robinb
DIS veteran
- Joined
- Aug 29, 1999
- Messages
- 44,721
Pre-Christmas crowds were not so bad.
We were at WDW from 12/20 - 12/24 and I was pleasantly surprised by the crowds. We go this time every year and the crowds were much better this year! No wonder they are having sales in the parks
.
We got in late on 12/20 as our flight was delayed so we missed our AR for San Angel. We called on the way into the resort and ended up with an 8:15 ADR at Tokyo Dining. We sat at the window and watched IllumiNations from our table. They pipe the music in, but don't dim the lights so the lights reflect on the window.
We did the MK on 12/21 with walk-ons for everything between 8-10 am. We rode BTMR once and then fast-passed it too. On the first ride we were stuck on the half way over the big hill and had to be evacuated through the mountain. It was pretty cool and they gave us a MK fast pass for our troubles. Ride times began to climb by about noon and we were out of there by about 2pm.
We did AK on 12/22 and rode EE twice and ended up giving away our last set of EE FPs to a family on the way out. We also did PW and Dinosaur and the Safari all in the first couple of hours. When the park got crowded we did the two animal trails ... for the first time in a year or two. The trails were crowded, but nice.
We went to DHS on 12/22 for the Osborne Lights and ended up at the Pepper Market at CSR for a CS dinner. Their pizza is the BEST! Remember to tip your server is you use a CS credit there. Cash customers are charged 10% but tips are not included in the DDP.
The only park which was a problem on our mini-trip was DHS on the 12/23 ... the park got really crowded really fast. We were still able to do TSM & ToT (fast passes) and R&RRC using the single rider line (maybe 30 minutes). Our family of 3 ended up all on the same train. We had lunch at ScFi but I was talking to one person and they said they waited over an HOUR to order at Pizza Planet! Yikes!
We were in the MK on 12/23 for SpecroMagic and Wishes and we ended up doing the Haunted Mansion with NO wait at about 9:30 after Wishes. There was no wait for anything in Adventureland and the park was open until midnight. I would have stayed, but my DD fades pretty early and we had plans to finish packing up and getting to Epcot at rope drop.
Epcot was the park for 12/24 morning and it was also pretty quiet in the early morning 9-11 am. We fast passed Soarin' and by the time we rode it at 11:45 am the wait was 110 minutes long. We did single rider at Test Track, walked onto Nemo, waited 15 minutes for Crush and 5 minutes for Figment. We ate too much and ended up giving away our FPs for Mission Space on the way out.
We'll be back at WDW on 12/28 and I hope our good luck and lower crowds holds out!
We were at WDW from 12/20 - 12/24 and I was pleasantly surprised by the crowds. We go this time every year and the crowds were much better this year! No wonder they are having sales in the parks
. We got in late on 12/20 as our flight was delayed so we missed our AR for San Angel. We called on the way into the resort and ended up with an 8:15 ADR at Tokyo Dining. We sat at the window and watched IllumiNations from our table. They pipe the music in, but don't dim the lights so the lights reflect on the window.
We did the MK on 12/21 with walk-ons for everything between 8-10 am. We rode BTMR once and then fast-passed it too. On the first ride we were stuck on the half way over the big hill and had to be evacuated through the mountain. It was pretty cool and they gave us a MK fast pass for our troubles. Ride times began to climb by about noon and we were out of there by about 2pm.
We did AK on 12/22 and rode EE twice and ended up giving away our last set of EE FPs to a family on the way out. We also did PW and Dinosaur and the Safari all in the first couple of hours. When the park got crowded we did the two animal trails ... for the first time in a year or two. The trails were crowded, but nice.
We went to DHS on 12/22 for the Osborne Lights and ended up at the Pepper Market at CSR for a CS dinner. Their pizza is the BEST! Remember to tip your server is you use a CS credit there
. Cash customers are charged 10% but tips are not included in the DDP.The only park which was a problem on our mini-trip was DHS on the 12/23 ... the park got really crowded really fast. We were still able to do TSM & ToT (fast passes) and R&RRC using the single rider line (maybe 30 minutes). Our family of 3 ended up all on the same train. We had lunch at ScFi but I was talking to one person and they said they waited over an HOUR to order at Pizza Planet! Yikes!
We were in the MK on 12/23 for SpecroMagic and Wishes and we ended up doing the Haunted Mansion with NO wait at about 9:30 after Wishes. There was no wait for anything in Adventureland and the park was open until midnight. I would have stayed, but my DD fades pretty early and we had plans to finish packing up and getting to Epcot at rope drop.
Epcot was the park for 12/24 morning and it was also pretty quiet in the early morning 9-11 am. We fast passed Soarin' and by the time we rode it at 11:45 am the wait was 110 minutes long. We did single rider at Test Track, walked onto Nemo, waited 15 minutes for Crush and 5 minutes for Figment. We ate too much and ended up giving away our FPs for Mission Space on the way out.
We'll be back at WDW on 12/28 and I hope our good luck and lower crowds holds out!
