I need help choosing a park the week after Christmas.

[moniot]

I know that this is a busy week. We are bringing a first timer with us from the 27th thru the 1st. My question is......should we choose the park with the extra hours to visit or go to another park that day? We want our Uncle to see as much as he can while he is there. We normally go the end of Jan. or first part of Feb. and we love the extra hours at night. We don't have park hoppers this trip. I know everything is busy but are the parks without extra hours any less busy? I know it is all guessing but any advise from someone who has been there and done that would be helpful.

We plan on checking out the holiday decoration and only doing part days in the park. We are very flexible. The rest of us will be there the week after New years so we will have more time in the parks then.

Thanks

 

[moniot]

Anyone have any thoughts on this???

 

[jmclester]

Most every unofficial guide advises that you visit the EMH park on the day after the EMH. I can't vouch for this. My best advice is to visit the EMH morning park and then hop when it gets crowded. Do you have the option to upgrade your tix to hoppers for $35 each? If not, then I would go with the unofficial guide. Check www.touringplans.com/BestDays.htm for a day-by-day list of parks to visit based on historical data, etc.
From my experience the parks will have moderate to heavy crowds right after Christmas and the closer NYE gets the more crowded they become. On NYE arrive early and stay in the park. If you leave you will likely run the risk of the park being closed due to crowd capacity. (resort guests can still get in but it's no fun, trust me!)

Good luck!

 

[moniot]

Thank you. I have never been at the parks when they have had to close. Do I understand you correctly....even when they are at capacity resort guests can still enter? We are not planning on going for NYE. We will get up early on the first and go to MK.

The cost for everyone to upgrade to the hopper is not in the cards this year. Even knowing how busy it is I am so excited to be able to go during the Holiday season.

It is also nice to go from to . That is an extra perk

 

[lentesta]

Hi moniot,

I would avoid the Animal Kingdom during any holiday period in which it's running Extra Magic Hours. Our research indicates you might actually end up waiting longer to ride the attractions on an EMH morning, for example, than on a non-EMH morning. (We think this happens because there are relatively few attractions open during the morning, those attractions can't handle that many people, and the crowds simply overwhelm them.)

The Unofficial Guide's Best Days calendar (thanks for the link, jmclester) takes this into account when recommending which days to visit each park. Also, for the Magic Kingdom, Tuesday and Wednesday are likely to be the slowest days of the week. I'd avoid Sundays and Mondays there because of the crowds.

Hope this helps! Good luck with your trip.

Sincerely,

Len Testa

 

[jmclester]

Yes, it is my understanding that resort guests will still be admitted to the parks even when they are "closed" to general public additional guests. You may want to call Customer Service and verify this though.

If you avoid the parks on NYE you may not have to face the closing situation anyway. We were there in December of 2000 and the waits on all of the days leading up to NYE were manageable (60 min was about the longest we waited). None of the parks closed except on the morning of NYE (MK and MGM). Now, with the FP system, I think you will be ok if you strategize (my favorite part!) get to the parks early, ride the big rides first, take an afternoon break when the big crowds hit, then close the park(s). Remember that lines are shorter during parades and fireworks so that is a good time to get in some ride time. Also, get FastPasses for TT, Soarin', Space Mountain early in the day as they will likely be out by noon.

Happy Holidays!!

BTW, I leave in 9 days!! Doing the single digit dance today!!

 

[Amy&Dan]

There are different levels of closures. They may close the parking lots to incoming cars meaning resort buses would still be let in. However, at some point if it gets just beyond crazy crowded nobody, will get in. This is most likely to happen at MK on New Years Eve in particular from what I have researched. The 30th looks nasty for MK as well as they have EMH in both the morning and evening. Being an onsite guest guarantees admission to a park, not necessarily the one you want to go to. If you have a park that you really want to see on a particular day, get there early and don't leave, you might not get back in. ADR's at park restuarants will also not guarantee admission either. Its for safety reasons. I look at this way, if the park is so packed they don't want to let me in, I probably don't want to be there! We will be there at that same time so I have been looking into all of this as well!