Crowds week BEFORE Christmas week

[aleria24]

Doing something different and trying the week before Christmas week for our next trip. We will be looking at the week of Dec 14-21, 2025. We are hoping they will be a little lower given that school isn't out that week. How bad are the crowds the week before Christmas week? How would they compare to Thanksgiving week or Presidents Day week? We have done those weeks many times and been fine.

 

[fla4fun]

Doing something different and trying the week before Christmas week for our next trip. We will be looking at the week of Dec 14-21, 2025. We are hoping they will be a little lower given that school isn't out that week. How bad are the crowds the week before Christmas week? How would they compare to Thanksgiving week or Presidents Day week? We have done those weeks many times and been fine.

I have visited during the last full week before Christmas a few times and my experience has been that the crowds rise sharply starting the afternoon of Friday on the weekend before the holiday. So I would expect the 19th-21st to be much more crowded than the 14th-18th will be. I would plan to get most of your “must do” items done by midday on the 19th so you can be more relaxed on the last two busier days. It is similar to Thanksgiving week, in that the first part of the week is slower than the last part. I don’t feel it’s as comparable to Presidents Day week, since a lot of kids have that week off from school so the entire week is busy (especially if Mardi Gras happens to fall at the same time for a double whammy).

 

[aleria24]

I have visited during the last full week before Christmas a few times and my experience has been that the crowds rise sharply starting the afternoon of Friday on the weekend before the holiday. So I would expect the 19th-21st to be much more crowded than the 14th-18th will be. I would plan to get most of your “must do” items done by midday on the 19th so you can be more relaxed on the last two busier days. It is similar to Thanksgiving week, in that the first part of the week is slower than the last part. I don’t feel it’s as comparable to Presidents Day week, since a lot of kids have that week off from school so the entire week is busy (especially if Mardi Gras happens to fall at the same time for a double whammy).

Gotcha.
Thanks for the reply. We have Mardi Gras week off typically so We have done the double whammy before. We should be fine.

 

[Genie+]

We visited Sat-Sat the week before Christmas last year, Dec 16-23 in 2023. APs generally start getting blocked that Thursday which seemed to help offset the early Christmas arrivals.

Our stay started off busy, lightened up midweek Tues-Thurs, then heavier again Fri/Sat. That’s typically most weeks anyway. But I was expecting the second weekend more busy than the first and it wasn’t really. AP blockout starting probably helped. Of course MK on non-party days are all cuckoo in December in between MVMCP dates.

 

[Gentry2004]

Doing something different and trying the week before Christmas week for our next trip. We will be looking at the week of Dec 14-21, 2025. We are hoping they will be a little lower given that school isn't out that week. How bad are the crowds the week before Christmas week? How would they compare to Thanksgiving week or Presidents Day week? We have done those weeks many times and been fine.

The first couple days should be okay but starting about Wednesday will be a noticeable uptick. Many schools will close starting the 18th or so or parents pull early.

 

[aleria24]

The first couple days should be okay but starting about Wednesday will be a noticeable uptick. Many schools will close starting the 18th or so or parents pull early.

Most of our schools last day will be Friday the 19th. I teach, and in my experience very few people pull early at Christmas because of holiday parties/ concerts/ performances that kids would miss. Have you experienced a lot of parents pulling early and missing that stuff?

 

[Gentry2004]

Most of our schools last day will be Friday the 19th. I teach, and in my experience very few people pull early at Christmas because of holiday parties/ concerts/ performances that kids would miss. Have you experienced a lot of parents pulling early and missing that stuff?

Yes in our area it’s common to pull those days because no real work is missed.

 

[aleria24]

Yes in our area it’s common to pull those days because no real work is missed.

Gotcha. We do a lot of band concerts, choir performances, dance recitals, ect that week before Christmas and holiday parties are the last day of school. Classes are always full.