Disney World Crowd Levels

[muldoonthief]

@Dewey_Finn

I don’t know if it’s less busy but Disney has cut prices this year. An article from February said, “In Florida, the Walt Disney World Resort is offering a seven-night vacation package at one of its 23 on-site hotels for the price of four, including admission to the park itself.”

That’s sort of misleading. While the hotel price is good, the admission package is a fake deal. If you go to the disney world website and check basic prices, you get:

1 day pass: $75
2 day pass: $149
3 day pass: $212
4 day pass: $219
5 day pass: $222
6 day pass: $225
7 day pass: $228

So once you get past 3 days, the incremental price per day is negligible.

[Bijou_Drains]

I was amazed so few people did fast pass. I used it a lot and never waited at all past the time on my ticket.

[JerseyFrank]

@muldoonthief

So once you get past 3 days, the incremental price per day is negligible.

I nearly s*** my pants when I saw that. Then it occurred to me that those passes expire. The comparison is still good though… I’m sure the ad you were referring to had expiring passes as well. FWIW, passes expire 14 days after first use.

There is a “no expiration” option, but for a 10 day pass the price nearly doubles.

@RNATB

Sure you can, minus the “walking across the street” part.

Right, but my point was that it’s not a quick 5-minute procedure. If you’re in Disneyland, you walk out and across the street… or to your car and drive somewhere nearby.

If you’re in Magic Kingdom at Disney World, you walk out, get on the ferry, go back to the parking lot, take the tram to your car, then load up and drive 5+ miles just to exit the park to get to the off-property lunch joints… and this assumes you know where you are going.

For my money, I’ll stay at the park and eat strategically. Kids meals are reasonably priced too. Saving $20 on the meal isn’t worth the 90 minutes of round trip travel time. Going to one of the McDonald’s on property would save some time, but you wouldn’t save as much cash.

[furt]

@JerseyFrank

For my money, I’ll stay at the park and eat strategically. Kids meals are reasonably priced too. Saving $20 on the meal isn’t worth the 90 minutes of round trip travel time. Going to one of the McDonald’s on property would save some time, but you wouldn’t save as much cash.

In summer when the parks are open at night, the smart way to do it is go first thing in in the morning, leave at around 1pm, spend the afternoon back at the hotel, take a nap, get in the pool, eat both lunch and dinner outside, then come back around 6 pm.

FWIW, my roommate is a Ratland employee and and he says numbers have not taken a dip.

And early October is the perfect time to come.

And Seaworld is the best park in town IMO.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@furt

And Seaworld is the best park in town IMO.

Just ain’t the same without beer school.

[aktep]

@h.sapiens

The Fast Pass program at Disney World is free and available to everyone (though apparently not everyone who goes to the parks knows that). Definitely take advantage of it for the more popular rides. The newest ride, Toy Story Mania at the Studios, builds up very long standby lines really quickly, so try to get there early and send at least one of your party ahead to pick up fast passes before they run out (this was true last year anyway. I doubt things have changed much). It’s very clever and a lot of fun, especially for kids.

We were there in March and the lines for Toy Story Mania were insane. Standby was almost always 90 minutes, and the day we got to the park at 10am (opening time) and pulled a fast pass, it was for 3:00. They were usually out of fast passes before noon.

[robby]

@MPB_in_Salt_Lake

…I dont know why, but I always assumed that no outside food was allowed in. A family could save a huge amount of $$$ over a weekend at the park. Its certainly too bad that this is not more widely known, though I guess the Disney Corp. dosent see it that way.

@cmosdes

We went to Disneyland about 2 years ago and we brought in lots of our own food; sandwiches, snacks and water. We bought drinks there on a few days and one of the days it was 99 so we got some ice cream. I’m hoping Disney World will be just as lenient and allow us to bring in lunch again…

OK, here’s the scoop: outside food and drinks ARE indeed allowed at Walt Disney World (WDW). You can even bring coolers, but they are restricted to the “small, soft-sided type which can fit in a locker.”

Also, you’re not allowed to bring in anything in glass containers (other than medicines and baby food) and no alcoholic beverages.

I’ll add that you can certainly save a lot of money by eating outside of the park or bringing your own food in. However, what many people may not realize is that the WDW restaurants are actually very good, especially at the sit-down restaurants.

Disney packages also include the ability to buy the Disney Dining Plan (usually $40 per person per day), and if you go to the nicer restaurants, you definitely do well with this. Disney also offers promotions in which you get the dining plan for free if you purchase a resort package.

For my wife and I, the WDW restaurants are one of our favorite things there. You have to plan well in advance, though. To get any of the sit-down restaurants, you absolutely must make reservations in advance–they are now so popular that walk-ins either are either turned away outright or wait for hours.

[cmosdes]

I’m far less worried about food than I am about crowds. Based on what others have said, it looks like the week 10/25 through 10/30 (Monday through Friday) should have relatively low crowd levels. We are flexible and can go the week after, but that would mean the kids missing an extra 3 days of school which I’d like to avoid.

[JerseyFrank]

Look into Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Depending on the age of your kids, you may want to go to this (or avoid the Magic Kingdom on that day). The party is ticketed separately.

[Hampshire]

@cmosdes

I’m far less worried about food than I am about crowds. Based on what others have said, it looks like the week 10/25 through 10/30 (Monday through Friday) should have relatively low crowd levels. We are flexible and can go the week after, but that would mean the kids missing an extra 3 days of school which I’d like to avoid.

I wish I had some hard numbers to back it up but I’d still prefer the week after Halloween. No Halloween week events going on like the aformentioned Halloween Horror Nights and Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.
People plan their vacations around those events and visit all the other parks throughout the week. And even though the weeks are back-to-back the closer you get to the end of the year the nicer the weather gets.
I’m planning to take the family down there in 2010. First week of November.

[_len]

Hey cmosdes,

I co-author a Disney guidebook. Google “Disney crowd calendar” and you should be able to find something in the first result shown. Feel free to email me or our statistician if you have any questions.

Also check the site’s blog to answer the “How accurate are these predictions” questions.

Len

[robby]

@_len

…I co-author a Disney guidebook.

Thanks for all of your efforts, Len. Fantastic guidebook. I’ve recommended it to everyone I talk to about Disney.

I followed your book religiously on our first trip to WDW in 2007, and we had a fantastic trip. We’re going back later this summer.

Thanks again.

[Marconi_Schmeese]

@_len

I co-author a Disney guidebook.

Len, Hubby and I are Disney fanatics (but no kids) and we go at least twice a year… We purchase your book every single year - I use your guide religiously to make our ADR’s and hotel choices! Thank you!!!

But, to contribute, we go almost every October and Halloween is a little busier than other times in October, but not a deal breaker. MNSSHP is pretty fun, but it is very busy on Halloween.