Disney World Crowd Report – May 4 to 10, 2014
Overall the crowds we observed in the parks edged slightly higher than expected last week. Especially on Sunday when a three day stretch of heavy rain finally came to an end. Guests who stayed in to wait out the bad weather took full advantage of Sunday’s blue skies. Our predictions for the rest of week also tended to be on the low side although not significantly.
Let’s look at how the crowd levels stacked up each day last week:
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magic Kingdom |
5
|
7
|
Our underprediciton on Sunday is less due to a poor estimate of crowds than to a break in the weather. The three days previous were washed out for most of the day, keeping guests anxiously waiting out the storms. Once the clouds cleared on Sunday, the crowds poured in and wait times went up. |
| Epcot |
3
|
5
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
2
|
6
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
5
|
8
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
6
|
6
|
Our predictions hit the mark at all four parks on Monday. Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom were the only two parks to hit above average wait times. |
| Epcot |
4
|
4
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
3
|
3
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
6
|
6
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
5
|
6
|
Wait times on Tuesday fell in line with predictions as well with no park missing the mark by more than one index level. The Studios was a particularly good choice with Toy Story Mania reaching an average posted wait of only 52 minutes, the only attraction in the park that averaged above 40. The Great Movie ride at a 7 minute average was a walk-on all day. |
| Epcot |
3
|
4
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
2
|
1
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
5
|
4
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
3
|
4
|
The resort-wide crowd level ‘3’ as predicted on Wednesday brought low wait times across all parks. No core attraction at the Magic Kingdom averaged a posted wait higher than 44 minutes. Even the perennial 3-hour wait to meet Anna & Elsa dipped below 180 minutes for a time. |
| Epcot |
2
|
3
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
2
|
1
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
4
|
5
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
3
|
5
|
Crowds at the Kingdoms (Magic and Animal) peaked higher than our predictions on Thursday. Mostly due to higher than expected waits at Pirates of the Caribbean (21 minutes, predicted 10) and Kilimanjaro Safaris (46 minutes, predicted 20). Jungle Cruise and Kali River Rapids also had higher average wait times than we predicted. |
| Epcot |
2
|
3
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
2
|
1
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
4
|
6
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
5
|
6
|
Epcot was the surprise of the day on Friday. We had predicted a crowd level ‘3’ but wait times at Soarin’ (75 minutes) and Spaceship Earth (21 minutes) pushed the park wide number three index points higher. Test Track had an average posted wait time of 71 minutes however, which was actually lower than the 83 minutes we predicted. |
| Epcot |
3
|
6
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
2
|
2
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
4
|
5
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
6
|
5
|
With the exception of Primeval Whirl, every attraction at Animal Kingdom came in with average posted times higher than predicted on Saturday. The warm weather pushed Kali River Rapids wait times (52 minute average) much higher than predicted (33 minutes). Wait times were moderate for a Saturday as predicted elsewhere around the resort however, with no other park missing by more than one index level. |
| Epcot |
3
|
5
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
3
|
4
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
4
|
7
|
|
| April 26 to May 3, 2014 |
|---|
May is a great time to visit Walt Disney World if you are not fond of crowds, especially early May. We don’t expect crowds to rise significantly above average until late May. Watch out for Star Wars Weekends and Memorial Day, otherwise touring is generally relaxed. Note that Magic Kingdom is open for 24 hours on May 23.
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.
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We were in the world May 5-12 and were surprised how busy everything was. The wait times were manageable thanks to the touring plans, but all the parks seemed crowded, and people stepping over one another. We chose the parks with the predicted lowest crowd levels and were shocked how crowded each park was. This was our 4th trip to Disney, first time not in September or October, so I guess that was the difference. We really enjoy the blogs, photos and information on your site. Keep it up.