News Holiday crowds at Walt Disney World theme parks 2022

zombiebbq

zombiebbq

Well-Known Member
Smiley/OCD said:
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.
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It wasn't just that it was crowded, it was more that it felt no one had anywhere to go. I was just in NYC by the tree two weekends ago, city was packed. But the people were active and going places. At Epcot it was crowds just standing around.
 
Smiley/OCD

Smiley/OCD

Well-Known Member
zombiebbq said:
It wasn't just that it was crowded, it was more that it felt no one had anywhere to go. I was just in NYC by the tree two weekends ago, city was packed. But the people were active and going places. At Epcot it was crowds just standing around.
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So they couldn’t walk and drink at the same time…lol
 
Chi84

Chi84

Premium Member
zombiebbq said:
It wasn't just that it was crowded, it was more that it felt no one had anywhere to go. I was just in NYC by the tree two weekends ago, city was packed. But the people were active and going places. At Epcot it was crowds just standing around.
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I’ve been to Epcot when it’s been super crowded but I’ve never seen people just standing around. What do you think happened?
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
MrPromey said:
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.
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I absolutely agree that's a huge failure on Disney's part. It's obvious that DAK (and also DHS, which is actually worse than DAK in that regard IMO) don't have enough for people to do. I just don't think it's the fault of the ride itself or any real flaw in the ride's design.

That's not to suggest the ride is perfect -- just that the things that would really improve it would also change it to a D or an E, like making it longer and adding more AAs.
 
MrPromey

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
I absolutely agree that's a huge failure on Disney's part. It's obvious that DAK (and also DHS, which is actually worse than DAK in that regard IMO) don't have enough for people to do. I just don't think it's the fault of the ride itself or any real flaw in the ride's design.

That's not to suggest the ride is perfect -- just that the things that would really improve it would also change it to a D or an E, like making it longer and adding more AAs.
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I get what you're saying.

I rode it once (after waiting 70 minutes) and vowed never to ride it again unless it was a near walk-on which I'd consider anything with a posted time of 20 minutes or less to be.

In no subsequent visit was the wait time under an hour so I've never ridden it again. 🤷‍♂️
 
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P

Polkadotdress

Well-Known Member
Bullseye1967 said:
Oct 1 2021 at MK.
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Hakunamatata said:
They had a phased closure during the ressie era?
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It was the kick-off to the 50th celebration at MK. The park was mobbed with those who wanted to be there for the special ceremony. And I'm sure you all remember seeing the videos of guests in Emporium, frantically grabbing the 50th merchandise off the shelves and stocker carts since they HAD to be among the first to have it (and resell it).
 
GhostHost1000

GhostHost1000

Premium Member
celluloid said:
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.
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and with the technology they have now accurate real time wait times could be posted but aren’t
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
MrPromey said:
I get what you're saying.

I rode it once (after waiting 70 minutes) and vowed never to ride it again unless it was a near walk-on which I'd consider anything with a posted time of 20 minutes or less to be.

In no subsequent visit was the wait time under an hour so I've never ridden it again. 🤷‍♂️
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I've only ever been on it with a FP so didn't have to wait -- I'd also be unhappy waiting 70 minutes to ride it. I'm sure that made it much easier for me to appreciate the strengths of the attraction.

I also think that's true for a lot of Disney attractions (which again goes to the bigger problem). I'd be really unhappy waiting 60 minutes to ride Peter Pan, 100 minutes to ride Slinky Dog Dash, 75 minutes to ride Smugglers Run (although I think they intended this to be that kind of ride; it was just an execution failure), etc. as well.
 
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Chi84

Chi84

Premium Member
MrPromey said:
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.
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You may be right; I can't say for certain I would enjoy Christmas there since I've never done it.

Many people would never pull their kids out of school for Disney- we wouldn't even think of it. That's why the school vacation times are the most crowded times at WDW. I think those people make up a large part of the Thanksgiving, Christmas and spring break crowds. That's also why the parks are packed in the summer when they are hotter than you-know-what.
 
LSLS

LSLS

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
I've only ever been on it with a FP so didn't have to wait -- I'd also be unhappy waiting 70 minutes to ride it. I'm sure that made it much easier for me to appreciate the strengths of the attraction.

I also hat's true for a lot of Disney attractions (which again goes to the bigger problem). I'd be really unhappy waiting 60 minutes to ride Peter Pan, 100 minutes to ride Slinky Dog Dash, 75 minutes to ride Smugglers Run, etc. as well.
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Yeah, that's the catch. It's great for what it is. It should see waits similar to like Pirates/Buzz (somewhere in the walkon-45 minutes range with PEAK being an hour). The problem is that park has so few things to get on, it's going to be a huge wait for anything that is even decent. I have no doubt something like buzz lightyear would regularly be close to a 90 minute wait at DAK as well. The attraction is well done, and much needed (everything shouldn't be a premium upcharge attraction), the problem is the rest of the park needs a lot.
 
F

fgmnt

Well-Known Member
MrPromey said:
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.
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We have done the week before and week after Christmas just to do it. We had already been 10+ times as a family and never had gone during Christmas. All of the kids were still in school and we didn’t want to miss any of that. Osborne Lights were magical. Loved being in MK at 10 pm with the dreamlights on the castle. NYE EPCOT was a parkwide crowd crush. Now that everyone is post college, we did a trip in January after NYD and one 2 weeks after thanksgiving. I’ll never go there around Christmas/NYD weeks ever again.

If you have been to WDW before and want to visit specifically around christmas, that’s totally your prerogative. I feel completely awful for the people who make going over Christmas their first/only trip though. What a complete disaster.
 

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