How crowded is MK on a sold out day?

[Pickles282]

Well I was hoping it wouldn’t happen but given it’s a Christmas Party week, our MK day is booked. I already have our reservations, but am curious, and slightly worried about crowd level, lines even with genie, etc. Anyone been on a sold out day? How bad was it?

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

According to what I assume are Fire and Safety regulations, the limit has been reached.

It will be very busy, probably the busiest day you've ever encountered. There are only a few things that can help off set this and it requires extra employees working in order to have maxium capacities available everywhere all hours. Not sure that will happen

 

[sponica]

Well I was hoping it wouldn’t happen but given it’s a Christmas Party week, our MK day is booked. I already have our reservations, but am curious, and slightly worried about crowd level, lines even with genie, etc. Anyone been on a sold out day? How bad was it?

A "sold out" day is pretty meaningless with park reservations. Basically it means they only have it staffed to some magic number. It is NOT the same as a phase 4 closure under the old system.
All my days in April were sold out, but I don't think an April sold out day is ANYTHING like a December sold out day.

 

[GovieMom]

The day we went to MK when it wasn't sold out was crowded. The days we went when it was sold out were very crowded.

 

[Dulcee]

Both of our MK days were "sold out" last March. Mornings (before 11 am) weren't bad. We'd leave by 1pm. Evenings waiting for fireworks were awful but if you used that time to do other rides in the evening the rest of the park was not bad.

All that being said, I'm not sure spring break sold out = christmas sold out.

 

[supersnoop]

According to what I assume are Fire and Safety regulations, the limit has been reached.

No, park reservation limits do not appear to match actual capacity limits.

I find that reservation capacity feels like an old "8" day; definitely not a "10."

 

[MomOTwins]

Well I was hoping it wouldn’t happen but given it’s a Christmas Party week, our MK day is booked. I already have our reservations, but am curious, and slightly worried about crowd level, lines even with genie, etc. Anyone been on a sold out day? How bad was it?

As others have said, sold out if park reservations is meaningless in terms of predicting crowds. MK sells out of park reservations pretty much every day, and crowds vary—it is about staffing. What DOES matter is are you going on a party day or a nonparty day? If you are going on a party day, crowds will be moderate (I would say light but there is no such thing as light in Nov and Dec. But if you are going on a nonparty day, crowds will be bad. Super extra really very bad.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

There were "MK" sold out days over the summer that ended up being like a crowd level 4 or 5. It is totally meaningless. In addition to having to do with staffing, it could also just be that they are trying to push people to a different park that doesn't have enough people (like AK or Epcot).

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Also, I was at DW over the Holidays last year and it wasn't bad at all except for New Years Eve. Omicron surge probably had a lot to do with that though.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

According to what I assume are Fire and Safety regulations, the limit has been reached.

It will be very busy, probably the busiest day you've ever encountered. There are only a few things that can help off set this and it requires extra employees working in order to have maxium capacities available everywhere all hours. Not sure that will happen

It's not even close.
No reservations does not even began to reach max capacity.
It just means they've reach the number they want for the day.
It has zilch to do with the max number the park can hold.
That is way more.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I have been to both MK and Epcot on their busiest days both pre-park reservations and post park reservations
There are no comparisons.
The cap they've put on the parks with regards to reservations keeps the parks from reach the capacity they used to reach pre-park reservations.
That's when they hit the busiest days you can imagine with bodies crammed in to ever nook and cranny. Even then, parks never truly hit that "no more guests admitted period" level. They hit the "no more walk up, single ticket sale guests" level for brief periods but that's about it. AP, On Site guests, Guests with ADR, etc still got in.
The parks now, with their reservation caps, never reach those levels. Guess they never will again, unless we see the reservation system die.
Last year at NYE, when I'd see the worse lines ever in the past, I found no lines. I was shocked. All reservations were gone, so parks were at the max but the number of guests were probably at half what I'd see in the past. In some ways, it was not as fun either. I didn't miss the lines mind you but those crowds are what made the atmosphere at NYE at Epcot. The party was diminished

 

[Upatnoon]

I was at Epcot on Veterans Day when no reservations were available. We hopped there from Animal Kingdom.

Anyway, it wasn't anywhere close to how busy I have seen it in the past.

I would speculate they are trying to match their staffing / restaurant / ride capacity with the crowd they accept. No one wants to wait an hour for a beer at Food and Wine.

If you let in more people, they will be just standing in line posting on Instagram how miserable they are and not spending money.

 

[MomOTwins]

I have been to both MK and Epcot on their busiest days both pre-park reservations and post park reservations
There are no comparisons.
The cap they've put on the parks with regards to reservations keeps the parks from reach the capacity they used to reach pre-park reservations.
That's when they hit the busiest days you can imagine with bodies crammed in to ever nook and cranny. Even then, parks never truly hit that "no more guests admitted period" level. They hit the "no more walk up, single ticket sale guests" level for brief periods but that's about it. AP, On Site guests, Guests with ADR, etc still got in.
The parks now, with their reservation caps, never reach those levels. Guess they never will again, unless we see the reservation system die.
Last year at NYE, when I'd see the worse lines ever in the past, I found no lines. I was shocked. All reservations were gone, so parks were at the max but the number of guests were probably at half what I'd see in the past. In some ways, it was not as fun either. I didn't miss the lines mind you but those crowds are what made the atmosphere at NYE at Epcot. The party was diminished

Well don’t forget reservations is just for the first park of the day. For APs and those with park hoppers wanting to see MK on NYE, but MK is sold out, they may book and Epcot park reservation and then hop to MK at 2pm.

 

[Upatnoon]

Well don’t forget reservations is just for the first park of the day. For APs and those with park hoppers wanting to see MK on NYE, but MK is sold out, they may book and Epcot park reservation and then hop to MK at 2pm.

Yes, just like we booked Animal Kingdom, the only park with availability, then left at 1:30 p.m. to head to Epcot, our actual park of intent. I'm sure many people do this, especially for MK and Epcot. With Hollywood Studios resuming Fantasmic, people will go there as well.

 

[fireflyer]

I was at MK in end of March 2022. It wasn’t sold out officially, but it was horribly crowded, wall to wall people on the walkways. You couldn’t get through the throngs to walk at a faster pace… you were just stuck moving at the crowd’s pace. Bottlenecks everywhere the paths narrowed. Meet n greets we’re still closed so people were saying that attributed to more people just walking around. There were 15-40 minute waits at food trucks and walk-up restaurants. Even the I.T lines were long. It was a real bummer. Worst I’ve ever seen it.

That doesn’t represent your situation, but it’s an example of how being sold-out or not doesn’t represent what the experience will be like.

 

[gharter]

Agree a "sold out" day doesn't really mean much. It really comes down to the number of CMs they have working and what attractions are down. You can have a very crowded day, but lot of CMs and all the attractions are up and fewer people walking around.
Either way "sold out" today is not the same as the old phase 4 closure (at least not yet).

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Well don’t forget reservations is just for the first park of the day. For APs and those with park hoppers wanting to see MK on NYE, but MK is sold out, they may book and Epcot park reservation and then hop to MK at 2pm.

Not sure how that reflects to what were crowds before reservations and crowds since reservations but yeah, I'm aware.