Disney World Crowd Report – December 28, 2014 to January 3, 2015
Death, taxes and extreme crowds at Christmas time might be the only certainties in life. We saw the Magic Kingdom reach capacity crowds several days over the Christmas period and the other parks reached level ’10’ on our scale almost every day. However, wait times after New Year’s Eve dipped slightly lower than in years past.
Let’s look at how the crowd levels stacked up each day last week:
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magic Kingdom |
9
|
10
|
A solid ’10’ at Magic Kingdom on Sunday but Pirates of the Caribbean averaged 50 minutes between 10am and 5pm, an ‘8’ on our scale while Big Thunder Mountain Railroad did the same with a 62-minute average (predicted 68). |
| Epcot |
10
|
10
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
10
|
9
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
9
|
10
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
10
|
10
|
It doesn’t get any more crowded than it did on Monday, ’10’s across the board. Average waits were 114 minutes at Space Mountain and Soarin’, 136 at Toy Story Midway Mania and 68 minutes at Kilimanjaro Safaris. |
| Epcot |
10
|
10
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
10
|
10
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
8
|
10
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
10
|
10
|
On Tuesday, only Animal Kingdom dipped below the maximum on our scale thanks to a 39-minute average wait time at Kilimanjaro Safaris and a 54-minute average at Expedition Everest. Elsewhere, capacity or near-capacity crowds filled every park. |
| Epcot |
10
|
10
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
10
|
10
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
10
|
9
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
10
|
10
|
Annually, New Years Eve brings the largest crowds of the season to Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios and this year was no exception. |
| Epcot |
10
|
10
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
10
|
10
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
10
|
8
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
9
|
9
|
Between December 24 and January 2, New Years Day itself tends to have the lowest wait times and this year that held true, especially in the morning. Wait times dipped considerably as many guests recovered from the night before. |
| Epcot |
9
|
8
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
7
|
7
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
5
|
7
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
9
|
9
|
Friday’s wait times bounced back to holiday levels, especially at Epcot. We saw averages of 113 minutes at Test Track (predicted 95) and 101 at Soarin’ (predicted 113). |
| Epcot |
10
|
10
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
10
|
8
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
8
|
7
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
9
|
7
|
Saturday was the only surprise of the week with wait times coming in two levels lower than usual at all four parks. Averages like 38 minutes at Haunted Mansion (predicted 44) and 25 minutes at Star Tours (predicted 55) were the lowest of the week. |
| Epcot |
9
|
7
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
7
|
5
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
7
|
5
|
|
| January 4 to 10, 2015 |
|---|
Disney World crowds were as busy as they get last week but this week we will see the duldrums of January arrive. Crowds will be light to moderate all month except for during the Marathon weekend and Martin Luther King Jr Day.
To see Walt Disney World Crowd predictions for the days of your vacation, check the Crowd Calendar.
To get details about our predictions of future crowds or details about crowds in the past check out the Crowd Calendar and select “Jump to Date” on the left margin.
You May Also Like...
-
Crowded theme parks during the Christmas holiday are as certain as death and taxes. Every year we see crowd levels hit…
-
This weekend will have the longest park hours since Walt Disney World re-opened in July. Extended park hours are a signal…
-
The April Crowd Calendar update only has minor changes. We are halfway through spring break, and crowd levels have been in-line…
-
The December Crowd Calendar update is now live. We are in the busiest time of year at Walt Disney World. During…
These recaps are great and give me confidence in the crowd calendar. I see comments on Facebook all the time asking for crowd calendar recommendations and immediately people saying they’re not reliable. Do you have any accuracy percentage over some period of time? I’d say during my visits, you been 100% accurate (and so I always recommend you!) but I wonder what the real # is over the course of a year or longer…. I am a statistics geek at heart!