Dec 5- 12, What are we thinking about crowds?

[Motomom06]

I am getting a bit nervous. I leave Fri afternoon and thought I had picked a great week to go. Now I am sooo nervous. Starting to rethink EVERYTHING!! Is it just pre-trip jitters??? I am not worried about Pop Warner. I actually think that could benefit us since that will keep people out of the parks and we are staying at CBR. I just keep seeing people say it has gotten busier every year this week (guess 'cause of people like me ) Is busy all relative?

 

[cjnix29]

Busy is relative. It may be busier than this time last year...but maybe not. Off site hotels probably are not even close to full. On site is because of the deals they have been offering. But it won't be as busy as it is in the summer because people aren't as likely to take their kids out two weeks before Christmas. So the percentage of potential people going is less. It won't be summer crowds or spring break crowds. We leave on Saturday, and I am not worried at all. See ya there!

 

[Motomom06]

oh, and I am using Touring Plans. What does it mean if you go to a park that is neither the recommened park for the day nor the park to avoid for the day? Thanks!

 

[JoeyAnyc]

I am getting a bit nervous. I leave Fri afternoon and thought I had picked a great week to go. Now I am sooo nervous. Starting to rethink EVERYTHING!! Is it just pre-trip jitters??? I am not worried about Pop Warner. I actually think that could benefit us since that will keep people out of the parks and we are staying at CBR. I just keep seeing people say it has gotten busier every year this week (guess 'cause of people like me ) Is busy all relative?

I think you got the pre-jitters. For the past 5 years, I've been going to Disney this week. The crowds are very mild. I can't imagine going any other time of year. You'll have a great time. Don't stress it, especially since there's nothing you can do now.

I arrive on Sunday. Looks like we are going to luck out with some great weather.

 

[EricsFirstTrip]

I arrive Saturday mid afternoon. Staying until Wednesday.

This will be my first trip (family too) and I am now starting to freak out. I don't have a touring plan. I also have no idea about meals.

We are staying off site at a time share.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Eric

 

[4everluvDisney]

I arrive Saturday mid afternoon. Staying until Wednesday.

This will be my first trip (family too) and I am now starting to freak out. I don't have a touring plan. I also have no idea about meals.

We are staying off site at a time share.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Eric

Just enjoy!! Make sure you stop at City Hall just inside of Magic Kingdom and tell them that it is your first visit, they will give you a button to wear. As far as meals if you are planning on doing any sit downs in WDW you will probably need reservations. Check on the WDW website to try to book. If you go to http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm you will be able to check out the menus for WDW. In fact check out all the pages at allears.net.

Above all, have fun!

 

[DebbieB]

Check out the crowd calendar at touringplans.com:

http://www.touringplans.com/tp2/UG2_index.php?PageID=14

I've gone many times this time of year and agree with what they have. I don't have a subscription and already had my plans mapped out before this came out and it matches up. Except for next Saturday, all days are 4 or 6, which isn't bad.

 

[tonygmartin]

I arrive Saturday mid afternoon. Staying until Wednesday.

This will be my first trip (family too) and I am now starting to freak out. I don't have a touring plan. I also have no idea about meals.

We are staying off site at a time share.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Eric

I mean this in a humorous way, but would you go to Paris with family in tow if you had no idea what you were going to do when you got there? Especially since you're not going to be at WDW long enough to do everything, you should at least pick up "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2010" or similar travel book, and read through it before you go. You can use the touring plans in the book. It's $15 very well spent. Good luck and have fun!!

 

[LadyVT]

We were just able to 'name your own price' on Priceline and got a 4 star room just outside the park for far under $100 for the night of 12/5. So I sure do not think the whole area is impacted, as the room is several hundred dollars usually. We'll be at the WL 12/6-12/11! So excited!!

 

[puffkin]

You have the pretrip jitters. We all get that

MVMCP has been getting busier and busier every year, but a lot of locals go to that. The parks still seem to be very light crowds for the majority of the time (except for things like the Christmas Parade taping).

One thing to prepare for mentally though is that the parks (especially MK) seemed really really busy to me in terms of people walking around during December. I was surprised by how many people were in the parks, not what I was expecting for a low crowd time. However, the attractions had minimal to no waits. I think a lot of people come just for the atmosphere, but not to do the rides.

 

[nothnbutherainsir]

I mean this in a humorous way, but would you go to Paris with family in tow if you had no idea what you were going to do when you got there? Especially since you're not going to be at WDW long enough to do everything, you should at least pick up "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2010" or similar travel book, and read through it before you go. You can use the touring plans in the book. It's $15 very well spent. Good luck and have fun!!

I disagree. We only make a few ADR's (and by a few I mean maybe 2) and the rest of the time we just go with the flow. I really don't see a need to buy a book or a "touring plan" when you have a wonderful resource like the DIS.

 

[tonygmartin]

Take two families who have never been to WDW before and are only going to be there for a few days. Give one family a guide and touring plans, and let the other family "go with the flow". I would think that by the end of the trip the Guide family fares much better than the Flow family, IMHO. That's why these books exist and sell millions of copies.

 

[LisaBi]

I fully agree that a first timer needs to have a good comprehension of what to expect and at least a basic framework of a plan.

That said, with the exception of one ADR, this trip (leave tomorrow) we are totally winging it. I have a list of a few things I want to make an effort to hit, but otherwise it will be minute to minute. I don't even know at this point what park we are going to when we get there tomorrow afternoon!

I'm really looking forward to going without any schedule to adhere to. Heck, we may even play the "take the first bus that comes along" game.

 

[tfoster]

I don't know what we're THINKING, but here's someone who is HOPING, HOPING, HOPING for the low crowds we're historically heard about! And I'm hoping they extend right up to December 15!

 

[LilGMom]

We were just able to 'name your own price' on Priceline and got a 4 star room just outside the park for far under $100 for the night of 12/5. So I sure do not think the whole area is impacted, as the room is several hundred dollars usually. We'll be at the WL 12/6-12/11! So excited!!

Sorry to go OT but were you happy with the Priceline thing? I ask because I am thinking of trying out Priceline for our May trip. Right now we have BLT for four night but will probably add on a day to the beginning of the trip and I'm interested in giving Priceline a try.

 

[DebbieB]

One thing to keep in mind is free dining. It's going to be hard to "wing it" and get into a restaurant.

 

[leslie826]

I can't believe all the planning I have done for the past 6 months is about to come to fruition. I'm a little jittery as well. I keep thinking I will forget something. Have a great trip!!

 

[LisaBi]

One thing to keep in mind is free dining. It's going to be hard to "wing it" and get into a restaurant.

I know. I have the one ADR, then we are just going to do CS. It makes the trip more relaxing not having to worry about needing to be somewhere at a particular time.

 

[jeffn5631]

Yesterday at Epcot the crowd level was about as small I have seen it in the past 10 years. Until December 19th which is the start of the blackout period for seasonal passholders it should be the same as I experienced yesterday.

 

[J and R's mom]

Yes...the crowd thing is relative.

I started going the 1st and/or 2nd week in December back in 1999 when the Unofficial Guide Crowd Calendar had the crowd levels at a "1". They are now between 4 and 6 (and sometimes an 8) during those two weeks. I guess it started getting busier around 6 years ago. And there is a BIG difference to me between the levels back in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 when it was a level "1" and 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 when the crowd levels have been higher.

That being said, it's still my favorite time of year to go and still some of the lowest crowd levels of the year so it's not like crowds will be better any other time of year. And crowds are managable and sometimes sparse depending on the time of day and the park you're in.

The absolute LOWEST I've ever seen the crowds was back on our December 2001 trip. We walked out of Mouse Gear at 11:30am and NO ONE was around. We didn't see a single person until we got over to the fountain. But I'm sure that's because 9/11 had alot of people staying at home. We walked on every ride. The only waiting we had to do was for the ride/car to come back to the loading dock. It was eerie.

Enjoy your trip! I'm jealous. We've started going in March now b/c our little ones started school. I miss WDW at Christmas.