Dec Disney Trip Thoughts

[WGCFV]

My family and I just returned from our annual December Disney trip. We stayed at the French Quarter, which is my new favorite Moderate resorts. Riverside has traditionally been our favorite moderate resort, but there is really something about the quaint, smaller setting at French Quarter, coupled with the great holiday decorations that made it incredibly delightful!! We also enjoyed dinners at Enzos, Edisons and Sebastians, all first time experiences for us. Sebastians especially had great food and service, will be going back for sure next rip. Crowd levels overall were fairly high, especially at Magic Kingdom. Amazing to me how different it seems from the not too distant past. 5 years ago, this week was fairly low crowd levels, with little wait for most rides. Now, quite different, without fast passes, most rides have quite long waits. I was also stuck but the proportion of overseas guests, which actually seemed to be the vast majority at the parks, so perhaps Disney is marketing heavily outside of US to drive guest attendance. Overall was a very good trip, but based on the crowd levels, really enjoyed time at the resort over time at the parks. Maybe I am just getting old

 

[Wild4Walt]

FQ is one of my favorites too. Sounds like you had a nice trip. What were your thoughts on the Edison?

 

[a1tinkfans]

Thx for sharing.

 

[WGCFV]

FQ is one of my favorites too. Sounds like you had a nice trip. What were your thoughts on the Edison?

We really like the atmosphere/theming at Edison, service as good and we particularly enjoyed the appetizers( candied bacon was our favorite). Was an early dinner, and the restaurant was fairly empty, which was surprising. We will go back again for sure!

 

[MooseBucks]

thank you for sharing!

 

[siestakeys04]

My young adult kids will be 24/20 and we were thinking about going the week before Christmas next year. I do imagine that is will be extremely busy. That is the time college is out so we are stuck during his break times.

 

[disneyseniors]

My family and I just returned from our annual December Disney trip. We stayed at the French Quarter, which is my new favorite Moderate resorts. Riverside has traditionally been our favorite moderate resort, but there is really something about the quaint, smaller setting at French Quarter, coupled with the great holiday decorations that made it incredibly delightful!! We also enjoyed dinners at Enzos, Edisons and Sebastians, all first time experiences for us. Sebastians especially had great food and service, will be going back for sure next rip. Crowd levels overall were fairly high, especially at Magic Kingdom. Amazing to me how different it seems from the not too distant past. 5 years ago, this week was fairly low crowd levels, with little wait for most rides. Now, quite different, without fast passes, most rides have quite long waits. I was also stuck but the proportion of overseas guests, which actually seemed to be the vast majority at the parks, so perhaps Disney is marketing heavily outside of US to drive guest attendance. Overall was a very good trip, but based on the crowd levels, really enjoyed time at the resort over time at the parks. Maybe I am just getting old

I could have written this! Honestly, we love POR which was our home resort for years. We stayed at POFQ the first time this past March and loved it. We took a December trip, too, from the 10th to the 19th, and like you, found it to be really crowded. We used to go this 2nd week of December for many years, and the crowds were pretty low. I scheduled this trip after Pop Warner and before the week before Christmas, thinking it would be the same. It wasn't! We also thought there were a lot of organized overseas guests than we have ever seen. Maybe they are promoting this time to other countries???
We still like POR better, but will stick with FQ due to mobility issues we have.
I will remember that this trip was much more crowded than ever before. Seriously, it is no fun to fight your way through the crowds, esp at the MK. We went at rope drop and rode many rides the first hour. After that, it was a no go unless you had fast passes. We definitely had more resort time this time.
What did I take away from this trip? It was very crowded everywhere which resulted in less fun. I honestly don't know if I want to go back anymore if this is the new norm, and I don't like saying that.

 

[Captain Kittens]

My thoughts on The Edison:

Pros:

Atmosphere is GREAT! Really loved the steampunk, old school vibe.
Food is good! Portion sizes are gigantic! My wife and I could not believe how big the grilled cheese was. Thing was like a 32 oz porterhouse lmao! The meatloaf was killer too.

Cons:

Drinks are WAYYYY too light on the alcohol and extremely overpriced. Not that we are looking to get waste-face but I had two of their $14 dollar signature drinks and walked out feeling like I drank water all night (and I have a low tolerance). Disappointing for the price!

 

[Captain Kittens]

I could have written this! Honestly, we love POR which was our home resort for years. We stayed at POFQ the first time this past March and loved it. We took a December trip, too, from the 10th to the 19th, and like you, found it to be really crowded. We used to go this 2nd week of December for many years, and the crowds were pretty low. I scheduled this trip after Pop Warner and before the week before Christmas, thinking it would be the same. It wasn't! We also thought there were a lot of organized overseas guests than we have ever seen. Maybe they are promoting this time to other countries???
We still like POR better, but will stick with FQ due to mobility issues we have.
I will remember that this trip was much more crowded than ever before. Seriously, it is no fun to fight your way through the crowds, esp at the MK. We went at rope drop and rode many rides the first hour. After that, it was a no go unless you had fast passes. We definitely had more resort time this time.
What did I take away from this trip? It was very crowded everywhere which resulted in less fun. I honestly don't know if I want to go back anymore if this is the new norm, and I don't like saying that.

Interesting you thought it was crowded. I went to Riverside and stayed during the same time as you (Dec 9 through 14) and thought the crowds were pretty light. AK was no crazier than I remember it when I went in Oct 17, Very Merry Christmas party was crowded but still far less than a normal day (zero wait times for any ride was amaaaaaazing) and Disney Springs was Disney Springs.

 

[disneyseniors]

Interesting you thought it was crowded. I went to Riverside and stayed during the same time as you (Dec 9 through 14) and thought the crowds were pretty light. AK was no crazier than I remember it when I went in Oct 17, Very Merry Christmas party was crowded but still far less than a normal day (zero wait times for any ride was amaaaaaazing) and Disney Springs was Disney Springs.

I guess it's all in your own perspective regarding crowds. We tried to stay away from the "Popular" areas like TSL, Pandora, fantasyland, but we ventured into these areas anyway TSL was slammed, as was expected but we had fp's for slinky dog dash and TSM, so we waded through the crowds. This was in the evening, the only fp time we could get. Just walked thru Pandora and did Na'vi River ride. We made the mistake of going to MK on extra magic hours days and of course, it was crazy crowded. However, we found quieter spots in Adventureland at MK, anywhere but Pandora in AK, but HS was crowded where ever we went on 2 visits. Epcot wasn't bad, but didn't do it on weekends, and it was raining and cold while we were there. Didn't do the Christmas party, so don't know about that one.
So, to us, it seemed more crowded than usual. We used to go to WDW this week and the crowds were a lot lower (dare I even say a slow time?) It was shocking just how busy it was for this time of year. We won't be going back this time of year again cause it's just no fun, for us, to fight crowds on a daily basis. It's interesting to hear how others perceive their same experiences.

 

[Babsy]

I guess it's all in your own perspective regarding crowds. We tried to stay away from the "Popular" areas like TSL, Pandora, fantasyland, but we ventured into these areas anyway TSL was slammed, as was expected but we had fp's for slinky dog dash and TSM, so we waded through the crowds. This was in the evening, the only fp time we could get. Just walked thru Pandora and did Na'vi River ride. We made the mistake of going to MK on extra magic hours days and of course, it was crazy crowded. However, we found quieter spots in Adventureland at MK, anywhere but Pandora in AK, but HS was crowded where ever we went on 2 visits. Epcot wasn't bad, but didn't do it on weekends, and it was raining and cold while we were there. Didn't do the Christmas party, so don't know about that one.
So, to us, it seemed more crowded than usual. We used to go to WDW this week and the crowds were a lot lower (dare I even say a slow time?) It was shocking just how busy it was for this time of year. We won't be going back this time of year again cause it's just no fun, for us, to fight crowds on a daily basis. It's interesting to hear how others perceive their same experiences.

If it was as busy as October (a VERY BUSY month, IMO) then I would probably class it as a busy week too! LOL! Unfortunately. what were once 'slow weeks' are a vanishing breed......very sad for those of us used to being alone in the parks.

 

[Networth]

We were there Dec 14-20th. Agree with your crowds assessment, very high even from a few years ago. Long waits and large crowds were worse towards the end of the trip but still very very high overall.

 

[Nancyg56]

We were there Dec 14-20th. Agree with your crowds assessment, very high even from a few years ago. Long waits and large crowds were worse towards the end of the trip but still very very high overall.

I agree. We just returned December 14 through 22. WOW! I rememebr this week being fairly low key until the Friday before Christmas, and while I was prepared fro higher crowds this time, I was getting claustrophobic in some areas. The new Toy Story Land was way to cluttered for me. It was congested, all the more so by the lines of umbrellas on both sides of the "street." I knwo why this is so, but it was not a good feeling.

Pandora is beautiful, and it was well worth the visit, but DAK in general was horribly crowded. I actually was happy to visit during the storm in order to walk unimpeded.

Personally, I think that when designing some of the areas, Disney is shortsighted in regards to moving people. Even in planning TSL, giving a few more feet for people to walk would make all the difference in the world. Many of us are nto as concerned with the number of attractions we are able to experience, but like to take in teh details that surround us. When we are included in a swarm of people ther is no way to do so, and the perception of "too crowded" becomes our reality.