Current crowd levels compared to Christmas week.

[KMP12]

So with parks being at capacity right now do you think Christmas will look about the same? We went presidents day week and parks were sold out every day. I never thought we would consider doing xmas week but we managed OK in February so now debating our next trip over Xmas. Thoughts?

 

[L_MD]

I don't think anyone can predict. I do want to say that even if park reservations are sold out that doesn't equal parks being "at capacity" in the traditional sense of phased closure/no park-hopping allowed. I think THAT type of "at capacity" would be more of a reality at Christmas.

 

[MickeyMinnieMary]

I am guessing that the parks will be crowded and sold out most days throughout the next year, especially during peak times such as holidays. Even with rising prices, everyone is itching to travel again, as travel restrictions have been lifted. Christmas will most likely be at capacity, similar to how it was prior to the pandemic.

 

[Jonfw2]

I think President's Day and Easter week were as busy or busier than Christmas.

 

[KMP12]

I think President's Day and Easter week were as busy or busier than Christmas.

This is why I'm thinking maybe we could handle Christmas crowds...we managed OK during presidents day week!

 

[amygirl431]

We went last month. All parks had no reservations available. It was not nearly as busy or crowded as our last Christmas visit in our opinion. Our last Christmas visit was pre-covid however.

 

[KMP12]

We went last month. All parks had no reservations available. It was not nearly as busy or crowded as our last Christmas visit in our opinion. Our last Christmas visit was pre-covid however.

Interesting I wonder if they will open up for more reservations for Xmas?

 

[Mango7100]

We went right after Christmas 2019 and stayed for New Years. We were in the parks over Easter this year. I thought it was slightly less crowded over Easter but not by much.

 

[Sandiz08]

How about comparative to thanksgiving pre covid? Are you saying that it’s busier than that since it’s comparable to Christmas or as busy as precovid thanksgiving?

 

[xipotec]

Heres the thing, capacity may be FLUID and in all reality it probably is. Its a big thing now for business….Capacity = Labor plus expenses.

So what maxes out capacity in say September is NOTHING like capacity for Xmas.

They know xmas is huge, so they will spend more on labor that week, to handle more people. Where as in September, normal slow times, they may only spend X on labor, knowing they will only fill the parks partially, running at reduced capacity for rides, and hopefully not impacting guest experience ( although I doubt they really care that much about experienece now as they have the COVID excuse) . The biggest expense for any business in customer service is labor….

So no, capacity now is unlikely to look the same for any normal busy week.

 

[kathy884]

Max capacity at sold out parks we visited in March was not even close to Christmas week pre-pandemic. Sure it was crowded, but full capacity right now feels like an 8 not like a 10.

Christmas week when I've been is insanity, but we still go down sometimes to see family. Sold out parks right now are just crowded. I've done about six Christmas weeks over the year, the last being Dec. of 2019.

 

[kathy884]

Another gage of crowds (offsite visitor) to compare to Christmas pre-pandemic is what it is like to drive around. Believe me at Christmas, pre-pandemic except for early morning you don't want to drive anywhere you don't need to. And you can't get into any restaurant offsite for dinner with a short wait except perhaps a breakfast place. // Busy spring break week with sold out park days -- traffic was heavy, kind of a pain, but in no way did I try to minimize trips, not get out on the road during that dinner time, etc. Do note, though we did most of our eating in at our condo or at the theme parks, so I don't have those offsite restaurant wait times for a comparison. i in no way hesitated to take that trip to Walgreens or the grocery store any evening.

Oh and by the way, I subscribe to touringplans.com and based on historical wait times, my spring break week had the same rating crowd rating as Easter week.

Overall thoughts

Christmas week pre-pandemic -- not really up for the crowds these days -- always crowd level 10s every day
Spring Break -- would prefer a less busy time, but I'd do it again - crowd level 8s (huge difference between and 8 and a 10)

Big Difference

It looks like the touringplans people, though, for this coming Christmas are predicting 8 and 9 crowd levels, not the typical 10 every day. Just guessing they are thinking the staffing levels might not get up to what they were before. They are probably better than most of us at predicting, but they are wrong a lot. If you are ever going to do Christmas, this might be the time. There are no guarantees though. Go for Christmas at your own risk.

 

[ckelly14]

Hollywood studios was "sold out" last week when we were there and I thought it had a fraction of the people I used to see pre-pandemic. I would take your experience with a "sold out" park in Feb with a grain of salt...

 

[mamaofsix]

This is why I'm thinking maybe we could handle Christmas crowds...we managed OK during presidents day week!

As has already been said - capacity this past President's Day (and at Christmas, 2021) was not 100%. It might have been 60% or 70% of pre-pandemic capacity.

Christmas 2022 will be waaaaaay busier. Likely "barely able to walk or move" busy.

 

[Jonfw2]

I was at Universal pre-pandemic and I was at Universal President's Day weekend- it was equally crowded. Impossible to gauge lines like Gringott's and Forbidden Journey since they've opened two major rides since, but the crowd itself- body to body, where you literally have to turn sideways to get around people- was just as bad.

 

[focusondisney]

Fpr those talking about sold out parks, are you looking at theme park ticket /resort guests spots? In looking at the next few weeks, most dates have limited availability for those. But the AP spots are pretty much wide open. No one knows what capacity is set aside for APs, but for sure that makes a difference in how many people are actually in the parks & how crowded it is. So you think you’re in a “sold out“ park, but you’re really not.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

Hmm, I am trying to decide if we should plan a trip to WDW during Christmas week. We would love to see all the decorations and feel the holiday spirit. We are all (older) adults, 57 - 75. Some of us work in schools, so we have that week off.
We’ve been school vacation weeks and summer. Thoughts?