Crowd Level predicitions 12/17-12/24

[rileyz]

My cousin is going this weekend and they have no fast passes, no dining reservations. I tried to tell her....

 

[Janet McDonald]

Bring it.

We’ve got everything planned out, fastpasses booked for every major ride, dinner reservations at the most popular spots, we are always there before rope drop, and we stay late.

Crowds are all about how prepared you are. The only thing I’m slightly worried about are fireworks spots.

Bring it.

We’ve got everything planned out, fastpasses booked for every major ride, dinner reservations at the most popular spots, we are always there before rope drop, and we stay late.

Crowds are all about how prepared you are. The only thing I’m slightly worried about are fireworks spots.

I have all that as well and I have a husband and son with low patience for crowds and I so want to be able to see Happily Ever After and the Star Wars Fireworks well without them whining about being sardines lol. Wondering if we need to take a break in the afternoon or if its manageable to go the whole day. My youngest is 13 so no little ones.

 

[shanew21]

I have all that as well and I have a husband and son with low patience for crowds and I so want to be able to see Happily Ever After and the Star Wars Fireworks well without them whining about being sardines lol. Wondering if we need to take a break in the afternoon or if its manageable to go the whole day. My youngest is 13 so no little ones.

Yeah as long as you embrace being sardines you’ll be fine. Mid day breaks are definitely worth it though. Crowds are always worst during the middle of the day. It’s far better to get up super early, nap, then go super late, than to get there late and leave early.

 

[Klayfish]

I have all that as well and I have a husband and son with low patience for crowds and I so want to be able to see Happily Ever After and the Star Wars Fireworks well without them whining about being sardines lol. Wondering if we need to take a break in the afternoon or if its manageable to go the whole day. My youngest is 13 so no little ones.

If DH and DS don't like crowds, then I'd bag plans for HEA. It will be packed to the brim, every night. Star Wars isn't quite as bad...though do they have Star Wars now...I think it's just Jingle Bell Jingle Bam (at least it was when we were there a few weeks ago). It's manageable to go the whole day, if you want to do it and have patience enough.

I do, however, disagree with the posts about crowds being all about how prepared you are. Mentally, yes, I agree. But logistically, not necessarily. We bring our own food into the parks, so we don't have to worry about the restaurants (though if we did, we'd just do QS at somewhat off peak hours). We don't do a single rope drop...we may show up shortly after the park opens, but no way on earth are we getting up at 6am so we can be standing at the gates at 7:30am. No thanks. We have no "touring plan", except for the FP+ we make at 30 days out...even they aren't strategically made...we just get whatever we want, whenever the times are available. We wind up swapping FP+ a lot, even during the holidays, so we wing it a ton. That's what works for us and we have a great time.

 

[SinCityMMAFan]

My cousin is going this weekend and they have no fast passes, no dining reservations. I tried to tell her....

Ouch...they're gonna learn the hard way I guess especially with the Fast Passes those are a vital asset when visiting the parks.

 

[FastPasser.]

Star Wars isn't quite as bad...though do they have Star Wars now...I think it's just Jingle Bell Jingle Bam

SWaGS returns this Friday. They'll have both the JBJB and SWaGS shows. Because it's been on hiatus for a while plus the new SW movie is out and it's the holiday crowds, I expect that Center Stage will be at capacity for the rest of the year.

 

[JBeaty0507]

My cousin is going this weekend and they have no fast passes, no dining reservations. I tried to tell her....

People do things like this and then come back and say they hate Disney.....well, yeah. I would too if I tried to go with no plans. You have to at least semi have a plan or you probably aren't going to get anything done.

 

[Lauren Giddins]

We got an update for our vacation that is WAAAYYY out until the middle of next year, August 26, 2018 to August 30, 2018!!! Animal Kingdom increased from 4 to 6. Epcot increased from 4 to 5. And Magic Kingdom increased from 4 to 6. I’m now expecting more increases over the next 8 and a half months... We haven’t been to Disney in 17 years so we really don’t even know what this means or even have a idea what the crowds look like at any of these numbers. It would be interesting if these numbers went up another 3 or 4 points before we get there next year... Why bother with a crowd calculator if its always going to be a 10 eventually? Just theorectically speaking...

 

[rileyz]

People do things like this and then come back and say they hate Disney.....well, yeah. I would too if I tried to go with no plans. You have to at least semi have a plan or you probably aren't going to get anything done.

I am worried about her coming back and saying this. Her 2 year old will be very cranky waiting in lines all day. I hope they like eating hotdogs and popcorn for their meals.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Have you used this? And can you tell me more, was it a great time saver and easy to do?

We used it at Sunshine Seasons, Cosmic Ray's and Casey's. It is super easy. The best use of it was at Casey's the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We walked up after the parade in the afternoon and the line was CRAZY. I ordered on my phone, walked into the mobile ordering door and had food in less than 5 minutes. We had to eat standing up, because there weren't any tables, but we saved at least an hour of waiting.

Mobile ordering has its own counter and there was never anyone there when we did it. I don't think you can use the dining plan, though. You also cannot get the AP discount, either, but for the time saved I didn't care about a few dollars.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

We used it at Sunshine Seasons, Cosmic Ray's and Casey's. It is super easy. The best use of it was at Casey's the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We walked up after the parade in the afternoon and the line was CRAZY. I ordered on my phone, walked into the mobile ordering door and had food in less than 5 minutes. We had to eat standing up, because there weren't any tables, but we saved at least an hour of waiting.

Mobile ordering has its own counter and there was never anyone there when we did it. I don't think you can use the dining plan, though. You also cannot get the AP discount, either, but for the time saved I didn't care about a few dollars.

I hope the mobile ordering secret won't get out until at least after April, when we go! It sounds like a great option that I plan to take advantage of.

Touring Plans just sent me an update too for last week of April. Big jump for HS - several level 4 days turning into 7's. Are 3 point jumps common? It seems odd, since not all the low level HS studio days changed, just some of them. They also are showing that AK will have 3 days of EMH mornings in one week. I checked the official Disney site to be sure on that one, and sure enough it's true. Seemed odd to me too. Maybe they should be giving some of those EMH to HS instead!

Good luck to everyone going this month! I don't think I'd have the fortitude to withstand a week of crowd level 10 days, no matter how well I'd planned. Being packed in with that many people just stresses me out.

 

[bizeemom4]

This is why I hold no stock in crowd calendars.

My money is actually on the week right before Christmas being worse this year, because everyone has finally internalized the message that the week after Christmas is the worst. But I'm sure they'll both be crazy crowded.

I hope so as my family will be there 12/25-1/8.

 

[AnneK]

Thanks. Yes, I was just laughing at TP predicting low crowd levels during Christmas season. I definitely understand why people would want to have some way to know how crowded the park is going to be before they get there. If there was some way at all I could know that, I'd be all in. So I do understand the attraction to them. However...and it's just IMO, I don't think crowd calendars have any accuracy value whatsoever. It's impossible, beyond the obvious stuff (holidays are busy type things). No offense at all meant to you, AnneK.

Sorry for the late reply, we were at the parks some 16 hours yesterday. @_@ We got invitations to the Moonlight Magic event last night at Epcot and got back to the resort around 2am. No offense taken! We are making the best of the crowds, our trip has been fabulous so far.

 

[loves to dive]

My cousin is going this weekend and they have no fast passes, no dining reservations. I tried to tell her....

It really depends on your expectations and what you want to do. We will be there Sunday - Thursday next week and have no FPs or ADRs. Now, I have to admit we are frequent visitors, this will be my fourth trip this year and I normally go at least twice a year, so we rarely book any FPs or ADRs in advance. It's all day of, while standing in line, seat of the pants, do what we feel like doing for us. I have been looking once a day for FOP fp but just because my adult son likes to ride it, I can take it or leave it. We will rope drop it and if the wait is a hour at rope drop, we will wait a hour. For us, it's not all about how many rides we can ride but just experiencing the place. We were there the same week last year on another spur of the moment trips and yes, it was crowded and I even had goals of what I wanted to get done and surprise, didn't get hardly any of the things done I wanted to do. I wanted to tour all the deluxe resorts to see the decorations - got that one done. I wanted to listen to all the story tellers around WS, only got one in, my son wasn't interested in it, I didn't think we would be back at Christmas again but it was no big deal to miss it, it is what it is. I wanted to maybe see the Candlelight thing, we were just going to stop and listen if we happened to be in the area - nope, were never in the area and it wasn't the end of the world to miss it. That was it for my wants, so I got one out of 3. I honestly thought this would be the only time we would go at Christmas and still it wasn't that big of a deal to miss things. We ate TS every single night we were there and every single one of them was booked while walking around the parks. We do have APs so park hopping makes that easier and we don't do character meals or BOG so again, easier. We've been going for over 30 years, there was no such thing as FP so we stood in line if we wanted to ride a ride and that is still pretty much our attitude now. If someone has never been before and goes with the attitude that they will do what they can and not sweat the small stuff, they can still have a great time. You can't miss something you have never had and just because other people think that certain ride is a must do, that doesn't mean it is for everyone.

 

[tlmadden73]

Self-fulfilling prophecy --

People have gone this time in the past and it was low crowds. So they book it again.
Other people HERE it was low crowds for the above people, so they book it too.
The economy is doing a ton better, so families that have put off vacations splurge and decide to go before Christmas.
Disney puts out tons of deals for this month to get to the parks .. so people book it.
Disney is doing a better job YEAR after YEAR of promoting the Christmas stuff (tons of TV specials, ads, etc.) and people want to go check it out --- and book to go.

At this point you have to go when people aren't going for "low" crowds:
1) No holidays or parties
2) Cold weather
3) No marathons
4) Not as many hotel deals.

AKA - Late January to early February seems to be the case with a few hit or miss times in maybe May, late August or September. Heh.

 

[Gentry2004]

While I agree that "low" times are not as low as they used to be, I still think there is a difference between times when parents have to pull kids from school and when they don't. Only about 10% of US school districts are giving off the whole week before Christmas this year (according to **************.net which tracks this) - that can hardly compare to the following week where literally no school in the country is in session. I expect to see a noticeable uptick in crowds about Wednesday 12/20 as more and more schools start closing for the year. That doesn't mean that before that the crowds will be "low" - just lower relative to the following week. Actually this year, way more school districts gave off the first week of January than gave off the week before Christmas.

 

[tink2]

Dec 27-Jan 3rd will be our first visit during the busiest season. What impact (if any) will there be for our table service reservations and FPs? Will it just be longer thru security to get into the park and walking slower as the park is more crowded? Or will there also be longer waits for all transportation all week or something else I can't think of. Obviously waiting in lines without FP will be drastically longer than we are used to.

We’ve been twice during Christmas week- from Dec. 26- 31. If you plan correctly, you will be fine. My best advice is to get there when the parks open for resort guests- which MK is usually 7am daily. Yes, it is still dark when they let you in- but hey- nothing like a sunrise over Fantasyland! lol However, you can ride ride ride for a couple of hours before Main Street is packed at 10am.

Transportation- we get to the parks when they open- leave the hotel about an hour before- so for us getting to the parks is not a problem. and getting home after the fireworks has not been a problem for us- they generally have extra buses running than normal (I think they contract them out because they are not all Disney buses) and they are very efficient. The main transportation issue we’ve run into is park hopping- be very aware that most days, the parks will have closures due to filling to capacity. We’ve never experienced it to the level of closing to resort guests- but we have experienced long waits on the bus for park hopping (however that could be said any time of year I think)

Table Service Reservations- just arrive at least 15-20 minutes before your time. We’ve had both good and bad experiences with this. We waited FOREVER at Rose and Crown one year- like ridiculously long- over an hour and half past our reservation. Also had to wait at Crystal Palace a good while one time during this week- but also got in Crystal Palace immediately during this week as well. So it just depends- be prepared for either way- and remember- it is the busiest week of the year and cast members are really overwhelmed, tired, and most of them trying very hard to make it work.

FP lines- yes, you will probably have to wait a bit longer in those lines than normal. However, still not bad. Utilize the FP system as much as you can- as soon as you use your 3rd, get a 4th. The big attractions may not have any FP left for the day- depending on how early you get done with your 3rd one.

Just know that yes, it will be very crowded. Pack your patience. But with planning and knowing how to work the parks- it can also be the most magical vacation ever! We’ve been all times of the year (except fall) and yes, January with crowd levels of 2 and 3 all week were amazing, there is something about Christmas week that is so magical and can’t be beat!

 

[brent02139]

This is why Disney feels justified raising prices every year!

Shoo shoo! Stay away!

 

[iheartglaciers]

We've been here since 12/6. Whatever your projected crowd level is just go ahead and add +3 to it, because that's what it has ended up being for us so far. It is CROWDED. Advanced planning has been a life saver. Every sit down restaurant we have been to has been denying all walk-ins. Touring plans had originally said our entire stay was supposed to be only level 3 or 4 crowds, but it is so much more than that.

I was in WDW last year this time and it was manageable if you planned in advance, but very crowded. Obviously it will be crazier as you get closer to Christmas, but early December, which used to be a low period, is now really popular. But who wouldn't want to be at Disney for the holiday season

 

[cruiserkaren]

I guess I'm not using Touring Plans correctly as I've never received an email or any other notification from them. Is there a thread or a crash course I can look at to use it fully?