Will I regret going on my first WDW trip over New Years??

[viatabuna]

Though I guess you could look at it like this, those there for their first trip don't know anything else. So they won't know how much easier it could be. I suspect that the number who come away saying "I'm never going to Disney again" is higher than those who take a first trip at another time.

I like to think I wouldn't walk away from it thinking "never again," especially considering the amount of money I'd be spending on the trip... BUT I have yet to experience it, so who knows?! Maybe those crowds could make even the most loyal Disney Parks fan reconsider...

 

[DVCcurious]

Several years ago a woman at work was taking her family to Disneyworld Christmas-New Year's week. She knows I'm a Disney frequent visitor so she asked for my advice. Here is what I told her:

First, you must understand the mass of humanity that will be at Disneyworld during that time. It's worse than anything you can possibly imagine. You will NOT be able to see the ground because every square inch will be covered with someone standing on it. As such you MUST limit the time you have to be in lines.

Pre-planning:
1) Stay on site
2) Plan your parks for each day now. One park per day. Park hopping is not logical during this week.
3) You should plan some time at your hotel pool. If you're going 6 park days I'd do full days at the park the first two days, then a pool break on day three, then full day 4 at the park, pool break on day 5, and full day on day 6. This will break up the monotony of waiting in lines. It will give you two days to regain some sanity at your (less busy but still busy) hotel.
4) Book meals at 180 days prior to your trip. You should have lunch and dinner booked for every day because it will be frustrating to try to do quick service. Pay for a sit down experience because it's well worth it.
5) Book FastPasses the minute they are available 60 days before your trip.

During your trip
1) Parks will open at 7:00AM for early magic hours
2) That means you have to be at the park at 6:15 AM
3) Be at the bus stop of your hotel at 5:45AM at the very latest
4) As soon as you get in through the turnstile walk as far ahead as possible before Disney employees stop you. Don't waste time looking around.
5) "Rope Drop" really only exists for the first one or two rides. By the time 8:00 rolls around there will be huge lines everywhere so it's very important to be as close to the front as possible after you get in the park so you have a chance of having a short line for your second ride
6) Once 9:00 AM rolls around you're screwed. There will be huge lines everywhere. Use your fast passes and just take it all in. There's no need to rush anywhere now because, well, there won't be any room to rush because there will be too many people!
7). Go to sleep by 9:00PM so you'll be ready to get up at 4:30 to do it all over again tomorrow!

 

[nkereina]

I would do it. You're already doing research so you will be able to manage expectations accordingly, and have a plan in place. If you go into it comfortable with doing what you're able to, and not burn yourselves out trying to do everything, then you can still have an enjoyable time. Being your first visit, you won't have anything else to compare it to anyway and I reckon the crowds won't even spoil the excitement a first trip brings. Its all in what you make of it.

 

[conandrob240]

I like to think I wouldn't walk away from it thinking "never again," especially considering the amount of money I'd be spending on the trip... BUT I have yet to experience it, so who knows?! Maybe those crowds could make even the most loyal Disney Parks fan reconsider...

We did NYE for the first time 2019. We loved it. It wasn’t anywhere near as bad as everyone said. With good planning ( doing MK on 12/30, having a view dining reservation at Epcot for 12/31, staying at BC for easy walk out after 12/31 fireworks), it was perfectly manageable.
And... it was an absolute BLAST!

 

[conandrob240]

Several years ago a woman at work was taking her family to Disneyworld Christmas-New Year's week. She knows I'm a Disney frequent visitor so she asked for my advice. Here is what I told her:

First, you must understand the mass of humanity that will be at Disneyworld during that time. It's worse than anything you can possibly imagine. You will NOT be able to see the ground because every square inch will be covered with someone standing on it. As such you MUST limit the time you have to be in lines.

Pre-planning:
1) Stay on site
2) Plan your parks for each day now. One park per day. Park hopping is not logical during this week.
3) You should plan some time at your hotel pool. If you're going 6 park days I'd do full days at the park the first two days, then a pool break on day three, then full day 4 at the park, pool break on day 5, and full day on day 6. This will break up the monotony of waiting in lines. It will give you two days to regain some sanity at your (less busy but still busy) hotel.
4) Book meals at 180 days prior to your trip. You should have lunch and dinner booked for every day because it will be frustrating to try to do quick service. Pay for a sit down experience because it's well worth it.
5) Book FastPasses the minute they are available 60 days before your trip.

During your trip
1) Parks will open at 7:00AM for early magic hours
2) That means you have to be at the park at 6:15 AM
3) Be at the bus stop of your hotel at 5:45AM at the very latest
4) As soon as you get in through the turnstile walk as far ahead as possible before Disney employees stop you. Don't waste time looking around.
5) "Rope Drop" really only exists for the first one or two rides. By the time 8:00 rolls around there will be huge lines everywhere so it's very important to be as close to the front as possible after you get in the park so you have a chance of having a short line for your second ride
6) Once 9:00 AM rolls around you're screwed. There will be huge lines everywhere. Use your fast passes and just take it all in. There's no need to rush anywhere now because, well, there won't be any room to rush because there will be too many people!
7). Go to sleep by 9:00PM so you'll be ready to get up at 4:30 to do it all over again tomorrow!

I disagree with a lot of this advice. you do not need to be at the park (especially epcot) at 7am nor do I recommend. You’ll be exhausted by the time midnight rolls around. We walked in around 1pm and it was perfect. we made both a late lunch and a late dinner reservation. Made 3 late afternoon/ early evening FPs and spent the rest of the time just enjoying the countries. It’s not going to be a day to ride a lot of rides.

we did similar at MK on 12/30. Late breakfast/ brunch. 3 FOs, then just enjoyed any rides that weren’t packed or the varioys DJs, shows, dance parties. Did the early fireworks and countdown grabbing a spot around Main Street around 60-90 minutes ahead of time. It really wasn’t that bad.

 

[Disneylover99]

First, you must understand the mass of humanity that will be at Disneyworld during that time. It's worse than anything you can possibly imagine. You will NOT be able to see the ground because every square inch will be covered with someone standing on it.

Have you actually been to DW between Christmas and New Years? Or are you basing it on crazy pictures that people post. Because over multiple trips we have not experienced this. Yes it can get crowded in pockets, but normally walking around just feels like any other day.

One thing I do find relatively easy this week is park hopping. As long as you’re relying on Disney transportation and not your own car, buses are plentiful. I also wouldn’t recommend a schedule for pool days this time of year because weather is so unpredictable.

 

[EjandMD]

Go to the just back/trip report forum and read what people did and how it worked for them, it's a fresh in their mind! We go all the time, so for us, we are good with skipping lots of things if we don't have the patience for it. Good luck! Even if it is super crowded, IT'S STILL DISNEY!

 

[MomOTwins]

I would not recommend it, for three reasons.

First, you've mentioned in several places that budget is important to you, and the week after Christmas is by far the most expensive time of year--flights, hotels, and park tickets are all MUCH higher then than almost any other time of year.

Second, you will be going to one of the most crowded places in the world in peak cold/flu season. The one time we went at Christmastime, despite copious santizing and hand washing, we all got a terrible stomach bug that had us stuck in our hotel rooms feverish and throwing up all day long for the remainder of our trip, unable to use our park tickets, dining reservations and fastpasses we had carefully planned. And that was before coronavirus was a thing.

Third, when we go at crowded times, a big part of how we are able to enjoy it despite the crowds is that we are WDW veterans and know how to navigate the parks and where everything is (which is critical when everything is so packed you can't see more than 2 feet ahead of you), knew what rides were our favorites, knew all the best strategies for timing certain rides/FPs, and were okay missing some of the "better" attractions that we couldn't get and advance or same-day fastpass for because we'd done them on prior trips. For a first trip, you may think you're able to plan with online plans, but you won't know what you like and don't like till you do it. E.g., the first (and only) time I went on Kali River Rapids I thought it was a boring, weirdly short ride that drenches you from head to toe and never wanted to go on it again. And that was after waiting 10 minutes for it--had I waited 2 hours I'd be even more annoyed.

 

[wilbret]

It was bananas crazy NYE 2019, who knows what measures they will take to control crowds this year. That being said, one of my Disney nerd friends was there, and her family still had a great time. It's all about your attitude and angle of attack. It can make you miserable if you let it. On crowded days, I go in expecting to only ride my FP rides, and we find other things to do. There is SOOOO much to do beyond the rides.

Plus, sitting by the pool with a beverage in the 75 degree weather in December is better than most things I could do here at home.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I don't think so. Yes, it will be crowded, but you don't have the history to compare. I was looking at old photos for our thread we had going here and I came across old Christmas photos. It made me feel sort of sad because the crowds from yesteryear in no way compare to today's crowds.
That said, plan, plan, plan. I had a hard time adjusting to the "new norm", especially after one trip where I was literally shut out of every sit down restaurant because of free dining and I didn't advance reserve. I was used to just walking in. Read all the advice here and it will go as smoothly as it can. I still read here to plan for future trips, and I get around fine.
I currently have a trip planned, and the rumors of changing the attractions to boarding groups has me ready to pull the plug, but I decided that when and if this happened, I would read the advice given here, then decide if it was a right fit for me and my family.

 

[Penmac]

I’ve never been to WDW during the holidays but I have been over 4th of July and we are park renegades with 5 kids under 11. Our first trip, oldest was 6 and I was pregnant with #5. We simply don’t do lines, for the sanity of us and those around us.

One thing that has worked well for us (as others have mentioned) is getting up early for morning hours. We then leave the park midday and have lunch/rest for a couple hours. We return in the later evening hours when some of the all-day crowd are starting to lose steam and leaving the park (assuming this won’t happen during Christmas break though ). And this would not work on a day when the parks reach capacity by 10am, obviously.

(We do skip Happily Ever After show at MK. I know it’s a big draw for first-timers, but if you can make your peace with skipping it until your next trip, you will see a substantial drop in standby wait times for rides during this show. Maybe they will still be crazy this week but I would personally never watch this show during a peak crowd. I watched it on a Monday in late August and it was insanely crowded in the main hub- we couldn’t move to the point where I actually feared for my family’s safety (I know that sounds dramatic). That was when the park was at maybe a 5 crowd level. With that said, if you splurge for Dessert Party tickets—or can even get them at such a busy time— you will have special seating & might be ok ...)

One thing you need to plan for if you try this strategy of early mornings/late nights is planning your park days effectively. It’s not reasonable to think you can wake at 6am for early mornings and then be back at the park until midnight each day. You probably could do this if you planned fewer park days and did a hopper and took a couple mornings off in between. Or, if you guys are good at napping midday, maybe. But we now (after learning from experience) look at our schedule and figure out when we can sleep in and when we need to be up early or stay late and try to limit the back to back early mornings/late nights to only one if possible. We do pool time or a lazy morning visit to Disney Springs if we need to sleep in. Or, we do an all-day park visit from early morning until dinner time and go to bed at a normal hour if we know the very next day is a super early start.

You have to look at the crowd calendar and figure out which parks you want to do on what days (taking EMH into account), and plan your sleep patterns. This is so very important. I live and die by Undercover Tourist crowd calendar:
https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/crowd-calendar/december-2020/
Ok, have fun!