MK on a Party Day?

[cherice95403]

Hi -we will be going for the first time at Christmas time (12/19-12/23) and I am wondering if going to MK on a Christmas Party day tends to be less busy. It would be 12/21 and we don’t have party tickets so would leave by 4:30. Just wondering if the day is less busy than a non-party day. Thanks!

 

[WannaGoDW]

Hi -we will be going for the first time at Christmas time (12/19-12/23) and I am wondering if going to MK on a Christmas Party day tends to be less busy. It would be 12/21 and we don’t have party tickets so would leave by 4:30. Just wondering if the day is less busy than a non-party day. Thanks!

Hi, I can only speak about the Halloween parties, but Magic Kingdom was definitely less crowded on those days.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Generally yes but that is so close to Xmas it might not be as noticeable as usual? If you don’t want the nighttime entertainment or have PHs I’d do MK that day for sure because you don’t really have anything to lose.

 

[liamthompson]

We did MK on 12/4 which was a party day - the park closes at 6pm to day guests. I bought LLMP but thought we could have managed without it. Other than tron, jingle cruise, 7dmt, pan/pooh, the wait times were ~15min or less. At some point, I even saw Tiana's in that range. I think our super low wait times were a by-product of all around low crowds. Given that you're going during a high crowd time, I would still plan for some waits. Pre-covid, I've gone on a party day closer to christmas and the wait times were definitely longer than what we experienced this trip.

Also - learn from our mistake! Once 4pm rolls around and the mix-in with party ticket holders happens, wait times start zooming up. Around 2-3pm is when wait times started falling off which is the opposite of what you would normally expect.

 

[lovethattink]

I’ve been going to MK on Tuesdays and Fridays of party days when I can. Most have been great crowd-wise. We save fast loading and large capacity attractions for between 4 and 6pm.

Party days are typically less crowded. But Christmas week will definitely be more crowded than it’s been.

The only issue we ran into, was hopping to Epcot. Once they only had only one monorail running and our wait for it was about 30 minutes, maybe longer. Usually 2 have been running, with a wait around 15 minutes.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Even though it will be a more crowded week I would still recommend MK on a party day.

 

[mickeymom629]

We were at MK yesterday, well before early entry, on a party day. They held us until 8:30 at the edge of Fantasyland because Wounded Warriors had rented out the park early, which I had no idea so our morning was a little more crowded than DH and I experienced on Sunday. We were not able to line up for 7 Dwarfs so there was a mad dash with everyone who had been held behind the rope. The rest of the day was pretty low waits but not as low as I was hoping.
On Sunday, we didn't arrive until 9:30 and we practically walked onto Jingle Cruise, Pirates, Tiana. Longest wait was Tron both days but we didn't try for 7 Dwarfs on Sunday.

 

[cherice95403]

We did MK on 12/4 which was a party day - the park closes at 6pm to day guests. I bought LLMP but thought we could have managed without it. Other than tron, jingle cruise, 7dmt, pan/pooh, the wait times were ~15min or less. At some point, I even saw Tiana's in that range. I think our super low wait times were a by-product of all around low crowds. Given that you're going during a high crowd time, I would still plan for some waits. Pre-covid, I've gone on a party day closer to christmas and the wait times were definitely longer than what we experienced this trip.

Also - learn from our mistake! Once 4pm rolls around and the mix-in with party ticket holders happens, wait times start zooming up. Around 2-3pm is when wait times started falling off which is the opposite of what you would normally expect.

Thanks! We are planning to park hop when they start letting in the party people!

 

[WDW Traveler]

We had the complete opposite during a Halloween party day, which they also say are slower. Our day was not slow. 45-60 minutes waits for the usually less popular rides. Heck I think even Small World was over a 40 minute wait. And getting to a different park using the monorail was crazy! We did not luck out with a slow day. I hope you have a different experience.

 

[mickeymom629]

Generally, the higher the price for LLMP, the busier the parks will be. Just like room rates, the more demand, the higher the price. And on party days, if a person buys LLMP for that park, it can be used at other parks once the first MP attraction is tapped into. And a lot of people park hop on those party days.

We had the complete opposite during a Halloween party day, which they also say are slower. Our day was not slow. 45-60 minutes waits for the usually less popular rides. Heck I think even Small World was over a 40 minute wait. And getting to a different park using the monorail was crazy! We did not luck out with a slow day. I hope you have a different experience.

What date/day did you go?

 

[WDW Traveler]

What date/day did you go?

It was a Sunday this trip, so it must have been 10/26, which I'm sure didn't help. But back in 2023 I went with my DD on a weekday party day (in September) and we experienced pretty much the same thing. That was the trip the monorail was a disaster hoping elsewhere. We have not been lucky going on "slower" party days. lol

 

[mickeymom629]

It was a Sunday this trip, so it must have been 10/26, which I'm sure didn't help. But back in 2023 I went with my DD on a weekday party day (in September) and we experienced pretty much the same thing. That was the trip the monorail was a disaster hoping elsewhere. We have not been lucky going on "slower" party days. lol

That's too bad. I like to look at the website, Touring Plans, and they have that day as a 1. This past Sunday they have as a 1 and this Tuesday as a 2, which I would somewhat agree with (those are the days we were there on party days). However, I wonder if more rides were down during your visit. I have seen rides go down on all of our days so far and I think that, even with low crowds, that can make wait times awful. Walkways have not been jammed, but there's always the areas that look have more people.
I'm going back with the grandkids to MK, arriving late today (MK opened at 8), so I'm curious how it will be since it's a party day again. We did not have LL of any sort for any of our MK days.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We are heading home today after an amazing 4 days is the parks!

The past 2 days were MK days. Wed was not a party day and Thurs was a party day. The difference in the crowds continued to be as we had experienced in the past. The non-party day was far more crowded and yesterday, a party day, so much more comfortable!!

An easy way to tell the difference in addition to much lower wait times Thurs was quick service. Wed we started ordering lunch at 1:00. First available mobile service window at Columbia Harbour House was 1:40. (Chose mobile ordering after seeing the line to order in person spilled out the door approx 20 people deep.!) I was allowed to push ‘we are here’ at 1:35 (5 mins early - woot!) but my screen did not turn purple to indicate my food was ready and to tell me which window to go to pick it up, for another 35 mins!! So, from first arriving to getting food was 1 hr and 10 mins!!! The challenge is, when people are told they can say they’re there or, their family is in line, they grab tables thinking it won’t be long so getting a table was another sport all in itself.

Thurs we ate a bit earlier, around 12:30. Walked into Pinocchio Haus, mobile ordered immediately, had our choice of tables and had food within 10 mins!

Most rides were reasonable wait times Thurs too. Speedway 15 mins at 11:30, mid-afternoon Tron 40, Peter Pan 30.

We rode Tron at approx the same time both days - had LL. The first day the standby line was past the blue umbrellas with all switchbacks in use. The second day it was barely outside.

If we can, our family will still choose to visit MK on a party day over a non-party day. We did not have PH this trip which is why we visited both but the levels in crowds was markedly different for sure!!

 

[Eastern]

We visited MK on a party day and non-party day Dec 8 & 9. The non-party day had noticeably lighter crowds. The popular rides, 7DMT, Tron, Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise, and strangley Pooh, definitely had waits, but it didn't last all day and the times were very manageable, more like in the 30-40 minute range vs 1 hour and above. Tiana was always 5-10 minutes, maybe due to the cooler weather. The less popular rides including pirates, were anywhere from 5-15 minutes most of the day. Begin so close to Christmas, you may have more crowds but I would definitely do the *party day* choice again.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We visited MK on a party day and non-party day Dec 8 & 9. The non-party day had noticeably lighter crowds. The popular rides, 7DMT, Tron, Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise, and strangley Pooh, definitely had waits, but it didn't last all day and the times were very manageable, more like in the 30-40 minute range vs 1 hour and above. Tiana was always 5-10 minutes, maybe due to the cooler weather. The less popular rides including pirates, were anywhere from 5-15 minutes most of the day. Begin so close to Christmas, you may have more crowds but I would definitely do the non-party day choice again.

Wow!! So different. Our experience has always been:

Party day (park open - 4PM) - light crowds
Non-party day - heavy crowds.

 

[Eastern]

Wow!! So different. Our experience has always been:

Party day (park open - 4PM) - light crowds
Non-party day - heavy crowds.

I meant to say party day!

 

[mickeymom629]

We went to the MK last Sun, this past Tues and Thurs, all party days. We only rope dropped Tues.

On Thurs, we arrived at about 11, 3 hours after it opened. I think rides had definitely been a walk-on before we came. We wanted to do what we hadn't done and some repeats of headliners. (We were me (Grandma), mom and 2 9-year old girls and a 6 year old boy. Lots of bathroom stops all days. ) From 11-6, We did Barnstormer, Dumbo, Pooh (long wait), Small World, lunch at Pinocchio's, Peter Pan, 7 Dwarfs, Tron, Space Mountain and Astro Orbiter. While the girls did Tron and Space, grandson and I did the People Mover and then the Train from Fantasyland to Main Street and back. We never made it to the other half of the park that day.

ETA that rides were down off and on at all parks this past week and that can really throw a wrench into plans.

 

[Flash_Sloth]

We were at MK yesterday, well before early entry, on a party day. They held us until 8:30 at the edge of Fantasyland because Wounded Warriors had rented out the park early, which I had no idea so our morning was a little more crowded than DH and I experienced on Sunday. We were not able to line up for 7 Dwarfs so there was a mad dash with everyone who had been held behind the rope. The rest of the day was pretty low waits but not as low as I was hoping.
On Sunday, we didn't arrive until 9:30 and we practically walked onto Jingle Cruise, Pirates, Tiana. Longest wait was Tron both days but we didn't try for 7 Dwarfs on Sunday.

I was ETPE rope dropping MK this past Tuesday as well, and yes, we were held at the edge of Fantasyland while Gary Sinise Foundation guys had earlier entry. Then they dropped the rope for us at normal ETPE time. I also did MK on Friday, and they let us line right up for 7DMT, and started running it about 10 minutes early.

The mornings on these MVMCP dates were great with lower crowds. I did have LLMP, and it helped with some rides, but others, yeah, I was like "that was just as fast as the standby line". I did MVMCP on Tuesday, and the crowds definitely picked up. Friday, I park-hopped just before the party guests mixed in.

But with the OP's dates so much closer to Christmas, take this with a big grain of salt. I expect overall crowds at all the parks to pick up quite a bit, especially as kids get out of school for break.

 

[Joanna71985]

Normally it is. However, with that being just a few days before Christmas, it might be busier than usual

 

[Mle8308]

Wow!! So different. Our experience has always been:

Party day (park open - 4PM) - light crowds
Non-party day - heavy crowds.

Was at the MK this past Thursday (12/11), too! It seemed busier than Halloween party days, but not bad, I would not have rated it a 2 crowd level. The crowds definitely started to pick up at 4pm, we were on our way out by then. Early December has really picked up in the past few years, gets busier each time we visit.