Amazing...Three Parks filled to capacity at one time

[tiberius]

My DS CM just called. He was on a break from his job at Epcot. He told me that MK, AK & MGM are all filled to capacity and not letting guests in right now. I am so glad we went last week.

Small wonder the Unofficial Guide calls this week the "NIghtmare on Main Street"

 

[DemonLlama]

Really? We were there the 15th-22nd and while it was busier than I thought it would be we never waited more than 20 minutes for anything all week. Most of our waits were 10 minutes or so with a few 20 in there. I thought it was great!

Allyson

Ditto -- our longest wait, ironically, was 30 minutes for Everest, but that was a park opening and the ride was "down" until then. We waited on it, grabbed fast passes while waiting, rode three times in one hour.

We left Dec. 23 with rain in the forecast. Our whole week was dry with highs in the upper 70s. It was beautiful.

 

[minijeanie]

glad I am not there. can't imagine why anyone would want to be.
besides long lines for attractions there will be no where to sit and just take all the ambience in..

and I guess forget about eating at a restaurant without a ressie.

So for once in my life I am glad I am home and not at the world

 

[The Mick]

yeah, DH just called. He was taking the kids to the Contemporary arcade and they wouldn't let him in to park. They would only let people with dining reservations in.

What's interesting is that this is the 2nd time AK is closed to capacity! Yea, AK... finally moving up with the big boys!

Yep. I think the EE (Everest Effect) has made a HUGE impact on that park. It's the attraction that people can focus on and base all the other attractions around it. It helps make it a complete park, one that you can spend the vast majority of a day at.

 

[drp4video]

We have gone for Christmas/New Years the last three years in a row. Last year we decided no more. Too busy! I miss the holidays at WDW, but I don't miss the crowds!

 

[UrsulasShadow]

I've gone a couple of times in the past during this week. If you AVOID the EMH park, you can get to the other parks at opening and get in a couple of hours of primo touring before the crowds finally figure out to LEAVE the EMH park. And they almost always shut down MK during this week a few times due to capacity...but yeah, never heard of them shutting the others down as well at the same time! Very interesting. They raise prices all round, and still the crowds are there.

 

[MICKEEP]

The amazing thing about this was that all three parks were filled to capacity at the same time.
I wonder if this has ever happened before at WDW?

 

[seashoreCM]

Did they say whether the three parks went all the way to stage 4 (nobody at all admitted) versus stage 2 (Disney's resort guests still admitted)?

 

[jteec]

Anyone know what the capacity for the parks are? And what is Disney's record attendance?

I don't know alot, but last year when we were in Epcot, we spoke with a very "official" looking cast member regarding his 15 year employment at Disney ..... (not a store clerk, or janitor or character)... who said that on average, the max capacity was around 150,000 per park.

Who knows... but

150,000 sounds pretty maxed out to me.

 

[RayaniFoxmur]

Did they say whether the three parks went all the way to stage 4 (nobody at all admitted) versus stage 2 (Disney's resort guests still admitted)?

We're just waking up in Gainesville on our way down... I'm interested to know this too!

 

[blessedby3]

Ditto -- our longest wait, ironically, was 30 minutes for Everest, but that was a park opening and the ride was "down" until then. We waited on it, grabbed fast passes while waiting, rode three times in one hour.

We left Dec. 23 with rain in the forecast. Our whole week was dry with highs in the upper 70s. It was beautiful.

We were there the 16th-23rd. While we had GREAT weather with highs in the 80's everyday, I thought the crowds were a bit crazy. I guess its what you compare it to though. Last year the week after Thanksgiving we seemed to have the parks to ourselves. No wait times and some rides we didnt even have to get off of - we could just stay on and ride again. This trip the only short waits we had were early in the morning right after park opening. After an hour or two we encountered waits of 60-80 mins on headliner rides. We should have been on your touring plan, because we had most of our waits starting at 30 mins but the majority at 60 mins. When we tried to get on Test Track, it was broken down at 10:30 am and the fastpasses were for 7pm that evening. No thanks, Im not tying up my fast passes for the whole day. We never got to ride TT. Rode Mission Space once on a fastpass and Soarin 2 times 1st thing in the morning. Got a fastpass then got in standby for 30 mins. By the time we got off the ride it was a 60 min. standby. I definately wont go to Disney during this time frame again. Just too crowded for our family. The only reason we went during that time was because Dniece is in college and couldnt miss.

 

[thegales]

...When we tried to get on Test Track, it was broken down at 10:30 am and the fastpasses were for 7pm that evening. No thanks, Im not tying up my fast passes for the whole day...

Unless things have changed recently, your Fast Pass is only tied up until the sooner of the ride time stated on the Fast Pass or two hours from when it was printed. So if you got the Test Track Fast Pass at 10:30 am, you would have been able to get another Fast Pass at 12:30 pm.

 

[pixiechick]

Did they say whether the three parks went all the way to stage 4 (nobody at all admitted) versus stage 2 (Disney's resort guests still admitted)?

We got back last night. From what we heard, it was only stage 2 closings.

Yes, it was crazy crowded (from the 26th on), but it depends on the kind of trip you're planning as to your enjoyment of it. We spent a lot more time enjoying the resort and relaxing. We know we'll be back, so we just enjoyed WDW differently than we would at less crowed times.

 

[Becky521]

We were there the 16th - 26th and didn't think the crowds were bad at all. Matter of fact a few times in the mornings we said "where are all the people?" We pretty much were at a park from opening to closing - did a couple of evening EMH which were great. AK on Christmas Eve we walked onto the safari with a 10 minute wait and also the Kali River Rapids with a 10 minute wait. Due to fast pass and EMH we were able to ride Everest 4 times. Amazing ride. On Christmas we walked onto Space Mountain with a 10 minute wait. I think the rain on Christmas may have worked to our advantage. People were thinning out by 4:00 or so.

As a previous poster mentioned, I think I would rather be there in the crowds than here at my desk pretending to work.

 

[wrldpossibility]

We were in the parks from the 14th to the 18th and I can seriously say that it was the busiest I have ever seen it in the parks. It was even worst than some Spring Breaks of the past!

Wow. We were there the 10-20th, and our longest wait in line was 15 minutes. It was really uncrowded...at least nothing compared to spring break or summer in DLR (what I can compare it to). We noticed the crowds picking up around the 17th, but it was still nothing as long as you plan.

 

[PrincessParty]

We were there from the 21-26th and the longest line the whole week was 30 minutes. We did EE at AK 3 times in a row without a wait, exit, walk back on. (We were riding front seats the first time, the last seat the 2nd time, and the 3rd time the middle.) It was GREAT! I had warned DDs and DH about crowds and they think my Disney Knowledge has lost merrit, but happily! I was at MK at 6:30AM on Christmas AM and they had been expecting 71,000, but with the rain not nearly that many were there. I have great pictures of Mission Space with the lights on as it "broke down" 2X on Christmas night. Had a GREAT week, but glad to be home if it is so crowded now.

 

[MICKEEP]

As the great Yogi Berra once said

"Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."

 

[WDWFUN]

We were there from the 20th-28th. I noticed the parks full to capacity on the 27th when we went to Epcot. Christmas Day in the morning was not full, we rode everything with 5 minute wait times before noon! Unfortunately it rained all day up until 8pm that night.

On our last day when we were exiting we saw all the cars being detoured away from the Magic Kingdom...The line was SUPER looong! I felt bad for all the people way back in the line being turned away upon arrival to the entrance gate

The first few days up until the 24th, were managble for us.

 

[basas]

Sorry...double post

 

[basas]

Anyone know how the crowds are today? I'd imagine with it being a Friday, and temperatures warming up it must be pretty busy...