Disney at Christmas?

[dimndgal1]

[QUOTE="Cinder" Ella's Mom;52809117]We just returned and had a great time! We did the 7:00 am MK opening two days and rode tons of rides from 7-9. Then we had our scheduled fast passes. On Christmas we got to Epcot around 11:00 for our fastpasses and had a 2:50 ADR at Teppan Edo. Then we ADRs headed to cava Tequila while the kids waited an hour for Test Track (posted wait time was over 100 minutes-actual time not even close!). Was it crowded...yes, but most days we left the parks by 1:00 and returned late. We stayed in MK last Friday night until 2:00 am. There were maybe 50 people total watching the MSEP from Frontierland at 12:30. Tons of fun and great weather!![/QUOTE]

Seriously, where were the people for MSEP Friday?! We went to leave the park before the parade (to beat the crowds) and found ourselves with front row seats across from the flagpole! I took DD1 in to meet Mickey during the parade (with a 5 minute wait) and the CMs were discussing how light the crowds were that night. Apparently Tinkerbell was just hanging out on her own next door!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We just got back too - we were there from 12/20 to 12/27 offsite and visited all four parks. We had FP+ reservations at MK on Christmas Day, but we were also cooking Christmas dinner for my SIL and her family that live in Orlando, so we decided to cancel them and spend an easy morning at our resort. The only day we had a bit of trouble was 12/26 when MK was in a Phase 1 closure. We parked at Epcot (which we planned to do anyway because we planned to end the day there) and took the monorail over to MK. We were able to get in because we have APs. The crowds definitely built as the weekend approached and we all agreed that we were happy we did the week leading up to Christmas, rather than the week between Christmas and New Years. The great thing about visiting this time of year is that the parks are open late. Some days we scheduled our FP+ beginning at 7 pm, stayed as late as we could, and rode everything we wanted.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

my own personal choice but I wouldn't go Christmas day or the week up to and including New Years if someone handed me a free ticket. That amount of crowds and waits (I looked last night around 7 and the lines were still atrocious) for rides are not something I have any desire to be around.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

The friend I stay with in Florida went to Magic Kingdom Monday. He only went as some friends from Connecticut were visiting. They went on the 3 fast pass rides they got and got out. They couldn't move around and any ride worth riding was 120 minutes or more. No thank you.

 

[Disneylover99]

my own personal choice but I wouldn't go Christmas day or the week up to and including New Years if someone handed me a free ticket. That amount of crowds and waits (I looked last night around 7 and the lines were still atrocious) for rides are not something I have any desire to be around.

The friend I stay with in Florida went to Magic Kingdom Monday. He only went as some friends from Connecticut were visiting. They went on the 3 fast pass rides they got and got out. They couldn't move around and any ride worth riding was 120 minutes or more. No thank you.

And that is why rope drop is your friend!

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

And that is why rope drop is your friend!

They were there for rope drop. They were just able to do the 3 rides in 3 hours even with fast pass. When I go to Disney I don't want to feel like I'm in a race. I want to go, WALK to the rides I go on. Wait 10-40 minutes depending (maybe 50 if it's a real popular ride) and get on the rides I like. Not be pushed around like a can of sardines and standing in line most of the day. Being single I can go whenever I want and understand not everyone can. But as I am fortunate enough to have that flexibility I go in the quieter periods. Even 5 years ago I would classify it in three categories: Quiet (off-season) busy (summer) and insane (holidays). Now it's just busy and insane. At least with busy you can get on all the rides.

 

[Disneylover99]

They were there for rope drop. They were just able to do the 3 rides in 3 hours even with fast pass.

Having been to rope drop on Christmas Day this year, I'm having a hard time understanding this. We got a ton of rides done. We walked to rides and stopped to take pictures along the way.

Maybe they headed right to Fantasyland and got caught up in the throngs of people heading to the Mine Train?