Christmas at Disney

[Moparlar]

My wife and kids want to go this year over christmas. We usually go over thanksgiving. How crowded is it at christmas.

Larry

 

[fluffykim]

Hi Larry-

We have been a couple of times actually at Xmas.

Xmas is THE number 1 busiest time of the year. The parks close almost every day due to maximum capacity.

 

[mrebuck]

Since you usually go over Thanksgiving . . . . how crowed is it over Thanksgiving? We're going to be there the weekend after Thanksgiving.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Since you usually go over Thanksgiving . . . . how crowed is it over Thanksgiving? We're going to be there the weekend after Thanksgiving.

We were there last year the week of Thanksgiving and the week after. It was busy, but not awful.

 

[mrebuck]

Thanks!

 

[liznboys]

We just went this past Christmas, Friday the 19th through Sunday the 28th. It was wonderful! The crowds were lower than we anticipated. We did not go into any parks on Christmas day itself. We went to MK on Christmas Eve morning and that was crowded but not nearly as bad as we expected. And then we went to MK on the 26th in the morning/early afternoon and it was LOW crowds. We walked onto Peter Pan, Pooh, stayed on the teacups 4 times in a row, walked on Barnstormer, and did a lot of other stuff that day. It was great!!

I think once you start heading towards New Years, especially New Years Eve it is much worse.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this season the only park/day that anything closed due to capacity was MK on New Years Eve...?

 

[We3LoveDisney]

We were also there over Christmas (23rd to the 30th). The crowds were heavy, but I have a feeling that they weren't as heavy as in years past. This was our first Christmas trip and I read nightmare stories.

I think some of it depends on the age of your children. It was myself, DH and DD16 and we had an absolutely wonderful time. Yes, the crowds are heavy, but we knew they would be and went into it with the mindset that we would be able to check out all the decorations at the parks and the resorts and not worry so much about the rides. Well we found that the parks were open very late at night (MK some nights until 3 a.m.) so if you have kids that are old enough to stay out until 1, 2 or 3 in the morning that is the best time to hit the rides. We slept in a little bid, took an afternoon break and stayed out late. It was great. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

 

[iloveokw]

I felt that it was very crowded this year. We get up early an are there when Except for the morning that we were at the MK at 7 a.m. we had trouble with long lines. Stay away on NYE - the stand by line for Soaring in Epcot was 280 minutes at one point. Do a search of the theme park board to see if you want to go then. If your family gets up early and doesn't mind not riding everything then you will be ok. It is a magical time at WDW.

 

[hakepb]

We were there last year the week of Thanksgiving and the week after. It was busy, but not awful.

It all becomes personal preference, some do not mind, some do. but I've done an extended week before Thankgiving week 2 times and by the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I thought it was too uncomfortably busy with lines longer than I am comfortable with.. (Seemed to get more and more crowds the closer to Thanksgiving day). I would never go out of my way to do the parks and rides on Thanksgiving week (especially with pay-by-the day hoppers), I think there are better weeks to have a more relaxed WDW park visit. but I understand that may be the best time you can get the family there, and family fun at WDW is the best thing!

 

[ldo]

We go at Easter---so I understand crowds, but for Dec 24, how crowded is Epcot in terms of bodies in park and difficulty in getting around? I read that NYE is awful--but how about Christmas Eve?

We are thinking of going for 2 days with grandparents from Fla. and taking them to CP (with dinner package) on Dec 24--are we crazy? Is 12/24 LESS crowded than 12/25--our only other option?

 

[edk35]

Since you usually go over Thanksgiving . . . . how crowed is it over Thanksgiving? We're going to be there the weekend after Thanksgiving.

We have gone to WDW 4 times the week of Thanksgiving. We usually arrive that Thursday or Friday the week before the holiday. We have left as late as Sat. after Thanksgiving day and as early as Thanksgiving night. This year we felt the crowds were much less than the previous year. We arrived Thursday afternoon and left on Friday the day after. We were pleasantly surprised at how much we did and how well rested we felt for such a usually crowded time. I think the economy came into play for this holiday season. Usually from what I have read as far as Christmas/New Year's and the few people we know that have gone in past years (not this past one).....it is usually packed the week between Christmas Day and New Year's. BUT ..having said that...if you plan ahead of time for the trip, have a plan of attack while there and go into the trip knowing what could happen as far as ride wait times..... I am sure it can be a great time. I would never go during a busy time expecting to see and do it all. I also come armed with Tour Guide Mike..which has helped our trips a lot.

 

[drusba]

Have been Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas time. Easter time and Christmas are similar with Christmas time still the worst-- Easter time, which probably has the same number of people around, has the advantage that some of the crowd is filling up the waterparks to capacity rather than the theme parks and Christmas is seldom warm enough to have even the one waterpark that is open fill up. Thanksgiving, which is quite crowded, is like off-season in comparison to either. If you think of MK as a three foot deep six foot wide closet, Thanksgiving is like trying to stuff eight adults into that closet; Christmas/New Years is like trying to stuff a hundred sumo wrestlers into it. Crowds, as comments usually indicate, are to a great extent a matter of personal tolerance; it never fails when discussed here that there wiil be two different people at WDW at the same time and one believes the crowds were easy or not bad at all and the other that they were intolerable.

Christmas time was somewhat lighter this year when we were there because I am unaware of any park actually closing because of crowd size which often happens during that time. New Years Eve in MK and Epcot are the two worst crowd days. Early mornings can often be somewhat light. To give you a concept of crowd size, here are some observed facts: (a) Soarin reached in the afternoon a few times a 3 hour 40 minute stand-by line; both Soarin and Test Track were usually close to 3 hours stand-by, saw the "singles only" Test Track line itself go to 80 minutes; noteworthy is that during the same time Mission Space often had no more than a 25 to 30 minute stand-by line -- apparently almost everyone now knows you get sick on that ride.; (b) popular rides at MK such as the mountains, Pan, Jungle Ride, and at AK, such as Safari and Everest had long periods daily with 2 to 2 1/2 hour standby's; (c) afternoon and evening street crowds at MK reached a thickness where it would take 35 to 40 minutes to walk (crawl basically) from Space Mountain to Splash Mountain; (d) because of narrow streets and crowds on them, there were times movement of the masses actually stopped in AK causing back-ups that you could not get around; (e) for popular rides at all parks fast passes for entire day and evening were often gone before noon.

 

[Mom_of_3_Pirates]

I was there in December 2007 the week between Christmas and NY, and the crowds were huge. It was do-able, but I would suggest only going in the mornings and grabbing fast passes for major rides otherwise they will be gone before noon. I can't even imagine taking little ones on NYE to MK or Epcot.

Would it be possible to go the first two weeks in December? From what I've read, those would be great weeks to go in December since the decorations are up and the crowds are less.

We were just there Nov 9 to 14th and the crowds were great. Decorations not entirely up yet, which was a disappointment. We were still able to experience MVMCP and able to enjoy a little Disney Holiday Magic.

 

[Doctor P]

I/we have been at Xmas time seven times. We have been for NYE three times. Basically, if you have to ask about how bad the crowds are, you probably will not be happy. We love visiting at that time of year, but are well aware of what we are getting ourselves into and try to lower our expectations accordingly. One rule we have abided by since our first year: we stay away from the parks on Xmas day. Second (newer) rule: we will stay away from MK on NYE. The crowds are so bad that they border on unsafe at times in the MK. We have never had a problem with Epcot since the park has a much greater ability to handle large crowds. However, we have been there when the gates have closed at Epcot several times due to the crowds.

 

[Granny]

To give you an idea, here's Sunset Blvd in HS at Christmas time a couple of years ago.

But it's not hot so we found it to be very enjoyable.

 

[tomandrobin]

My wife and kids want to go this year over christmas. We usually go over thanksgiving. How crowded is it at christmas.

Larry

Depends when you define "at Christmas". Between Thanksgiving and Dec 21 its fairly light. But as you get closer to the actual Christmas Day, the parks start to get more crowded. Dec 26th through Jan 1st all hell breaks loose, with MK reaching crowd capacity on days like the 29th, 30th and 31st and closes.

On a personal note - We have gone 12/27 - 1/4 the past 4 years and absolutely love WDW at that time of year. In fact we will be calling next week for the 5th year.

 

[dmoore22]

We've been to WDW over Christmas the past two years. Crowd wish it is worse than the 4th of July but, on the other hand, the weather is marvelous. It was a tad chilly this year but still marvelous. I would say the crowds this year, compared to last year were a little less due to the recession. The lines for rides were not as bad as last year. On Christmas day we attended services at the Contemporary in the Fantasia Ballroom -- a very nice way to start the day. We find Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to be manageable since many folks, ie locals, must stay home for family gatherings. It does pick up later in the day on Christmas Day.

This is the first year we've been there for New Year's Eve. I'm glad that I can say that I've done it but I'm not sure it I would do it again. Once you enter a park plan on staying because they will close. Forget park hoping. However on New Year's Day it's thinned out with folks and locals staying home to recuperate.

In short there is nothing like Disney at Christmas, The decorations, the fireworks, parades, Osborne Family Lights, Holiday Wishes, and the spirit of the season shared with all the visitors. It even snows on Main Street. It's not confetti but real Disney snow. It also snows on the Streets of America at Disney Studios so there is no need to fret over missing a White Christmas. Now that I think about it I think I would do New Years' again.