Best time to go to Disney in terms of crowds???

[bradpga]

We had a wonderful Disney vacation over the Thanksgiving holiday. Stayed at BWV for the entire week of Tgiving. Loved it! We would like to go back during the Christmas season and take other family members BUT would like to avoid the BIG crowds we experienced on our recent trip. We didn't mind the crowds because we make several trips and don't feel like we have to ride EVERYTHING twice. I am looking into the first week in December or the first week in January. Any advise??? Both dates require fairly low points. Which is less crowded and easiest to book at 7 months? Would like to stay at BWV again or possibly VWL.

 

[DVC Grammy]

If you still want to see WDW in all its Christmas splendor, then the first week in December works best. The first week of January has the marathon, so there may not be too much of a lull in DVC occupancy. In our experience, the crowds for both times aren't noticably different, but the decor certainly is!
As far as the least crowded, probably the few weeks after Labor day, but then you have the heat. January also used to be quiet, but that's changing, too.
Let's face it...............if we WDW, chances are more and more people will too!

 

[fofinia]

We always go in January. The crowds are lite. But we went last May and the crowds weren't as bad as i would've thought. But usually the second or third week in january you can walk right on the majority of the rides. I'll be there in a week and half. Hopefully it will be nice and quiet!

 

[Sammie]

Early January will have lower park crowds. Early December has Pop Warner.

Early January will be easier to book, early December is very popular with DVC members and most book day by day 11 months out.

 

[snowwhite17]

First week of December if you want to really take in all the Christmas decorations. The crowds should be really low in January but they are taking the decorations down soon after the 1st.

 

[kato0627]

Dec 1-8th,07 is POP Warner week. Sounded like a lot of noisy teenagers with terrible chaperones this year. I would personally stay away from that week. Good Luck

 

[Starr W.]

Dec 1-8th,07 is POP Warner week. Sounded like a lot of noisy teenagers with terrible chaperones this year. I would personally stay away from that week. Good Luck

I read some reports from this year on some other DIS threads and you hit the nail on the head with your description.

 

[bsusanmb]

DO NOT GO THE FIRST WEEK IN DEC IF YOU WANT TO AVOID CROWDS AND LONG LINES!!!

We have gone every year and this year was the first time that it was AWFUL. Unruly kids, adults, cheerleaders competing with each other in the Crystal Palace, chaperones refusing to pay adult prices for teenagers, it was awful. We are going the week after Thanksgiving this year which is before the Pop Warner people are out in full force....by the way, CRO told me that they reserve 10,000 rooms....gives you an idea of the mass of kids, kids who don't understand the difference between public behavior and home behavior....

 

[Starr W.]

"DO NOT GO THE FIRST WEEK IN DEC IF YOU WANT TO AVOID CROWDS AND LONG LINES!!!"


I'll add that to my words of wisdom from fellow DVC'ers. I have learned quite a bit in this short time. Thank you all!

 

[lazydazy8]

Maybe we just lucked out, but we made out GREAT the first week of December. We went Dec.1-7 and can't complain. We even stayed at Pop. It was quiet, at least on our wing of the 50's building.

It wasn't dead, but we made great use of the fast pass system and found other things to go on while we waited for our time to come up. We were with two other families with kids from 18 months to 7 years. None of them were upset with the 5-20 minute lines.

We never had any altercations with disruptive teens.

You DO, however, need to make ADR's at least 150 days out.

Also, avoid the MK the day they are filming the Christmas parade. That was the busiest day we had.

We will definitely go that week again.

 

[scurutchet]

I'm so sad to hear of the problems this year with the Pop Warner We always went the first few weeks of December and found it to be a great time to go. You are able to enjoy all the Christmas activities and the crowd level was low. I hope this is not a trend of the way it will always be, I love going that time of year.

 

[NMW]

We always had gone to WDW the 1st week of Dec and the crowds were low, weather nice. However, over the last few years the crowds have gotten much bigger at that time. This year we did the 3rd week in Oct and had way, way less crowds. We actually commented on it just about every day!

I do think the POP Warner makes a diiference in crowds. We saw groups of cheerleaders everywhere 2 years ago. They weren't badly behaved, just a little loud. At the Tazan show in AK, we looked around and realized we were surrounded by EIGHT different groups of cheeleders and their chaperones. They are easy to spot in their matching tee-shirts and matching Minnie Headbands. I have never seen any of them at the resorts we have stayed at. I believe they mostly stay at the values or the moderates. I can't imagine what those hotel pools are like!

 

[DISNEYDUET]

"DO NOT GO THE FIRST WEEK IN DEC IF YOU WANT TO AVOID CROWDS AND LONG LINES!!!"
I'll add that to my words of wisdom from fellow DVC'ers. I have learned quite a bit in this short time. Thank you all!

Ditto here! I learned my leason 4 years in a row!! Now it's the sec. to third week in January for us! (or May, June, September, or October )

 

[Hammy1480]

I've always gone in pre-Halloween October and the crowds in nice and lite.

 

[byoung]

I like the second week in DEC.

 

[dsneygirl]

We went Dec 10-17 this past year and it was quiet at the beginning but the 2nd weekend the crowds really picked up. We've already booked for Dec 2-7 next year before our APs expire.

We also went the first week of Oct in 2006 and the place was deserted.

 

[Innovention]

We were there from Dec 30th to Jan 7th. Here are my comments

There was approximately 70K people at Epcot on Dec 31st. We visited Epcot again on Jan 6th and 7th and in spite of the marathon, there was approximately 20k people. It's day and night. Even at 5pm we could still get FP for Soarin. There was practically no waiting at most of the snack bars.

I was told that Magic Kingdom reached full capacity at 11am on Dec. 31st and had to refuse admission to non-resort visitors. We visited MK on Jan 4th and 5th and we had a great experience. It was not too crowded and we could enjoy most of the rides with a less than 30 min. stand-by wait time. There was plenty of good spots for the evening firework. We were even able to get a reservation at one of the sit-in restaurants for 6h45pm just by showing at the door at 2pm on the same day!

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Avoiding crowds with iffy temperatures would be January. Avoiding crowds a little less with good temps likely would be mid September to mid November.

 

[UConnJack]

We've gone in May a few times and loved it. Not as uncrowded as January, but still fairly light (weekends were busier). The benefit is warm weather making the pools and water parks much more fun. Yes it can still get HOT, but generally it has been mid-80's, with moderate humidity (comparable to a NE summer).

 

[mainehockey1]

I've always gone in pre-Halloween October and the crowds in nice and lite.

How Pre-Halloween were you? Our daughter's birthday is the 8th, but that is also the week of the Fryeburg, ME Fair, which we love. (If ever in New England that week, it is a GREAT place to people watch) Anyway...we are now booked for the 6th to 16th ish 2007 at DSS. It'll be our FIRST trip "home". We are thinking of getting an annual pass and coming back 10/2008. Any suggestions on which week would be a huge help!! Thanks in advance.