Am I crazy for thinking this week will work

[Kindermouse]

I just booked January 3-6 in an attempt to enjoy the Disney Christmas season without the worst of the Christmas crowds. I can't book early December since I'm a teacher I can't take other times off in December when we already have dec 23-Jan 9 off. I can't go on the weekend since I'll be using my AP and the weekends are blacked out.

I'm hoping it will be more manageable since it is mid week and after the holidays but before the decorations come down so I was hoping it would be a good time. We have never been for the Christmas season/decorations and I have always wanted to. Since we are doing a week long trip in October I was thinking that our expectations and feeling like we need to ride a ton of rides will be lower too so if crowds are bad it won't bother us to only do morning through early afternoons only when crowd are smaller.

Also my son has neurological disabilities so extreme crowd will drive us out of the park but we have been there when touring plans rated it an 9/8 and we managed by leaving early.

Am I crazy for thinking these dates will work? Should I just forget about seeing Disney done up for the holidays?

 

[disneychrista]

It is still going to be VERY busy. That is likely the second week of Winter/Christmas break for many.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Unfortunately a ton of people will be there since the passes will all have been blocked out for the two weeks prior to that... So all the APs who want to see Christmas one last time will be there in force, I would guess.

 

[disneychrista]

Unfortunately a ton of people will be there since the passes will all have been blocked out for the two weeks prior to that... So all the APs who want to see Christmas one last time will be there in force, I would guess.

Passes aren't blocked out that week? That's is crazy.

 

[SMD]

Passes aren't blocked out that week? That's is crazy.

By January there will be a lot of people who went from Premium to Signature and are now blocked the last 2 weeks of December. Even if they block the lower levels, just that group could potentially bring in large crowds because they've never had any block outs before.

 

[hilarys]

For our school district in Northern Calif that is our second week of Christmas break. Not sure if it will be as busy as between Christmas and New Years, but I am guessing pretty busy. We usually only go during busy times, but the last time we visited DL between Christmas and New Year's it was too much for me - I will take Spring Break any day over that since spring breaks are a bit spread out.

 

[Kindermouse]

Hillary I'm also from northern ca and have the second week of break then which is why I'm able to go then. As a teacher I'm limited to school breaks.

I know it will be busy, I'm just wondering if people think it will be gate closing, can't move, 2 hour waits type of busy. That busy is too busy. That level of crowds would be too much for my son though we can manage spring break (looking up our last trip on touring plans it showed that the crowds were 8's and 9's) since though is busy it's not shoulder to shoulder all day like I have heard about the week of thanksgiving and the week between Christmas and New Years and some of the summer time. And we usually do rope drop and enjoy a few hours then leave for the busy part of the day then return for evenings and try to hit up rides while others are watching parades and such.

But if you think it will be that busy I'll just cancel. I want to see Disney for Christmas but I don't wanna drive 5 hours just to find out that the crowds are more than we can manage.

 

[disneychrista]

I'm just wondering if people think it will be gate closing, can't move, 2 hour waits type of busy.

YES! Especially since from the looks of things ALL PASSES are unblocked that week. Not sure what Disney is thinking. Obviously they didn't take into account that most schools will have that week off. I would not risk it, if my child had crowd issues.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

I mean, it's impossible to know for sure, but my guess is that it will be very crowded.

It will be the first year that the whole Premium/Signature switch will have taken full effect. Lots of people have that week off, too (I'm a SoCal teacher and my school is off that week). No passes are blocked out. Lots of people will be thinking "I'll miss the big crowds actual Christmas week and go the next week!" Based on all of that, it seems like high crowds are guaranteed. Will they be "close the park" crowds? That I doubt. Will they be "two hour wait" crowds? My best guess is yes.

 

[closetmickey]

Mid and Lower lever passes are almost always blocked during Christmas vacations. With that week still being vacation for most, I expect the crowds to be as bad or worse than between Christmas and New Years

 

[SMD]

The So Cal and So Cal Select passes are guaranteed X number of admission days per year. Eventually Disney runs out of days it can block, even if they're going to fall during common school vacation weeks.