chai latté
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2008
- Messages
- 33
We had a great week. I went into the week with the mindset that there’s no slow time at Disney anymore, so I was prepared to expect higher crowds. We picked this week because we wanted to see Disney at Christmas without actually going at Christmas.
Crowds: All a matter of perspective. Felt crowded on walkways, but lineups were manageable. We didn’t wait any more than 20 minutes or so for most rides. We achieved this mainly by rope dropping or arriving close to opening, and effectively using fast passes. It was pretty busy on the weekend and Monday following Thanksgiving, but then lightened up a bit midweek. We were all prepared to do mobile ordering for QS, but lineups were never that bad where we needed to do that (we would always order lunch by 12:30pm, though).
We made the choice to skip MK on a date with HEA in order to attend MK on a party date/CM event date. We did not have park hoppers, so we missed fireworks, and we were ok with that. My kids are the type who wake at 6am everyday no matter what time they go to bed, so late nights weren’t in the cards for us.
We went to MK on Nov 30th, the day that there was a CM event where MK closed at 4:30pm. Best decision ever. We accomplished so much on this date, particularly since we were there by 9am (park opened at 8am). If we had been there at opening at 8am, we would’ve accomplished even more. We actually had room to walk on pathways, it was awesome! I was happy with our decision to attend MK on an early closure date.
We attended MVMCP on Nov 28th. If you’re attending the Christmas party for rides, once the park cleared out it was walk-on for rides, or minimal wait times. If you’re attending the party for some of the special events, there were significantly higher wait times. We were happy with what we accomplished and enjoyed our time (disclaimer: we left kids at hotel with grandma& grandpa as our kids can't handle late nights. I would not attend this event unless you had kids who could handle late nights).
Transportation: We relied entirely on Disney transportation. 75% of the time it was great; buses arrived within 20 minutes. When it was bad, it was really bad. To get from winter summerland mini-golf back to Pop, it took 2-2.5 hours. There was also a couple of other instances when we had to wait 1 hour to get a bus back to Pop.
All in all though, had a great time! For us, getting there at park opening was key.
Crowds: All a matter of perspective. Felt crowded on walkways, but lineups were manageable. We didn’t wait any more than 20 minutes or so for most rides. We achieved this mainly by rope dropping or arriving close to opening, and effectively using fast passes. It was pretty busy on the weekend and Monday following Thanksgiving, but then lightened up a bit midweek. We were all prepared to do mobile ordering for QS, but lineups were never that bad where we needed to do that (we would always order lunch by 12:30pm, though).
We made the choice to skip MK on a date with HEA in order to attend MK on a party date/CM event date. We did not have park hoppers, so we missed fireworks, and we were ok with that. My kids are the type who wake at 6am everyday no matter what time they go to bed, so late nights weren’t in the cards for us.
We went to MK on Nov 30th, the day that there was a CM event where MK closed at 4:30pm. Best decision ever. We accomplished so much on this date, particularly since we were there by 9am (park opened at 8am). If we had been there at opening at 8am, we would’ve accomplished even more. We actually had room to walk on pathways, it was awesome! I was happy with our decision to attend MK on an early closure date.
We attended MVMCP on Nov 28th. If you’re attending the Christmas party for rides, once the park cleared out it was walk-on for rides, or minimal wait times. If you’re attending the party for some of the special events, there were significantly higher wait times. We were happy with what we accomplished and enjoyed our time (disclaimer: we left kids at hotel with grandma& grandpa as our kids can't handle late nights. I would not attend this event unless you had kids who could handle late nights).
Transportation: We relied entirely on Disney transportation. 75% of the time it was great; buses arrived within 20 minutes. When it was bad, it was really bad. To get from winter summerland mini-golf back to Pop, it took 2-2.5 hours. There was also a couple of other instances when we had to wait 1 hour to get a bus back to Pop.
All in all though, had a great time! For us, getting there at park opening was key.
