December No Longer Quiet Time To Visit

[kit]

The information that the first week of december is a quiet time to visit wdw will have to be updated. WE were there DEC 1-5 and I could not believe how crowded it was. Pop Century was at 100% capacity. WE went the same time last year and it wasn't as crowded but was by no means a quiet time. Anyone know the true quiet time to visit?????

 

[missypie]

I will also add that a surprising number of schools are getting out this Friday, so if you thought that the week BEFORE Christmas would be quiet, I bet it won't be.

 

[Sammie]

Well, picking a truly slow time to visit Disney is relevant to what one considers to be crowded.

Also I think it will take a couple of years before one can determine if early December has changed, or if this was just a special situation this year due to many factors, such as Pop Warner that week, many hurricanes that changed guest's plans to other dates, special promotions and packages by Disney during this time frame and the 50 year celebration.

I do know that Disney is trying very hard to market the slower times to attract crowds year round and are probably going to be very successful at due to the specials they will offer.

 

[MinnesotaChill]

We were there for a last minute trip last week and had a really hard time finding rooms OR anywhere to eat! It was really pretty, but very crowded!

 

[tinaluis]

I have to agree. It was way more crowded than I thought it would be. We went to Epcot on Friday, 12/2, and Test Track had an 80 min wait time in the stand-by line by 11:30 am. We got a FastPass and DH and DD did Mission Space in the single riders line, but I was surprised to see the stand by time so high for TT. Epcot had a rating of 4 in the UG and I thought we'd be OK but we left at about 3pm. Generally speaking, we prefer to visit the parks on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will stick to that plan in the future. No more Disney parks for us as the weekends draw near. Too crowded for our tastes! OTOH the Universal parks were so uncrowded it was unreal. We never waited more than 10 mins. for anything and didn't feel rushed to get there at opening or deal with the consequences.

 

[civileng68]

1st week of Dec. it was very crowded.

I've gone all year and noticed only a very few days in September when I would say it was "dead".

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

Our experience this year has been that our usual "down times" -- the days when we historically had less than 10 minutes' wait on rides -- have been much more crowded this year than in the past.

I'm not sure if it's because the 2004 hurricane season put off so many people's trips, but it's been a sad fall for us.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

I am really beginning to see that crowd size is very subjective! I went from Nov 27 to Dec 4th, and I thought it was wonderful!! The beginning of the week (Nov 28-Dec 1) was so uncrowded wherever I went! Even the weekend wasn't too bad. I even thought the Mon-Thurs was the most uncrowded week I ever seen. I even got the best room at POP - 4th floor 50's with Epcot right out my window! But I also don't do nothing but rides - I love just strolling through the parks (and looking for characters!), and seeing things like the Epcot street shows, and renting motor boats, and eating at cool restaurants, and swimming! But I go three times a year, so that helps spread out the things we like to do.

 

[Gary M]

We were at the WL from 11/29 to 12/06 and found the lodge to be crowded and the parks to be much busier than in previous Dec. trips (except after 9/11). We have stayed at a WDW resort early Dec. each year since 1992 and it is much more crowded than in the past.

 

[cobbler]

The secret is getting out. December - early Dec - used to be a great time to go but it steadily has become busier and busier every year.

 

[Paula H]

We were at WDW from 12/3-12/8, and visited the same week last year. I thought the crowds and waits were a little greater this year, but someone told me that Pop Warner came in earlier in the week and that there were a lot more teams participating this year. I did see a lot of football players and cheerleaders and family members. The parks seemed crowded, but waits for rides weren't bad - I found that to be interesting.

 

[Minerva]

I am really beginning to see that crowd size is very subjective! I went from Nov 27 to Dec 4th, and I thought it was wonderful!! The beginning of the week (Nov 28-Dec 1) was so uncrowded wherever I went! Even the weekend wasn't too bad. I even thought the Mon-Thurs was the most uncrowded week I ever seen. I even got the best room at POP - 4th floor 50's with Epcot right out my window! But I also don't do nothing but rides - I love just strolling through the parks (and looking for characters!), and seeing things like the Epcot street shows, and renting motor boats, and eating at cool restaurants, and swimming! But I go three times a year, so that helps spread out the things we like to do.

I was thinking the same thing! We were there 11/26-12-4 and I didn't think it was bad at all. We only used two fast passes the entire 7 days we were in parks and only waited 20 minutes to board anything twice. Soarin was a 90 minute wait the first time we went to Epcot but it was in the afternoon and we just went first thing the next time we went and walked on twice then went over to TT and rode it twice with maybe a 5 minute wait each time. Even on Saturday night at MK we were able to do Buzz several times, walking on a couple of times and with a maybe 10 minute line that was always moving a couple of other times.

 

[eblack0409]

DH and I were at Disney in September and it was very quiet.....schools are in session at this time, so it's less crowded!

 

[Waldheim]

We just got back from WL and GF. 12/3-12/12. I found MK to be very busy on Sun 12/4. Of course this was our first trip to Disney and have nothing to compare it too but we expected a lot less waiting. To add to it they were taping the Regis & Kelly Christmas Day Special that day. We went back to MK on mon 12/5 and was much better but still busier than we expected. The WL was overbooked on 12/3 when we arrived and they asked us if we would mind switching to AKL. We declined because we wanted to be closer to MK. Also they overbooked the GF and we did not get the building we requested. IMH(not experienced)O it was NOT the slow time

 

[Jersey Gerry]

We just returned from a 6 day trip. I agree that "busy" must be very subjective. We were delighted with the size of the crowds (or lack thereof) at the parks. We only used fastpass once (for Soaring) and for everything else waited well under ten minutes. I was a little nervous from reading all of the postings - particularly about the pop warner event. I have to say we never saw a football group and only saw a few cheerleading groups one day mid-week at Animal Kingdom. We did not find them to be a factor at all. Based on our experience I'd highly recommend this week!

 

[disneymama73]

I am really beginning to see that crowd size is very subjective! I went from Nov 27 to Dec 4th, and I thought it was wonderful!! The beginning of the week (Nov 28-Dec 1) was so uncrowded wherever I went! Even the weekend wasn't too bad. I even thought the Mon-Thurs was the most uncrowded week I ever seen. I even got the best room at POP - 4th floor 50's with Epcot right out my window! But I also don't do nothing but rides - I love just strolling through the parks (and looking for characters!), and seeing things like the Epcot street shows, and renting motor boats, and eating at cool restaurants, and swimming! But I go three times a year, so that helps spread out the things we like to do.

We were there the exact same days as you and stayed at VWL. We also found it to be the least crowded visit we've ever had - especially Mon-Thurs. I would do it again in a heartbeat! But I think we'll either travel Sun-Fri or spend Fri and Sat at DTD or the pool or something. It's hard to wait 30 mins+ for a ride that you walked onto a couple of days ago....

 

[Poohbear123]

The secret is getting out. December - early Dec - used to be a great time to go but it steadily has become busier and busier every year.

I agree, it took me 1.5 hours to get from Epcot Monday night (the 5th) to POP Century! Also, food court was crowded and waits for busses were LONG! I was surprised at how slow the bus service was.

 

[Supercod]

I was 22nd November to the 3rd December this year and I have been during Spring Break before and I thought that was busy. 23rd to 27th was a nightmare (if only I knew when Thanksgiving was) 28th to 3rd a total delight, only things I found busy was MVMCP (not dead like e-ride nights used to be, loved e-ride nights) and Sorin, that was always busy everything else was tiny wait times was even in MK on a rain day and that was just constant off one ride and on to the next. And Typhoon Lagoon was empty, I found avoiding the park where the extra hour opened in the morning and using the extra 3 hours at night added to the less crowed more chance of getting on rides quickly.

However I have to admit the bus service was shocking this time around, I paid to stay in a Deluxe Resort (Animal Kingdom Lodge) and it had really poor bus service, except for going to Animal Kingdom park but then that was around the corner. When you in a land locked Deluxe Resort without monorail and boats then least they could do is give you a more frequent bus services and by that I don’t mean two showing up at the same time and then taking 30 mins before you seen another as did happen a few times. Still was only a minor thing and only noticed when you left 1 hour before dinner to find you be running like a maniac across a park or resort to get to your reservations on time, in the end we had to start leaving a good 90 mins in advance just in case the buses felt like running slower than the 20 mins everyone said they ran at but definably didn’t as I made a point of timing how long I stood waiting.

 

[nbodyhome]

I live in the Orlando area, and the parks are absolutely more crowded than usual. Every year it gets worse in December. 6 or 7 years ago, you could walk around the MK or any other park on the weekend and it would be slow. This time, even the week after December 5th was crowded everywhere I went.

That said, other times of the year - spefically August, have gone down in attendance. you could have dropped a pin in the parks and heard it by the end of August!

Denise

 

[Amy&Dan]

I agree that what one considers "crowded" is subjective but I also think Disney parks in general are just more crowded. They are adding more rides, celebrating the 50th and advertising all over the place so it stands to reason. Also, year round schooling and people taking their kids out of school to avoid crowds and hurricanes are making traditionally "off" times less off. On Satuday, Disneyland was closed to capacity (read that over on the other side of disboards). Amazing since this should be a slow time of year. This all points to the importance of some kind of a touring plan and knowledge of fastpass.