Early June Crowds

[TimK]

Any early June vets care to take a shot at defining crowd levels for me? I'll give a quick rundown of my past trip perceptions to help.

Our last two trips were March '08 (a couple weeks before Easter, I believe) and February '07 (week before President's Day.) We have also visited several times in May, January, September and early December.

I do tend to plan things out in advance. We typically do NOT do EMH mornings. We'll specifically avoid the EMH morning parks and try to arrive within an hour of opening. I use a number of different planning resources to help pick the best parks to visit each day. Sometimes we do EMH nights, but I know the crowds can vary from one night to another.

With all of that planning and effective use of FastPass, we normally don't wait more than 15 minutes for any attraction..and that's over ALL of our previous trips.

Here's an example of what we are used to seeing:

Arrive at Epcot near opening
Get FPs for Soarin. Return time is usually 1-2 hours out
Ride Nemo and visit Living Seas (no wait)
Ride JIYI (no wait)
Ride Soarin (FPs)
Get FPs for Test Track. Return time is usually 1-2 hours out
Ride Mission Space via Standby (wait time around 20 min or less)
Visit Innoventions (optional)
Eat Lunch
Ride Test Track (FPs)

With an arrival close to 9am, we usually have all of that done shortly after lunch.

But this is the first summer trip. We arrive on June 7th, which does make it very early in the summer. I have been told that many schools in the west are still in session at that point. It looks like the biggest crowds will still be a week or two away.

Anyone care to take a stab at setting my expectations? I know it will be hot. Just wondering what to expect in terms of ride wait times. Do the FPs get gobbled-up at exponentially faster rates, leading to return times that are 4-6 hours out? Do the standby lines all balloon immediately after opening?

Any feedback would be appreciated!

[7swans]

You probably already have the crowd calendar info but just in case you didn't, here you go.
I am sorry we will miss you, our student group depats on the 4th. Last year we were ther the first couple of days in June & the crowds were not bad at all, with the exception of the early part of Evening EMH at MK, that was wall to wall people.
Getting to the park early during hot busy times is the best strategy, I hope your trip is a wonderful one!


****************Best / Avoid
Sun, 07 Jun '09 8 AK MK / EP GAY DAYS AT EP / STAR WARS WEEKEND
Mon, 08 Jun '09 8 MK EP / DS AK
Tue, 09 Jun '09 8 DS AK / MK EP
Wed, 10 Jun '09 8 MK EP / DS AK
Thu, 11 Jun '09 8 DS AK / MK EP
Fri, 12 Jun '09 8 EP / MK STAR WARS WEEKEND
Sat, 13 Jun '09 8 MK EP / AK STAR WARS WEEKEND
Sun, 14 Jun '09 8 AK / MK EP STAR WARS WEEKEND
Mon, 15 Jun '09 8 MK EP /DS AK

[MatterhornMiss]

The last time I was in WDW in early June, the crowds were HUGE. However, unbeknownst to us while we were planning the trip, it was also gay days. So, big crowds. We were at the Poly then, and there were letters left in the rooms explaining certain days they expected very large crowds at certain parks certain days and advised guests to visit other parks those days. We followed the advice and were just fine.

[Niki]

We did a big trip for 12 people June 9 - 16 in 2007. THE PARKS WERE PACKED!!!! Fast passes for Soarin were gone by 11 a.m. By an hour after park opening, RnR and ToT were 1 1/2 hour waits. Fantasmic lines were outta this world. Forget the MK fireworks. They were jam packed. I thought I would be trampled going out afterwards.

We were lucky that we had a handicapped child with us that could not stand in lines. We were always escorted to the front, or given a side room to wait in while others in our party stood in line. We were then allowed to meet our full party befor going into the attraction. This way we skipped alot of lines or were able to spend our time in the quiet rooms. Without this, we would have been lost. Huge crowds like that and an autistic child would not have gone together well.

On days we went without Jake, we were able to get through alot of stuff within the first hour after opening. After that, you were waiting well over 30 minutes for everything.

I have heard that our experience is not typical. We went this week because friends of ours had Vistana and we were stuck going during "their week." My friend says that they go almost every year at that time and the crowds were way lower. Good Luck and the Force be With You.

[TimK]

Thanks for the feedback!

I keep forgetting that our 2008 Disneyland trip was in the summertime (first week of August) so I guess we did get a taste of summer at the Disney parks. Honestly I didn't think it was too bad.

The Disneyland park at night was crazy/nuts! Niki's post really reminded me of that. People were packed onto Main St like sardines to watch the fireworks show.

At WDW, we will almost certainly skip Fantasmic this time (unless there's a late show that fits into our plans.) Illuminations is the only nighttime show that is a must for me, and I'm pretty happy with any view around the lagoon. Wishes and ALL of the parades are "take-em or leave-em" as far as I'm concerned.

We'll just have to try and get to the parks as early as possible, grab our FastPasses, and take it from there.

[7swans]

If you are planning to do a character meal, the early entry into Magic Kingdom for the first seatings available at Crystal Palace worked out really well for us. Seeing Main Street nearly deserted & getting a jump on the crowds was great.
You could do the same thing at Akerhaus I believe, though getting a jump on the crowds doesn't seem as valuable at Epcot.

[TimK]

I'm going to try the new character breakfast at Tusker House. They start taking reservations at 8am, too. If we can get an early seating, that puts us in a perfect position to get on Kilimanjaro Safari right at opening and go from there.

I've never been a big fan of Crystal Palace myself. Had our single worst character dining experience there. Also I don't think there's any great value in meeting the Pooh characters there. I like the character meals since it helps avoid the theme park links for photos and autographs. But the pooh character spot at Animal Kingdom (old boat dock) is almost always a total walk-up. I'd rather pay for a meal with either the Fab 5 or the Princesses.

[7swans]

I read someone elses trip report who tried and really loved the Tusker House Breakfast, I forgot about that one.You will let us all know how you liked it I hope.

[TimK]

Absolutely!

We've done the Akerhaus princess breakfast a couple of times. Both times we were in Epcot around 8am so that was nice. But the meal is one of the family style ones, which isn't my favorite setup. Buffets just have so much more variety. And you really can't screw up a breakfast buffet in terms of the food, right?

I've read the characters are Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Goofy. That's a good variety.

The location is perfect. Like I said, my goal is to book 8am at the restaurant and be standing outside Kilimanjaro at 9am. After we get thru that I'll run over to get FastPasses for Everest and the rest of the park will just fall into place.

[dwelty]

Tim,

Noticed your countdown says Treehouse Villas Did you actually get your ressie there?