You sure we were there the same year?
Our first day was the 7th and it was the last day of the holiday season. We walked into the esplanade so I didn't see any capacity signs, but we did not experience anything close to peak crowds. Also, we had record HIGH temps all three days we were there. It was between 85-90 degrees each day. There were high winds at night which cancelled F! on one of our nights and also delayed the removal of the tree overnight on the 7th. They ended up taking it down the night of the 8th.
I left early in the AM of the 7th. There may not have been signs out that day. My post was meant to address the original poster's concern about crowds the first week of Jan, and in Jan '07, the first week of the year Su-Sa was Dec 31-Jan 6. I would imagine that most people who would plan a trip at that time are doing it because they want to see the Holiday
decor and want to be able to ride as many rides as possible, so they tend to not go during the 2nd week because that's when the facade starts to come down and the rides like HM and IASW shut down to remove the decor.
We also had high winds when we were there, and it was bone chilling cold. It was completely unexpected as we are usually comfortable with gloves and a jacket at night, but fine during the day with nothing; and we were not prepared. It was freezing during the day. I had left my enclosed shoes and gloves at my hotel room in Vegas. (We keep the room when we go to DL because we're comped.) I've left my gloves in the past and didn't need them -- I'd stick my hands in my pockets and it would be fine -- but not last Jan. I spent our entire first day looking in every store in the park for enclosed shoes, socks and adult sized gloves,
and I saw a lot of others looking for gloves as well. I sucked it up until early evening when I finally caved and bought a kid's pair from the Emporium. There were a lot of adults doing the same that night -- it was
that cold. After 2 days of this weather, I made my DH take me to Macy's to buy enclosed shoes. Fireworks were canceled every night we were there. I believe they canceled it on the 6th as well, but could be wrong. After waiting every night despite the announcements that it may be canceled, on our last night there, we didn't bother. We rode all the rides we wanted and checked out DCA. Since we'd already seen F! numerous times we didn't bother in January so I don't know if they canceled or not. We were either on the other side of the park or in DCA.
As I said earlier, the 1st week of Jan (or last week of holiday decor) wasn't as busy as the last 2 weeks before NY, but it was still busy if you're not used to it, and don't know how to utilize FP, SR and/or don't understand how the CM's utilize crowd control measures -- because that is an excercise in frustration by itself!
I remember my first trip during the last week of Dec I was pulling my hairs out in frustration because I could see my son on the other side of Main St, but couldn't get to him because of the crowd control measures.
(He had been waiting w/me for Fireworks and I had to go potty. He saved our spot. The CMs let me leave to go potty, but no one told me before I left that I would not be able to get back in unless I went around the entire backside of the park!
That took an additional 20-25 minutes at least, and by the time I got back, fireworks were starting.) I had to go all the way around Fantasyland, behind BTMRR, and back through Frontierland, only to be told I was going the wrong way and that to get to Main St I had to go through Adventureland -- all the while fighting the crowds from F! that were trying to shove their way in to see the fireworks too. I made it to the edge of Adventureland, and they weren't letting any more people into the area.
Luckily my son was already a preteen at that time so he didn't panic or anything, and he had a cell phone so I could tell him what was happening. I could see where a lot of parents and adults that don't know what's happening, or why it's happening, or who don't understand the layout of the park, would get aggravated.
In addition, the CMs were frustrated, screaming at the top of their lungs at people who just ignored what they would tell them and duck under the ropes anyway.
It's not fun,
especially when you don't know what to expect. As you probably know, during peak crowds this happens at least 3 times a day due to the 2 parades, F! and Fireworks, because they want one side to be incoming guests and one side to be outgoing guests. But, if you've never been to the park during peak capacity, how would you know that?
Oh yeah, and when the above happened, we had the Enhanced FP, so going on rides wasn't even an issue for us. Imagine all the above and you don't know how to maximize FP & SR.
It's one of those things you learn from experience, and I think a lot of people get so turned off by it, they never want to go back. I have a friend who experienced exactly the above and now she hates DL
and refuses to to back.
All I can say is, although it wasn't as busy the first week of Jan as I've seen it during the last 2 weeks of Dec, I've seen a lot of people on a lot of different message boards who were there the same week as me who complained about the crowds being at peak capacity. I remember being surprised when I read that the first few times thinking, "They haven't seen peak crowds until they've been there during the last 2 weeks of Dec!" It's all a matter of perception and what we make of the experience...
So anyway, my post was just meant to help and inform the original poster of our experience in DL...