The holidays are pretty different in Disney World this year, but one thing hasn’t changed all that much. It’s still one of the most crowded times!
Holiday Crowds
Yes, that is a picture from today in Magic Kingdom as folks crowd around in the Frontierland bottleneck to watch a (granted very cool) Christmas Cavalcade. Capacities are limited this year to 25%, but that hasn’t stopped crowding at all times, even to the point of making social distancing an issue.
Now, don’t get us wrong, it is DEFINITELY less crowded than a typical holiday day in Magic Kingdom in a normal year, but we still noticed some issues with distancing due to the number of people.
Holiday Crowds
This happened most often around cavalcade times in smaller areas. This Frontierland pathway is one of the more high-traffic, low-space areas in Magic Kingdom and it SHOWS come cavalcade time. We saw similar crowds when the Halloween cavalcades initially kicked off, but they did clear up within a few days.
Holiday Crowds
With the floats coming through, there is more of a focus on getting guests safely out of the way than getting them safely away from one another. It seems there’s not too much of a system for handling BOTH on busy days like today. Hopefully, as the initial excitement over these new cavalcades dies down, so will the crowding.
Holiday Crowds
And cavalcades aren’t even the only place we’ve seen trouble. Bottlenecks, in general, can spell issues for social distancing, like here where a popular pathway crosses with the Pirates of the Caribbean line and Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn Mobile Order crowds.
Holiday Crowds
According to Disney CEO Bob Chapek, the parks are still operating at a 25% capacity, but that doesn’t mean that uncomfy crowds are completely avoidable. It’s always a good idea to have an alternate route planned, and if you’re not comfy in a crowd, head somewhere else! And we do want to say that overall, the parks have felt like a normal weekend day, so the crowding isn’t park-wide. There are just little spots throughout the parks where we have seen more crowds than usual.
Click here to check out the Christmas Cavalcades!
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Are you in Magic Kingdom for the holidays this week? Tell us in the comments!
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Ummm. Yikes? 🙁
It is good to see the crowds but is it really safe ! I hope Disney will make it SAFE on going to all to have fun.
Those picture sure don’t look like any social distance is being taken. Crazy.
Will there be Christmas Eve fireworks this year?
I know people are questioning more than 25% appearance of the crowds at the parks. If you have been to Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day (pre-Covid) like I have with full capacity, you would think current crowds are minimal. A capacity day is nuts…you can’t see the ground in front of you. Look up a utube video. Claustrophobic folks need not apply:)
I was at Hollywood Studios yesterday crowds were everywhere and horrible.
Wait times were 60 minutes plus all day. Everyone was masked and there was some social distancing in the ride lines. Day before in magic kingdom was even worse. There were not enough quick service restaurant facilities and even the ice cream stands had lines. People are butt to butt. This is not 25 percent capacity. Crowds can no longer be tracked correctly. Every kid no longer has school. I love love Disney but I think crowds are stuffed in these parks because it is about money not safety.
Restrooms are cleaner. These last few days were like summer crowds or holiday school breaks. I will not be back until this pandemic is over.
Jerry, as far as we know, there will not be fireworks for the holidays.
I am not concerned about the crowds and nothing about these pictures look scary to me. I just wish they would put fast passes back into play and reactivate the dining plan.
They have green markers for calvacades but no one paid attention to them and they weren’t enforced. When we were there the beginning of Oct they enforced the green dot spacing pretty well for the calvacades. Just there yesterday and that area was definitely the worst in the park. But better since they started using the entire bridge to loop splash mtn line. It no longer meets pirates line near pecos bill’s.
Hey! Just got back from Disney today actually ! Was there Saturday -Tuesday doing the parks, I have been using your blog as a research for going , one thing idk if y’all did a post about or not but may be a good read is how to keep your self cool and ways to survive the Orlando heat and esp humidity wearing the mask, I wish I would of thought to maybe bring a neck fan and maybe misting facial spray , I’m pretty good with a mask but Jezum it was raining in my mask from so much humidity !
Just left today from Disney and I feel like from what I have herd from others who have gone earlier in the covid season they have lacked up , just like a lot of businesses , even cast members seem to be over it and not enforcing rules on ppl as much . But I mean with there being so many ppl it’s hard . And they do have all the social distancing markers provided it’s just if the ppl on the park respect others enough to comply
With numbers across our country rapidly increasing, this is beyond irresponsible. And this is 25 percent – with them just announcing they’re increasing to 35 percent?
I’ve been to Disney World when it’s super crowded, so yes, I do understand these are not full capacity pictures. However, this is still dangerous during a pandemic of a primarily respiratory illness. We’re told to wear masks AND distance.
People have the choice to NOT go, of course, and I’m actually pro-keeping the parks open. But while we know Disney is always about the almighty dollar, it’s still pretty sobering to see them put it so blatantly on display that they’d rather have the $$$ than limit the number of people inside.