Which week in December?

[andi_b_2005]

My family and I have decided on a last minute trip to Disney to celebrate my college graduation. We are having trouble picking a which week to go. We are planning either December 6-11 or December 12-17. I have been reading about Pop Warner being there the first weekend and seeing mixed reviews. Some say that it wasn't bad at the parks, but crowded at the hotels. (we are planning to stay at a value resort) Then I see about the crowds picking up by the week of Dec 12-17. We have never been to Disney around this time so we have no clue what type of crowds to expect. Our last trip was in June of 2005. Any input would be greatly appreciated. We are planning to book this week. Thanks!

 

[BradyBz12]

We've been there the first 2-3 weeks of December the past 3 years in a row and found all of these weeks to be good. While it's true it gets a bit busier each year (darned Travel Channel shows! ) crowds are still typically pretty low compared to other times of the year.

We don't generally do rope drop, tend to get to the parks late morning, and usually do PM EMH. That said, we haven't waited more than 20 minutes for anything (except TSM, but it doesn't matter what time of year it is for that).

All that said, all bets are off this year - particularly with all the promos being offered - so your mileage may vary.

We have not noticed a big spike in crowds during PW week and didn't even realize it was going on while we were there until last year. We've run into an occasional larger group of kids in the evenings, but that's about it. I can't speak to what the resorts they stay in are like, as we stay at FW.

Oh, while weather is generally dry and moderate (70-80s) last year was all over the map. We did finally see 80, but most days ran 60-70s and the night we did MVMCP it dipped below 40!

IMO any of these weeks is good!

 

[LilGMom]

My family and I have decided on a last minute trip to Disney to celebrate my college graduation. We are having trouble picking a which week to go. We are planning either December 6-11 or December 12-17. I have been reading about Pop Warner being there the first weekend and seeing mixed reviews. Some say that it wasn't bad at the parks, but crowded at the hotels. (we are planning to stay at a value resort) Then I see about the crowds picking up by the week of Dec 12-17. We have never been to Disney around this time so we have no clue what type of crowds to expect. Our last trip was in June of 2005. Any input would be greatly appreciated. We are planning to book this week. Thanks!

Pop Warner is Dec. 6th - 12th. They stay at the All Star resorts and one moderate which is either CSR or CBR (I think it is CSR but I'm not 100% sure). They can affect park attendance but usually not during the day and not that much at the beginning of the week. They do have an impact on the resorts that they are staying at. Most schools are still in session until Dec 18th, or so, so I can't imagine that park attendance would be that much higher than earlier in the month.

We've been during the first three weeks of December and the only time I'd say that it really started getting busy was one year when we were there up until Dec. 21st. Dec. 20-21 were a bit busier but that was also the weekend that school breaks started. If you are planning on staying at a value resort I'd pick the second set of dates to avoid the PW crowds at the resorts.

 

[dolphindan1]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2251814

 

[andi_b_2005]

Thanks for the input. I am planning to use Tour Guide Mike as well. We used that our last trip in June and it worked pretty well for us.