News Holiday crowds at Walt Disney World theme parks 2022

[Grumpy4196]

Now I know. We stay at Shades of Green so getting to EPCOT is very cumbersome

I found it very easy to get to EPCOT from Shades of Green when I stayed earlier this year. Just walk to the Ticket and Transportation center and hop on the EPCOT monorail. Now if the monorail is down I absolutely agree it can be cumbersome.

 

[Chi84]

So you think things get as bad this time of year as they do because the majority of people go knowing they're going to be spending the most possible to go at every possible turn and in return, have the least opportunity to experience stuff in the parks they paid so much to get into while they're there?

I can't believe there are that many people willing to go through all of that just for some Christmas decorations.

Honestly I think they are. My brother-in-law and his family are doing it and the only thing keeping us from going is the uncertainty of the weather down there this time of year. It does take a certain mindset and attitude.

Not everyone is as jaded about Disney as the people on this site (i.e. “just for some Christmas decorations”). A lot of people love it and want to see it decorated and celebrating the holidays.

There are many families who consider it a great mid-year treat for their kids. We’ve been able to have a wonderful time at WDW despite rain, ridiculous heat indexes and crowds. But to believe that you have to accept that there are many people who love WDW. That’s an impossible sell on this site.

 

[Chi84]

This is gonna suuuuuuck.

We’re going to Denver on Saturday provided we can get out.

 

[dreday3]

We’re going to Denver on Saturday provided we can get out.

I'm dropping off all the presents at my parents tomorrow so we can just take blueline there on Christmas Eve.

 

[Bullseye1967]

I'm dropping off all the presents at my parents tomorrow so we can just take blueline there on Christmas Eve.

Going to be cold on the platform!

 

[HauntedPirate]

It's already at tiered pricing. $25 is currently the top end of that.

Just like admission prices, though, I have to wonder why people thinking Disney raising prices is about helping guests?

I know Bob gave some line about that years ago but in action, there has been zero evidence of it being true.

It was never true, it was just an off-the-cuff remark that some have run with as evidence that Disney leadership actually wants fewer people in the parks. They want as many people in the parks as possible, paying as much as they can get away with. Remember when they said park reservations were to "improve the guest experience"? And Genie- was supposed to "improve the guest experience"? None of it is true. Park reservations are about controlling staffing, and Genie- is a money-grab masquerading as some kind of benefit.

The Bob's have done quite a bit of damage to the "Disney Brand©" they claim is so important. Price hikes (which many believe is the only way to 'reduce attendance') will move that NPS score even lower. And while price hikes may reduce attendance (in the face of a "economic headwinds"), doing so will create a panic in Burbank, because either the stock will tank or they will have to do something to prop up quarterlies.

They have created quite a mess, and they have no idea how they are going to clean it up. They have no levers to pull that will help, despite what they told the Wall St. types.

Anywho... what were the peak wait times today? It's interesting to read that there is ample hotel availability in and around WDW right now. but the parks "feel" overwhelmed.

ETA: I see FoP at 170 currently, Rise at 90, MF at 150(!!!), Tower at 135, RnRC at 120, SDD at 120, Rat at 120. At 7pm. Why on earth they are running a Christmas party this week is beyond me.

 

[HauntedPirate]

When was the last phased closure of MK, or any WDW theme park, for that matter? December 2017 is the most recent one I could find on the main WDWMagic page.

 

[Trauma]

Oh lord, we're all immature. Admit it.

I know you are but what am I!!

 

[hopemax]

Since my parents moved to FL in 2005, we've done our fair share of holiday WDW visits. In the early years, it was a lot of fun with all the holiday parades and entertainment. The key was go early, get out of the parks just after lunch or go for evening activities. And don't be in the parks at all after 12/24 (although we would do AK on 12/25 when my Mom was working at MK). So much of that has gone to Yesterland though. The Night Before Christmas show in Tomorrowland, Lights of Winter, Jingle Jungle Parade, etc. It's not the same. Glad this year isn't our FL year though. 50 degrees as a high on Christmas? No thanks! It's a rainy Seattle holiday for us. Assuming, we can get out of DEN and into SEA on Thursday without the cold and today's Seattle snowstorm snarling things up.

 

[Bullseye1967]

When was the last phased closure of MK, or any WDW theme park, for that matter? December 2017 is the most recent one I could find on the main WDWMagic page.

Oct 1 2021 at MK.

 

[celluloid]

Meanwhile at Universal only one ride (with an excellent queue to pass the time) has a 90 minute wait. (5:00 p.m est) (from laughingplace)

Curious George Goes to Town℠	Open
Despicable Me Minion Mayhem™	60 minutes
E.T. Adventure™	25 minutes
Fast & Furious – Supercharged™	20 minutes
Fievel’s Playland™	Open
Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts™	90 minutes
Hogwarts™ Express – King’s Cross Station	85 minutes
Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit™	70 minutes
Kang & Kodos’ Twirl ‘n’ Hurl	40 minutes
MEN IN BLACK™ Alien Attack!™	45 minutes
Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon™	45 minutes
Revenge of the Mummy™	60 minutes
The Simpsons Ride™	35 minutes
TRANSFORMERS™: The Ride-3D	35 minutes
Woody Woodpecker’s Nuthouse Coaster™	30 minutes

Disney wishes they had capacity like most of those rides sans Despicable Me. They are fluid people eating machines.

And Disney has no reason to be honest.of posted wait times with Genie Plus. This has been discussed many times. You can't trust someone who is selling you the scarcity of time to all day guests.

 

[DCBaker]

When was the last phased closure of MK, or any WDW theme park, for that matter? December 2017 is the most recent one I could find on the main WDWMagic page.

Pre-pandemic was 12/31/19

Magic Kingdom closed to some guests due to reaching capacity

Walt Disney World's signature park continues its capacity closing tradition on New Year's Eve.

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[MrPromey]

Honestly I think they are. My brother-in-law and his family are doing it and the only thing keeping us from going is the uncertainty of the weather down there this time of year. It does take a certain mindset and attitude.

Not everyone is as jaded about Disney as the people on this site (i.e. “just for some Christmas decorations”). A lot of people love it and want to see it decorated and celebrating the holidays.

There are many families who consider it a great mid-year treat for their kids. We’ve been able to have a wonderful time at WDW despite rain, ridiculous heat indexes and crowds. But to believe that you have to accept that there are many people who love WDW. That’s an impossible sell on this site.

We're gong to have to agree to disagree.

I think most people that love WDW and love the way it is this time of year try to avoid it like the plague these two weeks - you see a lot of people who purport to still loving it saying they'd never go right now and the decorations go up right after Halloween for a reason.

As someone who had an annual pass without blackout dates most of their life and who used to enjoy doing the rounds at all the resorts to see the trees and what was done with gingerbread in each one, I've been one of those people.

Osborne lights were amazing but none of it was so amazing I'd even think of touching the place other than for New Years fireworks in my early 20's before it had even gotten this crowded (the day before new years when they'd also do them to less crowds) and once on actual New Years in 2000 (which was kind of hell-on-earth - besides the actual fireworks even as what most people would describe as a 'super fan' back then but I admit I knew what I was getting into).

No matter what day of the year, I've never been and not seen families in the parks so plenty of people have no problem pulling their kids out of school to go outside of school holidays so no, I don't think most people going these two weeks are experienced repeat holiday visitors who expect it be quite as bad as it always is compared to most of the rest of the year.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Oct 1 2021 at MK.

They had a phased closure during the ressie era?

 

[zombiebbq]

Just out of curiosity, what day of the week?

It was a Friday. I definitely knew it would be crowded don't get me wrong, it was more the sheer volumes of people wandering around with nothing to do that shocked me. Never saw anything like that in all my years visiting Disney.

 

[networkpro]

Now I know. We stay at Shades of Green so getting to EPCOT is very cumbersome

Umm no. Theres a direct bus from SoG to the TTC every 20 minutes.

 

[networkpro]

Being a military resort and not directly run by Disney they may be the exception to the norm. They could very well allow it since you have to provide military proof to even be able to stay there.

Nope, you even pay to park at SoG if you are a guest. There is no special parking privilege.

 

[UNCgolf]

So you're the one.

It's a fantastic C ticket! Immersive and well designed. It's significantly better than the other C ticket Disney has built recently (Frozen Ever After).

The complaints aren't really wrong (length, lack of AAs), they're just misplaced -- they're essentially complaining it isn't a D or an E, but it was never supposed to be.

The biggest problem is that it often gets the wait times of an E ticket, so it skews expectations. As I said above, no one should ever be waiting 100 minutes for it. It's not that kind of ride. If it generally had 20-30 minute waits, I think the complaints would mostly disappear because people would be able to take it for what it actually is instead of being annoyed it's not an E ticket.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

It was a Friday. I definitely knew it would be crowded don't get me wrong, it was more the sheer volumes of people wandering around with nothing to do that shocked me. Never saw anything like that in all my years visiting Disney.

I kinda figured it was on the weekend…we learned our lesson when our kids were young…stay out of Epcot on the weekends during festival season (which is practically all year now). When we go to Epcot now, it’s during the week.

 

[MrPromey]

It's a fantastic C ticket! Immersive and well designed. It's significantly better than the other C ticket Disney has built recently (Frozen Ever After).

The complaints aren't really wrong (length, lack of AAs), they're just misplaced -- they're essentially complaining it isn't a D or an E, but it was never supposed to be.

The biggest problem is that it often gets the wait times of an E ticket, so it skews expectations. As I said above, no one should ever be waiting 100 minutes for it. It's not that kind of ride. If it generally had 20-30 minute waits, I think the complaints would mostly disappear because people would be able to take it for what it actually is instead of being annoyed it's not an E ticket.

Has it, since opening, ever been a 20-30 minute wait, though?

Such a thing would seem like it would indicate a problem to management and yet they were completely comfortable closing the books on AK for the foreseeable future after this land was completed.

The park has even lost a ride since then with only blue sky concepts of anything to come some day.