Why so crowded first week of December???

[Tiger7]

We are concerned about our dates, now that I am reading about this Pop Warner thing. I've never heard of it before and didn't know about it when I made our vacation plans. We are scheduled for Dec. 3 - 11, staying at Pop Century.
Since you have been the first week of Dec. several times, what kind of wait times would you say you had in the parks for rides? Any input is greatly appreciated...
I was looking forward to it not being packed...just my luck! Should I be concerned???

 

[bicker]

As mentioned earlier, despite the hotels being packed, the parks generally are not.

 

[Lucky4me]

We've been going this week every year for the last 6 and it's gotten a little busier each year. The parks are hit and miss.
If you don't want large crowds, stay away from MK on Saturday. Go to the opening of the park that had late magic hours the night before. Fast pass everything you can.

If it wasn't for the decorations we'd be going the third week of January. When my dd can ride Peter Pan 14 times in a row without getting off, I'd say it was pretty slow.

 

[goofy4tink]

We are concerned about our dates, now that I am reading about this Pop Warner thing. I've never heard of it before and didn't know about it when I made our vacation plans. We are scheduled for Dec. 3 - 11, staying at Pop Century.
Since you have been the first week of Dec. several times, what kind of wait times would you say you had in the parks for rides? Any input is greatly appreciated...
I was looking forward to it not being packed...just my luck! Should I be concerned???

Pop Warner kids really don't impact the parks all that much, especially during the week-days. They are busy with their competitions. Usually MGM closes early on a Sat night for a private party for them though. In '03, they closed around 7ish.
This time period is also very popular with the DVC people. Yes, they are mostly at the DVC resorts but tend to book other resorts over the weekends.
There can also be a lot of convention business in early Dec., but they don't inpact the park crowds.
Add MouseFest, Pop Warner, holiday shows, Christmas parade taping on 12/2 and 12/3....well, it can take a lot of rooms especially over the week-end. I wouldn't worry about the park crowds too much. I arrive tomorrow and leave on Mon. the 5th...I'm not concerned about huge crowds.

 

[nbodyhome]

I've been going every December for 7 or 8 years now...well, maybe closer to 10 now. And it used to be completely sparse at the parks...really, noone there. It was like September. But every year, it does get busier - including the parks, no matter what anyone says. That doesn't mean it's packed to the gills, it's not like the holidays. Mousefest is merely a blip, as is the RADP meet. It might be similar to October now - maybe not that crowded, but I think the word just got out that it was a great time of the year to go. There is the Pop Warner groups (that is a lot of rooms), Disney fan groups, etc.

Oh - and just because Disney says there is no rooms doesn't mean that there aren't. Like...if you look for a room, you might not be able to find it at 4 nights, but you may at 7. Disney is now holding rooms back for longer stays, which I'd never noticed until a couple of months ago (they didn't used to do that). I am surprised, since it seems that there are rooms that will then go unsold.

Anyway - early December, still a nice time to go. A little busy, not bad generally - think early October. That could change of course, I do think it's a bit busier every year.

Denise

 

[liamsaunt]

I was there first week of December last year and will be there November 30-December 6 this year. The parks were not bad at all last year, and the hotels were really full. Many places were entirely booked--we had originally booked POR but I wanted to move to a deluxe--the only available property was BWI (which was awesome).

In our experience, the MK was packed around the hub and Main Street during the taping of the parade, but if you took the train to the back of the park the lines were quite short for all the rides. We walked on to most everything with little/no wait, including all of the mountains in MK, turtle talk at Epcot, etc. I do recall the usual waits in fantasyland, but we just waited until MVMCP to ride Peter Pan and Pooh and had little/no waits.

The Pop Warner folks are not a problem in the parks. They tend to travel in packs and the kids we saw were well supervised and nicely behaved. The weather was nice (although the Saturday of the taping was quite cold and windy). We generally wore light slacks and t-shirts, with sweaters in the evening. I am hoping for more of the same, weather wise, and crowd wise this year.

 

[msable]

Friday 12/2 and Saturday 12/3 from 7am to 5pm, with 12/4 being the raindate. I read that they may route guests thru backstage areas if necessary for crowd control/movement.

Thanks for the info. Looks like we will just miss the filming. Happy Holidays

 

[nowellsl]

We went last year during the parade filming and although the area around main street and in front of the castle was crowded it wasn't bad at the rides. It was really fun to watch the taping and we got to hear Wynona Judd sing O Holy Night (several times) It seemed in all the parks to be crowded at the entrances and walkways but the rides weren't bad. We're going a little later this year and I'm a little worried about the crowds (12/17-20). With a daughter in college we have to go when we can.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

That's true... a lot of online communities have their events at WDW this week, but it doesn't really amount to that many people.

Remember: Packed hotels doesn't necessarily translate into packed parks. It's just a matter of Disney making staying on-site that much more appealing.

i also agree with this
i know there is alot going on with mousefest, cheerleaders and dvcc stuff but alot of people go down and just hang at the hotel, go in the pool get spa treatments eat the at restaurants in hotels
my mom and i were there last sept and we stayed at the wl we were at the parks one day of the 5 the rest was spent shopping, touring and relaxing

 

[sjrogo713]

When you hit the parks early and use FP judiciously, you can do alot even though it is a busy time. We forced ourselves (we are NOT morning people) to get up and out every day and it was so worth it. On Wed B4 Thanksgiving we went to MK and did Space Mtn (twice), Buzz lightyear, Big thunder (twice), Splash Mtn. Saw Tiki birds and Country Bear, Pirates and also had lunch at Pecos Bill. By the time we did all that, it was about 1PM and there was 60-70 min waits for everything that was on our "B-list", so we left and went to Disney Quest for the rest of the day.

 

[rt2dz]

For the people who go in the beginning of Dec.regularly and have seen the crowds going up steadily--Do you think the second week of Dec. is better?

 

[nbodyhome]

I don't think it matters...first or second week. Both should be brisk at the resorts, somewhat brisk at the parks, but not slammed. It's funny, the last dates that seem to go are the Christmas time ones.

I remember a couple of years ago meeting friends at the MK during Christmas week - against my own better judgement, but it was their vacation time. We only waited 20 minutes for Space, 20 or so for Philharmagic, etc. So you really never know.

Denise

 

[GeoffM24]

We are going to be their the 4-9th. It is a low point time for the vacation club so lots of DVC people go, I know this is one of the reasons we are going.