Christmas Parade and crowds..your thoughts...

[crow11ad]

OK I called Disney the other night asking about some ps and stated that we were kind of worried about the crowds since most of the hotels were booked for the 1st weekend. We got to talking about the parade and she stated that some celebs can only be availabe for certian times. Now I can understand that because they have a job to do as well. But I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts were on this. I went to the disney site and was playing around and tried to book a trip for 12-4 - 12-10 and there was like only 1 or 2 hotels availble. But I tried from like the 12-6 - 12-10 and most were available. So I guess the Thanksgivng crowd is still there and what not. Your thoughts on this as well.

 

[WDSearcher]

Just because hotels are full doesn't necessarily mean parks will be packed. There could be conventions in town that will have little or no impact on park attendance; they could be holding a block of rooms for a big event that is still tentative and within its cancellation time; they could be rehabbing some rooms in a resort and so there aren't as many rooms available ... could be a lot of things. Sometimes it depends on what kind of a "deal" you were looking at, since some resorts only release a certain number of rooms to on-line reservations and hold the rest for callers, travel agents, or group purchase. It's not likely the Thanksgiving crowds will still be around by December 4. They usually clear out pretty quickly. There might, however, be some folks rescheduling "hurricane trips" for that week, as it's historically a low-crowd week.

 

[nowellsl]

I was told that the weekend of Dec. 4-5 is "press weekend" They will be filming the Christmas parade and there will be press events at MVMCP and the Candlelight processional.

 

[tink2]

I think the press events and the filming of the parade are making this weekend busy. Plus, I've read that most weekends in Dec. are busy b/c locals like to see the Christmas stuff. We are arriving Dec. 5. I played around on the WDW site and got availability for every single hotel for Dec. 5-11. I was surprised all the values showed availability b/c it is Pop Warner week, but they all offered me a room. I'm guessing the weekend will be crowded- especially MK, but it looks like it will slow down after Sunday.
See you there!!!

 

[Destination Disney]

Originally posted by nowellsl
I was told that the weekend of Dec. 4-5 is "press weekend" They will be filming the Christmas parade and there will be press events at MVMCP and the Candlelight processional.

Oh yay, the same weekend I am there!

Well, look at the bright side, at least I can experience the christmas parade before anyone else I know!

Actually, we were there year when they were filming the parade and I will say it takes a lot of people out of the "ride lines". They spend a lot of time observing the action while we score on short lines on the rides.

 

[DebbieB]

We usually arrive the first Saturday in December. It is more crowded on the weekend but the following weekdays are not.

 

[crow11ad]

You guys rock. The only thing crowd wise we have to compare it to is this past April the week leading to Easter. It got busy in the afternoon, but in the am we walked right onto Pirates. Now are you guys saying that there will basically be walkons for the most of the day during this time and the week after the 5th?

 

[DebbieB]

The only days I've seen big crowds during the week in early December is MK on the days that Spectromagic is shown, Monday and Wednesday this year. Especially Monday which has a 9:00 close.

 

[crow11ad]

Originally posted by DebbieB
The only days I've seen big crowds during the week in early December is MK on the days that Spectromagic is shown, Monday and Wednesday this year. Especially Monday which has a 9:00 close.

That's fine by us because we will be at the MK during MMVMCP. By the way how is MMVMCP. Is it busy? We are going on a Tuesday and Thursday.