoid which is another reason to get the parkhopper option.We also went early and at exactly 12:00 noon we went back to the pool until about 5:00 P.M..It was much busier than the last 2 Mays.We also noticed that on the 9th our resort(POFQ) filled up with alot of little ones and the pool was loaded with kids.It was extremely hot for early May but I didn't complain once after the winter we had.We'll be back every first week in May.

[MadMadamMim]

I was there May 5-12 and did not wait more than 20 minutes for any ride. I suppose it could be because my family knows how to best utilize fast passes but the crowds never seemed overwhelming. Mothers day was a little more crowded but no where near 8's and 9's in my opinion.

[Tinkerfreak]

I think crowds are going to pick up more now that the college kids are out.

[Hull-onian]

It was packed. Our resort POFQ was sold out. The upside, no wait for Splash Mountain. Ten minute wait for Buzz Lightyear. Had to get a FP for Peter Pan. We had to come back in about one hour. It wasn't bad. Soarin, got a FP and came back in three hours. Toy Story Mania, got a FP, went on it in about twenty minutes or so, then came back one hour later and rode it again. At Animal Kingdom, got on the Safari in about 30 minutes. Don't be fooled, it was packed. The weather very hot. We had a good time all the way around.

[Hull-onian]

We pretty much walked onto Pirates, Small World, Space Ship Earth. The wait for Toy Story was 100 min!! We said forget it. Only rode RNR once. :fit:

Pirates and the Jungle Cruise were both walk ons. I forgot about those two. Thx

[Hull-onian]

We were there May 2nd-11th and I'd say crowds were anywhere from 5-8 depending on which day and time you were there.Whatever park had the late EMH was the park to avoid which is another reason to get the parkhopper option.We also went early and at exactly 12:00 noon we went back to the pool until about 5:00 P.M..It was much busier than the last 2 Mays.We also noticed that on the 9th our resort(POFQ) filled up with alot of little ones and the pool was loaded with kids.It was extremely hot for early May but I didn't complain once after the winter we had.We'll be back every first week in May.

How come we didn't meet up? Betcha, we were in the pool at the same time, LOL

[TheVBs]

We just got back yesterday. Stayed the 2nd through the 11th. I was braced for huge crowds and I didn't think it was crowded at all! The only day we experienced big crowds was our last day there when we went to MK. Our first day was at MK, it was a Sunday with pm EMH. I thought it would be horrible, but we didn't wait for more than 15 minutes to get on any ride and I thought the crowd levels were very, very manageable! Low even. Our longest wait was for the Fairies - 75 minutes. But worth it! Unfortunately there was a family that was shamelessly line jumping. :mad: The wife was in the fairies line trying to edge ahead of everyone, the husband hopped over to the princess line and just cut in front of 75% of the people there!! When it was our turn to head into Pixie Hollow the wife tried to follow right along with us. The CM asked if she was with us, and she said yes!!! We obviously turned around and said "NO!!" It was truly unbelievable. But, silver lining here, because of that rude little incident, a CM stood by and took us straight to the princesses right after our Pixie Hollow session. :cloud9:

[epceddie]

Allison and I were at Epcot on Friday, May 8, and we found the crowds very manageable. We waited about 10 minutes to ride test track, Finding Nemo was a walk on and we got right on Soarin' with a fastpass. We rode Spaceship Earth twice with no waits and we were among the first people in line when Universe of Energy opened after going down for technical reasons.
We were at the park for opening and we headed back to OKW about 1 p.m. for lunch and a swim. We returned to Epcot about 7:30 and staked out a spot for Illuminations, which was very crowded. We ended up having our view blocked by careless people who sauntered in about five minutes before the fireworks started. That really ticked me off, but after the fireworks, we got right on Test Track and we headed back to Soarin, which had a 35-minute wait. We ended our day with return trips to Finding Nemo and SE, and headed to our car tired, but content.

[PetefromRI]

How come we didn't meet up? Betcha, we were in the pool at the same time, LOL

That's a shame.I was the guy with powdered sugar all over his face and Red Sox shirt.I did think about you a few times but other than yell at the top of my lungs"HEY HULL-ONIAN",I didn't know how to find you.What a wonderful resort though,isn't it?

[Utopia74]

Was there May 2nd - May 8th. Definitely not 8's and 9's, LOL. Maybe slightly more crowded than last year in May? I never believed those crowd predictions for a second..

[Utopia74]

what's the point of having EMH at AK without EE. Glad you were able to hop to MK.

We were there, it was only closed for a very short time. Not sure what the issue was, but I'm guessing it was shut down for maybe 30 minutes at the most.

[FenwayGirl]

We just got back last night (5-14 through 5-19) and I am happy to report that UC tourist was off, off, off. We never waited for more than 15 minutes (thanks to Fast Pass). We actually rode TSM 4 times on Saturday. There were still fast passes left at 4PM...highly unusual..:cloud9:

[estein80]

DH, very young dd, and I were there May 10 - 14. We were presently surprised that the crowds really weren't that bad. I think the longest wait we had was 20 minutes for PoC, but we did see longer waits. I don't think there was anything over 65-70 minutes.

[Epcot guy]

i was there May 10th to May17
Crowds were around level 3 may 10th at the kingdom
The rest of the week they predicted 8/9 crowd levels but they were off a bit.
Crowds were at level 5/6 and the most i waited was around 15min for most rides.
Rides like soarin, Peter Pan, Toy story were at 100min, but if Disney only allowed 100 people in the park all 100 people would only ride those 3 rides it seems.
That was my first time on Toy Story and for some reason i beat my DW all the time. Some people told me that men will always have the high score on that game and if you rode it before you will know why

[peemagg]

We were there May 13-20. We found the crowds quite manageable. The only place that was a total zoo was at DTD, go figure! The rest of the time in the 3 parks that we went to we were able to do all we wanted to and sometimes multiple times with very little wait. We did however see lines longer than 20 minutes and people around them grumbling because a. either they didn't know how to use fastpasses or b. they waited until after all the fast passes were issued and then tried to ride. If you do your homework it was very doable.

[tjstrike]

i was there May 10th to May17
Crowds were around level 3 may 10th at the kingdom
The rest of the week they predicted 8/9 crowd levels but they were off a bit.
Crowds were at level 5/6 and the most i waited was around 15min for most rides.
Rides like soarin, Peter Pan, Toy story were at 100min, but if Disney only allowed 100 people in the park all 100 people would only ride those 3 rides it seems.
That was my first time on Toy Story and for some reason i beat my DW all the time. Some people told me that men will always have the high score on that game and if you rode it before you will know why



HaHa, now that's funny !!! :D

[tinkerddeedee]

WOW! I must really hate crowds because we were there 5/9-5/15 and we thought it was oober busy!!! Of course the only thing I have to compare it too is when we went 6 years ago (same exact week) and it was MUCH less busy then!
We did a lot of FP and only waited the amounts listed, so that was VERY nice. Would have been a very sad trip had we not utilized the FP!!! There were a few non-FP rides that we waited 20-30 mins for, but I guess thats not TOO bad. It was amazing to see some of the wait times at 100 mins! No way!!!

[Strmchsr]

Honestly, every time of the year is way more crowded than it was 6 years ago. Disney marketing has increased attendance across the boards, which is why you'll hear many of us who go regularly say there really isn't a slow time any more.

[atnextc]

We were there from 5/13 to 5/26 and it was crazy crowded at all the parks even with the horrible rain storms that we had. We waited at the TTC for 2 hours for the rain to stop and literally saw 10 thousand people leaving MK. So once the rain stopped MK was a ghost town. It was cool b/c the park was scheduled to close at 11 but they came on the intercom and said that the park was closing at 12 now instead. :)

Plus it was star wars weekend at DHS which was crowded as well. FYI 13 days is way to long to go with a 3 month old, 2 year old and a 6yr old. Never again will we go that long again.

[Live4WDW]

I have to agree with the above. you must have picked the right parks on the right days as we say pretty much the same crowds at strmchsr. test track at 120 mins and soarin at well over 90 but with fast pass it was doable. however when we went back to use our fast pass TT was down so we didn't get to ride until another day.

it was crowded but not unbearably so. the heat was what made it bad last week and there were some pretty rude people there. lots of line jumpers and people running into you and I swear people have forgotten that the word excuse me still works. If I am in your way and I don't realize it, just say excuse me and I'll be happy to move. you don't have to run me over!!!!!

Also I swear there was a school or tour group in every park we visited no matter the day. it made getting around the parks a little difficult.
That's what scares me. Rude people. I get so :mad: at people that run into me and don't have the decency to say I'm sorry or excuse me. I don't want to be a mean person to them. There are accidents of course, however most of the times it is just shear rudeness and a lack of caring for others. DW and I are going Nov 30th - Dec 6th and I hope the crowds are allright, more so maybe all the rude people won't be able to find their way to WDW. :thumbsup:

[Spaceship Tigger]

We were there May 15-22. We were actually surprised that the crowds were not higher. We were able to do pretty much everything we wanted to do without long waits. Of course we go to the parks at opening and know how to use Fastpasses...

I didn't see things get really crowded in the MK until Friday the 22nd of Memorial Day weekend. Overall the days were definitely not 8 or 9 level and I thought were no worse than our last trip in September 2007.

[PrettyMinnie]

That's what scares me. Rude people. I get so :mad: at people that run into me and don't have the decency to say I'm sorry or excuse me. I don't want to be a mean person to them. There are accidents of course, however most of the times it is just shear rudeness and a lack of caring for others. DW and I are going Nov 30th - Dec 6th and I hope the crowds are allright, more so maybe all the rude people won't be able to find their way to WDW. :thumbsup:

I agree rude people are THE WORST! One woman ran over my foot with her HUGE stroller and didn't even stop. Another woman stomped on my friend's foot while riding the Walt Disney World Railroad and didn't say sorry. She was really obnoxious. And of course cutting in line was annoying for both rides and buses...But we had a great trip. :minnie: