Secret Season question!

[dvcnut39]

:veryconfu Just got back from 8 nights at SSR and we had a great time. This early December trip was our third at this time of year since 2001. I have one question though, Why were the parks so busy this year?

Sunday 4DEC- The Studios were- Packed
Monday 5DEC- IOA/USF- Empty
Tuesday 6DEC- MVMCP- not too bad
Wed 7DEC- AK and EPCOT- AK Packed, EPCOT not too bad
Sat 10DEC- Packed

We are used to the parks being completely empty this time of year. Any ideas why they were packed? As always, I appreciate all the input. :veryconfu

 

[mousermerf]

Two reasons:

1) Attendance is up across the board. Folks are still thinking the parks are how they were after Sept 11. That period was NOT normal.

2) Folks on message boards have done themself in with sharing "tips." The peaks and valleys of "seasons" have been betrayed by folks coming to the net and asking "when should i go?" and being told the off-season, which they all goto and then it become off-season no more. The same can be seen with tips in popular guidebooks - often they defeat their own purpose by suggesting attractions in an exact order.

 

[peter11435]

Two reasons:

1) Attendance is up across the board. Folks are still thinking the parks are how they were after Sept 11. That period was NOT normal.

2) Folks on message boards have done themself in with sharing "tips." The peaks and valleys of "seasons" have been betrayed by folks coming to the net and asking "when should i go?" and being told the off-season, which they all goto and then it become off-season no more. The same can be seen with tips in popular guidebooks - often they defeat their own purpose by suggesting attractions in an exact order.

Not to mention the Pop Warner events.

 

[Master Yoda]

I have got to agree, the secret is out about October and early December. While the crowds are lighter than in June and July the parks are no longer deserted as they were in years past. Also as mentioned before the tourist business in general is coming out of a deep slump since 9/11.

 

[WishIwasThere]

Just got back from WDW. Had a great trip...and it was busy on Saturday the 10th. Got to enjoy COP a couple times, my 5 yr old loved it. Keeps singing "there's a great big beautiful tomorrow". SM shut down while we were in line, my wife and 3yr old son got to see the inside (with lights on) from the TTA...Duh!..lucky her. It was a little too busy and kids wanted to go swimming, so we took a break back at the WL. We went back after 6 PM and found light crowds and 5 and 10 minute waits on most everything we wanted.

Went to the MVMCP on the 11th and rode Splash Mountain 3 times without getting off. Rode BTMRR twice, SM three times, and everything had a 10 minute wait at best, and only Buzz, Pooh, and Peter Pan that I noticed.

Went again yesterday for a while before catching the flight back to reality, and saw 20-30 minute waits at best.

So I guess it depends on the day and most of the people we talked to were local Floridians, so I wonder if they are the ones filling the park these December weekends? Still a lot better than Spring vacation times and summer. Funny hearing people complain about being so cold when it is below 60 degrees F outside.

 

[DisneyWales]

Funny hearing people complain about being so cold when it is below 60 degrees F outside.

I wish it was even half that warm here. Thats about as hot as Summer gets here. Anything hotter we call it a heat wave.:xmas:

 

[robynchic]

Funny hearing people complain about being so cold when it is below 60 degrees F outside.

I resent that! What if the person is just temperature sensitive (like me)? To me, I get cold if I'm wearing a t-shirt and jeans and it's below 70. That could also just be conditioning when you're working in WDW for 10 hours a day in the summer...

 

[X12345]

I resent that! What if the person is just temperature sensitive (like me)? To me, I get cold if I'm wearing a t-shirt and jeans and it's below 70. That could also just be conditioning when you're working in WDW for 10 hours a day in the summer...

me too! i'm always cold.

looking forward to getting out of michigan in 2 weeks. I Hope there's a 80 degree heat wave over new years at WDW!

Happy birthday to me today! :sohappy: (ripe young age of 31)

 

[Mr Bill]

It's rather disappointing that off-seasons are disappearing. It seems that as time goes on, we will see less of a range in park attendance throughout the year, and graphs of attendance will become more of a flat line.

 

[mousermerf]

I was about to say the peaks will still be there, just higher, but it's not really true.

The parks have closed fewer times in the last year or so than the 3 years before for reaching capacity but have higher attendance across the board.

The peaks are falling slightly but the valleys are filling quickly.

 

[robynchic]

me too! i'm always cold.

looking forward to getting out of michigan in 2 weeks. I Hope there's a 80 degree heat wave over new years at WDW!

Happy birthday to me today! :sohappy: (ripe young age of 31)

Happy birthday! (I just turned 21 a few weeks ago).

Side note: I looked at the forecast- they're saying high 60s-low 70s in the day, low 40s-low 50s at night. That means I'm packing sweatshirts and a jacket. (Jeans were kind of a given- I can wear jeans in 85 degrees and be fine)

 

[swimmom]

Just got back from WDW. Had a great trip...and it was busy on Saturday the 10th. Got to enjoy COP a couple times, my 5 yr old loved it. Keeps singing "there's a great big beautiful tomorrow". SM shut down while we were in line, my wife and 3yr old son got to see the inside (with lights on) from the TTA...Duh!..lucky her. It was a little too busy and kids wanted to go swimming, so we took a break back at the WL. We went back after 6 PM and found light crowds and 5 and 10 minute waits on most everything we wanted.

Went to the MVMCP on the 11th and rode Splash Mountain 3 times without getting off. Rode BTMRR twice, SM three times, and everything had a 10 minute wait at best, and only Buzz, Pooh, and Peter Pan that I noticed.

Went again yesterday for a while before catching the flight back to reality, and saw 20-30 minute waits at best.

So I guess it depends on the day and most of the people we talked to were local Floridians, so I wonder if they are the ones filling the park these December weekends? Still a lot better than Spring vacation times and summer. Funny hearing people complain about being so cold when it is below 60 degrees F outside.

We were also at WDW this past weekend and found no wait time to be over 30 minutes. Although I wonder if the rainy weather had anything to do with that?