X-mas crowds

[pms122765]

We are going to to BCV for X-mas & have never been there during the "peak season".

How crowed are the parks?

We arrive on the 17th & leave on the 28th.

What can we expect when we arrive & what about X-mas week?

Cheers for ears.

Paul

 

[Jimmac]

We arrived on Dec. 23 last year through Jan. 1 and it was the most crowded we have ever seen it. The wait time for Soarin was over two and a half hrs. and the fast passes closed out by 1015 am. The early part of your stay shouldn't be too bad though.

 

[pms122765]

I figured we would have to get the rides out of the way after we get there & then only go on what we really like after that.

 

[PamOKW]

It's really crowded but it's also really wonderful. Do the rides you really want to hit in your first few days. By Friday, 12/22 the crowds should really be starting to build. When the crowds arrive, start to go with the flow. Enjoy all the special shows and entertainnment Disney has for Christmas. Tour the resorts and see the beautiful decorations.

Something else to keep in mind -- it can get darn cold, especially at night. You could get lucky and never see temps dip but a hat, gloves and a warm jacket or polarfleece could be worth their weight in gold. A lot of things are happening at night -- like the Osborne lights -- and it's no fun standing around in the cold.

 

[Scratch42]

The closer it gets to NYE, the worse it gets!

But it's a great time to go!

Bring an assortment of clothing, or you'll end up paying $5.00 for dollar store gloves and hats!

Go with the flow! If plan A isn't working, move on to Plan B and so on!

j

 

[byoung]

I'll go Mid Dec crowds low.

 

[micminnieapolis]

You've gotten good advice and I really can't say anything more except they're right! By all means, hit those rides in the first few days. Then take time to enjoy the magic -- eat at the resorts for more enjoyable meals and take in all the sights they have to offer. Ask at the desk for schedules of the entertainment offered at each resort on different nights. We caught a wonderful bell choir last year at AKL and enjoyed it with hot cider and cookies in the lobby -- for free! If you're doing a park on Christmas, be there early. MK can close by 10am. Make sure you have ADRs for every night or day. And yes, take the warm clothing! Layers are great. However, we have enjoyed some 90's several years back too! Pack a little of everything. If this is your first trip, you're seeing it at its best and worst at the same time. It is truly magical but overwhelming. Good luck. We'll be a part of the crowds starting on the 22nd-1st.

 

[HitchhikingGhost]

Don't know if this helps, (probably not. . .) but my friend called me Saturday from the MK and said it wasn't bad at all. Beautiful day weather-wise, and light crowds.

 

[Starr W.]

We just down for T-giving(Sunday 19th-24th). We did MK & Epcot early before the crowds showed up. It worked out well, but it could have been due to the chilly weather, especially at night. I would also say bring a variey of clothes, we bought sweatshirts and thank goodness for the washer & dryer.

 

[jgreenedc]

My family went last year 12/27 to 1/1. If you're going to the parks Christmas week, the key to getting lots of rides in is magic hours - get there right when the magic hours open even if it's incredibly early (probably will be 7 AM). Get fastpasses for one ride and go standby on another - then keep getting fastpasses. By mid-day it was unbelievably packed, but we had ridden most rides at least once, many twice, and still had some fastpasses left. We have young kids (at that point ranging in age from 10 mos to 6 years) so we went back to the hotel after lunch for a rest, then returned to a park in the evening (exception was New Years Eve day) and it worked well. This trip is actually what convinced us to buy into DVC - we figured that if we could have a great time the busiest week of they year, we could enjoy it any time.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We were there last week. We saw waits for Space Mt and Soaring for 120 minutes. We also saw waits at Small World for 45 minutes. If that ain't busy, nothing else is.

Get there early and do everything you can as soon as you can. Don't plan on short lines. Expect to wait or do the things that have short waits - like Hall of Presidents, riding the paddlewheel boat at MK. MK will close in the morning and again in the afternoon to all guests because it will be full by 10AM. Crowds will ease up and it will fill up again by the afternoon parade. Epcot might be full occasionally. We played miniature golf last week, no crowd there at all.

Don't know if this helps, (probably not. . .) but my friend called me Saturday from the MK and said it wasn't bad at all. Beautiful day weather-wise, and light crowds.

Sat wasn't too bad. People were headed home. Buzz Lightyear got to be about 40 minutes long by 10:30. I did it three times before then. Earlier in the week the lines were very long.

Fast Passes were gone at Soarin' before noon. It only took about 1 hour to go through 5-6 hours worth of fast passes on Thursday.

 

[Doctor P]

If you have to ask how the crowds are, the following advice probably would be reasonable: think of the worst crowds you can fathom at WDW (MK) and then multiply that by two or three times. I have been to WDW five or six times during the Xmas holidays, and we have been as a family December 19-26, 1999, December 27, 2001-January 3, 2002, and December 23, 2005-January 1, 2006. The crowds on peak days (Xmas, NYE, etc.) are UNBELIEVABLE. If you don't like crowds, this is the wrong time to go. On the other hand, if you are flexible and patient this can be among the very best times of the year to go. We had a fantastic time this past year and the crowds were the worst we could remember. Go in with a good attitude and a flexible plan and you will be fine.

 

[Granny]

We are also planning on taking our first non-summer trip this December 23-30. So we are mentally preparing for the worst. We have been to WDW on 4th of July when MK and MGM closed due to capacity constraints, so we have an idea of what to expect.

Our focus will probably be on wandering around and admiring the decorations. And of course there will be our ADR's which we normally don't make. We figure that whatever attractions/rides we can take in will be bonus.

As I've told my family, at least we won't be dealing with 90+ degree heat!

 

[jgreenedc]

Let me echo the last two posts - expectations are very important. We left with the expecation that there would be insane crowds and long waits, and prepared the kids for it by talking about it with them. My brother even went out and bought a Gameboy to give to the kids to keep them occupied in lines. With that mindset, we were able to enjoy holiday season and not bristle when waits were long.