Disney in December

[problemchild718]

We would like to go to WDW to see the Christmas Decorations this year. We were thinking about the first week b/c its a value week and uses less points. Have you been at that time? How are the crowds? Any tips? Suggestions?

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

no tips or suggestions, as we have not been at that time of year. Just wanted to say how jealous I am!! LOL We want to go in December at some point. My friend is going this December as well!! How wonderful...

 

[problemchild718]

Don't be jealous! We have always wanted to go then and have been saving for a long while to go-besides, I'm a bad mom and will be pulling my 3 kids out of school to go You can come too!

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

yeah, yeah!!! Throw me in a suitcase with a 3 foot sub sandwich and we are good to go!!! LOL....man, I think I am getting tired. I am now acting silly and saying strange things...

 

[Teacher510]

We were there this past 12/26-1/1. It was much more crowded than it was at the same time in '89 during our first trip.
We went with the expectation that we would not get on many rides and planned other activities that we wouldn't do in the summer when we usually go because of heat or the fact that they are only at Christmas.
We went on the trail ride at FW, saw Osborne Lights, Christmas Processional, Mickey's Night Before Christmas, Christmas parade, took Yuletide Tour, visited resorts to see decorations, saw all the holiday presentations in WS in Epcot and enjoyed the record setting 80+ degree weather.
Avoid MK from late morning until evening (to see castle lights. ) Be prepared for crowds then though.
It was very enjoyable and worth the slight hassles. It should be better earlier in December and I'm sure you'll have a great time!

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

aaahhhh, Disney in December....I can just picture it in my mind. *sigh*

 

[ssnow719]

The first two weeks of December is always less crowded with hardly any lines at all on the rides. We have gone for the last two years and plan on going again this year 12/5-12/12

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

We go every year the first or second week of December. It's awesome.

 

[problemchild718]

We go every year the first or second week of December. It's awesome.

Any tips? How are crowds? What about the weather?

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Any tips? How are crowds? What about the weather?

The crowds are fine, not empty but not crazy at all. The weather ranges from shorts and t-shirts to sweat shirts. It's usually warm enough to swim.

Seriously, go. It's the best.

We've gone every month of the year and we like the first two weeks the best-atmosphere, weather, crowds, all wonderful.

It "jump starts" the Christmas spirit for all of us (in 2007 it was 16 family/friends who went).

 

[Jakesmom504]

I know this was a long time ago but we went Dec 17-23 in 2000 for our honeymoon and I would do it again in a minute! There were virtually no crowds, I think the longest we waited in line was 10 minutes. It was great seeing everything decorated for Christmas, and the Osbourne Lights were awesome! Some days weather was great...light jacket was fine but most of the trip they just happened to have record low temps. We of course being from NJ never expected FL to be like that so we weren't prepared and had to buy hats, gloves, and scarves. It was kind of comical...every store had giant boxes of winter wear in their doorways since a lot of people had the same thoughts as us (it's FL, why would we need snowwear?) We froze our butts off playing golf at night and got a free round out of it since we were the only crazy fools out there playing! It was a lot of fun...just be prepared for anything! Make sure you watch the weather reports before you go!

 

[5 for WDW]

I know this was a long time ago but we went Dec 17-23 in 2000 for our honeymoon and I would do it again in a minute! There were virtually no crowds, I think the longest we waited in line was 10 minutes. It was great seeing everything decorated for Christmas, and the Osbourne Lights were awesome! Some days weather was great...light jacket was fine but most of the trip they just happened to have record low temps. We of course being from NJ never expected FL to be like that so we weren't prepared and had to buy hats, gloves, and scarves. It was kind of comical...every store had giant boxes of winter wear in their doorways since a lot of people had the same thoughts as us (it's FL, why would we need snowwear?) We froze our butts off playing golf at night and got a free round out of it since we were the only crazy fools out there playing! It was a lot of fun...just be prepared for anything! Make sure you watch the weather reports before you go!

I was there December 17th-19th (last month) and the same thing happened with the weather. When we landed in Orlando it was 34'.
We were at MGM that night for Osborne Lights and Fantasmic. Thankfully, it was freezing in NY when we left so we had our winter coats and gloves with us. (I had almost put them in the room, glad I didn't!!).
By the time Fantasmic started I had my hooded sweatshirt with the hood on, my winter coat and gloves. It was so cold. Especially compared to the September weeather we are used to in WDW!
By the next day I was comfy in jeans, a t shirt and a lightweight fleece.
The day we went home I was wearing jeans and just a t shirt.

The crowds were great at that time, with the exception of MVMCP which was very crowded!!

We are taking the kids 12/7-12/12 this year and are preparing for everything. Crowds, no crowds, shorts to winter coats!!

I loved it all last month, I can't wait for the kids to see everything!

 

[ky32hm]

The Pop Warner Superbowl and National Cheer & Dance Championships are held at Disney World in early December (tentative 2008 dates: December 6-13). The Value resorts and some of the Moderate resorts will be FULL of kids (both football players and cheerleaders). Expect a lot of noise if you stay there. This event can cause crowds and there have been some unfortunate incidents, including violent fights between teams.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

We usually go this time every year and pull our teens out of school too. We go the monday after thanksgiving and leave the next mon or tues. Here is some advice, make all your adrs ahead of time. You would be surprised how many people try to walk up and get turned away. We always go to one MVMCP, you can use a park day on your pass and go early or just go when they let you in around 4 pm and we always go and book a candelight processional package. Another poster did the mathmatical calculation and found out the garden grill lunch for the lst cp show at 5 pm is the most cost effective so that is what we do and you get the characters too and its great. Our teens also like to watch the taping of the show in front of the castle for the christmas day disney broadcast. that is usually done on a friday the lst week of december. They have seen Beyonce 2 years ago and Jessica Simpson this year. They also have stars during sat. morning at the taping when Regis and Kelly are there. We avoid the MK that day. The storytellers at epcot are interesting to watch. Schedule time to see the resort decorations including the gingerbread house at the GF. There are great photo ops and you could make one your christmas card too. You could swim but we just never find the time. Capris and shorts are fine. A light jacket at night. Never needed a sweatshirt etc.

 

[heathrow42]

Suggestions: Go! It really is a great time of year to go - just remember to pack a little extra so you can dress in layers - the temps can be all over the place.

Tips: Keep an eye on when MouseFest will be - it's usually around that first week of December - you might be able to hook up w/ lots of other Diser's and Disney lovin' folk and do things you might not otherwise get to do (illuminations or fantasmic dessert party, illuminations cruise, scavenger hunt, etc). Also - go do Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. It's wonderful


http://www.mousefest.org/

--h

 

[OceanAnnie]

We went this past Dec. 10-22. First time for us in Dec.. It was great! The crowds were very light the first week and got progressively more crowded as Christmas drew nearer.

The weather was all over the place. Shorts, sweaters, coats. I tried to pack somewhat light, but that didn't happen!

We'd love to do it again in Dec., but we'd go earlier and leave earlier!

 

[gris gris]

We went 11/28-12/5 2006. It was the best and we're going back again hopefully this year 11/30-12/7 or so. Very little wait times, we walked onto almost everything, the longest wait for us was the Safari at AK about 25 minutes. If they lines advertised 10 minutes, we got on in 5. The weather was fine, not too hot, we swam at night, the last day it was a little chilly, in the 50's so we bought sweatshirts. We didn't use fast passes for anything.

My only problem now is plane tickets are so expensive! In 2006 we paid $184 round trip from PVD. Right now they are at $287 for the first week of Dec. I'm out of the travel loop - is $287 a deal I should grab now or should I wait a bit?

My only complaint about December was the Christmas songs - they played them all the time. It was strange not to hear any non-holiday songs. But it was beautiful and that's probably the only time we'd ever go back.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

The Pop Warner Superbowl and National Cheer & Dance Championships are held at Disney World in early December (tentative 2008 dates: December 6-13). The Value resorts and some of the Moderate resorts will be FULL of kids (both football players and cheerleaders). Expect a lot of noise if you stay there. This event can cause crowds and there have been some unfortunate incidents, including violent fights between teams.

Nope. Not true. Been there, done that, lotsa times. Except for the occasional crowd of overly hairsprayed giggly girls we didn't even notice. Percentage-wise, they're a very small part of the overall bunch of people there. And yeah, we usually stay at an All-Star on a Saturday night before switching over to Wilderness Lodge Villas on Sunday, and we barely noticed the cheerleaders every time we've gone. It's always been more of a, oh, there they are in the parking lot practicing again.

And no, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a cheerleader. In all reality they were *not* my favorite group of people in high school (I was the editor of the school newspaper, nuff said), and the Pop Warner people don't bother us at all.

 

[curlz2tite]

[

QUOTE]

My only problem now is plane tickets are so expensive! In 2006 we paid $184 round trip from PVD. Right now they are at $287 for the first week of Dec. I'm out of the travel loop - is $287 a deal I should grab now or should I wait a bit?[/QUOTE]

We Just booked today for 12/02-12/11/2008 from Newark for 219.00 RT
Just to give you an idea of what we ended up with
& our AAA rep had to book our air fare seperate to get us that rate

 

[jenr812]

I so want to go early Dec as well. So I am hitchhiking on your thread to get any advice you're given