Going the week between Xmas & New Years, HELP please!!!

[Kimberle]

I'm so excited! Dh wants to go the week between Xmas & New Years. We'll stay at AKL, concierge. DD & I go every year in August. So please tell me the differences in touring, etc. from a realitively slow time to the busiest time of the year.

How are the temps? I know the pools are heated, but do you feel cold sitting around the pool? I'm thinking shorts during the day and jeans after dinner???

What is the best stragegy for touring the parks? My dd is still scared of the coaster type rides, so we stick to mid-level down generally. Is it best to do early entry every day? If so, can we generally reenter a park later in the day (like dinner time) or do they close for crowding?

When they do close for crowding, I know on-site guest can enter a park (not necessarily your 1st choice). Say on NY's eve, I'd like to be in Epcot or Studio's at midnight. If we don't enter a park until dinner time, will be get in because we are on-site? (I know they may tell us which park and it may not be our choice.) How exactly does this work?

How strong is the sun? How much sunscreen do you need?

Any other tips/advice appreaciated!

Thanks,

 

[carly3592]

Last time I went to WDW was the week BEFORE Christmas... the weather was bearable; I didn't have any time to sit by the pool (I stayed at Saratoga), but on average the temps ranged from 40's-70's.

It depends on the park, but I'd say they would close around noon-early afternoon for crowds, especially because you will be down there for their busiest week of the entire year. I haven't been to WDW on NY's eve so I'm not sure how that would work. Sounds like fun though!

 

[jel0511]

We went for New Years 2009 and I will let you know that we heard reports that both Epcot and DHS closed to ALL guests at some point on NYE. If you really want to be in a particular park for NYE, get there early, by dinner you might be shut out. We wanted to be in MK, so we got there around 10AM and didn't leave until after midnight.. Yes a long day, but worth it in the end. As for weather in 2009, it was pretty warm during the day shorts were fine, but by evening you needed pants and a light jacket. We also were in the World in 2001 for the same time period and that year it was COLD!!!! Like winter jacket, hat and gloves during the day!!!! We kept saying how lucky we were in 2009, knowing about our experience in 2001. The weather at that time of year is a crap shoot at best.

 

[trekker93]

My wife went down and found it to be very cool for Florida. It would be good to go down this year but we prefer September time frame for our trips.

 

[hart6066]

We've gone that exact time for the past 3 years and will be going back again this year. 2 of the past 3 times it was COLD--and I'm from the northeast! It didn't slow us down, and I would much rather be touring when it's cold than stifling hot, but 60's would have been nice--we hardly ever got that high!

For the weather, I'd just keep an eye on weather.com right up until you go, but I will never go without packing long underwear for the kids (lightweight so they can wear them under lightweight pants and shirts), hats, and WARM mittens--not just the little knit ones. None of that stuff takes up much room in the luggage--wear your coat on the plane, and take layers. Last year it was supposed to be cold at the beginning of the trip and then really warm up--it never happened and I was so happy that I had come prepared. We never even wore shorts!

It will be SUPER busy, but we love going at that time of year. We hit every RD--including the 7am MK times when it's dark at opening!--and leave the parks around 1 to head to World Showcase. We have little kids so we do not spend NYE in a park--we do the morning somewhere other than MK and EPCOT and then do a resort dinner or even DTD. You will need to be in a park early to ensure that it doesn't close.

Have a great time!

 

[BradyBz12]

When they do close for crowding

This past year MK closed 4 days Christmas week - almost always around 11-11:30 a.m. On 3 days it reopened around 3-3:30, the other day was NYE and it reopened at 9:30pm

HS and AK both closed one day each - pretty close to the same times. I didn't read any reports of EP closing.

You're definitely in better shape staying onsite, and this is good info to have...

The turnstile master computer at each park keeps track of both entries and exits. When a park capacity closes (which is done in stages) there has to be a certain number of people exiting, with the total "in park" below a certain number, before they start allowing people in again.

I am low enough on the totem pole that I have no idea what these numbers are.

There are four stages to park closing:

Stage 1 - The parking lot entrance is closed. You can only access the park if you are using Disney Transportation.

Stage 2 - The ticket windows are all closed (and the automated Ticket Vending Machines are turned off). Unless you already have a ticket you cannot get in.

Stage 3 - Only people with Annual Passes or current Resort IDs will be allowed in.

Stage 4 - Nobody is allowed in.

Note - having restaurant reservations in a park, even with written proof, will not override a stage closing for you.

Also, if you are staying at a Disney owned and operated Resort and have a ticket, you are guaranteed entry into A park. Not necessarily the one you want (unless you want to go into AK). And if you have entered and left a park and do not have a hopper you may not get into anything.

 

[kerri0616]

I suggest you invest in Ridemax or Tour Guide Mike.

Busiest week of the year. Period.

Kerri

 

[jodywgirl]

We were there during that week in 2008. The parks were extremely busy all week.
the temperatures were okay during the day and would get cooler at night so we wore jeans or capris most of the times with hoodies at night. We are used to cold though since we live in Colorado.

I used touringplans.com holiday plans to go through the park also to help make suggestions of which park to go to. We would go to one of the parks they suggested and then hop over to whichever park had night extra magic hours. We also used the nighttime extra magic hours extensively my kids are teenagers and we would stay up late and then not go into the parks until the afternoon.
We actually didn't end up going anywhere on new years eve as we had a trip to the emergency room because of my husbands bad back but I know several of the parks did close down at times during the day.

My girls did go swimming a couple of times also, but again we are from colorado and have a hot springs pool that we will go to when it is freezing outside.

Good Luck

 

[Kimberle]

Thank you all. Any other words of wisdom?

 

[DisneyMim]

We've been that week for the past two years and are going again this year. Yes it is very busy, but we love it!! The parks are so beautiful with the decorations. We go often so we don't have to go on every ride. It is cold (for us). We are from New England and are very used to cold weather, but this past year it was cold even for us. I would advise bringing layers. We saw many people in shorts and t-shirts who looked very cold. We wore pants every day, long sleeve t-shirts over short sleeve shirts and LL Bean fleece jackets. We always bring gloves and wear them at night. You will need to make any meal reservations as early as you can as all restaurants fill up very quickly. We, like you, have been going to Disney for years now and still like that time of year, but there is something very special about Christmas time. Yes, sometimes some parks will close so if you really want to be in a particular park you should get there early. I should add that it's too cold for us to go in the pools, but we did see some people in them.

Enjoy The Magic!!

 

[BradyBz12]

The keys to crazybusy times at WDW...

4. Rope Drop
3. Fast Pass
2. Good Touring Plan

...and the #1 key to having a great time at WDW with thousands of your new best friends??

1. Good attitude and realistic expectations

Top 3 things to ruin a WDW vacation during crazybusy times...
3. Not making a plan and thinking you'll be able to just "wing it" and do everything you want without ADRs or a clue
2. Not being ok with standing in masses of people or waiting in lines for rides/shopping/food/bathrooms.
1. Expecting to "do it all"

Go expecting it to be crowded and having to wait in line and being prepared and ok with that.

Go with your short list of "must dos" and consider everything else a bonus.

Go with the attitude that you're just going to have a wonderful time just BEING AT WDW!

 

[Connears]

We have been to wdw for the last 5 xmas weeks and are returning again this year. The main thing I can say is go with the flow and take in all the holiday stuff. the crowds are huge, but with FP and flexibility you can have a great time. We did do morning EMH at MK to get all fantasy land stuff before the regular crowds and did evening EMH at epcot and finally got to do Soaring and both were well worth the lack of sleeptime! We also do not do many of the coasters(DH does SM, BTM, EE, but not me so this helps a bit. If you are there for NYE, decide where you want to be and make adr right at 180 days. We have never done MK on that day as it is a wall of people, literally, and it has closed to ALL guests(including resort) by 10am each time we have been. We have spent NYE at (2007)Epcot (adr 8pm Japan) after touring DHS in the morning and arriving there at 4pm. Lots of outdoor venues and noise-makers and hats make it a party. We have also spent all day at DHS on NYE(2008) and they also have DJ, music etc(adr at Brown Derby). Last year we did DHS until about 1pm then headed back to Dolphin(checked in there just for NYE after 5 nights at OKW) and watched football, relaxed then had dinner at Kouzzina and hung out at Boardwalk, lots of stuff going on there. Then watched fireworks from both Epcot and DHS from the BW area and beats the crowds back to our room at Dolphin before the first monorail or bus ever left the parks! Loved the epcot resort area for this very reason!

Connears

 

[blessedby3]

Just because you are staying on property doesnt mean you cant get closed out of a park. There are different levels of closing and you may not get into the park of your choice if it is at capacity. Be sure to be in the park of your choice for NYE just to be on the safe side. And be there at rope drop to be able to get more rides/shows in