Dec 9-14: A morgue and a mosh pit

[PattiPB]

What a crazy week we had with crowd levels!

It varied between walk-on for Tiana at 9:30 am to 95 minutes for Guardians at 6 pm!

We have gone this week over the past several years for my sister's birthday, and we will be changing weeks. We DO NOT use LL, but utilize rope drop to keep some of the lines down. We used the "MK on party day" strategy, which worked like a charm, but no amount of planning could avoid the mosh pit that is EPCOT during that week. Lines at the bathroom were common, and we shared tables with other people to avoid eating on our laps at counter service. Even our resort crowd exploded when the weekend hit---couldn't even walk through the lobby (BWV) without swerving to avoid people.

Takeaway: Do your planning, bring your patience, and enjoy the experience!!

Next year...one week earlier for sure!!!

 

[MillauFr]

What a crazy week we had with crowd levels!

It varied between walk-on for Tiana at 9:30 am to 95 minutes for Guardians at 6 pm!

We have gone this week over the past several years for my sister's birthday, and we will be changing weeks. We DO NOT use LL, but utilize rope drop to keep some of the lines down. We used the "MK on party day" strategy, which worked like a charm, but no amount of planning could avoid the mosh pit that is EPCOT during that week. Lines at the bathroom were common, and we shared tables with other people to avoid eating on our laps at counter service. Even our resort crowd exploded when the weekend hit---couldn't even walk through the lobby (BWV) without swerving to avoid people.

Takeaway: Do your planning, bring your patience, and enjoy the experience!!

Next year...one week earlier for sure!!!

We were in the parks December 5 through 10. It wasn't very crowded at all. Yes always go to Magic Kingdom on the days of the holiday parties. That secret hasn't reached the masses yet.

 

[mom2rtk]

We were in the parks December 5 through 10. It wasn't very crowded at all. Yes always go to Magic Kingdom on the days of the holiday parties. That secret hasn't reached the masses yet.

Some people just won't listen. Because they want to see the night parade and fireworks. It's just not worth it.

 

[scrappinginontario]

It's interesting how people can have such varied experiences the same week.

We were in the parks from Mon, Dec 8 - Thurs, Dec 11.

Mon, Dec 8 - DHS - people were there but crowds quite manageable

Tues, Dec 9 - Epcot - had a great day. Parts of WS were crowded but these were normal bottleneck areas - around Mexico and heading towards Canada-

Wed, Dec 10 - MK - very crowded but we knew it would be as we did not have hoppers this trip and wanted to see fireworks and parade. Ended up skipping parade and watching from a distance from QS location.

Thurs, Dec 11 - MK - crowds much more reasonable.

We would not hesitate to visit this week again.

 

[MyNewAP]

What a crazy week we had with crowd levels!

It varied between walk-on for Tiana at 9:30 am to 95 minutes for Guardians at 6 pm!

We have gone this week over the past several years for my sister's birthday, and we will be changing weeks. We DO NOT use LL, but utilize rope drop to keep some of the lines down. We used the "MK on party day" strategy, which worked like a charm, but no amount of planning could avoid the mosh pit that is EPCOT during that week. Lines at the bathroom were common, and we shared tables with other people to avoid eating on our laps at counter service. Even our resort crowd exploded when the weekend hit---couldn't even walk through the lobby (BWV) without swerving to avoid people.

Takeaway: Do your planning, bring your patience, and enjoy the experience!!

Next year...one week earlier for sure!!!

Walk on for Tiana at 9:30 am and 95 minutes for Guardians at 6:00pm sounds like the same exact crowd level to me.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Walk on for Tiana at 9:30 am and 95 minutes for Guardians at 6:00pm sounds like the same exact crowd level to me.

Yes and weather needed to be taken into consideration that week. Mornings and evenings were quite cool (in the low 50’s) which made the Tiana’s wait lower as guests waited to ride when it was warmer in the afternoon.

 

[VAtink]

We were there the same week, I agree some days at Epcot were nuts with the crowds, especially Fri-Mon, but Tues-Thurs weren't bad especially during the day. There was one day mid-week that Guardians only had a 25 minute wait while other rides like Test Track were over 60, it was wild to see! The one place in Epcot that was just bad all week was the Land in the evenings. One evening the crowds at the bottom of the escalator were so bad with the line for Glimmering Greenhouses, there was nowhere for people to go once they reached the bottom of the escalator, so we all started piling up behind them with the escalator still moving and dumping more people on top of us. It was the only time in 40+ years of going to Disney World that I was afraid for our safety, people were screaming and crying, it was very scary. They really should turn the escalators off, at least the one going down, in the evenings when they have the Glimmering Greenhouses!

Oddly the park that the crowds surprised us the most was Animal Kingdom. Granted one of the days we went was a weekend, but we also went on Thursday and it was probably the most crowded I've ever seen it. We only did MK on party days, and as usual it was wonderfully low crowds!

The resort lobbies were hit or miss, the day we arrived at the BC the lobby was packed, we could hardly get through to the elevators with our luggage. But later in the day it was much calmer. We also stayed at the GF, and as much as I missed the gingerbread house, it was nice how uncrowded that lobby was!