Comparing Crowd Calendar levels for December

[Missyrose]

t's not really arbitrary predictions of crowds....it is a know fact that the week of Dec 2nd - 9th 2017 will have much lower crowds than the week of Dec 16th - 23rd 2017.

Yes, but what PP was alluding to was it's always the people who pick a week based on the expectation of little-to-no crowds that come back angry because there are more people than they expected in the parks and wait times were higher than they thought they would be.

 

[Lothlórien]

It sure does! I'm being careful of writing 2016 on checks and documents!



I think a lot of it is what baseline you use for comparison, what day you go to the park, the time you go and what your perception is. We went from Feb 29 - Mar 5 in 2016 so that is my baseline Plus, two other friends have gone on the week after Thanksgiving in years past, and they found all the parks to be deserted.

For example, we went to Epcot on Monday, November 28. Compared to the last time we went to Epcot, which was Monday, Feb 29, Epcot was much more crowded. On Feb 29, we had lunch in Sunshine Seasons at 11am. The place was deserted, which only us and two other families there. Most of the rides were a walk on. However, when we went to Sunshine Seasons at 11am on November 28, it was packed. Probably 95% of the tables were filled. The FP line for Living with the Land extended through the middle of Sunshine Seasons over to where Soarin is located! Around that time, there was even a 20 minute standby for Figment and a 45 minute standby for Spaceship Earth! At RD that day, there was already a 45 minute wait for Joy & Sadness.

FWIW, the next time we go back, we're going to go back to the last week of February - early march time frame.

However, we were still able to do everything we wanted to do with a good plan and FPs.

We go the first week of December every year (for the last 13 years). We have also gone in January, February, May, June and November. The time we went in January, we experienced the lowest crowds ever. I felt like we were the only people in Disney World. We loved that, but did not like that all of the parks were closed by 7 or 8 PM that year. We also noticed a lot less character M&Gs as well as more of the quick service places being closed for "refurbishment". Personally, I would rather have the parks feel slightly more crowded and have things open later and available than no crowds and feel like Disney is asking me to leave too early. LOL Especially since they do not discount my tickets for it.

Just for comparison....

On the 28th, we went to Disney Studios. We did Toy Story with a FastPass and did it again a little later as stand-by. It took about 20 minutes standby, even though the time posted outside said 40. We walked onto Great Movie Ride (literally we walked through the queue and right into the appointed row). Star Tours took about 10 minutes. We do not do Tower of Terror or Rockin' Roller Coaster, but we will do anything else in that park. Now, I do realize there is so little to do, so maybe guests are just skipping it these days. It was nice that the character lines in Disney Studios were only about 3 - 5 families deep.

We went to EPCOT on the 26th (Saturday after Thanksgiving) and the crowds were as you described above for the 28th, not quite a bad on tier 2. I expected that since it was still a holiday weekend. It was also arrival day and we had been up since 2 AM, so we did not care. But.... we visited again the 30th and there were no crowds other than at Test Track and in Norway.

Magic Kingdom was pretty light crowd-wise as well on all 3 visits. The Dwarfs ride always has a long line, but we did standby on that several times. The posted time was 45 minutes (about) and that was usually exaggerated by 10 - 15 minutes. The only time we found lines were longer were at Big Thunder during a parade and people were kind of "trapped" in the back.

And I hear ya on the date thing. I put 2016 on a legal document that had to be notarized and we had to start all over. And.... to make it worse, I do customized ornaments and I did one for a customer with the wrong year! I was so embarrassed.

 

[Nancyg56]

It's not really arbitrary predictions of crowds....it is a know fact that the week of Dec 2nd - 9th 2017 will have much lower crowds than the week of Dec 16th - 23rd 2017. You are right that capacity of restaurants and rides never changes and even during "low" crowd days it's still WDW and there are still thousands and thousands of people there. But we have been to WDW during that early Dec week and THAT is the type of crowds we can happily cope with.

Not last year. My friend was there the week before we arrived. SHe left the 10th adn I arrived that day. They found that it was way more crowded thatn expected. Our week thru the 16th was very manageable. I found a flyer in my room at teh BC offering discounted rates to extend the stay. The CMs said they were not booked like in the past.

 

[JackOfHearts]

We are going the week before Christmas this year (18th-22nd) and I am trying to figure out our strategy. We have only been once and it was during low crowds. We have free dining and I am considering upgrading to deluxe so we won't have to deal with lines at counter service places, but I am worried about losing time by eating so many table service meals. I guess it will depend on what ADRs I can book.

 

[Nancyg56]

We are going the week before Christmas this year (18th-22nd) and I am trying to figure out our strategy. We have only been once and it was during low crowds. We have free dining and I am considering upgrading to deluxe so we won't have to deal with lines at counter service places, but I am worried about losing time by eating so many table service meals. I guess it will depend on what ADRs I can book.

YOu can time your meals so that you book an early TS lunch or a later breakfast, and then a nice signature dinner later in the evening. I figure you need to eat anyway, and knowing where you are going to eat can be less time consuming than deciding on CS and then getting your ears there.