Christmas Day Crowd Levels/Experiences

[bgenew1]

We have always wanted to wake up Christmas Day at Disney and go to the Magic Kingdom. I made reservations last night and the CM warned me about crowd levels and said that last year MK, Epcot and DHS closed due to capacity.

Has anyone had any first hand experience with these crowds? Though we have always wanted to do it, I don't want to go and be miserable either.

Thanks for any thoughts or input.

 

[debbiemomto4]

I went 2years ago on 12/26 to Disney. It is very crowded. We would go early and ride our must rides then we would enjoy the Christmas decorations. Mk is the worse and we avoided the big parks on new years eve and went ak. We stayed at BLT so enjoyed fireworks from room!
We are actually doing it again this year but dong universal till 12/29 then going to BLT and staying till 1/4. Hoping for less crowds after first.

 

[clm10308]

We were there last Christmas, but did I not go to the parks. We had a lunch ADR at Chef Mickeys. I dont remember the exact time, but it was late morning.
We took the bus from our resort to the MK and then took the monorail to the Contemporary.
I have never seen crowds like that except when we attended the Atlanta Olympics. Getting from MK to the TTC wasn't bad, but the line to get on the monorail from TTc back to MK looked like it would take several hours, and the crowds outside MK looked even worse.

We were there from dec 18-28. Up to and including the 24th the crowds were big but tolerable. Lines were long but the weather was really nice. We stayed at MK one night until 1:30am which was a lot of fun. But the days after Christmas were so crowded that You couldn't do much. We spent more time at the resort after the 25th.

That being said, I am still glad that we were able to take this trip. It was fun to see the parks, resorts, and characters decorated for Christmas. My DH says that he would like to do it again someday and stay for NYE. I'm not so sure about that.

 

[bgenew1]

We have seen the decorations before and will again this year as we are going the first week of December. Just wanted the experience of waking up on Christmas Day and being there.

Spring break crowds are tolerable and that is what I thought Christmas crowds might be like.

 

[rgf207]

Christmas day is the busiest day of the year at MK. People will be shoulder to shoulder all day. The park will close to capacity multiple times per day. Just have a plan, get there early, stay all day and you will have a good time.

Don't leave the park if you have an ADR for later in the evening. You may not be allowed back in if the park is closed to capacity. Regardless if you have ADR's or not

 

[gator girl]

Spring break crowds are tolerable and that is what I thought Christmas crowds might be like.

Nope. Worse. The absolute single-most crowded week of the year.

Spring Break crowds are spread out over several weeks in March & April, since not every school district has the same break. Christmas, however? Everyone is there at the same time.

Good luck!

 

[bgenew1]

My other concern is food. We generally eat early to avoid the crowds anyway. I booked a 4:25 at the Plaza for supper, which should be okay time wise if we eat at 10:30 or 11:00 for lunch.

For places like Pecos or Cosmic Rays would we have trouble getting a seat?

 

[gator girl]

For places like Pecos or Cosmic Rays would we have trouble getting a seat?

At crowd levels like that week, cast members will likely be policing the dining rooms of CS restaurants. Your party will not be allowed in to the seating area until you have your food in your hands. That seems to work fairly well, since people are not parking at tables for 30 minutes while Dad is in line for their food while other people roam with trays of cooling meals looking for nonexistent empty tables.

Try to avoid "normal" meal times, which will help as well.

 

[Alesia]

MK will reach a stage 4 closure by 10:00 am. You need to get there early (the park will open at 7:00) and plan on staying there. If you leave the park for any reason, you may not get back in.

You can see pictures of Christmas crowds in the forth post of this thread.

It's doable, but you need to be realistic your expectations. The waits for everything (including the bathroom) will be very long and the crowds will be shoulder to shoulder.

 

[Disneymadhouse]

It's doable, but you need to be realistic your expectations. The waits for everything (including the bathroom) will be very long and the crowds will be shoulder to shoulder.

Hi, can I just chime in and a sk a bit of a daft question?!

We haven't really eaten at many TS restaurants before so this is the reason I need to ask : are there restrooms in the TS restaurants that we could use at the end of our meal before heading out into the mayhem?

Christmas eve - 24th we are at CRT
Christmas day -25th we are at CP
Boxing day - 26th we are at Biergarten
27th we are at the Plaza


And what about CS places in MK and EPCOT? Do they have restrooms?

Thanks

Claire

 

[rgf207]

Hi, can I just chime in and a sk a bit of a daft question?!

We haven't really eaten at many TS restaurants before so this is the reason I need to ask : are there restrooms in the TS restaurants that we could use at the end of our meal before heading out into the mayhem?

Christmas eve - 24th we are at CRT
Christmas day -25th we are at CP
Boxing day - 26th we are at Biergarten
27th we are at the Plaza


And what about CS places in MK and EPCOT? Do they have restrooms?

Thanks

Claire

Yes. The TS restaurants have restrooms inside

 

[bgenew1]

Oh my, I didnt even consider bathroom breaks! And I admit those pictures scare me

 

[Alesia]

Hi, can I just chime in and a sk a bit of a daft question?!

We haven't really eaten at many TS restaurants before so this is the reason I need to ask : are there restrooms in the TS restaurants that we could use at the end of our meal before heading out into the mayhem?

Christmas eve - 24th we are at CRT
Christmas day -25th we are at CP
Boxing day - 26th we are at Biergarten
27th we are at the Plaza


And what about CS places in MK and EPCOT? Do they have restrooms?

Thanks

Claire

All TS restaurants have restrooms, and most CS restaurants do, too. It would definitely be a good idea to make a pitstop before you head back into the park.

 

[Disneymadhouse]

Thats great, thanks to both posters for your replies

Claire

 

[debbiemomto4]

When we went last time 2yearsago we got the deluxe dining mostly so we knew if we weren't leaving the park we were at we were taking a break at a restaurant were at least the crowd was under control.
Then dinners were at hotels or where we wanted tobe at night. It worked for us. We did not ride every ride. But did see the candlelight procession and the osborne lights which were beautiful. We also know the hidden bathrooms and short cuts by now. Now I am wondering how bad universal will be on 12/26 and 12/27!

 

[RMulieri]

When we went last time 2yearsago we got the deluxe dining mostly so we knew if we weren't leaving the park we were at we were taking a break at a restaurant were at least the crowd was under control.
Then dinners were at hotels or where we wanted tobe at night. It worked for us. We did not ride every ride. But did see the candlelight procession and the osborne lights which were beautiful. We also know the hidden bathrooms and short cuts by now. Now I am wondering how bad universal will be on 12/26 and 12/27!

Universal will be PACKED those dates.They also closed to capacity those dates last year.Generally Christmas week at Universal is just as busy as Disney

 

[canadianmom2three]

We were there last Christmas and I had read a lot about the crowds. I was a little nervous and did a LOT of planning. Our initial plan was to avoid MK at all costs on Christmas Day, and we planned for resort touring, a sit down breakfast and dinner and pool time. However, after our brunch at the GF, we couldn't resist dropping into the MK, just to 'see' what the crowds were like. We walked in about 15 minutes before the parade, and it was PACKED! We headed for the TTA and that was the only thing we did before leaving...lol (will look for photos I took). We came back again late that night after our dinner at WL and it was much better, we did lots of the less busy rides with no problems and booted it out to watch the fireworks from just outside the main entrance - stunning view! FTR, that was the ONLY time that we ever felt like it was super crowded on the whole trip. We had been in MK the a.m. before for EMH at 7:00 a.m. and felt like we had the park to ourselves. Rode the boys favourites 3x in a row with no waiting (Space Ranger Spin and Space Mountain) and then made it to almost everything else in the park too before leaving just around noon. We are headed back again this year, it was magical

 

[canadianmom2three]

We were there last Christmas and I had read a lot about the crowds. I was a little nervous and did a LOT of planning. Our initial plan was to avoid MK at all costs on Christmas Day, and we planned for resort touring, a sit down breakfast and dinner and pool time. However, after our brunch at the GF, we couldn't resist dropping into the MK, just to 'see' what the crowds were like. We walked in about 15 minutes before the parade, and it was PACKED! We headed for the TTA and that was the only thing we did before leaving...lol (will look for photos I took). FTR, that was the ONLY time that we ever felt like it was super crowded on the whole trip. We had been in MK the a.m. before for EMH at 7:00 a.m. and felt like we had the park to ourselves. Rode the boys favourites 3x in a row with no waiting (Space Ranger Spin and Space Mountain) and then made it to almost everything else in the park too before leaving just around noon. We are headed back again this year, it was magical

 

[Peepster]

bgenew1, everyone has given you good advice but I hope you don't mind if I add our 2 cents as we love to travel to the World at Christmas time.

We learned early on not to try riding attractions on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day as everyone mentioned the parks are packed and will close. The parks close in stages and if you are staying on Disney property will close the latest to you...but, still, will close. We ran into a crowd situation in the MK that was actually frightning one year and that was our lesson learned, but, like you, we like celebrating at WDW.

So what we do now is to make reservations on Christmas Eve for the last Candlelight Processional show of the evening which is such a wonderful way to spend it and watch Illuminations after and then leave the park.

On Christmas morning we have reservations at one of the resorts for breakfast or brunch, visit Downtown Disney and usually see a movie in the afternoon and have a special dinner at one of the beautifully decorated resorts in the evening and then be ready for rope drop first thing the next morning at whatever Touring Plans suggests the least busy park to be.

I know this may not be to everyone's liking but it's worked for us and I'm just throwing it out as a suggestion because we love being at WDW at Christmas too but not fighting the crazy Christmas Day crowds.

Auntie Peep

 

[kerri0616]

If you want to have a less hectic day, you may want to consider AK on 12/25. We spent a very nice Christmas Day 2011 at AK. We were never inundated by the masses.

K