Xmas week

[Disneylover99]

Funny you say you head to Tomorrowland first which, naturally, most people do as they turn right or stay to the right (we had a real issue with stairs in London LOL)...we have used this technique and though I have no "science" to confirm it, I do think going left is moving with a smaller crowd though the later you go in the less impact this strategy will have. I agree with your plan to be there at 5 am, do your thing and head out - it's the only way to get into the park without a crush of people and I was thinking about people going in a bit later - like 7 am.

I find that most people head to Fantasyland. That’s why we go to Tomorrowland first. I don’t believe anything in Adventureland, Liberty Square or Frontierland has anything open during extra magic hours. So it would be pointless to head left at rope drop on Christmas day.

 

[vinmar4]

I think starting your fp’s at 9:30am should be fine on the 23rd if you’re going for rope drop. Is rope drop 7am that day? I’d just make sure you book your other two fp’s right after each other at that point. You can try to get additional fp’s after this. We’ve had really good luck getting additional fp’s at MK during Christmas week in the evenings when we go. Have fun!

I just checked and rope drop is at 7am!
so we can try to get there by 6 am and get out of there once we are done with our Fp's.
We are not doing parks on Christmas Eve since that's when we are going to Mass and preparing our dinner , but we are going to AK on Christmas Day since we will be at AK at that time. I wonder how bad it gets at AK on Christmas Day!
thank you !

 

[Disneylover99]

I just checked and rope drop is at 7am!
so we can try to get there by 6 am and get out of there once we are done with our Fp's.
We are not doing parks on Christmas Eve since that's when we are going to Mass and preparing our dinner , but we are going to AK on Christmas Day since we will be at AK at that time. I wonder how bad it gets at AK on Christmas Day!
thank you !

I’ve never done AK on Christmas day, but I’ve heard It definitely doesn’t get as crowded as MK. Have fun!

 

[vinmar4]

I’ve never done AK on Christmas day, but I’ve heard It definitely doesn’t get as crowded as MK. Have fun!

thank you!
hopefully it won't be that bad !

 

[kboo]

I'm watching this thread since we are going over Xmas this year, our first time during the holidays. But - we were at WDW last year for Thanksgiving.

This was us exactly. We had no idea that Christmas Day would be so insane at magic kingdom. We could not move in the crowds. It was really awful. This sounds pretty snobby but it was also not a very sophisticated crowd. I am not sure why. Never again.

This was us on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, 2018 - we could not move on Main St. The app said Small World was a 25 minute wait, and it turned out to be an 80-90 minute wait. That day we did our 2 FPs, rode the carousel after waiting 20-30 minutes, stood in the awful Small World wait with our almost-3yo who wanted to be held most of the time, and headed out. It was projected to be a 10/10 on Touring plans and it felt like it.

We did not go to HS on that trip, but both EP and AK were MUCH more pleasant experiences that week.

Re: "not a very sophisticated crowd" - for Thanksgiving I saw several large groups wearing family reunion t-shirts and "First Visit" buttons. I could see there being many more WDW newbies on a first-ever or "one and done" family trip, and that might explain how it could be especially difficult to move, and especially in MK.

.we have used this technique and though I have no "science" to confirm it, I do think going left is moving with a smaller crowd though the later you go in the less impact this strategy will have.

I'm a lefty - I think it has to do with right/left brain and which side is dominant. I have read quasi-scientific studies that more righties have a right-hand-side bias. The left side line often is less crowded, but people don't always "see" it. If you have 2 side-by-side escalators in the airport, for example (or side by side TSA screening lines), the leftmost line usually has fewer people in it.

We are not doing parks on Christmas Eve since that's when we are going to Mass and preparing our dinner , but we are going to AK on Christmas Day since we will be at AK at that time. I wonder how bad it gets at AK on Christmas Day!

Last Thanksgiving we stayed at BLT and were there Tuesday - Sunday. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday (?) were our MK days and they were wall to wall people. Thursday (Thanksgiving) we went to AK and it wasn't bad at all. Friday we were at EP and we spent most of our time exploring the countries and seeing the various shows - we managed to time it just right to hit a bunch of shows walking counterclockwise. It was very pleasant compared to MK.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I think there are some new families who go on Christmas or NYE because they think everyone will stay home for the holidays.