Since Disney’s CEO Bob Chapek announced that the parks had increased their capacity from 25% to 35%, we couldn’t help but notice a little less elbow room on our trips to the parks. The increase in park capacity is definitely something we’ve noticed, especially on the days where attendance is high.
Ahead of this week, Disney reported that the week of Thanksgiving was nearly booked at capacity, so busy park days were certainly anticipated! The holiday crowds arrived at Disney World earlier this week, and with parks reaching closer and closer to those capacity limits today, we are really feeling it!
Over at Magic Kingdom, the crowd level could be felt in various areas that are prone to bottlenecking. Frontierland was even starting to look like a regular busy day before the closures!
The standby queue for Splash Mountain wrapped around the front of the ride and extended into Frontierland.
The posted wait time for Splash Mountain when we checked was 75 minutes, and the queue even extended into the Frontierland Train Station area!
This was definitely an area of Magic Kingdom we felt the crowds the most!
While the crowds are still nowhere near as busy as it COULD be without capacity restrictions, the days of walk-on wait times like we experienced over the summer are long gone.
A look at Frontierland crowds! pic.twitter.com/8Sk0v9hmOC
— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) November 27, 2020
Over in Tomorrowland, we noticed that Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin was temporarily unavailable. Any ride closure could add to the overall crowd levels, as guests could have less places to go.
While lines for some attractions were a bit longer in Tomorrowland, the land was generally not as busy as other corners of the park.
Tomorrowland Speedway had a posted wait time of 20 minutes. Not too bad!
Tomorrowland Speedway lines…only a 20 minute wait! pic.twitter.com/PbOQPdZNyz
— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) November 27, 2020
Space Mountain, however, was making good use of its extended queue.
Checking out the crowds in Tomorrowland… pic.twitter.com/aunKyouhQS
— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) November 27, 2020
Fantasyland is another area where potential crowding can occur. We spotted lots of guests waiting to ride Mad Tea Party.
Crowds outside the Mad Tea Party! 🫖 pic.twitter.com/XR4bfWxgj5
— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) November 27, 2020
Luckily, there were still some areas of Fantasyland that had more room to spread out and practice social distancing.
The Taste of EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays kicked off today as well, and you could definitely tell as you walked around World Showcase! The theme of today is definitely long lines at the Festival Kitchens.
With the crowds being as they are today, it’s difficult to track down a table to sit or stand at to enjoy your food and beverages from the Festival.
Lots of folks were looking to be among the first to eat around World Showcase at this year’s Festival.
In case you wondered if the crowds extended beyond the theme parks, the answer is yes! Disney Springs was a bit busier today as well, perhaps due to the fact that today is, of course, Black Friday.
While deals have been spotted in stores and online all month long, there are some select sales this week in some of the retail locations in Disney Springs.
There were plenty of Black Friday shoppers in and around World of Disney, too.
Black Friday shopping at World of Disney! pic.twitter.com/NUIIG7XkIy
— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) November 27, 2020
We’ll continue to keep an eye on the crowd levels today and will keep you up to date on all the latest coming out of Disney World!
Click here to see what the wait times were like on Thanksgiving!
Are you in Disney World this week? How have the crowd levels been for you? Let us know in the comments!
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