What are wait times in early December?

[estherhead]

I've read some of the trip reports but haven't noticed anyone mentioning wait times? We'll be going next Dec 3-10th and I was hoping to see what the longest you wait this year was as a reference. We will use Fastpass but would love to also have the other rides empt(ier).

What about:

Dumbo? Space Mountain? Rock-n-roller coaster? In line for the characters in the Judge's tent/or other character meetings (ie, Airel's Grotto.)

Thanks for any info!

Esther

 

[goofy4tink]

We left WDW on 12/1 but found that every day after the preceeding Sunday, the lines got shorter. I think you'll find that your time frame should be a good one. I don't think we waited in line for anything longer than 20 minutes. And the 20 min. wait was for Test Track and they were having a problem with it.

 

[B3LM]

We were at WDW 12/8 - 12/14 and found the waits to be short. For the popular attractions that did have waits, we just used Fastpass.

 

[wasabi girl]

On the Unofficial Guide's website the crowd levels for early December are very low so it shouldn't be too bad. I'm going from the 3-10th so maybe I'll see you there!

 

[ash&abby'smom]

We were there 12/6-12/11. I would say the longest wait was about 30 mins for the Pooh ride. Ariel's Grotto was about 20 min. We went early as we were told the later you wait the longer the wait.

 

[dopeyfanatic]

I'm going the same week! I picked that week because what I've read says the first two weeks in December are among the best (not to mention the holiday decor). From what I hear we should have really low wait times!

 

[crzy4mickey]

We were there Dec. 2nd thru the 8th of this year. We went to MGM on the 3rd (Friday) and it was busier than i thought. Walking the streets was much more crowded than our last trip in 10/02 but that was only 1 year post 9/11. Anyway we waited only 15-20 minutes for small rides, walked right in to Muppets and Beauty. We don't do tower of terror or rockin' rollercoaster but heard they were all out of fast passes early afternoon. We went to Epcot on Sat and only waited 15 minutes at the most for rides in Future world but when we went to tt the wait was 50 minutes by 12is and also no more fast passes. Animal kingdom on Sunday was also very crowded when walking the streets but didn't wait more than 15 minutes for a ride. The worst day was Monday at Magic Kingdom. We had PS at 9:25 and that was a big mistake! By the time we got out, it was packed. The wait times were 50 minutes or more for the popular rides, dumbo, peter pan, buzz, Stitch, etc. We walked around and did some other things and left to swim. The kids didn't want to wait in line and it was hot that day. We went back to MK on Tuesday and the longest we waited was 10 minutes and most were just about a walk on. We waited maybe 15 minutes on Monday in the Judges tent and only 5 minutes on Tuesday. The key is to get there before the park opens. Some of our days we slept in and that's really what messed us up. Overall not bad, the kids are the ones who opted not to wait any line 15 minutes or longer. I'd do it again just to come back for the beautiful decorations, it is strange however, to think of Christmas in a warm climate when you're from CT.

 

[DebbieB]

I was there 12/4 to 12/10. I went to MGM on Wednesday afternoon, RnR and ToT were about 10 minute waits. Same thing on Friday morning. Space Mountain had longer waits on Sunday and Thursday, standby around 30 minutes, I used fastpass. Used fastpass for the safari at AK, I think the standby was 35 minutes.

 

[llij]

We were there from 12/3 through 12/11 and the longest we waited was 20 minutes to meet Ariel. If you use FP and get to your favorite rides early, you shouldn't have a problem!

On Friday - 12/10, we walked onto BTMRR three times in a row! No wait!!

Have fun!

 

[EsmeraldaX]

We were there Dec 1 -6th this year.

Our longest wait was 5 minutes for Pooh and 5 minutes for Thunder Mountain.

Fast Pass was never needed and most were walk ons.

 

[HollyJoy]

We were in WDW from 12/4-12/10 and to be honest, the waits were very minimal. Most rides, we had about a 5-10 wait. The most we waited was about 20 min (for Dumbo). Our first day in MK was on a Sunday, which also happened to be the day they were filming some of the Christmas Parade performances, so the park was a bit crowded. This was the only day we needed to use the fast passes! Space mountain broke down this day, but we were allowed to use our fast passes anytime during the day. We were very pleased with the wait times!

 

[ufgator]

We were there Dec. 13-17 and it was great. There was a 20 min wait for Test Track and the Great Movie ride. We went in the morning to MK 2 different days and we got to ride everything. We rode Thunder Mountain 2 times in a row each morning. We had our own log at Splash Mountain. About 5 min. for Space Mountain.

 

[HappyLawyer]

there were no waits except on sat and sun, i found that many florida people come to the parks for the weekends, i met many who drove cuz they live 4 hours away they left on sunday mon-thurs, no lines at all de 10-19th were my dates and it was like that at all the parks, universal, it was great

 

[DepCor0311]

For the last two years we have gone to WDW the week following Thanksgiving and it has been great. We rarely experienced any waiting longer than 10 minutes (I think our longest wait both years was test track at about 20 minutes). It is, without question, the best time of year to go.

 

[CaipiraBob]

I've read some of the trip reports but haven't noticed anyone mentioning wait times? We'll be going next Dec 3-10th and I was hoping to see what the longest you wait this year was as a reference. We will use Fastpass but would love to also have the other rides empt(ier).

What about:

Dumbo? Space Mountain? Rock-n-roller coaster? In line for the characters in the Judge's tent/or other character meetings (ie, Airel's Grotto.)

Thanks for any info!

Esther

The basic key here is to go to the parks EARLY!

When we went early, within 15 minutes of the gates opening, we could hit 6-8 rides in Fantasy Land/That side of the park in 2 hours. After that the crowds started showing up. By then we could pick and choose while using fastpass. We hit everything we wanted to. We'd repeated the sequence each time we went. It was perfect. My experience reported for my last trip: Snow White : 0 Minutes, WTP: 5 Minutes, PP: 0 Minutes, MPM: 5 Minutes.

Early, early, early does the trick.

 

[dolphindan1]

We were there Dec 3rd thru the 12th, PoP Warner week to boot and the longest wait we encountered was 45 minutes for The Mummy at US...Now this was in the last 30 minutes the park was open and we had already walked on it 4 or 5 times during the day....We could have left the park by noon and already toured the entire park...We were the only ones on jaws, 20 people on earthquake, MIB was a walk on....We saw everything we wanted to do with no waits same went for IOA...the wait times posted was actually the time it took to walk through the line....Now the Disney parks were a bit more crowded but waits were still minimal....Longest we encountered was 15 for the safari's and that was EE...TT did have a 45 minute wait the afternoon we were there but we rode it 2 times first thing...THe land and Spaceship earth were 15 minutes...Epcot was the most crowded park for us and it was the last saturday we were there...MK was busy but waits not much....15 for the major rides like the mountains...Judges tent was about 15 minutes as were the other character lines....I must say it was perfect, weather was warm, decorations were up and no lines....

 

[jaysmom4285]

DH and I were at WDW 12/5-12/11. As other posters have noted, we found ride times to be quite short, usually no more than 15-20 minutes and often less, although there did seem to be more bodies in the parks than we remembered from previous early December visits. Test Track was the only attraction we encountered which often had a wait of 30-40 minutes or more (plus it kept breaking down), but we would just grab a fastpass (which was usually for only 45 minutes later), go do something else, and come back to Test Track. M:S, ToT, and RnRC were virtual walk-ons whenever we wanted to do them. Most fastpass return times that we saw for attractions were also less than an hour, so there was obviously not a great demand on the fastpass system. Attendance did seem to be up, but it didn't appear to have a great impact on ride times. For the record, this was Pop Warner time, but for whatever reason we encountered very few cheerleaders or football players - just very small groups who seemed to be with parents or chaperones. We only knew they were Pop Warner by their outfits (or hair styles, in the case of the cheerleaders). I know others had great problems with them, but we didn't happen to. We stayed at CBR, and there were some of them there, but we only encountered a few at a time on the buses.

 

[estherhead]

Thanks for all your responses! I'm a veteran WDWorlder but with the posts of Pap Warner, etc. I was concerned that perhaps that week had suddenly become a crowded one. I've been in January with all the cheerleaders and I really don't mind at all. And we are early birds, so we'll be sure to get there super early.

Thanks again!

Esther

 

[crow11ad]

I've read some of the trip reports but haven't noticed anyone mentioning wait times? We'll be going next Dec 3-10th and I was hoping to see what the longest you wait this year was as a reference. We will use Fastpass but would love to also have the other rides empt(ier).

What about:

Dumbo? Space Mountain? Rock-n-roller coaster? In line for the characters in the Judge's tent/or other character meetings (ie, Airel's Grotto.)

Thanks for any info!

Esther

Remember that this December was a little busier than what others have claimed to have witnessed due to the hurricanes. I believe that if there would have not been any hurricanes, that it would have been far less crowded. With that said, if you plan on going to the Christmas party next year, you will be able to walk on the rides. The most we waited to get on a ride was 10 min. We went 12-4-12-10 this year. Others have said it was crowded and too crowded to ride rides. We walked onto haunted mansion, splash, and BTMRR. We walked on to Mission Space and we did get a fp for TT, but other than that it was pretty much walk on.