Walt Disney World guests being turned away at the gate

[simpsontruckdriver]

This is NOT the time to go to Disney World in Orlando. Too many tourists, not enough room in the parks, VERY long wait times. As a result, ONLY annual passholders are allowed in. If you're buying, you would be turned away.

Walt Disney World turning away guests

TS

 

[lily28]

When we went to Magic Kingdom at 10:30 am today from Animal Kingdom Lodge, the Disney bus has to take an alternative 30 min long route to the park. When we left Magic Kingdom at 12:30 pm, we saw the road toward the entry to Magic Kingdom was like a parking lot of cars stretching all the way to near Swan. I was very happy to have fast pass plus today at the park. The wait for different rides was unbelievable.

 

[Big Matt]

That's why I don't go during Christmas or Spring Break. Disney is a totally different experience when it isn't crowded. When it is crowded it just isn't worth it no matter how much you paid to get in.

 

[MichaelColey]

New Year's Eve is always the busiest day of the year, and MK always has periodic shutdowns that day.

 

[riverdees05]

We went one time over the Christmas Holidays, several years ago. Our daughter went to Magic Kingdom and was only able to ride two rides all day. It was crazy!

 

[alwysonvac]

Yep, this is to be expected around Easter, between Christmas and New Year's Eve and sometimes during the 4th of July.

From Touring Plans - http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/capacity-closures

Likelihood of Park Closure
All four Disney World theme parks have reached some level of closure in the past. As the most visited theme park in the world, Magic Kingdom is the park most likely to experience capacity-based closures during busy times of year. Due to its size, Epcot is the least likely to close. Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom have smaller capacities and are more likely to close than Epcot.

The two water parks (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon) regularly reach their capacities during the summer

Closures
Disney uses different closure "phases" to gradually restrict the types of guests allowed into a theme park. Closures start at Phase 1 and progress up to Phase 4, where no additional guests of any sort are allowed into the park. Phased closures do not necessarily last all day: for example, if Magic Kingdom is under a Phase 4 closure at 10:00 a.m. on Christmas, sufficient guests might leave by 7:00 p.m. that all restrictions on park entry are lifted.

At WDW MAGIC, you can find historical information regarding Magic Kingdom closures.
It has history dating back to 2009 - http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/magic-kingdom/news.htm

For example on 12/31/2013 it states:
9:40am EST: The Magic Kingdom is currently closed to some guests due to reaching capacity (phase 2 - December 31 2013, 9:40am EST).
11:04am EST: Magic Kingdom is now at phase 3 closing.
8:00pm EST: Magic Kingdom has reopened to all guests.

 

[jeffcarp]

We are there this week and will remain until Friday. We've been to Magic Kingdom on Saturday, Universal Island of Adventure on Sunday and Hollywood Studios last night for New Years Eve. Despite the massive crowds, it is absolutely amazing to us how dead these parks still are the first couple hours of the morning. We arrived at those three parks by about 7 a.m. each day and through both strategic selections of the first ride and smart use of the FastPass we had most of the good rides in before lunch. We also found that if you eat lunch around 11 o'clock and dinner around 4 o clock that you don't have to fight any crowds for food either. It is amazing to walk right onto a ride like Peter Pan and then walk by it later and see 150 minute waits.

We didn't pay for the Express Pass at Universal. At rope drop we immediately did all of the Harry Potter rides and then had Hulk and Spiderman done by 10 a.m. that day in addition.

We enjoyed our afternoons just walking around the parks, people watching, taking lots of pictures ourselves and with the park photographers and doing a lot of the shows and parades without having to worry about the rides. Our longest wait so far has been 30 minutes for the animation drawing class at Hollywood Studios. Most rides were walk-ons or short FastPass waits.

By far, the busiest for us has been Hollywood studios last night. We had fast passes for both Aerosmith and Haunted Mansion before noon and return times were not until nearly 10 o'clock last night.

Despite massive crowds this week there are still ways to enjoy every one of these parks with some planning.

 

[BocaBum99]

This is NOT the time to go to Disney World in Orlando. Too many tourists, not enough room in the parks, VERY long wait times. As a result, ONLY annual passholders are allowed in. If you're buying, you would be turned away.

Walt Disney World turning away guests

TS

I would wait until next week and things will be much better.

 

[petertdavis]

When are the best times (ie, least crowded) to go to WDW?

 

[Big Matt]

September, the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, the first two weeks of December, and most of January are usually pretty good options.

 

[Talent312]

When are the best times (ie, least crowded) to go to WDW?

There are websites which discuss this. Google is your friend.
Briefly, weekdays when school is in session, but not holiday weeks or Spring break weeks.

Sent from my KFJWI using Tapatalk 2

 

[alwysonvac]

When are the best times (ie, least crowded) to go to WDW?

Yep, there are lots of websites that discuss the best and worst times. Here are a few:
- http://allears.net/pl/attend.htm
- http://www.mousesavers.com/walt-dis...asked-questions-about-walt-disney-world/#busy
- http://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-...ext-best-dates/best-and-worst-times-to-visit/

 

[mommaO3]

I always go to florida, especially orlando in feb - march or late october till mid nov. always had good weather in march and nov.

 

[lizap]

I use to think we wanted to buy DVC, but we're getting too old to wait in long lines...

 

[talkamotta]

I always go to florida, especially orlando in feb - march or late october till mid nov. always had good weather in march and nov.

I agree completely. Florida is wonderful and if you decide to go to the beach on either coast in Oct/Nov the water is still warm.

 

[Dojan123]

Just got back from Magic Kingdom. Started at 7:45 am. I took a lunch/rest break from 1-4 at HGVC Sea World and left around 11:15 pm. First two hours were great. Little to no crowds. As I left around lunch time the crowds started to packed in. Around 9 pm lines were better again.

Overall I think the crowds were okay for the Saturday after New Years.


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[kjsgrammy]

We are visiting WDW this week. Went to Epcot yesterday. According to one of the crowd calendars, it was supposed to be an "8", but we had no problems getting fast passes (regular, not fastpass+) and going on what we wanted. Saw the "shows" we wanted (France waiter/server act; Voices of Liberty - America; and Chinese acrobats - OMG are these young people great!). We have FL annual passes and have definately gotten our $'s worth out of them, though I'm about "disney'd out" and not sure we are going to renew them in February.

Tuesday's crowd calendar is predicting crowd level of "2" for the parks. Can't wait to see how that compares to an "8".

Today is a "pool day" at our resort (staying off Disney property). Tennis in AM, then lazy river and margarita's in afternoon !

 

[timeos2]

That's why I don't go during Christmas or Spring Break. Disney is a totally different experience when it isn't crowded. When it is crowded it just isn't worth it no matter how much you paid to get in.

Amen to that.

 

[MichaelColey]

We are visiting WDW this week. Went to Epcot yesterday. According to one of the crowd calendars, it was supposed to be an "8", but we had no problems getting fast passes (regular, not fastpass+) and going on what we wanted. ... Tuesday's crowd calendar is predicting crowd level of "2" for the parks. Can't wait to see how that compares to an "8".

Epcot was the most recommended park (by that site) on Saturday, so it's not surprising that the crowds were fairly light at Epcot. Most guests went to MK (to wrap up their trips) or HS (to take advantage of EMH), and many guests were at Epcot Friday night for EMH (and thus wouldn't have come on Saturday). So even though WDW as a whole saw fairly big crowds, Epcot would have been relatively light.

You'll see even less crowds on Tuesday, especially if you continue to focus on recommended parks. Most of the vacationers headed home yesterday or today.