Crowds last week

[DISFANSHAN]

We were at the World Dec. 1 thru Dec. 5 and found what I thought were heavy crowds for the first week in December. Anyone else agree? Many adventures of Winnie the Pooh had a 50 min wait, Peter Pan 45 min, Splash Mountain 45 min, Test Track 1 hour. It just seemed like there were ALOT more people at all of the Disney parks as compared to this time last year.
On the contrary, Universal Florida and IOA were EMPTY.

Just curious what others thought.

 

[Princess Michelle]

Wow, I was there the exact same dates and the only ride I had to wait in line for more than 5 minutes for was Dinosaur, everything else I walked right on to.

Guess it depends on what days you do which parks and what time you are there.

We did EPCOT on Tuesday (whole day from open to close) and everything there was walk on including Test Track and Mission Space. We noticed that a few of the rides had a long wait time posted but then when we walked in there was no line at all.

Did AK on Wednesday and again, no waits for anything except Dinosaur and that was only like 15 minutes at the most, got there around 11:30 or so and left around 3:30.

MGM and MK on Thursday, again, no waits for any rides except we did have to wait for the next showing of Mickey's Phillharmagic to start. Was at MGM from around 10:30-2:30 and the longest line I waited in was to get pictures at Al's Toy Barn. Got to MK around 3:30 and stayed until it closed (MVMCP) and absolutely everything was walk on.

 

[andrabell]

We must have had tons of pixie dust as we were there from Thanksgiving until yesterday and we didn't encounter much in the way of crowds. We spend the entire day after Thanksgiving at Epcot from open to close and we walked onto everything! It was magnificent!

---Andra
when can I go back?

 

[CaipiraBob]

We were there from 11/28 through 12/6. We did four 3-4 hour tours of MK in that time. All before noon. Each time we went there were minimal waits. The lines of course got longer by noon. We hit Fantasy Land first for the kids. Generally, for all of our trips arriving at or near opening time, everything was a walk-on. Later towards noon you needed a fast-pass and some planning, but waits were around 5 minutes if you timed it right.

There is much to be said for getting to the park early. Normally we avoid commado-park tactics with small children in tow. We planned our trips around our estimates on our children's endurance. Since the weather was cool, we carried a single bottle of water for the children, same basic essentials and had a plan of rides to hit in sequence. Following our plan, we almost always walked onto WTP, IASW, PP, SWSA and right into the Philharmagic every time, never a wait > 3 minutes for the latter.

The kids never seemed to tire out, but it's been 14 months since the last visit so apparently they can handle more. We made the afternoon our resort-time and enjoyed the surroundings. We stayed at the Polynesian so it was always a quick hop over and back. We did a lot of character meals so we never wasted time standing in the parks chasing down characters. It got to the point where I whispered to my wife that the next time I saw Donald Duck I wanted it to be with orange sauce. Sadly "Chef Mickey" didn't prepare any in advance. Joking of course, however I do highly recommend the character meals. Especially "Chef Mickey" and save yourself some time chasing down the characters in the park.

 

[capegirl]

We were there too. The only park we found crowed was MK. MGM,
AK and Epcot were crowd free.

 

[jeankeri]

Just back! After planning on using Fastpass, found many were not being given out last week (ITTBAB, Jungle Cruise, etc.). Longest wait we had was for BTMRR Thursday afternoon (20 min posted, probably waited 15). Used FP for Splash Mountain- ride had broken down for 1hr, so wait time went up from 20 to 40 minutes. I have never been before 1st week in Dec, so I have nothing to compare it to. Kidcot stations had longest lines- 15 minute wait in Japan !

 

[wdwgrannyb]

we just returned also, and IMHO, found the parks to be much more crowded than in the past for this week. just a few short years ago the parks were almost empty at this time. had wait time of 1 hr for TT on Friday, the longest we waited for any ride.

 

[greggoda]

Studios was busier than expected on Sunday afternoon. MK was very busy on Monday. Other parks were really good. AK and Epcot were very low while we were there. MK was light on Wednesday morning.

 

[jann1033]

Originally posted by DISFANSHAN
We were at the World Dec. 1 thru Dec. 5 and found what I thought were heavy crowds for the first week in December. Anyone else agree? Many adventures of Winnie the Pooh had a 50 min wait, Peter Pan 45 min, Splash Mountain 45 min, Test Track 1 hour. It just seemed like there were ALOT more people at all of the Disney parks as compared to this time last year.
On the contrary, Universal Florida and IOA were EMPTY.

Just curious what others thought.

did you happen to go on ee days? just trying to figure out what caused some days to be busy and others not for our trip in Jan
Thanks

 

[walt's assistant]

11/30-12/7, thought crowds were light except for evening of 12/6 at MK.



WA

 

[strawberryblonde]

MK was very crowded on Mon. Dec. 1st! I thought it might be but we were so thankful for the CRT PS you helped us get DISFANSHAN . We could have left MK after breakfast and gone to a less crowded park but there was no tearing the kids away once we were there. We used FP and just took it easy. Watched day parade and Spectro. Stayed for WISHES. Never had it this crowded for the rest of the week. Didn't go to the MK on Sat (Dec. 6), it was most likely very crowded on that day as well. Epcot was quite uncrowded on Sat (dec 6). No lines to see Koda in Canada or Pooh in UK. Lines for TT and MS though, of course!

I think it was more crowded than last year for the first week of Dec. Still had fun but got less done.

 

[DISFANSHAN]

JANN,
WE DID NOT GO TO ANY PARKS ON THEIR EE DAYS. HOWEVER, WE DID MK ON A MONDAY, WHICH I HAVE SINCE LEARNED IS THE MOST CROWDED DAY!