Have you ever been at the parks when they reached "Capacity"?

[Alpha Jeanie]

Have you ever been at the parks when they reached "capacity" and stop letting guests in?
What are the procedures if you are at the gate and they are at capacity. Do they let more in depending on how many leave?

[Dakota Rose]

It happened to me. July 4th, 1996 at Magic Kingdom. Those of us trying to get in were re-routed through a side entrance and ended up entering the park in the middle of Tomorrowland. But they were only allowing in groups of people according to how many people were leaving. That was almost 20 years ago, I'm sure things have changed.

[bxrluv]

It happened to us on New Year's Eve day 2001. I believe around 2pm they began only letting those in that were resort guests. We hurried back to Epcot and were in but it became so overwhelming that we ended up leaving a couple hours later. I'm not sure if it has ever happened during Spring Break time. It looks like that is when your trip is planned. We went in 2010 during that time and it was manageable. Going back again this Spring Break. Hopefully since Easter isn't until end of April that will help spread the crowds out a little.

[jnfr2424]

July 4 2005. They made an announcement on the bus to MK saying the park is almost at capacity but being resort guests were only allowed in. They had sectioned the entrance checking KTTW and scanning people in then the other side you could see them turning away folks. It was hot and people were packed like sardines. We also went through some side entrance and ended up at Adventureland/Frontierland. The only ride we were able to get on was HM and that was a 2 hour wait.

[1DisneyNut]

It was July 4 2005 for us also. In my opinion, they allowed way and I mean way too many people in. We arrived when they were only allowing resort guests in around lunch time and we entered through the normal front entrance. It took us almost 1 1/2 hour to get from the entrance to the round-a-bout in front of the castle. It was literally shoulder to shoulder people packed in so tight nobody could move.

The CM's were standing on top the benches yelling at people to keep moving. One singled me out and yelled to keep moving, I couldn't stand in the street.....I snapped. I yelled back, I have been trying to get down this **** street for over an hour and a half and I can't move so why don't you quit yelling and get down here and escort me through......he quit yelling at people. lol

I don't think we even rode anything. We made it over to where they were allowing people to leave through the side in tomorrowland and exited the park. We went back to the resort, got in the car and went to the beach instead.

I emailed WDW after we got home from the trip and expressed my concerns. I told them that I thought it was a safety issue allowing that many people in, especially with small children. If a situation would have arisen, something as simple as a disatisfied guest causing a scene; it could have led to people pushing and shoving, knocking people over onto small children or a panic. That is why we left....it just didn't feel safe to be there. They actually called me a couple days later and discussed my concerns and what could have been done differently so they did care. I told her that myself as well as many others would have been less disappointed if they would have not let us into that mess and turned us away. She also said that they had received quite a bit of complaints about that day so they knew it was bad.

About a week later, in the mail I received complimentary one day tickets for everyone that was in my party that day. I didn't ask for nor did I want free tickets, I just didn't want anyone else to have a bad experiece like that in the future.

Do yourself a favor. If you ever arrive at the park and they say it is almost to capacity and they are only allowing resort guests in, turn around and go do something else.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

We've been at MK a couple of times during Christmas week and the parks were at capacity. We arrived early and got in but friends of ours tried to get in around noon and were turned away. From what I remember late in the afternoon around 4 or 5 pm when some people left they started letting people in again.

[FLKatie912]

The CM's were standing on top the benches yelling at people to keep moving. One singled me out and yelled to keep moving, I couldn't stand in the street.....I snapped. I yelled back, I have been trying to get down this **** street for over an hour and a half and I can't move so why don't you quit yelling and get down here and escort me through......he quit yelling at people. lol

e.

I do not envy those poor CMs. People can be just brutal and entitled when they are told what to do, stressed, or confused. I'm glad some people are willing to put up with it so that I can keep enjoying the parks.

I've been stuck in those crazy crowds particularly by the "death bridge" as I call it, (the bridge by Crystal Palace), where some people decided to just stand in the middle of the bridge to watch Wishes despite CMs instructions to keep moving.

In addition, after being in the parks multiple times when reaching capacity, I will never do it again! Not worth it!

[Middle of the Map]

I emailed WDW after we got home from the trip and expressed my concerns. I told them that I thought it was a safety issue allowing that many people in, especially with small children. If a situation would have arisen, something as simple as a disatisfied guest causing a scene; it could have led to people pushing and shoving, knocking people over onto small children or a panic. Do yourself a favor. If you ever arrive at the park and they say it is almost to capacity and they are only allowing resort guests in, turn around and go do something else.

Excellent points - especially about safety. We were in MK in the middle of July and noticed the crowds getting worse and worse around noon. We heard people saying the park was closed to all except resort guests. It was an ordeal to get back to the buses in the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd. I kept thinking "don't fall down" because you'll be trampled.

Disney has surely revamped their park limits since that time. But your last suggestion is the best. Turn around and go somewhere else if the park is at capacity.