December 2015 Help Thread - What To See & Do (Crowd Calendar Added)

[deltadisney]

We are staying December 19-23, and to my surprise, we had no trouble booking what we wanted and near the times we wanted. Lesson learned though - if one or two of your 3 fp is in the slot you want and the other(s) are not, go ahead and book that option instead of going back and forth on the options. After you select the options, then go modify the one(s) you want to change. I did spend some time going back and forth on the 4 options, until I finally realized to just select one and go back and modify the specific ride time or times that I did not like.

HS was a little depressing. Next to MK, this was one of my favorite parks, but last night selecting fp made me realize there is not much there right now. We are not a ToT family, and I really struggled with my 3rd fp - I really do not like that the Great Movie Ride is a Tier 1.

 

[Madame]

I'd like to try riding 7DMT during wishes X-Mas week. Should I schedule from 8-9 if Wishes is scheduled at 8?

 

[huntwoof]

We are staying December 19-23, and to my surprise, we had no trouble booking what we wanted and near the times we wanted. Lesson learned though - if one or two of your 3 fp is in the slot you want and the other(s) are not, go ahead and book that option instead of going back and forth on the options. After you select the options, then go modify the one(s) you want to change. I did spend some time going back and forth on the 4 options, until I finally realized to just select one and go back and modify the specific ride time or times that I did not like.

HS was a little depressing. Next to MK, this was one of my favorite parks, but last night selecting fp made me realize there is not much there right now. We are not a ToT family, and I really struggled with my 3rd fp - I really do not like that the Great Movie Ride is a Tier 1.

We have the exact dates ... I too had no problems getting FP+ ... even snagged SDMT at 11am one morning. Totally concur with you lesson about booking first and then changing times if needed.

 

[PirateD]

We booked ours last night too! It went pretty well and we mostly got what we wanted as well so I'm very happy! We were able to get 7DMT just at a later time than what we wanted. I am pretty tech savvy but found it difficult to figure out how to separate our group and look for overlapping times. I think we will just keep it as is. The main drawback is that we won't be able to get a 4th FP but I'm assuming that's probably a long shot anyways during Christmas week.

Trying to figure out our FP schedule for the first time has been somewhat stressful but now that it's done I feel somewhat relieved. We have our room, our FD, our ADRs, and our FP's. Now we just need to make final payments and choose our MB colors! It seems like the hardest parts are over. I'm ready to enjoy the ride now!

 

[sbeets]

parade is up, GO GO GO

 

[publica]

Surprised to see both Festival of Fantasy parade and Christmas parade showing from 19 Dec onwards according to park schedule. Is this possible?

 

[LynJ]

Parade is up, but only for the 3:10-3:35 time slot. If you saved a noon spot in your fastpasses (like I did), you'll need to rearrange, or you won't see parade availability. Last year we had FP for the 12:00 parade, so I saved that slot this year, and of course they opened 3:30 spots instead.

Good luck!

 

[Luv2trav]

We are staying December 19-23, and to my surprise, we had no trouble booking what we wanted and near the times we wanted. Lesson learned though - if one or two of your 3 fp is in the slot you want and the other(s) are not, go ahead and book that option instead of going back and forth on the options. After you select the options, then go modify the one(s) you want to change. I did spend some time going back and forth on the 4 options, until I finally realized to just select one and go back and modify the specific ride time or times that I did not like.

HS was a little depressing. Next to MK, this was one of my favorite parks, but last night selecting fp made me realize there is not much there right now. We are not a ToT family, and I really struggled with my 3rd fp - I really do not like that the Great Movie Ride is a Tier 1.

Yes my feelings exactly. I hate using FP here for just 2 rides we really want to ride. The 2 we want to ride we can't get together (TSM and Rockin) so essentially I am only using 1 of my FP at this park... Ugh so frustrating. Same with Epcot.

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

I got all my FP+ booked last night. Got everything I wanted, but not all the times I wanted. That's ok though.

 

[LynJ]

Surprised to see both Festival of Fantasy parade and Christmas parade showing from 19 Dec onwards according to park schedule. Is this possible?

Nope. They've just been slow getting the parade schedule up. The Christmas Parade takes over for FOF during the 2 weeks of holidays.

 

[deltadisney]

I am really on the fence about using a fp for Wishes December 20. We plan to get up early that day and do a few rides and then return later for our 3 fp and wishes and MSEP. I'd appreciate any insight or advice on this.

 

[PirateD]

I forgot to leave time in our schedule for the Christmas Parade. We usually don't plan parades ahead of time but with FP+, I need to think it through to make sure we have the option. Our first FP on Monday, December 21, is 12:30-1:30. I'm assuming that they will add a 12:00 parade. Is there enough time in there to see the parade and make it to Splash? It looks ok to me but I don't remember how long the Christmas parade is. We like to watch parades in Liberty Square/Frontierland area.

The other option would be Sunday, December 20, for the parade at 3:00. We have a FP from 10:35-11:35 and 11:55-12:55, a space for lunch and then again at 1:55-2:55. I can probably still shift those a little. Any suggestions?

 

[JessiMommy]

Thanks to my aunt giving us free tickets, we are going on a 1 day trip to Magic Kingdom in early December! YEAH!

What is the best day to go to Magic Kingdom:
Friday Dec 4: Crowd level 5
Sunday Dec 6: Crowd level 7
Tuesday Dec 8: Crowd level 5


I am considering Dec 6 because the crowd calendar text says MK will be less crowded because it is a Sunday. But, with a crowd of 7, it seems like it will still be more crowded than a Friday or Tuesday. Thoughts?

Personally I would do Friday, December 4th. My second choice would be Tuesday the 8th and my last choice would be Sunday the 6th. A lot of guests begin their vacation on Saturday or Sunday. Many of those families hit MK first meaning Sunday. We've always had great luck on MK Friday's when it's the most recommended park.

 

[Groverg3]

Where did you find these crowd levels? All of the ones I've seen for Sunday at least are much lower than that...

 

[lovndisney12]

My fastpass booking date is 11 pm central Tonight! I will be staying up to book. I am normally in bed by 10. Lol

Me too! Good luck! I figure we'll just adjust our rope drop plan if we can't get exactly what we want - but I have teen boys and no need for A&E.

 

[siskaren]

Where did you find these crowd levels? All of the ones I've seen for Sunday at least are much lower than that...

They're from easywdw.com. Where are you seeing lower?

 

[Groverg3]

They're from easywdw.com. Where are you seeing lower?

http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/crowd-calendar

 

[Mainemama]

How has availability for SDMT been for Christmas week so far? Just curious as we book our FP+ tonight.

I booked at 5:30 am after deciding not to wake up at midnight (don't need A and E, parade, or Wishes. I booked MK FP on 12/23, 12/24, 12/26, 12/28, and 12/30 (feeling sooo lucky to have this much time!) and I saw SDMT for 5 open every day. I booked 2 of those days and was able to modify to any time I needed. Good luck!

 

[Ferrentinos]

I'm so nervous... we don't check in until Dec. 26th so I have to wait until Monday night to book FP - hope everything isn't gone!

 

[lovndisney12]

I'm so nervous... we don't check in until Dec. 26th so I have to wait until Monday night to book FP - hope everything isn't gone!

I did my FP last night and not only was able to get everything I wanted - but also pretty much the times that I wanted. Now, we didn't want A&E but we did get SDMT and there are three days we will be at MK and they were available each day I looked (we only booked one as we'll hit it at RD on one of the other days if we want to ride it again)

Here is one tip if you haven't booked FP before - it will give you 4 options for your 3 selections. Pick the one option closest to what you want (you select all 3 together). Then hit the "change time" button below each specific FP to tweak it closer to the time you want. BUT, remember if you wanted 10 AM for SDMT and one of your other FP starts at 10:40 AM - it won't give you that option (because a 10 AM needs the window from 10 AM to 11 AM) So, you may need to do some juggling to free up the 1 hour time span that you wanted the FP for. Using this approach I was able to adjust everything to what I wanted but it did take me almost an hour (but that included adjusting one of our ADRs as well because I wanted to give ourselves a little more time on our last day - not because of a FP)