Dec 2014

[SEVP]

I know the Dec 2014 hours and schedule will not be out until June - but would reviewing Dec 2013 give you a good idea what to go by?? Does it really change that much??

 

[angey77]

We go pretty much every December. I always pre-plan with these thoughts: Epcot is always open until 9:30, AK until around 5, MGM around 7-8 and MK until 7 for MVMCP nights and maybe 9-10 on other nights. If any nights they are open later, bonus!
Grant it, this is not during the weeks of Christmas and the New Year. And we only pay attention to EMH to know which parks to avoid. There are a few sites out there that project times and crowds as well.

 

[SEVP]

So - you can't go by 2013 schedule and guess which days will have EMH??

 

[angey77]

So - you can't go by 2013 schedule and guess which days will have EMH??

You could do that, or look at hours of months closer to this trip.

 

[shadeauxe]

I know the Dec 2014 hours and schedule will not be out until June - but would reviewing Dec 2013 give you a good idea what to go by?? Does it really change that much??

I have done this before and it has been fairly accurate. I am doing it again now for a trip in October. I will plan the days and then when it gets closer, if they've shuffled some of the EMH days around, then I'll shift my schedule. But I don't usually have to change much.

On wdwinfo.com, I think they have the park hours going back a couple of years or at least you can just change the year in the URL and it's still there. So you can compare 2012 & 2013 to see if there was much of a change.

 

[nicki.momof3]

We always go Christmas week. We were just there 12/20-12/29.

Here is what you can plan on.

Starting the Saturday before Christmas the parks will all have very extended hours. For example -

*The MK will have EMH hours every morning starting at 7am.
*The MK will stay open until at least 11pm every night. Some days it will stay open until 1am. With EMH 1am - 3am. I know it is crazy.
* At the MK they always run two parades a night. There will be an earlier parade, wishes, and another parade. The second parade is always less crowded.
* Epcot future world is always open until 9:30pm with WS open until 11pm. They do have EMH that extends that also.
* AK is usually open until 8pm - EMH extend that.

Basically they park hours are very extended. What I would suggest if you are dying to plan now. Pick where you want to do, plan it, and get a hopper pass. Hopper passes are great Christmas week because of the large crowds. If one park is packed - hop to another.

We love Christmas - it is amazing. Go to the parks at rope drop, leave around noon and hit the pool and relax, go back for dinner and evening in the parks. Pre book all your FP+ for the evenings when the lines are huge. FP+ worked GREAT for us a few weeks ago. We loved having them planned and changing them when needed.