We just got back from Disneyland and it was a great trip. The new Star Wars ride has added to the crowd for sure, but we've been 3 times and only go in Mid-Jan or Feb and go W-F with our 3-day park hopper passes. The lines were manageable and usually shorter than the APP claimed them to be. I only know the DL fast pass system and it works fine. But on the times and days we go, you almost don't really need them.

Getting on the new SW ride, well that's an interesting experience all in itself.

I totally agree that Disney let's the fast pass crunch the standby line. When I was there a few weeks ago, I saw it firsthand on Aerosmith roller coaster. For every 45 fast pass guests, they let in 15 guests on the standby line. The wait for the ride at the time, was around 60 minutes. Without fast pass, that becomes a 15 minute wait. Tower of Terror was the same thing, 60 minute wait that would be a 20 minute wait without fast pass.

Just look at what has happened to the standby line at Flight of Avatar (I think I messed up the name), it's constantly long due to all of the fast passes handed out. I got to ride in in November, on my 3rd trip in 2019 to Disney...I got lucky too, wait got down to 45 minutes and I quickly ran over there to hop on it.

I won't wait hours in line to go on a ride...no ride is worth it. My fear with Rise of Resistance, is that they will make it, where unless you have a fast pass, it'll take hours to get on the ride.

Here's what I would do to help fix the parks:

Magic Kingdom: Bring back Snow White ride and Mr. Toad's wild ride. With Stitch being closed, come up with something to go there. The Monsters laugh-in should be changed to something else...I miss the old time traveler show they had there. Still needs another completely brand new ride...just don't know where to put it.

Epcot: Fix Imagination.
Mary Poppins & ratoutille (spelling) will help with the crowds in the park.

MGM: Need 2 more rides in Star Wars land. Build an Indiana Jones land off of Sunset Blvd. Add 1 more ride to Toy Story Land.

Animal Kingdom: Add another land to the park. Build 1 more ride in Avatar.

A couple additions to the parks, will definitely help out with the lines. I can't wait to see what the lines look like at MGM after Mickey's Train opens up. Hopefully it shortens everything else up a bit.

It's a little bit more complicated than that because FP returners are actually 'deferred' riders.. they don't disappear if you were to dedicate the entire ride throughput to standby. Disney regularly uses up to 7 : 1 ratios. 'Standby' is not just 'no FP' it is a second class citizen. Disney could make FPs a rarer thing and lessen the impact on standby.. but instead the trend is the opposite. To go all virtual queue... and return in small batches.

Well no matter what Disney does.. when the demand far exceeds the ride's capacity.. there will be big waits. Flight of Passage still regularly AVERAGES 2-3hr waits.. years after opening. Rise of the Resistance is purely 'assigned groups' right now so no standby waiting at all.. and it's capacity is very low.. so no hopes of it having less than 2hr waits on average for many years to come.

Tomorrowland (in both domestic parks) keeps getting tossed around as getting a reboot.. but nothing yet. Star Wars was proposed for DL Tomorrowland..
Imagination can't get an idea greenlit it seems
MGM, the Great Movie Ride replacement opens next month.. that will help. But the older stage shows and soundstages still need to be redone

No fastpass or standby. You're lucky to get on it AT ALL. https://www.disneytouristblog.com/star-wars-rise-resistance-faq-ride-guide/

30 sec. or less after the park opens the ride is "sold out" for the day. We were lucky and made it on, but were group 87 out of 95 that day.

I'll tell you what that have to address and that is the damn scooters. I have never seen it so bad. Look - if you are handicap or have a disability and in a wheel chair, I'm moving and waiting on you. Take your time- it's all good. Totally cool.

If you're just too fat or lazy to hump it like the rest of us, go somewhere else. The bus rides are horrible now, and the dark rides have to stop all the time. Disney needs to address this, because it's only getting worse. Plus they run into people's feet and legs, it's a nightmare now.

Disneyland is in a much worse situation than WDW right now for the new Star Wars ride. Boarding group availability in DHS usually runs for upwards of 20mins.. or some days even an hour plus.

The vast majority who make the point to be there at opening get a BG. It's the endless moaning about people who don't want to be there at opening that endlessly clogs up the threads on the subject.

We were there at opening and only one of us got on the first day/try. Luckily my friend and his family were able to get on the 2nd day, but had a very high BG. The park opened earlier and stayed open later so they got through a lot more BG's than the day before.

It's craziness in the morning with thousands of poeple all staring at their phones on Main St. furiously refreshing with all the hoots and hollers of the lucky and tears for others. It was all over in a flash on Thursday.

Very fun ride full of surprises, and one of the premier "experiences" I've ever had at a theme park.

Sure! I can give you some tips based on what I do, but note that there are many different approaches. Also, these are just high level. In order to give all the details it would take a lot of pages. Much of what I do is the complete opposite of what others would tell you, but on the other hand, most of the rest of it is pretty typical advice. There's really no single silver bullet. It takes a lot of planning and experience and learning.

In general terms:
-Know how to best use the fastpass system.

-This means knowing WHAT to fastpass and WHEN (what time of day) to book your fastpasses for.

-This also means knowing what NOT to ever fastpass.

-There is a post somewhere on the DisBoards with a very good breakdown of the relative value of fastpass for every attraction. If you are interested, let me know and I'll find the link.

-Know when (what time of day) to go on each ride/attraction without using fastpass. This is critical. Not only for avoiding lines, but avoiding heat. In general, indoor shows and show-like attractions are great during the middle of the day. Most of the time there is no line aside from waiting for the next show to start (in other words, just make sure that the capacity of the next show will handle everyone in the line so you don't have to wait for 2 shows).

-Just because something has a short line, does NOT mean it's a good time to go on that attraction. Because you might be missing out on other short lines which will save you more time. And, it does NOT always make sense to rush to all the headline attractions when lines are short. Sometimes it's better to use that short line time to go on smaller attractions that don't have fastpass, but will have longer lines at other points in the day. Because then you can use fastpass for the headliners during busy times. It all just depends. (This is really more magnified at Disneyland in California because it has a lot of attractions with long lines and no fastpass).

-Know the typical wait times of all rides. And, know how they fluctuate throughout the day. For example, if a ride has a wait time of 60 minutes but it will be a walk on an hour later. Use that knowledge.

-Never go to rope drop. This is exactly the opposite of what all the so called experts will say.

-Always stay until or after park close. Especially if you have little kids. Again, opposite of what everyone would tell you. Most will tell you to keep your kids on their normal sleep schedule. That is fine. But, my kids and I have the parks to ourselves late nights. I remember a time when Minnie and Daisy literally had no other guests at their meet/greet. They left their meeting location with us and just hung out with my kids and played in Fantasyland! Now that my kids are getting a bit older, we still use the late nights to do attractions.

-Put the effort in to make your fastpass selections 60 days in advance. At the moment they open. This means spending time prior to that day making your plan. And making contingency plans in case your plan doesn't work out. It also means getting up early that day and being ready to make your selections.

-For the super-high demand fastpasses, book those first when your window opens, and book them toward the end of your trip. Obviously, this means planning to go to that park later in your trip, and there is a balance between choosing days based on crowd levels and based on fastpass availability. There's only a few attractions that this is really necessary (Flight of Passage comes to mind).

-Don't ever make any restaurant reservations. Again this is opposite of what most would say. Trying to plan your days around restaurant reservations just mucks everything up. Personally, I hate wasting time eating long table service meals at Disney. I have plenty of restaurants with better food where I live.

-Always stay on site.

-Know which day of your trip will have the lowest crowds at each park. This one isn't super critical, but it helps.

-Use the extra magic hours in the correct way. Skip the morning extra magic hours and go to a different park. Definitely go to night time Extra magic hours. Go to a park with an early closing, and then hop to the park with night time EMH. Note, it will be crowded for a while, but the lines won't be bad and the crowd will fade slowly.

-The time of year that you go is actually not very important. With some exceptions, of course (Xmas to New Years, especially - avoid that week).

-Learn how to get more fastpass selections after you've used your initial ones. Basically learn how to use the app and keep refreshing to get good ones. Also, you can usually move the times of the fastpasses around as needed if you keep refreshing.

-I personally avoid character meals. Not only because I don't like to have long meals at WDW. But also because your meal keeps getting interrupted, which sucks, and you often don't really get a good interaction with the character to boot.

-Epcot sucks. Sorry, just had to add that in there. (They do have a handful of good attractions, though).

-Many people view DHS as a "rides" park, but it is really more of a "shows" park. Once I realized that, I liked that park a lot better.

-A lot of things that many people do on vacation are things that I would view as a waste of time. I don't mean this insultingly, it's just a difference of approach. And, it affects all of the planning tips I gave you above. For example, many people like to spend time at the hotel pool. Others like to spend time drinking around the world. Obviously, that's fine and it's the great thing about WDW. But, I personally would not waste time doing those things, because I can go to a pool or even a water park anywhere. And I can drink, or eat ethnic foods, etc any time I want. The only reason I mention this is because if you cut out chunks of the day for those activities, then it will give you much less flexibility in the times to book your fastpasses, the times to go on rides without fastpasses, etc. If you are at the pool during the hot part of the day, you are missing the best times to go to attractions like Country Bear Jamboree, Philharmagic, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor etc. Then, if you want to go on these attractions at other times, you will then be missing out on the best time to go on different attractions. So, I just say all of this to emphasize that no single approach to the parks is right for everyone.

-There are many other tricks, such as what to do when there might be a storm. I love storms.

-There are also other effective methods which I don't use personally. Such as booking a restaurant reservation before the park opens, which then allows you to ride stuff with nobody else in there. Or of course, booking a tour guide which is essentially a human unlimited fast pass. But really expensive and unnecessary.

Oh I forgot to mention, the suggestion to avoid rope drop only applies to wdw in Florida.

In Disneyland, rope drop is a must, due to the first come first serve fast pass system.

But the plus side in Disneyland is that they generally have late hours and you can do both early morning and late hours by taking a little nap in the afternoon since all the hotels are so nearby.

Also, no need to stay onsite at Disneyland.

So your typical 'smart touring' guidance with some of your own tweaks.. but nothing to substantiate "I love going to Disney world and have gotten really, really good at riding everything and never waiting in line more than 15 minutes for anything, ever."

Some comments

Evening EMH tend to be worse these days since the reduction in length. Your theory worked better when it was 12-3am kind of EMHs, but not with the earlier closing times and change to 2hr EMHs. Evening EMHs tend to be more crowded than Morning EMH. Additionally, when EMH is at MK, it basically focuses the entire resort at one park.. as every other park closed long before.

The problem with focusing on late nights is Disney reduces the offerings - especially food - after about 9-10pm. And the more Disney is focusing on earlier closing teams (instead of the old 12am or 11pm for other parks) the less the advantage the 'stay till close' advantage is. Tho for most headliners, it is still the best time to hit them for lowest wait times. It's a great strategy for 'avoiding the worst waits' - but alone can't carry a travel plan.

"The time of year that you go is actually not very important" - this is.. basically nuts.

Rope Drop can be very effective depending on what you are trying to focus on. Obviously going to the 'one ride everyone is' is a risky game.. still a very effective method for Avatar though if you are at the front. And more enjoyable for most than trying to wait around in a dead park until its close to closing time so wait times are low near close. Tho looping Everest over and over at the end of the night is a great thing.

And frankly these days, even if you were just using FP... you still usually wait more than 15mins in most attractions now due to the glut of FPs Disney gives out.. or your unavoidable clog due to an earlier breakdown leading to a rush of FP returners.

Your boast sounds like the typical 'sunny day' scenario... "oh I never wait for anything..." until you do and just blank those things out.

Trust me people... no one but those paying $$$ are prancing through WDW doing what they want without waits. Everyone else is just doing some level of optimization to try to avoid everyone else. You can only do so much of it.

No scheming is going to get around the issues like how early you need to be there for the prime Fireworks spot.. or F! seat... etc. Tho if you are an adult and only 1-2 people.. I do recommend just waiting for the 'everyone move forward' compression that happens in the MK hub and snake your way into a good area when that happens instead of waiting 60-90mins on the pavement.

Lots of great tips! I agree with most of them. I hated when my wife scheduled sit down meals. We don't do that as much anymore, but the other thing I am strating to experience is fatique. At 49, I can't commando it like I used to. We also love to resort hop.

Why never rope drop at WDW?

Mainly I don't recommend rope drop at wdw because the vast majority of people will not do both rope drop and late night. And frankly, late night is simply better.

Plus at rope drop, people wait in line to get into the park before it opens. I'd rather show up a bit later and not have to do that, although there sometimes can still be a backup at security.

Also, this is my own thing, but when you go at rope drop, there are short lines which slowly get longer and longer as the day goes on. At night, the lines get shorter and shorter as the night goes on, and I just like that a lot better.

At Disneyland it's different because you can easily do rope drop and late night both in the same day. Plus it just has generally longer hours on the whole.

9/11 was a “mom doesn’t want to get on a plane thing” more than an economy thing for Disney. Like I said, it has to be something that causes moms to not want to go in order for it to affect them. Dotcoms bursting? Moms don’t care. Plane safety? Moms care. Sickness? Moms care.

Makes sense. For me, the parks at night are the best time ever, especially the MK and Pandora. A warmer summer night going them with low to modest crowds is as good as it gets.

No doubt! Riding the iconic Space Mountain at midnight with my boys is a memory we will not soon forget.
We love Disney but have only done WDW twice. We might have one more chance before our kids are too old. I don't see us doing Disney without kids even though I know many people do.

9/11 was the biggest slowdown in the history of the parks. The entire travel and tourist industry was impacted... and it wasn’t just plane scares... it was the idea we were heading to war. The economy lead to a long starved period in parks capital improvements during the 2000s. Capital investment was well below historic trends up until the pivot that started DCAv2 and new fantasyland in MK.

If it wasn’t for the success of the cruise line during that period... you could have seen a very different parks during that time.

I did Disney without kids a few times (prior to having kids). And, of course, a bunch of times with kids.

The striking thing to me was, how different the entire experience is, with kids vs. without.

Wdw is an awesome place, and is very fun, in different ways without kids.

I definitely recommend trying it at least once without kids. Or maybe Disneyland. I've never actually been there without kids, but that might be cool.

Disney is to much work now. It doesn't feel like vacation.

It is more of an active vacation, that's for sure. But I'm not one to go to a destination, lay down and drink in the sun. I know I'm probably in the minority in that.

I liked Universal. The fastpass included with the hotel got us on nearly all the rides in less than 10 minutes. No rushing between fastpass appointments, and feeling locked. I thought the Harry Potter rides were all great.

I definitely see where you're coming from with that sentiment. In my opinion, the easiest way to at least reduce that problem (short of skipping Disney altogether) is:

-go to Disneyland
-buy the maxpass
-get there early and stay late

Just those simple things will seriously result in a pretty good overall experience at Disneyland. Even without any planning. Although a little planning still helps.

You and me! . I like your style.

I totally want to try that, sounds awesome. I haven't been to uni in a really long time. Need to get back there.

My wife does so much planning for it that if she'd actually apply that time to a side hustle she could probably retire, lol.

I did a 5 day trip in December 2001.

My first day, I went to Magic Kingdom. Got there at noon, park closed at 6pm...got the whole park done.

What we would do for dinner, is stay at the park till closing time, then go to a resort that wasn’t close to get dinner. Just to try and kill some time. For instance, stay in Animal Kingdom until 6pm, then go to Contemporary for dinner, just to try and kill some time.

Anyone know if club33 is included in any of the Vip tours? I’m dying to get in there and have always come up empty handed.

Why not build a second version of the Magic Kingdom in Orlando which would include 20,000 Leagues, Snow White, Mr Toads Wild Ride, Mickey Mouse Review, and others.

If we didn’t have children, we’d never go back.

Honestly I think they should just build another park in Texas. Tons of land, close to a large amount of people, good weather most of the year. Would significantly help the overcrowding issue while making them even more money.

I like D$!

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What I am always amazed at is their operations. Just the capital outlay itself they do is mind boggling. The coordination and logistics of all the building, renovation, and construction. I know it isn't cheap, but they must spend a fortune on those parks and resorts. Just the landscaping itself at Port Orleans probably costs a ton.

The cleaning, the labor, those new floats they just built (that dragon one is impressive)....they charge a shit load of $, but they spend it too.

Except the paddle wheeler they built for Floridas Fantasmic. Looks like a crappy jr high shop project.

Anyone else a fan of this guy?

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When someone tells you it doesn't really matter when you go...

Remember this...
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That's the 2+ hour sign... to get INTO A STORE

Taken today..

Oh and this...
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I agree that WDW is lacking in capacity, but I don't think a fifth gate is necessary just yet. They need to add additional capacity to the current parks first.

The thing is, Disney artificially limits the capacity of their existing attractions, particularly during slow seasons. Ignoring the effect of FastPass+, which has been something of a disaster in terms of inflating the wait times of less popular / high throughput attractions (POTC being the best example), Disney significantly reduces staffing, number of ride vehicles etc in the off season. If the parks were being operated like they are in the high season in the low season, wait times would be significantly reduced. The reason there is no true off-season anymore is more down to management decisions as opposed to vastly higher crowds.

If less people were visiting due to higher priced tickets, they would further reduce the operating capacity of the attractions so the wait times would be the same. Due to the constant cost cutting strategies employed at WDW, attraction wait times aren't a representative metric of how many people are visiting at any given time / how busy the parks actually are.

Couldn't agree more, and I'm a huge WDW fan. I think it's going to be very interesting to see how Universal's current offerings impact WDW 20-30 years down the line. Many, many people who visit WDW now do so due to memories of their visits when they were young. It's the sentimental effect of wanting to share that 'magic' they felt with their own children... and lots of kids these days are forming more of those memories at Universal. Anecdotally, I've helped countless people plan Orlando trips from the UK, and I'd say that 90% come back saying they enjoyed Universal more than Disney due to how much easier / more relaxing it is and how much less time they spent waiting in lines.

Yup, fantastic advice. Love MaxPass at DL, it reminds me of how much more I used to enjoy WDW.

Getting an early start is critical !
I literally get to the gate an hour before opening .

When I was there in November, I did the Safari ride with a fast pass in Animal Kingdom. What I thought was crazy, is our truck only had like 10 guests on it, while there was a 45 minute wait to get on the ride.

More of why I hate fast pass. That ride was designed to have 2 loading areas. Not one loading area with next to no one on the truck and another loading area where the trucks are filled.

Yeah, the DL version of fast pass certainly has its pluses and minuses. I think a lot of people avoid DL because it's not as big as WDW, but I really think it's nice to be able to go to both DL and WDW occasionally.

It isn't so much the wait times for attractions, it's meandering through the crowds that I hate.

I don't agree with this, not entirely. I see many people walk around without kids, ourselves include. It's a resort, where guests are placed first and the attention to detail is second to none. My first visit was when I was 40 years old, so I have no nostalgia build up.

I've been to Universal, and it's fine for what it is - they have done a good job at building that park up. But in the end, it's just another theme park. Having said that, I have not had a chance to visit any of their hotels, so I can't speak to that experience.

I have my future trips lined up.

First week of March, doing Universal Studios and 1 day at Epcot. Family trip...I don't have to pay...thank god!!! Epcot dinner is La Hacienda de San Angel.

Mid-April, doing Disney for 5 days for the Star Wars races (all 3). Doing Hoop Dee Doo Revue, Restaurant Marrakesh, Shula Steakhouse (I may get dinner at garden and flower festival booths), Boma and Flying Fish. I saved Flying Fish for last, so I can grab some snacks at the Boardwalk Bakery for my flight that night. Staying at Caribbean Beach...first time there.

First weekend in November, doing Disney for 5 days for Wine & Dine races (all 3). For this trip, I don't plan on making any dinner reservations...just going to eat around the world every night for dinner. Staying at Port Orleans - Riverside...first time there, but I have stayed at French Quarter twice.

2nd weekend in January, doing Disney for 8 days for the Dopey Challenge (all 4 races). I will have dinner reservations for every night there. Staying at Gran Destino Tower @ Coronado Springs...I stayed there this past November.

Haven't booked April '21 for the Star Wars races, I haven't found those dates yet.

For the Universal Trip, my sister-in-law went through a travel agent. The travel agent said, she is finding that people who are going to Universal and staying on property, are starting to switch all their future Disney trips into Universal trips. Complaints she is hearing is that it takes too long to get from place to place, the lines are too long, picking fast passes 60 days out is a hassle, and 180 day window for restaurant reservations is a pain in the ass.

I totally agree with the travel agent said. Yesterday, I hit my window for fast passes for April. I fly in Thursday, doing Magic Kingdom. Everything except Seven Dwarfs mine train was available. Friday, doing MGM. I'm hoping they keep a 9am opening, if they make it 8am and I have at least the B corral, I'll be able to get there and get a boarding pass for Resistance. Slinky Dog coaster, Millennium Falcon, and Mickey's rain were all booked. Saturday, doing Epcot, Frozen was booked up. Sunday, doing Animal Kingdom. Everything was available, first fast pass is 3pm. I did that on purpose, this way I have enough time after the race to get my picture taken in front of the castle, Gruman theater, and Millennium Falcon, as well as grab lunch at 50's prime time cafe. Monday, doing MGM. Everything was available. I picked up Mickey's train, first available pass was 1:25pm. I plan on getting a boarding pass for Resistance. My Magical Express leaves at 7:15pm, so I hope I don't pushed back too late.

I think Disney might be a little short sighted right now. Once Universal gets that 3rd park up and running, that definitely will eat into the crowds at Disney. Between people upset that they are spending top much and not getting enough for it with Disney, and with Universal having the latest and greatest, I think you're gonna start to see Disney take it on the chin a little.

IMO the worst thing Eisner did was introduce fast pass. The whole reason why they introduced it, is people were complaining about the crowds and long runs, which hurt their attendance. The problem is, none of the rides are designed to handle an overcrowded park. Look at Haunted Mansion...that's the perfect theme park ride, it is constantly moving. If memory serves me correct, I believe it's designed to handle around 3,000 people per hour. When the park is overcrowded, there isn't enough time for every guest to ride it.

I know I said it before, but I'm so in favor of just killing the fast pass system. Tron coaster will help with the crowds in Magic Kingdom. If you're not at rope drop, I wouldn't even try to get on it without a fast pass. Same thing with Guardians in Epcot. For Resistance, I don't know how they'll ever be able to get away from the boarding pass. It can't stay operational.

*Little note, last time I did Hoop Dee Doo Revue was around 35 years ago when I was around 7.

Love disney.

Funny story, I met a pinsider on the monorail all because I had a pinball shirt on this past October. On that same trip I found out I landed a new job.

New job sent me to PHX for 8 weeks around christmas, and gave me 3 days to travel back to CT for a weekend. I definitely left, though I didn't go home. I made the trip to Disneyland for the first time. My heart is in Orlando, but it was a cool experience all the same.

I've been to Disneyland three times in the last month. Every time I've gone out of my way to get inside the park before it opens. I've gone on Rise of the Resistance once. It's an incredibly frustrating process. On Saturdays they don't open the parking garage until 6:30 a.m. They don't start scanning people into the park until 7:30 a.m. Last Saturday from 7:30-8:00 a.m. the lines to get into the park at every turnstile were back to the second gate the entire time. At 8:00 a.m. there were still thousands and thousands of people trying to get in stuck behind the turnstile bottlenecks. Most of those people never had a chance to get a boarding pass despite arriving at the resort over an hour early. This is not a good time to visit Disneyland.

Yeah, if only there were a way to reserve ride times in advance, like maybe 60 days ahead of time....

I just don't get the love for universal, I really didn't enjoy my time there. Yeah, I got to ride everything I wanted - but almost none of the rides wowed me or made me want to ride again. The screen based rides were painful, on average I enjoy Disney screen based rides much more. I will say the new hagrid roller coaster is really good, better than anything at Disney imo.

There is no magic at universal, it all just feels like an expensive ripoff of Disney. This is coming from someone who has no nostalgia for Disney. What does everyone else think that's been to both recently?

For those coming to CA, if you have some extra time (and money) the Star Wars adventure at The Void in downtown Disney is pretty darn fun. Did that recently and everyone really enjoyed it. I think they have it in Orlando as well.

In other news, Soarin Over California is coming back to Dland for a limited run. It’s waaay better than that world one they have now.

Hagrids is the best coaster in Orlando... for sure. No it's not the most extreme, no it's not the most immersive.. but it's the best combination.

Universal has it's own problems, but it does nicely counter some weaknesses Disney has. Which you like still very much will depend on your family's makeup, etc. Universal still can't keep you busy for 5+ days like Disney does.. but we'll see what direction they take with the new park. The Universal Hotel experience is usually better bang for the buck vs Disney.. especially if you get 4 people in a room for express pass.

Disney is burning up it's good will with the non-stop nickle and diming.. crowding. Disney is just a ton of work... alot more than it used to be.. and the push to scheduling everything in your vacation turns many people off.

+1

I miss the days of waking up in the morning and deciding which park to go to. Then in the afternoon, deciding where to grab dinner.

Here’s my prediction: Disney will be so overcrowded all of 2021 for the 50th (and new rides opening). That I think people will start to question weather it’s worth it to go in 2022.

What would help too is if parents would stop taking their kids out of school a week after their Christmas vacation. I couldn’t believe the amount of kids during Marathon Week. When I was in school, no parent would ever dream of taking their kids out of school right after Christmas break.

Is marathon week crowded now? I went in 2010 for a week, ran the marathon, and felt like I rarely waited for any rides. The temperature was in the 30s but other than that it was amazing. That was in the good old days when you could distract the cast member at the fastpass machine, push a button on the back of the machine a bunch of times, and get a bunch of fastpasses without your ticket.

2019 wasn’t bad. Was more crowded than I was expecting. But was still manageable.

This year? Holy crap!!!

I’m guessing marathon 2021 will be a madhouse too, for the 50th. I’m hoping 2022 drops back down to a normal level.

My only saving grace, is that since I’m doing 3 trips a year, I’m picking and choosing what to hit. Not the end of the world if I skip some rides, I’ll catch them on the next trip.

Here’s a rant with this year’s marathon...the guests in Animal Kingdom were complete assholes. They constantly ignored the cast members directions and would cut through our course. I almost tripped over a 5 year old. Had an adult clip my heel. Then another guy ran onto the course and stopped right in front of me. God forbid they need to wait 2 minutes until there’s a break in the runners to get to their next ride. You could see the frustrations with the cast members. The guy who stopped in front of me I yelled at...I didn’t care, at this point it was around 83 degrees with 93% humidity and I’m around mile 16.5.

At least with the Star Wars and Wine & Dine half marathons, we’ll be out of the Animal Kingdom before it opens. I can’t wait to see how the course is adjusted for MGM. I didn’t like in this year’s marathon that we were on Sunset Blvd for a minute. We came in by Tower of Terror, like usual, but then we went out next to Beauty and Beast stage show. It’d be really cool if they can design the Star Wars 10k and half marathon for us to go through Galaxy’s Edge.

I'm jealous.

We have our next visits planned in Sept at Port Orleans, but I am waiting for my first DVC membership to close, and if it does we will change to a DVC resort. In Sept we do the wine and food festival. In January next year we will have a 10 day vacation, probably at the Wilderness, our favorite resort.

You'll love Port Orleans, that is the one we have been to the most. It's the best of the moderates IMO, and you have to check out Yehaw Bob - well worth it.