1st week vs 2 week of Dec-crowds?

[vatmark]

Is the 1st week of Dec. less crowded then the 2nd week in Dec? I thought I would go tthe 2nd week and avoid Pop Warner but now I'm wondering if the 1st week will be less crowded even with Pop Waner. Or are these weeks about the same crowd wise? I haven't finalized any ressies yet and can go either week.

Annie

 

[onelumiere]

hI : we are going dec. 4 and i heard it is not crowded at all Because of the fact that most people either go thanksgiving or xmas/new years week. i have been every time of the year except the summer. I am hoping this is true. the park will be decorated for xmas and the weather should be very nice. Most parents do not want to take their kids out of school for a week especially since they were just off for thanksgiving and will be off at the end of december. A lot of schools start doing their semester testing around this time as well. the second week is a little more crowded I heard even though it is still relatively empty by disney standards because some colleges start to have their fall break around this time. However, it is not enough to make a huge difference. One final note, the disney cast member told me they film the xmas parade the first week of december to air on television xmas morning so if you have kids going with you, this might be a nice treat. The lady told me they actually have "fillers" in the crowd for the parade to make it look crowded on TV becuase the park is relatively empty. Most of the crowd is actually disney cast members on their day off. Hope this helped. If anyone knowd for sure or has been at this time, pleasre correct me if i am wrong. ENJOY YOUR TRIP!!!!!!!!

 

[ChristmasElf]

Either week you will be fine as the crowds from Thanksgiving will have cleared out and the crowds for Christmas usually don't start arriving until December 18ish.
The weather will be great with temps in the high 70's and sunny during the day. Bring a lightweight jacket or sweater for the evenings as it can get a tad chilly (course "chilly" to us is anything under 70)

 

[vatmark]

Thank you ! It will be just me an DH going this trip. We took the kids back in Oct. I have always wanted to go at Christmas time to see all the decorations and what not. It will be sort of an anniversary celebration for us just 2 months late! Can't wait!

Annie

 

[LisaMaz]

Either week you will be fine as the crowds from Thanksgiving will have cleared out

Do you know when they start clearing out? We were planning on arriving Sat. the 25th but now I'm thinking we'd be better off waiting until Sunday the 26th? Or are they still crazy on Sunday? Thanks!

 

[n2mm]

We went the 2nd weekend of December in 2004 and the 1st weekend of December in 2005. We were only there during the weekends (Thursday to Monday) and found both times unbelievablely crowded. In 2004 MGM closed due to capacity that Saturday night and we waited to get in for a hour after the crowds thinned out. So the next year, 2005, we thought we would choose the first weekend....wrong. That is the weekend that they tape the Christmas parade. We were at the AKL and they were sold out. (I think a lot of folks from the taping were there, as we saw Vanessa Williams and family walking out as we were coming in after she did her taping at MK that day). I believe the weekdays HAD to be lesser in regard to crowds. We were only there during the weekends, arriving Thursday and departing on Monday-noonish. We encountered the Pop kids in 2004, but had no real impact on us, since we were staying at the BWI in 2004. People kept talking about how light the crowds were in early December, but during the last 2 years we just didn't see any light crowds and have crossed December off of our list.

 

[vatmark]

Thanks for your input n2mm. We will be there a Saturday till friday so most of our time in the parks will be on weekdays so hopefully it won't be as bad as you experienced on the weekends.

Annie

 

[LisaMaz]

We went the 2nd weekend of December in 2004 and the 1st weekend of December in 2005. We were only there during the weekends (Thursday to Monday) and found both times unbelievablely crowded. In 2004 MGM closed due to capacity that Saturday night and we waited to get in for a hour after the crowds thinned out. So the next year, 2005, we thought we would choose the first weekend....wrong. That is the weekend that they tape the Christmas parade. We were at the AKL and they were sold out. (I think a lot of folks from the taping were there, as we saw Vanessa Williams and family walking out as we were coming in after she did her taping at MK that day). I believe the weekdays HAD to be lesser in regard to crowds. We were only there during the weekends, arriving Thursday and departing on Monday-noonish. We encountered the Pop kids in 2004, but had no real impact on us, since we were staying at the BWI in 2004. People kept talking about how light the crowds were in early December, but during the last 2 years we just didn't see any light crowds and have crossed December off of our list.

Wow I was not expecting this at all! I hope that doesn't happen!!!

 

[danny1649]

Each year since 1992 either the first or second week of Decemeber.When we first started going that time of year,the crowds were very low.I think the secret is out and now can be moderate to heavy crowds now during same time peroid.Still a great time to visit with all the holiday decorations and great Christmas shows.We are going Dec 8th - 15th this year and looking forward to it.Over the years we have encountered weather from very cold to hot,so we dress in layers to be able to adjust to the weather.Just have a basic plan in place and arrive to parks early and you will see and do all you want and the ques will not be that bad.

 

[LoveWDW]

We were there in 2005 for 5 nights starting Dec 4. There were crowds, but we never felt overwhelmed, except at openings when it was shoulder to shoulder, so we avoided openings after that- and as a result were not able to ride Soarin since fast passes were booked very quickly until a time in the afternoon when we had other plans. I'd go again during that time period- the weather was moderate- we needed warm outerwear one night. The decorations were beautiful.

 

[LeslieG]

We're going first weekend in Dec., and I thought we'd be okay with crowds if we stayed away from MK because of the taping. Do you think the other parks will be crowded as well? I'm thinking we may only go to AK, because that's the only park we've not been to yet.

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

we are going december 2nd, and were told that was the day of the taping at the magic kingdom!!! we had ressies for hoop dee doo that night but had to cancel for fear of cutting it too close to arrival....it was almost complete sold out when i booked it in january. i have to wonder if people from the taping are going to be there. we may have had our brush with fame, and had to cancel :O( we are going to try for 1900 park fare instead. and HDD will be mid trip.

anyway. i am hoping for same crowd levels that we had 1st week in december in 2001...however that was only a few months after 9.11 and park was less busy than usual. so i anticipate it to be much busier.

best week i ever went for crowd levels: last week of august/1st week of september overlapping labour day.

apparently the kids in the US start back at school that week, wheras where I am they start back the tuesday after labour day. the parks were dead! rained a bit every day and that would clear the park out that much more. we stayed open to close each park it was awesome time to go. rain was welcome relief from heat. :O)

 

[AStamm]

We just watched our family video from our 1st WDW trip back in 2004. We went during Pop Warner week and other than staying at ASMo and seeing all those kids, we wouldn't have known anything was even happening. The crowds on my video were almost non-existant.

Don't be afraid to try Pop Warner week. The kids are so busy competing they are hardly at the parks.