David S.
Member
This is, by far, my FAVORITE week of the year to visit WDW for a number of reasons.
Yes, it IS extremely crowded.
However, the park hours are significantly extended which cancels this out, (at least for me, since I'm a hardcore open-close "parkie") and the Christmas decorations, music loops, and entertainment are in full swing, INCLUDING all the entertainment offerings in the Magic Kingdom that they charge extra for earlier in the season at the upcharge after-closing events, which are now included as part of the regular operating day at this time!
How one is affected by the crowds will depend on the level of experience and touring plans/strategy used.
If you get there early and are a Fastpass pro, you should be fine!
What I like to do is get there for Rope Drop. There are a LOT fewer people willing to get there at the crack of dawn (7 or 8 AM) during even the busiest week of the year, than there are for a standard 9 AM opening even during slow season!
This means that the park is usually fairly empty the first couple of hours, and you can use this time to "surf a wave of walk-ons" on things that will be massively crowded by 11 AM or noon (if not sooner) and remain so for much of the rest of the day. Such as the Fantasyland attractions, the Mountain range, Speedway and Orbiter, etc. Also, the earlier you get there, the sooner you can start using the Fastpass system, which means you will be able to get more Fastpasses, which will pay off EXPONENTIALLY when the park is packed later on and all the people who slept late are upset that the headliners have 2 hour waits and late Fastpass return times or, worse, are already out of FPs by the time they get there.
The interesting thing to me is that things that I can usually count on as being walk-ons during the crowded peak afternoons of most days, still seem to be walk-ons (or close to walk-ons) during the crowded peak afternoons during peak seasons. I refer to things like the Peoplemover (wait might be a little but still usually less than 5 or 10 minutes), the Railroad, the Riverboat, Carousel of Progress, Tiki Room, Country Bear Jamboree, and Hall of Presidents. You can usually get on the next cycle loading for all of these, same as on a normal day. Worst case scenario is that you might miss one cycle, but you can get a sense of it that is the case before committing to the wait.
Then, after the fireworks, the park usually empties out quite a bit, and I can surf another wave of either walk-ons or short waits (or use FPs for things like Space Mountain that I collected earlier, to make the major headliners short waits as well), to make the last few hours up until midnight or 1 AM or whenever the park closes, truly magical!
Between the extended hours (often 16+ hour days) and Fastpass negating the insane waits on the headliners, I actually consistently get on MORE attractions per day during peak times like Christmas and Easter that people complain about, than I do during the praised "slow season" when the park is only open from 9 AM - 8 PM, because no matter how uncrowded everything is, there is simply a lot less TIME to work with. In fact, my single day "personal record" for most MK attractions, parades, and shows experienced in a single day, was actually set on a "peak" day on which the park reached capacity! In fact, it was set on a 19 hour operating day on New Year's Eve!
This included getting at least one cycle on EVERY attraction in the park, seeing all the Christmas entertainment, (including all of it that was presented more than once at least twice), seeing Spectro, and seeing the NYE fireworks, as well as having time for ENCORES on favorite attractions in the closing hours! All of this, on NYE! The Early Bird catches the worm!
Also, with the Christmas entertainment in full swing, there is plenty of extra things to do to occupy this extra time. The wonderful Christmas parade at the MK is usually presented TWICE daily, so I like to watch it 4 times a day (by watching at the beginning of the route and short-cutting thru Adventureland and Emporium to the end, thus avoiding the overcrowded route itself!). There is also the Castle lighting show, the Celebrate the Season castle stage show, the show at the new Tomorrowland stage, and of course Holiday Wishes at the MK. All included with park admission/AP, and no longer an after-hours upcharge by this time!
One negative thing I have to mention in order to be fair and balanced, is that although early arrival, good use of FP, and a good touring plan will help negate any negative consequences of the extra crowds as far as being able to get your attractions in, there is nothing that can be done to completely eliminate exposure to the congestion and bottlenecks that one might encounter while walking around the park (mainly MK). This can be unsettling, although since I have lots of experience with it now, it doesn't bother me nearly as much as it did when it was new to me.
The parade route in Frontierland can get extremely congested before and after a parade, and "The Hub" can be an ABSOLUTE ZOO, not only during parades, but all throughout the evening entertainment!
Some people stake out a spot in The Hub and just stay there all night, watching the Castle lighting, the Castle shows, the MSEP, Holiday Wishes, and, in the case of New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve Eve, the AWESOME NYE fireworks.
It can literally take longer to get from the Tomorrowland entry bridge to the Liberty Belle (or vice versa) during these conditions via the Hub, than it would to take the long way around, thru Fantasyland.
For this reason I like to avoid the Hub as much as possible at peak moments of peak days, although since I enjoy the Castle Lighting show and LOVE the Celebrate the Season Castle stage show, I have to at least enter this area during those times. But since I usually watch the parades in Town Square and/or Frontierland, and my fave fireworks viewpoint is Fantasyland, I actually avoid a lot of this congestion.
Well, this may be more info than anyone was expecting, but I just wanted to present an alternate viewpoint that the Christmas-New Year's week doesn't have to be the "doom and gloom" horror stories that you may hear about. If you go, have fun! :xmas:
Yes, it IS extremely crowded.
However, the park hours are significantly extended which cancels this out, (at least for me, since I'm a hardcore open-close "parkie") and the Christmas decorations, music loops, and entertainment are in full swing, INCLUDING all the entertainment offerings in the Magic Kingdom that they charge extra for earlier in the season at the upcharge after-closing events, which are now included as part of the regular operating day at this time!
How one is affected by the crowds will depend on the level of experience and touring plans/strategy used.
If you get there early and are a Fastpass pro, you should be fine!
What I like to do is get there for Rope Drop. There are a LOT fewer people willing to get there at the crack of dawn (7 or 8 AM) during even the busiest week of the year, than there are for a standard 9 AM opening even during slow season!
This means that the park is usually fairly empty the first couple of hours, and you can use this time to "surf a wave of walk-ons" on things that will be massively crowded by 11 AM or noon (if not sooner) and remain so for much of the rest of the day. Such as the Fantasyland attractions, the Mountain range, Speedway and Orbiter, etc. Also, the earlier you get there, the sooner you can start using the Fastpass system, which means you will be able to get more Fastpasses, which will pay off EXPONENTIALLY when the park is packed later on and all the people who slept late are upset that the headliners have 2 hour waits and late Fastpass return times or, worse, are already out of FPs by the time they get there.
The interesting thing to me is that things that I can usually count on as being walk-ons during the crowded peak afternoons of most days, still seem to be walk-ons (or close to walk-ons) during the crowded peak afternoons during peak seasons. I refer to things like the Peoplemover (wait might be a little but still usually less than 5 or 10 minutes), the Railroad, the Riverboat, Carousel of Progress, Tiki Room, Country Bear Jamboree, and Hall of Presidents. You can usually get on the next cycle loading for all of these, same as on a normal day. Worst case scenario is that you might miss one cycle, but you can get a sense of it that is the case before committing to the wait.
Then, after the fireworks, the park usually empties out quite a bit, and I can surf another wave of either walk-ons or short waits (or use FPs for things like Space Mountain that I collected earlier, to make the major headliners short waits as well), to make the last few hours up until midnight or 1 AM or whenever the park closes, truly magical!
Between the extended hours (often 16+ hour days) and Fastpass negating the insane waits on the headliners, I actually consistently get on MORE attractions per day during peak times like Christmas and Easter that people complain about, than I do during the praised "slow season" when the park is only open from 9 AM - 8 PM, because no matter how uncrowded everything is, there is simply a lot less TIME to work with. In fact, my single day "personal record" for most MK attractions, parades, and shows experienced in a single day, was actually set on a "peak" day on which the park reached capacity! In fact, it was set on a 19 hour operating day on New Year's Eve!
This included getting at least one cycle on EVERY attraction in the park, seeing all the Christmas entertainment, (including all of it that was presented more than once at least twice), seeing Spectro, and seeing the NYE fireworks, as well as having time for ENCORES on favorite attractions in the closing hours! All of this, on NYE! The Early Bird catches the worm! Also, with the Christmas entertainment in full swing, there is plenty of extra things to do to occupy this extra time. The wonderful Christmas parade at the MK is usually presented TWICE daily, so I like to watch it 4 times a day (by watching at the beginning of the route and short-cutting thru Adventureland and Emporium to the end, thus avoiding the overcrowded route itself!). There is also the Castle lighting show, the Celebrate the Season castle stage show, the show at the new Tomorrowland stage, and of course Holiday Wishes at the MK. All included with park admission/AP, and no longer an after-hours upcharge by this time!
One negative thing I have to mention in order to be fair and balanced, is that although early arrival, good use of FP, and a good touring plan will help negate any negative consequences of the extra crowds as far as being able to get your attractions in, there is nothing that can be done to completely eliminate exposure to the congestion and bottlenecks that one might encounter while walking around the park (mainly MK). This can be unsettling, although since I have lots of experience with it now, it doesn't bother me nearly as much as it did when it was new to me.
The parade route in Frontierland can get extremely congested before and after a parade, and "The Hub" can be an ABSOLUTE ZOO, not only during parades, but all throughout the evening entertainment!
Some people stake out a spot in The Hub and just stay there all night, watching the Castle lighting, the Castle shows, the MSEP, Holiday Wishes, and, in the case of New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve Eve, the AWESOME NYE fireworks.
It can literally take longer to get from the Tomorrowland entry bridge to the Liberty Belle (or vice versa) during these conditions via the Hub, than it would to take the long way around, thru Fantasyland.
For this reason I like to avoid the Hub as much as possible at peak moments of peak days, although since I enjoy the Castle Lighting show and LOVE the Celebrate the Season Castle stage show, I have to at least enter this area during those times. But since I usually watch the parades in Town Square and/or Frontierland, and my fave fireworks viewpoint is Fantasyland, I actually avoid a lot of this congestion.
Well, this may be more info than anyone was expecting, but I just wanted to present an alternate viewpoint that the Christmas-New Year's week doesn't have to be the "doom and gloom" horror stories that you may hear about. If you go, have fun! :xmas:
