Christmas Day capacity

[Cynister]

Do any other parks fill or close from capacity on Christmas day? If so is it usually early in the day?

 

[CAS239]

It is very rare for a park to fully close due to capacity. It hasn't happened in years. Are you staying on site or AP holders?

If you are then you'll be allowed into a park up until a phase 4 closure which is when the park is completely at capacity. Generally if a park starts to close on busy days it's usually just a phase 1 or 2 closure which prevents people with same day tickets from entering

 

[Cynister]

Yes we are, I didn't realize that. I was just concerned about crowd level increases if we didn't plan to go for rope drop, but more towards lunch.

Thanks for the info

 

[CAS239]

Yes we are, I didn't realize that. I was just concerned about crowd level increases if we didn't plan to go for rope drop, but more towards lunch.

Thanks for the info

You'll be fine then. The last time a wdw park hit phase 4 closure on Christmas Day was in 2010.

Slight chance, but you should be good.

 

[wilkeliza]

With the opening of New Fantasyland MK can hold a ton of people. You may see them stop selling day of tickets or not allow those from off site with no reservations come in but I imagine a true closure won't happen. If it does it usually clears up with in an hour or two because the parks on a full phase 4 closure are miserable.

It is even more rare at DHS and DAK and I could find no history of a phase 4 closure ever happening at Epcot. That park can hold way too many people.

 

[Cynister]

Awesome thanks to you both. We were thinking about DHS.

 

[AngiTN]

With the opening of New Fantasyland MK can hold a ton of people. You may see them stop selling day of tickets or not allow those from off site with no reservations come in but I imagine a true closure won't happen. If it does it usually clears up with in an hour or two because the parks on a full phase 4 closure are miserable.

It is even more rare at DHS and DAK and I could find no history of a phase 4 closure ever happening at Epcot. That park can hold way too many people.

Yet the rumor persists that they closed Epcot last week (when the parking lot closed due to the marathon prep)

 

[Accident]

It is very rare for a park to fully close due to capacity. It hasn't happened in years. Are you staying on site or AP holders?

If you are then you'll be allowed into a park up until a phase 4 closure which is when the park is completely at capacity. Generally if a park starts to close on busy days it's usually just a phase 1 or 2 closure which prevents people with same day tickets from entering

Yes we are, I didn't realize that. I was just concerned about crowd level increases if we didn't plan to go for rope drop, but more towards lunch.

Thanks for the info

I think MK was in phase 1 closing last year by about 10-11am and it went back to normal about 1-2pm. As a resort guest, you'll get in no problem, it's really rare to get to phase 4 and it's very possibly the extra capacity of new fantasyland that we may not see that happen again for a very long time (people have to park somewhere first). I think phase 1 is where people can no longer buy tickets and go right in unless they have a dining reservation.

 

[wilkeliza]

Yet the rumor persists that they closed Epcot last week (when the parking lot closed due to the marathon prep)

The parking lot closes all the time around running events and is so frustrating because the park isn't near capacity it is just the parking lot issues.

 

[Accident]

Yet the rumor persists that they closed Epcot last week (when the parking lot closed due to the marathon prep)

The local news reported it as the lot was closed when it ran out of spaces, not epcot itself. They didn't mention if they were sending them to AK or somewhere to park which I have seen in the past when a particular lot fills up. smart people would have just went to a nearby park if they really wanted epcot and bus back over.

 

[AngiTN]

The local news reported it as the lot was closed when it ran out of spaces, not epcot itself. They didn't mention if they were sending them to AK or somewhere to park which I have seen in the past when a particular lot fills up. smart people would have just went to a nearby park if they really wanted epcot and bus back over.

Yes, and I'm not talking about what the news reported, specifically addressing RUMORS. I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of WDW visitors do not listen to the local news. We don't even turn on the TV while visiting. They heard "parking lot closed" and interpreted it as "park closed". Incorrectly. But it is what it is. Or was what it was, as the case may be. And all up and down FB and message boards it's been said that Epcot, the entire park, closed for one day last week.

 

[Accident]

Yes, and I'm not talking about what the news reported, specifically addressing RUMORS. I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of WDW visitors do not listen to the local news. We don't even turn on the TV while visiting. They heard "parking lot closed" and interpreted it as "park closed". Incorrectly. But it is what it is. Or was what it was, as the case may be. And all up and down FB and message boards it's been said that Epcot, the entire park, closed for one day last week.

ah thanks, I read it backwards and thought you were saying there was a rumor that epcot actually closed.

you don't even check the weather in the morning by flipping on the news?

 

[AngiTN]

ah thanks, I read it backwards and thought you were saying there was a rumor that epcot actually closed.

you don't even check the weather in the morning by flipping on the news?

I did say that the rumor is that Epcot actually closed. But it didn't come from the news. It came from folks who spread what started as fact that the parking lot closed and transitioned to a rumor of park closed (ing lot) was lost along the way, like a game of Gosip
No, we do not check the weather. What good does it actually do? Chances of rain are about the same every single day, with few exceptions. Temps come in right on my phone

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

Yes we are, I didn't realize that. I was just concerned about crowd level increases if we didn't plan to go for rope drop, but more towards lunch.

Thanks for the info

You should be okay as an on-site guest or AP holder. We go every year and even wait to go to EPCOT until after dinner on NYE. Never had a problem. Not saying it WON'T or CAN'T happen, but it hasn't happened to us yet.

As for getting there early.. we like to. The EMH is usually 7am-8am. In past years we've arrived at 7:30-7:45 and fit in Space Mountain right before the park opened, then got on Buzz in under 20 mins. This year we're doing EMH rope drop. You'll notice the park doesn't get overwhelmingly crowded until around 10-11am. Then it's a bit overwhelming and Main Street is very difficult to navigate. I think so long as you have FP+, going late shouldn't be that bad, but just know that 7am (or 8am) to 10am is a solid window to hit the rides before the wait times go up exponentially. Another thing I'd add is to check the parade times. No use in trying to enter the park within one hour before or during the parade. You won't be able to get in (comfortably.)

 

[Cynister]

Logistics question for those saying on-site guest/AP/DVC shouldn't have an issue getting in...HOW do you get in? I saw a pic someone posted yesterday of crowds backed up to the monorail platform at MK & it just sat there. Is that how it will be every day? Do you just wait it out? It doesn't seem like you can still get in if that's the case.

 

[AngiTN]

Logistics question for those saying on-site guest/AP/DVC shouldn't have an issue getting in...HOW do you get in? I saw a pic someone posted yesterday of crowds backed up to the monorail platform at MK & it just sat there. Is that how it will be every day? Do you just wait it out? It doesn't seem like you can still get in if that's the case.

It's just a long line to get in. It doesn't mean the park is closed. Just takes a while to filter folks in the security and turnstiles. Or maybe I'm not understanding your question

 

[CAS239]

Logistics question for those saying on-site guest/AP/DVC shouldn't have an issue getting in...HOW do you get in? I saw a pic someone posted yesterday of crowds backed up to the monorail platform at MK & it just sat there. Is that how it will be every day? Do you just wait it out? It doesn't seem like you can still get in if that's the case.

That's not every day and usually only for a few hours on nye at MK. And a picture you might've saw just might have been guests waiting for the monorail in the morning on a regular day.

 

[pjnugget]

Is it typically worst on Xmas day vs eve? We r going on eve bc of this.

 

[Cynister]

This was the picture & it scared the heck out of me. I really don't want to wait hours just to get to the security check point.

 

[pjnugget]

OMG - what was the context of that picture though? morning or when majority of people coming in? 10-11am?