Sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately, I suspect your experience has not been unique. I hope that others beside yourself will speak up.
We’ve tried finding ways in which we could make our voice heard so that Disney will stop behaving in this way. I took the surveys when someone asked and offered to give feedback via email.
I haven’t heard from Disney yet.
That must have been awful. I think the projections in HEA mean crowds are worse than they were for Wishes, because they mean everyone has to be at the front of the castle.
This was Wednesday night, right? We were planning to go over for Happily Ever After to see the show since that was one of only two nights of our 8 night stay that it was being shown. I think that’s the problem - the party is so many nights that people who want to see Happily Ever After are limited to which nights they can go. As I said, we were planning to go. We rode the bus, got through security, and realized how many people were waiting to get into the park. We’d read earlier in the day that the park was already crowded so we knew it would be horrible if we went inside at that point. We knew the projections on the castle would be awesome, but also knew we weren’t up for managing two kids in that crowd. So we improvised. Our son mainly wanted to see the fireworks so we exited security, found a bench right outside security and sat there until time for the show. We were able to see the fireworks fine and near the end, we left and started heading for the bus. Walked right on the bus without waiting in line and got a seat. It ended up being a great night for us. Now, reading this, I’m SO glad we didn’t go on into the park.
EDITED: It would be interesting to know if this is only happening (at least to this extent) during the time of year of MNSSHP or MVMCP since those are the times that the show is limited to only a couple of nights a week.
We were there! Below is what I sent to webmaster about that experience:
THE WORST TIME EVER!! My adult son and his wife are the type that don’t want to miss any special event and will endure almost anything to see it. It was almost time for the nighttime show and fireworks to start and we were in Tomorrowland. My adult daughter decided to use the bathroom (exactly at the wrong time) which delayed our moving to the large courtyard in front of Cinderella’s Castle until just before the show started. We were barely able to cross the bridge and then everything came to a complete stop. People pressed up together without an inch between us. After 5-10 minutes, I realized how unsafe this was and decided to go back, yet IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO MOVE!
One girl had a panic attack and couldn’t even move. It was EXTREMELY unsettling and I believe was incredibly unsafe. A few of us decided to GET OUT. I put my grandson on my shoulders and pushed our way back to Tomorrowland. It was horrible! People wouldn’t move. No Disney employees trying to open up pathways. (Except for one guy where we were first stuck who would shout “go back” to which NO ONE responded.) He didn’t seem to have a clue of what to do except to shout “go back!”
After the fireworks, it took at least 45 minutes for my family to reach me near the Carousel of Progress, which was just across the bridge.
This is a catastrophe waiting to happen. As we left the park that night, I stopped into the guest relations and told a young robotic-like woman of my concerns, to which she responded that exits were open and staffed, and they know what they are doing are were well prepared - to which I replied that I WAS THERE AND THERE WAS NO SUCH THING! In bureaucratic fashion, she said she would pass my comments along. Of course, I am sure that didn’t happen.
We were there Oct 5 (which you may read if I finish my trip report). Although we LOVED HEA we had a similar experience. We had booked the dessert party with garden viewing. We were late getting to the party and so were in the last group to leave with a CM to go over to the garden area. It was about 8:40 with show starting at 9. The CM had a terrible time making a path through the crowds. At one point we were at a standstill for 5 minutes or so. There were multiple CMs along the path but people had completely filled in the space. The CMs were trying to move people out of some areas (in the mass confusion I am not sure where) and it seemed like no one was listening to the CMs. Once we started moving again people were being somewhat rude and pushing. One man even roughly bumped into my mother with an ECV. I heard one man say that if he couldn’t get through then his young son who was on his shoulders would have an accident 
it looked like people started to let him through then but we were moving in the other direction with the crowd and I didn’t see where he went.
Magic Kingdom has some major problems with crowd problems. The bottleneck that is Main Street was horrific. When we were there in April my DH ended up going to first aid to get out of the crowds because it was causing him some major anguish. He ended up being picked up and driven back to the resort by staff from the resort. It was harrowing for us. We are too introverted to enjoy that.
Is there any way to avoid this? is it just after the fireworks or certain parades?
It’s getting worse and worse honestly. There are ways to avoid it but that would mean allowing fewer people into the parks (specifically MK) and Disney, sadly, just isn’t willing to do this. It seems that it’s become harder and harder to predict the crowds.
I usually try not to bash on Disney since we all share of a clear love of it here but I think the only way things will change is after there’s an actual emergency and they have no choice.
If you are wondering how to personally avoid the crowds, I will say that we did not experience them during the parade. We walked right up and caught the tail end near liberty square and were front and center. I think MK was CL 5 that day. HEA was another story. I would recommend the dessert party and get there right at the start and get the garden early. If you have viewing right at the terrace I guess you would avoid the crowd altogether but we really like being in the garden. If you decide to make it a dessert dinner (why not you are in Disney after all!) then the price isn’t too hefty. They do also serve cheese/fruit trays.
This is so sad to hear. We were there as recently as this past July 4th when I am assuming the fireworks specific crowd is about is big as it gets (but perhaps that is a faulty assumption). It was incredibly crowded but I never once felt unsafe. At all times walking paths were kept open and people in our group were able to come and go with minimal effort for snacks and bathrooms. Perhaps the difference between the projection show and the 360 degree fireworks is really critical and maybe holds the solution. The 4th fireworks were amazing and I can’t imagine anyone would see them and be disappointed. They allowed the crowd to spread out much farther throughout the park but we watched from Main St. and experienced nothing like what you all are describing with HEA. As cool as the projection is, it doesn’t seem worth forcing the crowd into one small part of the park.
We were there one July evening
It was crowded but didn’t feel unsafe
After the show the disney cast were encouraging everyone to walk through the shops to get away as well as down the main street
I assumed that was to get people to spend at the time
But maybe it’s genuinely to avoid overcrowding as everyone leaves at the same time
Okay, this is scaring me a bit. We don’t get to go often and our next trip is scheduled for Sept. '18. I’m wondering if we cant get one of the dessert parties, if it’s worth trying to see the show from the upper level of the train station. I figure the images won’t be as clear, but at least we would somewhat see them. My DH can be sensitive to crowds, so I’ll have to prepare in advance if Disney doesn’t do anything to try to fix this problem.
Thanks all!