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Disney World Hasn’t Felt This Empty in Years

dioxide45 said:
Isn’t much of March considered Spring Break in many areas up and down the east coast. Spring Break is prime time. Prime spring weeks will depend on when Easter falls.
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Spring break in FL is in March. The busiest times will be the week before & after Easter, week of Thanksgiving and the weeks of Xmas/NY. While there may be some temporary slow downs, the relative size of the crowds do not vary nearly as much as they used to with various events including International Flower Festive & Food & Wine Festival being extended. Unless you're hitting those weeks I mentioned, the day of the week is probably more important than which month one goes with weekends being much busier than weekdays.
 
Dean said:
The busiest times will be the week before & after Easter, week of Thanksgiving and the weeks of Xmas/NY...the day of the week is probably more important than which month one goes with weekends being much busier than weekdays.
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This has been our experience as well...though I would add President's Day weekend (though not the attached week). Compared to these dates, visiting WDW in summer is (if you'll excuse the expression) a walk in the park.
 
ljmiii said:
This has been our experience as well...though I would add President's Day weekend (though not the attached week). Compared to these dates, visiting WDW in summer is (if you'll excuse the expression) a walk in the SWAMP.
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Fixed your post for you ;)
 
simpsontruckdriver said:
Not to mention, between January and late March is Disney (and Orlando in general) low-demand times. If you can make a vacation these months, come on down! Florida residents get great discounts, and people in general get lower theme park tickets compared with Summer and Christmas.

TS
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Mid March is peak Spring Break. The Florida Resident Pixie pass isn't even valid during the last two weeks of March.
 
Ixchel said:
Mid March is peak Spring Break. The Florida Resident Pixie pass isn't even valid during the last two weeks of March.
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That’s probably related to Easter falling on March 31. The week before and week after Easter are the busiest other than Christmas/New Year’s. During years when Easter is later, March is still busy with Spring Break, but not quite as bad as this year. The DVC points chart moves around with Easter, too.
 
Crossing my fingers that mid June will have lower crowds - but I assume that because some schools are already out - the lower crowds are likely not gonna happen.
 
Cyberc said:
Crossing my fingers that mid June will have lower crowds - but I assume that because some schools are already out - the lower crowds are likely not gonna happen.
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Been there mid June a number of times and it's very busy. It seemed just as busy as the 4th which is our usual week there these days. I haven't been the first week of June which I suspect is slightly less busy but schools in the South are generally out by or before the first week of June, often by the Memorial Day weekend. MVC expanded Platinum to weeks 22-34 for Barony and Surfwatch over the Platinum season at Grande Ocean and before. Also the fact that MGO points jump from 4000 per week in April/May to 5400 the entire month of June (before week of 4th) doesn't bode well for things being less busy. When the kids were home we vacationed the first week of June most years and it was a little less busy and cheaper than later but not to HHI for that week.
 
Cyberc said:
Crossing my fingers that mid June will have lower crowds - but I assume that because some schools are already out - the lower crowds are likely not gonna happen.
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But what will happen is the thunderstorm at 4:05 PM!
 
chapjim said:
But what will happen is the thunderstorm at 4:05 PM!
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People will still go. As I have said elsewhere, if a person/family shelled out thousands to spend several days at WDW, they are not going to let a short Florida thunderstorm stop them! The only thing that will change is WDW will shut down the SkyLiner and shut down rides like Thunder Mountain.

TS
 
Haven't been back since we experienced Genie plus. I laughed when I saw a commercial for Disney talking about getting your face out of your phone when Genie forces you to spend all day on your phone managing the nonsense.
 
So...just wrapped up a week at WDW during Spring Break...though not either of the Easter Weeks.

The beginning of the week was busy but not bad. Genie+ was of great value at all four parks and while the crowds were substantial they were not overwhelming. Thu/Fri/Sat were a different story - wall to wall people, Genie+ yielded one good ride and one OK one, and the wait for the EPCOT DVC lounge was 2+ hours!!!

Nevertheless and despite the ever increasing crowds, a wonderful time was had by all. Knock on wood we'll be back the same time next year.
 
ljmiii said:
So...just wrapped up a week at WDW during Spring Break...though not either of the Easter Weeks.

The beginning of the week was busy but not bad. Genie+ was of great value at all four parks and while the crowds were substantial they were not overwhelming. Thu/Fri/Sat were a different story - wall to wall people, Genie+ yielded one good ride and one OK one, and the wait for the EPCOT DVC lounge was 2+ hours!!!

Nevertheless and despite the ever increasing crowds, a wonderful time was had by all. Knock on wood we'll be back the same time next year.
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This is Walt Disney World's high demand time, which everyone else calls "Spring Break". I usually drive 36 hours per week, but last week, I worked 45 hours (nice batch of OT). Everyone goes to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT is #2 and Animal Kingdom/Hollywood Studios are #3. It will slow down slightly between March and May, once Summer begins.

TS
 
chapjim said:
But what will happen is the thunderstorm at 4:05 PM!
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Like clockwork, and after it pours 1-3 inches of rain in an hour, the air is still muggy. It's always humid during summer in Orlando.
 
WDW is still at five alarm fire status with respect to attendance. All you need to do is look at their latest ticket deal (which runs form April 2 - September 22 and includes part of the Easter week and Fourth of July) to see that. They’re always going to have crowds during spring break, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter, but they are down the rest of the year (and Christmas this year was lower than a normal Christmas too). Their summer projections must be abysmal based on those ticket prices.
 
dioxide45 said:
I can't read the article, but was watching a podcast last week where they were talking about how bookings are down quite a bit for summer and beyond for Disney World. It seems the aggressive price increases have finally caught up to them?
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That and the amount of effort to link reservations, buy tickets, reserve parks.... traveling with a crowd is herding cats at best, but they made it worse. I realize they have done away with some of the obstacles, but if I have to watch instructional videos to understand how to book rides, give me an E ticket. We used to get up and say, where do we want to go today? Now a military operation. I know, an old boomer, but minute to minute planning is not magic. Sold half our points.
 
chunkygal said:
That and the amount of effort to link reservations, buy tickets, reserve parks.... traveling with a crowd is herding cats at best, but they made it worse. I realize they have done away with some of the obstacles, but if I have to watch instructional videos to understand how to book rides, give me an E ticket. We used to get up and say, where do we want to go today? Now a military operation. I know, an old boomer, but minute to minute planning is not magic. Sold half our points.
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You will get no argument out of me on that- i have been an obsessive Disney planner since 1994, but I enjoyed it. 10 month mark finalize room reservation & dining plan 180 days book dining & activities, 90 days secure fast passes.

Now at 60 days chaos reigns trying to nail down everything before dawn, pay a subscription bot service to get me last minute reservations for dining. A different bot service to secure rides. Once arrive I have to stay up till midnight everynight to buy G+ and hope that bots do their job so I can sleep past 6 am.

Add in the craziness that as annual pass-holders we still need reservations and I find we are spending more time at Universal & Seaworld.
 
chunkygal said:
That and the amount of effort to link reservations, buy tickets, reserve parks.... traveling with a crowd is herding cats at best, but they made it worse. I realize they have done away with some of the obstacles, but if I have to watch instructional videos to understand how to book rides, give me an E ticket. We used to get up and say, where do we want to go today? Now a military operation. I know, an old boomer, but minute to minute planning is not magic. Sold half our points.
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FWIW, park reservations did go away for all but annual pass holders.
 
I was at all four parks this weekend (June 1-3) and they were pretty crowded and hot. Even Disney Springs was packed.
 
Im going the week after next week and maybe I’m being naive but I’m hoping for low crowds. 🤞
 
Fido Chuckwagon said:
FWIW, park reservations did go away for all but annual pass holders.
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Park reservations are still required for other non date specific ticket types as well.
 
ljmiii said:
Park reservations are still required for other non date specific ticket types as well.
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Which other tickets besides AP are not date specific?
The 4 days 1 different park each day tix are to the best of my knowledge also date specific.
 
Cyberc said:
Which other tickets besides AP are not date specific?
The 4 days 1 different park each day tix are to the best of my knowledge also date specific.
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Tickets purchased through military MWR ticket offices, at least the multi-day park hopper ones I usually get, are not date-specific.
 
Cyberc said:
Which other tickets besides AP are not date specific?
The 4 days 1 different park each day tix are to the best of my knowledge also date specific.
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As @sponger76 wrote, there are non date specific military tickets. I believe there are (or at least were) promotional and castmember tickets as well.
 
So, the summer promo 4 parks/1 day each which is dated, but not for a particular park/day does not need reservations?
 
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