Just back. Mini Trip report and Expectations vs. Reality

[Mtnman44]

We just got back from our first trip to WDW at Christmas time. This was also our first use of points at a DVC location. We had some split reservations and stayed at an OKW 1 BR, SSR 1 BR, and an OKW 2BR.

I like OKW more. The wife perfers SSR...but I digress.

Based on previous comments I was expecting the DVC resorts to feel "busy and crowded" and the parks to feel the opposite. This was not the case. In general the resorts felt empty (we had the pool to ourselves most of the time) and busses were never close to full) but the parks were very crowded. This was dissapointing in that I was expecting the parks to have very low crowds during the first to weeks of Dec. Some have even commented that the "parks are dead" during this time. Unfortunately, this was far from the case during any of our 11 park visits the past two weeks.

While the parks were far far from the worst I've seen, they were not nearly as low crowds as I was hoping.. Oh well. Shops, restaurants, parades, fireworks, and yes the rides were generally pretty crowded, sometimes horribly so. I consider ride wait times 10 min and under to be low crowds, and 15 min and up to be somewhat crowded. We saw plenty of 30 min times and often up into the 60 to 90 min times. ugh. Accompanying all of this was the crowds and challenges such as finding tables, getting snacks, waiting for the monorail...ugh. I understand that I have to expect other people to be using the park also, but as some point for me it gets to be too much.

My other main dissapointment was the Mickey's Christmas Party. Having never been before, I had some expectations that were sadly way off. I was expecting a fun, MUCH less crowded park during party hours, with plenty of time to mill around, see the shows, enjoy the atmosphere, go on rides, etc. Sadly, the park was packed until around 11pm when things started to thin out. It was nearly impossible to enjoy main street due to all the parade and fireworks spectators. Navigating around was often extremely difficult. Getting into some of the smaller Christmas Party events was impossible and we finally gave up, same with finding the special christmas snacks...waaay too many people. So overall it was a big dissapointment.

Although this trip was in the "off season" supposedly, I really started to notice how the crowd levels are affecting my experience and enjoyment. When it takes 45 minutes to get from your car to the MK gates due to the monorail lines, it really starts getting to you. Likewise, 45 min of standing in line for resort airline check in really drains the magic.

Anyway, sorry for the negative stuff. I needed to vent a little. We love our Disney vacations and we had a wonderful time overall. But the magic IS dying for me because of more and more non fun stuff I have to put up with. The guest experience is suffering. I hope they can fix it but I have no idea what a good solution would be.

 

[UConnJack]

My other main dissapointment was the Mickey's Christmas Party. Having never been before, I had some expectations that were sadly way off. I was expecting a fun, MUCH less crowded park during party hours, with plenty of time to mill around, see the shows, enjoy the atmosphere, go on rides, etc. Sadly, the park was packed until around 11pm when things started to thin out. It was nearly impossible to enjoy main street due to all the parade and fireworks spectators. Navigating around was often extremely difficult. Getting into some of the smaller Christmas Party events was impossible and we finally gave up, same with finding the special christmas snacks...waaay too many people. So overall it was a big dissapointment.

Had this same reaction to the Pirate and Princess party. Brilliant marketing by Disney to esentially get you to buy 2 park tickets in one day, but no way am I spending another $50 again to spend and extra 4 hours in the park to wait in an hour long line to see "Cpt. Jack Sparrow", collect ring pops and cheap plastic necklaces, wander around the park with nearly the same size crowd as during the day, and fight for a spot to see a lame parade compared to the standard ones. The new fireworks display were the only worthwhile addition to a normal park day. If I want to spend more time in the park, I will just go during and extended magic hours day. Yes it can still be crowded, but at least I'm not suckered into buying another park ticket for the day.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack, but I understand your reaction to the Mickey Xmas Party since it seems similar to mine with the Pirate and Princess party.

 

[theostwalts]

I wonder if the high crowd levels at the after hour events is because of now clearing the parks out of non paying guests. We did both MNSSHP and MVMCP before the change and the crowds were not bad at all. I have seen more and more posts from people attending an after hours event with complaints about the crowd level. It seems like the policy of not having non ticket holders leave is causing ticket holders not to enjoy the partys as much.

 

[vicki_c]

I wonder if the high crowd levels at the after hour events is because of now clearing the parks out of non paying guests. We did both MNSSHP and MVMCP before the change and the crowds were not bad at all. I have seen more and more posts from people attending an after hours event with complaints about the crowd level. It seems like the policy of not having non ticket holders leave is causing ticket holders not to enjoy the partys as much.

For the parties, I'm pretty sure that was always the policy - nonticket holders were asked to leave.

For the EMHs, reports vary.

 

[hellerjw]

We did the MNSSHP in mid-October and were asked roughly a dozen times to show our wristbands so it did appear to us that they were making an effort to get the non-ticket guests out of the parks.

I think they have to walk a fine line between being polite about it and using bloodhounds to track you down for hiding in the park during special events. Even so I probably would not do another after-hours event again until the trend reverses and there is a measureable decrease in the crowds, if that ever occurs again.

 

[LisaS]

I agree with you about the crowds. We were there last week and I expected the DVC resorts to be very busy and the parks less so but it was the opposite! Plenty of lounge chairs at the pool, not many people hanging out at the resort but the parks were more crowded than expected.

We went to MVMCP on Tues Dec 9. I thought they were being pretty vigilant about checking for wristbands after the party started at 7pm. We were asked several times to show them to CMs at various checkpoints. The party was more crowded that we expected. The event was sold out that night which surprised me. I had expected the crowd level to be lower on a weeknight but heard that some guests who had planned to go on Thursday rebooked for Tuesday due to the weather forecast (relatively warm on Tues, cold and possibly rainy for Thurs) so that was probably a factor.

We didn't have much of a wait for the cookies and hot chocolate but we happened to be passing by one of the cookie stations when they first opened so we were among the first people to walk in. The lines for some rides were a walk on or a very short wait, Haunted Mansion and Pirates for example. Lines were much longer for rides like Peter Pan so I guess it depended on what you wanted to ride and when. We really enjoyed the parade and the special fireworks so I'm glad we went. We missed out on the special show (Night Before Christmas?). We expected the wait in line would be shorter for the later shows so we left that for last but by that time, DH's back was giving him problems so we ended up leaving right after the fireworks.

 

[zalansky]

I had to chime in that I felt the same way as the OP about MNSSHP. The crowds were much higher than I anticipated and for what we got for the money, I would not go back to a party with a separate (pricey) ticket ever again. Sure, they gave out loads of candy at that party but we had to wait in lines for it and the candy was not worth $60 per person. At one point, walking through Liberty Square, the crowds were so heavy we could barely get through. No, not again for us.

 

[disneynutz]

We did the MNSSHP in mid-October and were asked roughly a dozen times to show our wristbands so it did appear to us that they were making an effort to get the non-ticket guests out of the parks.

I think they have to walk a fine line between being polite about it and using bloodhounds to track you down for hiding in the park during special events. Even so I probably would not do another after-hours event again until the trend reverses and there is a measureable decrease in the crowds, if that ever occurs again.

No fine line last month. Disney now has teams of rovers who start at different areas of the park to check wrist bands. They also put up check point ropes and only Guests with wrist bands were allowed to pass.

 

[Tinkerbellcrafter]

We too were disappointed with how crowded the park was for MVMCP on the 9th. People were also very rude this year! We have gone the past two years and last year was a Friday night sold out and it was not nearly as bad!! I did speak to a dvc rep and they understood that the night of the 9th was over sold not just sold out....

We did not watch the special stage show either, and there were people that watched the parade and fireworks that did not have wristbands. Seems the main part of mainstreet was still open for everyone. I was seriously questioning our decision to spend the extra money again.

 

[tjkraz]

The first time we did MVMCP back in '04 they had everyone arriving for that event head to Tomorrowland while they cleared the rest of the park. Not sure which method I prefer. Tomorrowland was a zoo until they opened the rest of the park, but at least you weren't asked 20 times to flash your wristband.

Either way, I doubt there were many people who successfully dodged the system. With the wristbands, perhaps a couple dozen people were able to hide out and attend for free, but it certainly wasn't hundreds of folks.

As for MVMCP itself, I feel about the same way as OP. I've really come to loathe parades...largely due to the way in which people queue-up for them so early. Don't get me wrong--it's not like I'm upset that they are grabbing a prime Main Street spot that I'd rather have. I just hate having to fight my way thru the park NINETY MINUTES before the parade starts!!!

Osborne Lights remains our favorite holiday event. MVMCP was a waste of money, IMO, and P&PP was only moderately better (mostly because the crowds were MUCH lower--not that Disney liked that part.)

Our early-December trip was 4 years ago but I still remember thinking that the parks were more crowded than other non-peak times. Back then it didn't seem to impact ride wait times too badly--just a lot of bodies looking at decorations and stuff.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

The first time we did MVMCP back in '04 they had everyone arriving for that event head to Tomorrowland while they cleared the rest of the park. Not sure which method I prefer. Tomorrowland was a zoo until they opened the rest of the park, but at least you weren't asked 20 times to flash your wristband.

Either way, I doubt there were many people who successfully dodged the system. With the wristbands, perhaps a couple dozen people were able to hide out and attend for free, but it certainly wasn't hundreds of folks.

As for MVMCP itself, I feel about the same way as OP. I've really come to loathe parades...largely due to the way in which people queue-up for them so early. Don't get me wrong--it's not like I'm upset that they are grabbing a prime Main Street spot that I'd rather have. I just hate having to fight my way thru the park NINETY MINUTES before the parade starts!!!

Osborne Lights remains our favorite holiday event. MVMCP was a waste of money, IMO, and P&PP was only moderately better (mostly because the crowds were MUCH lower--not that Disney liked that part.)

Our early-December trip was 4 years ago but I still remember thinking that the parks were more crowded than other non-peak times. Back then it didn't seem to impact ride wait times too badly--just a lot of bodies looking at decorations and stuff.

I'm wondering if the week of Christmas might be the least crowded!

 

[ACDSNY]

I wonder if Disney has increased the max. on ticket sales for these events so they now are more crowded. Seems like I heard they were considered sold out at 25 or 30K in years past.

 

[mickeys girl 52]

I think I no the reason the parks were so crowded the first two weeks of December.I only no this because my 2 grandsons were just there for 10 days. They were the state champions for the state of Texas for Pop Warner football.They were there competing with kids from every other state in the country.They fill up the pop Sports hotels this time of the year.When they are finished playing football ,they are busy running around having a ball at the parks.It was a big deal for them,being their 2nd year competing at te 12 year old level.They always hold the championships the first 2 weeks in Dec. every year.So between the boys, parents and extended families I am sure they filled up those parks. Disney makes allot of money off of Pop Warner football because everyone that goes has to purchase the package deal.
They lost fortunately, but they still made state champs so they were happy.

 

[rwcmath]

IMO, the worst thing about the MVMCP we went to in November was Belle's story time, that was terrible. I got there 15 minutes before it began, and there was absolutely no seating...what a shame. I hugged DGD's legs as she stood on the railing, and that probably shouldn't be allowed, but what were we adults going to do She heard the story, but I'm guessing that as many people were outside the little space as were seated inside. Disney...do something about that, please.

rwc

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

The After hour special partys are totally hit or miss. I went to the MNSSHP in 1999-- OMG -it was packed. And we got to stand in line for 5-10 minutes for toosie Rolls -- NOT impressed.

Then in Nov 2006 (friday night and cold, burrrr) we went to the MVMCP-- Everything was a 20 minute wait including the cookies. It was sold out that night and boy was it busy-- It was a total waste of money except for the cool fireworks and the parade(and I really don't get into parades)

BUT AT LAST, we went to the P&PP in Feb 08 and It was excellent. We got to dance at the dance party, NO LINES for any of the rides!! Fireworks were awesome!!! It was totally worth it. The only thing was there was NO food places open to eat dinner.

 

[Sammie]

Attention Everyone!!! the first of December is NO longer off season, it is very busy.

Disney is brilliant at marketing and with all the special holiday things and decorations this is a very busy time. Pop Warner, Mousefest, DVC peak booking time, locals coming to MVMCP, and on and on, you are not going to find empty parks anymore the first of Dec.

You might get lucky and pick a MVMCP that is not sold out but if you are not and go when it is sold out you will experience exactly what the OP did.

You have many Florida residents that come for one night during this time.

 

[crisi]

I had to chime in that I felt the same way as the OP about MNSSHP. The crowds were much higher than I anticipated and for what we got for the money, I would not go back to a party with a separate (pricey) ticket ever again. Sure, they gave out loads of candy at that party but we had to wait in lines for it and the candy was not worth $60 per person. At one point, walking through Liberty Square, the crowds were so heavy we could barely get through. No, not again for us.

Ditto - we did it a few years ago....when it was much cheaper. And I didn't think its a good value.

Now when we went, the Mountains had very short lines because most of the attendees seemed to be the stroller set - Fantasyland was a zoo - but my son rode BTMRR three times in ten minutes. But my kids aren't such Mountain fans that I need to pay that much for them to ride with no lines - by now we are Fastpass experts and can manage to get everyone on using Fastpasses a few times during the trip.

But hand it to Disney - charge a LOT for a special event, fill the park, and more than enough of them are delighted enough that they MUST return and tell all their friends how wonderful it is.

 

[tjkraz]

BUT AT LAST, we went to the P&PP in Feb 08 and It was excellent. We got to dance at the dance party, NO LINES for any of the rides!! Fireworks were awesome!!! It was totally worth it. The only thing was there was NO food places open to eat dinner.

That's exactly why--in Disney's eyes--the P&PPs have been a failure. Those events haven't attracted nearly as many guests as Disney would have liked. And they became a recent casualty of the low advance bookings for '09. While Disney was optimistically hoping to find the right formula that would make the P&PPs an annual success, they aren't going to gamble under the veil of next year's uncertainties.