don’t believe the “ghost town” claims

It’s been almost 2 years since we’ve been to WDW (previously went twice per year). If your thinking of staying at the Contemporary in the garden wing (one of the first deluxe resorts that re-opened when we re-scheduled last year) i would advise against it. The parking was terrible (construction workers took up most of the parking lot), the rooms seemed dated, there’s a lack of elevators in the garden wing and the resort in general is heavily under construction. The positive for our trip was that we frequented the monorail with its ease of access. We also enjoyed the re-imagined Chef Mickeys and the pool areas. We will definitely be returning to our favorite Beach Club next year instead however.

We go the same time in September every year and the crowd levels were normal for this time of year. There were waits, but not unbearable. We definitely missed fast pass. We had a hard time getting a boarding group but were successful our second day we went to Hollywood Studios for Rise of the Resistance. As far as covid measures I thought that that all the parks (Universal & Sea World included) were not doing a good job. Disney was doing the best out of the three, but there was zero distancing. Masks were not worn or enforced anywhere but at Disney (and that was scattershot). There was no sanitizing. Hand sanitizer stations at Magic Kingdom were often empty. I was actually shocked on how relaxed it was. I expected more I guess.

Regardless, we still had a great time. Enjoyed the parks, and hit Halloween Horror Nights (which was GREAT to be back at) and Howl O Scream (which was another fun night). Already planning for next year when Ratatouille and hopefully some more of Epcot is complete (what a mess right now, sad state for the 50th)

I was just there for the Ratatouille Grand opening a few weeks back and crowds were very light... 5 minute wait for space mountain.

Friends were just there this past weekend. They rode FOP 3x in one day and never waiting much more than 30 minutes. It was just a long weekend for them, but they never waited more than 45 minutes for anything. Maybe waits were 20 minutes or less. Now next weekend.... I think the ship will have sailed by then!

Glad you enjoyed your trip. I found September crowds to be far below what we would normally see. We literally walked onto rides such as Flight of Passage and Soarin. Other rides had, minimal, or short wait times. Before they suspended the virtual line for Rise of the Resistance, we were able to get boarding times twice within two weeks when we had never been able to do so before.

We went over Labor Day weekend, arrived the Wednesday before and left the Tuesday after. Crowds were nonexistent. I would say there was a slight bump in crowd levels that Sunday and Monday due to the holiday, but for the most part we walked on just about everything. Had no issues getting Rise of the Resistance boarding group the first time I tried. And we also had the opposite experience as far as COVID protocol. I will agree that there wasn't much social distancing taking place in lines, but everyone I saw was following the masking rules and I never was in want of a hand sanitizing station anywhere. We also carried little bottles clipped to our bags for added convenience. Rarely needed them however, I found the stations Disney set up to be plentiful. I will say that Sunday we went to Epcot and that was our day for doing Food and Wine booths, we left around 8:00. The crowd was starting to get a little inappropriate for my two teen girls. They actually asked to leave after the third time of being bothered by the same group of young men who thought they owned the park. They were loud, obnoxious and very drunk. I thought Sunday would be a better choice for a visit than Saturday, but being that Monday was a holiday, it was basically the same Saturday night crowd. That was the only slight blemish to our otherwise amazing week.

Just got back from our first visit in 18 years 9/27-9/30. Most rides were essentially walk-ons, at least the ones that we were interested in doing. (We didn't bother trying for ROTR - just not interested). At no time did we see anything posted at over 45 minutes. We felt no need for fast passes and enjoyed the fact that we didn't have to plan anything out some absurd length of time in advance. It wasn't a "ghost town" but it was very manageable.