Is this year different?

[Aurora]

This is a post for people who have been visiting the parks for years, mostly around the same time of year, but maybe on this year's trip, you noticed things were different. Either for better or worse.

Have you found a difference in the crowd levels, or the CMs, or the hours, or the transportation service, or the guests? Or did you find everything to be pretty much the same as your visits in past years? Or were you pleasantly surprised that you had a better experience than in the past?

I'm asking only for people who have visited this year, 2011, and compared it with past trips.

Just curious!

[MrPeetrie]

..Crowds were very heavy.
..Bus service was very, very efficient. Better than I ever remember.
..CMs blew me away. I'll post examples later.
..Hours were longer than I can ever remember for October. One day had regular hours of 8 a.m. - 1 a.m. at Magic Kingdom. No EMH either.

[Gator]

Everything seemed about the same for me. I stayed in Kidani in 2010 and Coronado in 2011. At both places, the bus service was really good. Both times, crowd levels were about the same. Hours were the same, too. Overall, I can't think of much that was different as far as service goes.

[cuteduck223]

We noticed bus service to actually be better this year too (with one minor exception involving an early breakfast bus!).

The photopass CM's seemed less interested than ever before, and we had a teenager with us on her very first trip (she came kind of as a nanny for us) and we had to ASK for both tinkerbell and stitch.

Otherwise, things were about the same. We were there the last week in january, and crowds were pretty light.

[Ian]

Hard for me to really compare, because I go so far back with WDW and unfortunately today's WDW just doesn't stack up with the WDW of old.

But during our May trip I found it generally more crowded and less magical than our trip in December 2010 (which was awesome). It was really busy, which I guess contributes in some way to the crankiness of the CM's, but it was pretty much just eh overall.

[TinkerbellT421]

Based on staying every January every year for the past 5 years. Its been pretty much the same, outside of the occasional busier weekend when we went during the Marathon and the weekend we went during MLK. But other than that

[Ms. Mode]

We have been twice this year and have a trip planned for New Year's of next; I have compared the crowd size and CM attitude from every time we have visited and I have to say that the crowds just seem to get bigger with every trip. I'm "Disney Poor" and both DH and I work full time and it took 20 years before we could vacation at WDW, how does everyone afford it? There must be a trick I'm missing out on.

Anyway, back to your question, during our August trip the Monorail was broken down at least three times in a two day period...never seen that before. The CMs were WONDERFUL! Our trip in August 2006 the CMs were NOT wonderful, or nice, or helpful...but that is the only time it has ever been that way.

[Doofenshmirtz]

We just went this month Oct. 13th - 18th. The crowd level was about the same as we have seen the last 4 years in Oct. The CM's were mostly pleasant. As for the Transportation it seemed faster than normal. But I did notice that the monorail closed 1hr. after the official park closing. Which meant that EMH at the MK there was no monorail for the "monorail resorts". I ask a CM why the change and they said it was due the constant break downs and not enough time to preform normal maintenance with all of the EMH and Party nights. So Maybe the monorail system has a whole will preform better.
Was just us or have there been many improvements to the rides. We noticed little things like the smoke ring in Pooh's ride working correctly, the sounds and special effects in POC were louder and clearer than usual. I was hit by an air cannon in POC where Barbossa is firing cannons in the ship scene. I have never had that happen in about 100 rides.
I heard things on Buzz that I've never heard before. I'm really loving the new cues too.

[LVT]

Our trip in May seemed a little more crowded, but otherwise the Magic was grand.

[waymickey]

We go every year around the same time in august and I think for the most part this year was the same EXCEPT:

CMS were less interested in guests and seemed like run of the mill amusment park attendants.

The parks were not as tidy as they were in years past. More garbageon the fround and in the bushes.

Bus service was even better then ever.

The food was very bland and it seemed it was the same choices everywhere we went. No variety chicken burgers hotdogs .... I miss veggies when I go to disney.

[TinkerbellsMom]

Over the years, I think the crowds have gotten heavier, however I do attribute it to the "free dining" that seems to have become more of norm lately. When we visited this past Sept. we thought it was the messiest we've seen the parks, especially Mk. Tables weren't bused promptly at counter service restaurants, food on the floor, bathrooms unkept...it was pretty gross at times and surprising as Sept. isn't considered busy.

[DisneyMom12]

It was definitely more crowded this year, and the Photopass were not as many places as they have been in years past. I had pre ordered the cd and book, but ended up just getting the book.

[TheVBs]

We've gone every couple of years since the girls were born. This year we were there 9/26-10/6. Can't compare crowds because we'd never been there that time of year before. But, the crowds seemed very manageable, only experienced really big crowds at the Halloween party and on a couple of EMH nights, which were also firsts for us. The CMs were FABULOUS!! Even all of the guests we interacted with were friendly, relaxed and courteous. The bus service was right on, we were thrilled with it.

[LauraByTheSea]

Just got back about 1 am this morning...

We go a few times a year, with a "big" trip in the fall, and the crowds this week were horrendous. I have never seen them so bad, even in the summer. People were not so stressful, though. Meaning guests were more polite than usual. Didn't get run into with a stroller once! And MNSSHP was packed. Magic was dissapointing for me when the Seven Dwarves weren't in Fantasyland.

As far as the rides, as someone else mentioned, got hit by the air cannon and splashed with water on 2 out of 3 trips on POTC. Never happened before, even earlier this year. And IASW seemed "off". The ducks STILL aren't quacking, but there was something else I can't put my finger on.

The counter service food seemed incredibly slow at MK and DHS. They are usually pretty quick, but we found ourselves waiting at least 5 minutes each time.

I'll be there again in 2 weeks for MVMCP, so we'll see!

[rubato]

Went in January and, in my opinion:
Crowds were a lot higher.
Food was a lot worse.
Parks were dirty.
CMs were still awesome.
Bus service was really good.
Hotel was less crowded (must be a lot of off site people). Ride times were crazy!!!!! Who ever heard of wait times over 90 minutes for Soarin in January?