Crowds this weekend 11/13, 11/14 and 11/15

[firefly87]

I was just wondering if anyone was in the parks this weekend and how busy it was with Friday being the first official day of Holidays at Disney (or whatever it's officially called!). What were ride waits like?

We're leaving Wed and will be there this next weekend and I'm just trying to mentally prepare myself!

[laura&fam]

We were there Friday. The waits really weren't too bad. I think that was because there were loads of people waiting for everything. We staked out a spot for the fireworks 3 hours early We never would have made it if some really nice AP holders wouldn't have saved our spot while I let my DS 20 months walk around. My DH was at the hotel sick.

There were tons of people watching the parade too and lots of people standing around watching IASW holiday. Definately check that out. They do cool lights and projections on the front of it. The line for the ride was about 2 miles long but it was still only about a 20 minute wait. I don't know how they did that but it was great!

So, my opinion is: ride times - reasonable; parade & firework wait time - a bit insane

[angel22]

We just got back today, we spent 11/11 - 11/14 in the parks. It was definitely crazy around the parade/fastasmic/fireworks times, and IASW was a long line all day but otherwise we also found it manageable. We did a lot of rides during MM and earlier in the day when it was a lot quieter! We were actually the first on IASW at 7 am yesterday morning, and rode it twice without getting off.

[firefly87]

Thank you for your input! I am happy to hear that it isn't crazy busy like it was during Halloween. I think our plan of attack is to get there for MM at 9 am on Thursday, stay til fireworks at 8 pm, and get as much done in between as we can!

I'm still not sure what to do for parade viewing........
.....should we skip it on Thursday and use that time to do rides OR
.....should we watch it Thursday and then use Fri, Sat, Sun to do rides while everyone else is watching the parade

I'm leaning toward watching it on Thursday. The only glitch is that my parents are doing the holiday tour on Saturday with the 6:30 pm parade. I figured we'd watch it then as well (just not in the reserved area.....darn!).

[disney-inspired]

I was there yesterday (11/14) and it was PACKED.
I'm pretty sure DL was close to capacity. I couldn't walk more than a few steps without bumping into someone. It was definitely manageable if you utilized fast pass. The wait times were long but nowhere near the wait times in October. Fast pass for Space Mountain did run out but the stand by line wait was only 50 minutes. When I went in October the wait time was between 80 - 90 minutes.

We rode Indy, Pirates, Jungle cruise, Haunted mansion, Big thunder, Pinocchio, Snow White, Matterhorn, Buzz, and saw the Christmas parade. We didn't start getting on rides until about 1:30pm.

So if you're coming on the weekends, be there early and always get a fast pass when the time slot opens up. Oh and I suggest seeing Tiana's Showboat Jubilee, it's pretty great!

[DorkyDisneyMom]

Originally Posted by firefly87

Thank you for your input! I am happy to hear that it isn't crazy busy like it was during Halloween. I think our plan of attack is to get there for MM at 9 am on Thursday, stay til fireworks at 8 pm, and get as much done in between as we can!

I'm still not sure what to do for parade viewing........
.....should we skip it on Thursday and use that time to do rides OR
.....should we watch it Thursday and then use Fri, Sat, Sun to do rides while everyone else is watching the parade

I'm leaning toward watching it on Thursday. The only glitch is that my parents are doing the holiday tour on Saturday with the 6:30 pm parade. I figured we'd watch it then as well (just not in the reserved area.....darn!).

I would say to get the parade out of the way on Thursday. It seems that crowds are being reported as heavier on weekends. I also think that the sooner you get it out of the way the better. You never know with crowds or even weather. If it's important to you I would do it on Thursday.

[CanadaMom24]

I totally agree it was crazy busy on the 14th. The 12 and 13 weren't bad though.
We stayed for the fireworks and it was a little nuts LOL.

Originally Posted by disney-inspired

I was there yesterday (11/14) and it was PACKED.
I'm pretty sure DL was close to capacity. I couldn't walk more than a few steps without bumping into someone. It was definitely manageable if you utilized fast pass. The wait times were long but nowhere near the wait times in October. Fast pass for Space Mountain did run out but the stand by line wait was only 50 minutes. When I went in October the wait time was between 80 - 90 minutes.

We rode Indy, Pirates, Jungle cruise, Haunted mansion, Big thunder, Pinocchio, Snow White, Matterhorn, Buzz, and saw the Christmas parade. We didn't start getting on rides until about 1:30pm.

So if you're coming on the weekends, be there early and always get a fast pass when the time slot opens up. Oh and I suggest seeing Tiana's Showboat Jubilee, it's pretty great!