Disney World Crowd Report – November 16 to 22, 2014
After a surprise crowd level at Magic Kingdom on Saturday, November 15, we were very curious to see how crowds would pan out last week. Our predictions did well all week until, for the second week in a row, a surprisingly large crowd level ‘7’ at Magic Kingdom on Saturday. Disney Hollywood Studios showed some higher than normal crowd levels as well but in general, the crowd levels have been within normal limits of what we’ve seen in past years, with the exception of Saturdays at Magic Kingdom. In fact, Epcot’s crowd levels have been near replicas of previous years as the success of last week’s predictions show. This indicates we are seeing a change in crowd pattern rather than a change in overall crowd level (although there is some evidence that crowd levels are up as well). Regardless, in the coming days you may see some crowd levels change in December, especially on Saturdays at Magic Kingdom.
Let’s look at how the crowd levels stacked up each day last week on the Disney World Crowd Report:
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magic Kingdom |
3
|
2
|
After large Magic Kingdom crowds the day before, Sunday’s crowds returned to expected levels on Sunday. The Studios has seen some higher wait times at certain times all fall and that continued last week, starting with Sunday’s level ‘6’. |
| Epcot |
2
|
3
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
3
|
6
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
5
|
3
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
3
|
1
|
Another ‘6’ at The Studios on Monday including average wait times like 40 minutes at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (predicted 27) and 88 at Toy Story Midway Mania (predicted 60). Meanwhile, shortened park hours (due to a private event) at Magic Kingdom kept crowds very low during the day. |
| Epcot |
3
|
3
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
3
|
6
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
3
|
3
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
5
|
4
|
Tuesday’s crowd at Disney Hollywood Studios remained at a level ‘6’ for the third day last week. We have seen some increased wait times at Great Movie Ride this fall and that continued Tuesday with an average posted time of 22 minutes, normal for November is 16. |
| Epcot |
3
|
3
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
4
|
6
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
3
|
1
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
4
|
5
|
Our Epcot predictions performed very well all week, without a miss of more than one index level. Animal Kingdom was a great choice for low crowds all week with Wednesday’s highest wait time average at 20 minutes for Expedition Everest (predicted 22). |
| Epcot |
4
|
4
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
4
|
3
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
4
|
2
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
2
|
4
|
Thursday brought another Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party to Magic Kingdom with the corresponding low mid-day crowd to go with it, although wait times skewed a little higher than normal. |
| Epcot |
3
|
2
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
4
|
1
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
3
|
1
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
2
|
4
|
Another Friday, another Very Merry Christmas Party and another crowd level ‘4’ at Magic Kingdom, only The Studios could top that. We hit the mark at Magic Kingdom with wait time predictions of 34 for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and 25 for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin while Winnie the Pooh averaged 30 minutes (predicted 30). Peter Pan’s Flight saw some high wait times driven by curious guests checking out new features in the queue. |
| Epcot |
3
|
3
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
4
|
5
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
2
|
2
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
2
|
7
|
Saturday’s crowd at Magic Kingdom was enough to push the resort wide crowd level (6) up three points from what we predicted. The Studios also saw some significant waits like 76 minutes at Toy Story Midway Mania and 48 at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. |
| Epcot |
4
|
4
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
4
|
7
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
3
|
4
|
|
| November 23 to 29, 2014 |
|---|
Thanksgiving week at Disney World means very busy parks all week. Arrive early, use a touring plan, re-optimize your plan while in the park and be prepared to ‘call audibles’.
To see Walt Disney World Crowd predictions for the days of your vacation, check the Crowd Calendar.
To get details about our predictions of future crowds or details about crowds in the past check out the Crowd Calendar and select “Jump to Date” on the left margin.
You May Also Like...
-
This weekend will have the longest park hours since Walt Disney World re-opened in July. Extended park hours are a signal…
-
Since October 1 we have collected over 164,000 wait times across the four Disney World parks. Overall the average posted wait…
-
The April Crowd Calendar update only has minor changes. We are halfway through spring break, and crowd levels have been in-line…
-
Crowded theme parks during the Christmas holiday are as certain as death and taxes. Every year we see crowd levels hit…
When can we expect to see our December Saturday personalized plans’ wait times updated? We picked our days based on your suggestions, and now that y’all have been so very wrong for the past two Saturdays, we are extraordinarily worried about our plans. In the past we would have chucked our plans and move out MK dates, but we pulled our FP+ based on your suggestions, and we are never going to get A&E at 11:30am again.
My family and I are going to Magic Kingdom this Saturday, which is still set at a 6. Do you think it’ll be higher after the past two Saturdays? We’ve also got a rest break in our touring plan in the afternoon, should we nix that? Thanks!