Thank you so much! My MK day is December 30, which is when they show the fireworks for NYE. I don't care about the fireworks and we will
be there for 7 am RD. We have dinner ressies at our DVC SSR, Turf Club at 6:40 pm. Thinking by the time we finish and with traffic, we will
be at MK about 10 pm. While you were there, how was traffic? I usually leave an hour from place to place, I'm thinking 2 hours?
Even though MK closes at 2 am, I'm still thinking being the most crowded time of year that it will still be a mess in MK even at 2 am.
Do you think this to be correct? Did you experience this too? If so, should I just get my FP for that night or day?
So confused on what to do.
We loved 7 AM RD, so I would highly recommend it! We got so much done during the first 3-4 hours. It was awesome! We also had great experiences staying late. We have been several times the week before Christmas and the week between Christmas and NYE, and have found the crowds start to thin out by 11 PM. By midnight most attractions except for PP, 7DMT, BTMR, and Space were a walk-on for us. We saved BTMR towards the end and had virtually no wait.
That being said, we have never been at the MK on that specific date so I don't know how the draw of the special fireworks effects wait times. We were there for the 4th of July, however, and still found that crowds did thin out later and made wait times seem pretty manageable.
We like to start 7 AM rope drop with the highly popular or low capacity attractions first and then work our way through the high capacity attractions the later it gets. We would start in Fantasyland or Tomorrowland first and then moved toward Adventureland or Frontierland as the crowds started to build. We found that kept us one step ahead of the crowds. We would take a snack break around 10:30-11:00 and then had FP scheduled throughout the afternoon with a break for lunch around 1:30-2:00. This schedule seemed to really work well for us.
In the evening, we would use the reverse strategy of the morning and start with high capacity rides and shows moving toward the other lower capacity attractions as wait times diminished.
As far as traffic, we've been pretty lucky to not have any problems. Most visits we have stayed with family so we were driving our cars, but never had any traffic issues. Last year, we were at POP and used the buses. We had no problems, but Christmas morning, we drove by some of the madness at the MK entrance. It did not look pretty! I was worried because we had scheduled a late breakfast at 1900 PF. Our bus took a different route getting to the MK though, and we bypassed the worst of the traffic. From the MK, we took the monorail to the GF with no issues. We did leave plenty of time (I think 2 hours like you suggested), but were pleasantly surprised at how easy transportation was.
It's definitely crowded that week, but we love the festive atmosphere, the holiday spirit and all of the extra Christmas decorations and entertainment. We go in knowing that we will not get to see and do everything, but with smart touring and the use of those early morning and late night hours, we almost always overexceed our expectations.
