The Infamous Christmas - New Year's Week: Share Your Crowd Stories (and Pics)

Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
WhatJaneSays said:
That's been my experience too with the lights. That area by LMH is normally jammed with people taking pictures; last night it was busy but the whole light street was easy to navigate. Even the dance party area was not overly crowded.

I was a bit confused because the parking lot was PACKED but there seemed to not be a corresponding number of people in the park.
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Maybe they came there only one to a car! :joyfull:
 
mf1972

mf1972

Well-Known Member
The Magical Genie 123 said:


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is there a fast pass for this?
 
brifraz

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Our actual Christmas morning in Magic Kingdom. EMH was 7am and we were at the gate at 6:30am. Got in at 7am and WE HAD THE PARK ALMOST TO OURSELVES until about 9am. Just about everything we did was walk on. Lines started to pick up between 9am and 10am and by 11am were getting to summer crowd mid-afternoon levels. We left the park at 11am and as we drove out of the parking lot (heading back to relax in the OKW pool), they were just closing the parking lots due to capacity. Quite honestly, we did almost all the attractions in MK in the 4 hours we were there. I'm sure I have the list somewhere, but I know we did a ton. Most people early morning are opening gifts - we convinced our 5yr old daughter to wait to open until the afternoon and had an amazing MK morning.

New Year's Eve 2009, we were in Epcot. Again, starting at 8am EMH, we were actively touring and picking up Fastpasses. At 11am, we set up camp in the Rose and Crown and for the rest of the day, one of us was always there while the other took our daughter to do an attraction or see a show. We also played cards, let our daughter nap in our laps, and perhaps had a couple drinks. ;) Our dinner reservations were for 8pm at R&C, and we enjoyed dinner followed by watching the NYE Illuminations at 9pm - yes, they do the full midnight show early also. And then we headed out. They used the alternate park exit because you couldn't walk very much around World Showcase, so we were out at Millenium Village and then wandering the backstage paths until we popped back out next somewhere in Future World (can't remember where).

And, yes, we are hoping to do it again in a year....maybe...
 
Jae99

Jae99

Well-Known Member
My family of 6 is here now. We checked in on the afternoon of the 25th and did DTD that evening. It was busy but by the time we got to Raglan Road it was calmer.

We were at AK on the 26th used our FP's for Dinosaur, Everest and the safari. We also walked onto Its tough to be a Bug, Kali River Rapids, Primeval whirl. Did MK that night and got to the park as the fireworks started. It was very busy but the park cleared quickly. We managed to do Buzz and waited 25 minutes. Walked into the ores how for MILF, walked onto CP and the teacups. 10 min wait for HM and 20 minutes for jingle cruise.

Was at Hollywood studios today and it was busy but still managed ToT, RnRC twice, GMR, TSMM, Muppet Vision, LMA. One Mans Dream and Star Tours. Saw Fantasmic and walked through the Osborne Lights and had lunch at Mama Melrose.

If you plan properly it is very doable.

Relaxing now by the pool with some beer and a pizza.
 
Daniel Johnson

Daniel Johnson

Well-Known Member
We went the day after Christmas day in 2009. It didn't get busy until mid afternoon. You couldn't pay me to stand in the crowd pictured headed to tomorrow land. That's just too much man.
 
KIsAPrincess

KIsAPrincess

Active Member
We got APs for Christmas and my daughter and I could not wait to go! We drove up the on the 27th and got to MK around 8:30. From 8:30 to around 11:30 am we had an amazing time! Hardly any waits for any ride. 5 minute standby wait for Splash, Pirates and Haunted Mansion! 10 minutes for almost everything else. When it got too crowded for our comfort and standby lines started posting ridiculous times, we hopped over to Epcot. We were able to snag some fast passes for epcot and did a handful of rides. We decided to head home around 2:30. On the way back to get our car they were turning people away from the MK parking lot. We went in to it with the expectation that "we will do what we can" and had a great day. Just my two cents for what it's worth.
 
MarkTwain

MarkTwain

Well-Known Member
We spent most of yesterday at Magic Kingdom. I have to say, having visited this week every year, things seem quite a bit calmer this year. The daytime was crowded but things thinned out considerably after the first fireworks. Thunder Mountain had a 20 minute wait by 11pm, we walked right up to Liberty Square and found a spot for the midnight fireworks right as they were starting, and by 12:30am the park was completely dead (they were open til 3am including Magic Hours). I took several pictures of entire lands that were almost completely empty. It felt mostly like any slightly busy summer night.

There was a light drizzle that I would almost just call mist, but nothing I would think would make a radical difference in terms of crowds.
 
Brian murphy

Brian murphy

New Member
Doc Terminus said:
For many who have experienced the Christmas thru New Year's week in the past at the parks, I simply could have just said: "Hell Week" or "THE Week", and you would've immediately known what I meant. That one time of year when EVERY educational institution on the globe from preschool all the way to the most elite college is closed, many government offices and other businesses are closed, Christmas presents have been opened, so...the world decides to travel!! And travel we do. From the smallest tourist town to the busiest resort city, that week alone brings memories of standstill traffic, long lines for the simplest of errands, and abundant amounts of people as far as the eye can see.
For those of you brave enough to have experienced The World during this seven to ten day stretch of population overload, share any stories (whether horrific or merry), and preferably some pics of crowd levels.
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After coming to disney for 9 years running with my family my sister and her family joined us this year. the catch is, her 5yr old son suffers from canavans disease. if you don't know what it is, it is a genetic illness that causes severe disability and is fatal. most children to not live past age 10. So this is his one and only trip here.

In an effort to make the trip magical and truly a once in a lifetime experience i contacted disney just to ask for advice and guidance. Aside from being very helpful they even offered some fast passes which i thought was amazingly kind.

heres why i am posting though. The disney rep (who was amazing) explained how bad she felt and how she wished she could have done more such as VIP passes etc....which would have been truly amazing, but she informed us that because of the week this is it was impossible. Because of their situation this was the ONLY week that they could come here otherwise they would have come at a less crazy time.

Translation. This holiday week very rich and famous people are here and they are a bigger priority then a dying child. Now, i definitely don't fault disney, all i wanted was advice and the offer of the fast passes i thought was above and beyond, but when i discovered that the reason the CS rep could not do more was because of rich famous people again feeling that they are SO entitled that their needs and wants even are more important then letting a dying child have the experience that they felt they were entitled to more....and that bothered me.

I have always loved disney because i is that one or two week escape from the craziness of the 'normal" world, so when this BS and rich people entitlement crept into my disney vacation i think it upset me far more then it would have otherwise....it seems that finding peace and relaxation not even safe at disney from SOME people and that is sad. BTW we did make it to universal (my nephew at least had a good time there so far)
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Brian
 
baloofigment14

baloofigment14

Well-Known Member
More Twitter Photos
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People camping out for fireworks

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Mission Space Line

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Universe of Energy Area

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Line was so long that these were being handed out.

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Soarin' Line stretched out of the building
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Line for Gran Fiesta Tour stretched out of the building
 
A

Arthur Wellesley

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
draybook

draybook

Well-Known Member
Pixie VaVoom

Pixie VaVoom

Well-Known Member
Chef Mickey said:
While I agree with you, I think there are still many people who have no other options if they want to go with a larger group of family and friends. The people there now were probably only able to coordinate the days off with everyone in their party if they went during a holiday week like Christmas and/or New Years.

Honestly, I would just skip it if that's my only option. It's not fun when it's that crowded not only because it's hard to move, eat, ride, and enjoy...but it's also a feisty, unhappy crowd. Everyone is on edge when the crowds are that crazy.
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Yeah, Lab Rats begin to EAT each other when they are too crowded together. I keep watching the news headlines to see just when tourists start to SNAP!!
 
Chadder810

Chadder810

Well-Known Member
EPCOT - Line for Test Track - December 2003 by chadder810, on Flickr

New Year's Eve 2003
This was the line leading up to Test Track. We were stopped at this point and after not moving for 15 minutes decided it wasn't worth it. I think we ended up getting on 2 or 3 rides all day. I wish I had picture of the line we waited in to get a brat in Germany. We waiting 30 minutes just to get up to the register to order food and then another 30 to get our food. Complete chaos.
 
mf1972

mf1972

Well-Known Member

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