Dec 21-26, 2019 - # of park days

[JJ2017]

Hi there. Very excited to get our next trip on the calendar. After a ton of back and forth and debating a DLR trip vs a WDW trip we have decided on a 4th WDW trip. I told hubby that we would incorporate more resort days and down time. So while trying to budget, I’m taking a look at park tickets/how many days/and hopper option. Kids fave parks are EP and HS. We most likely would skip AK this trip. We will be at Dolphin. The math hurts my head but I think once you get to day 5 of tickets it’s a considerable discount to add on. We don’t have flights yet so not sure if arrival day and departure day would be park days. So looking at 4 days max. But that would put one of the days on Xmas. Never been this time of year but have been enough that we wouldn’t be rushed to try to squeeze everythig in. WWYD to maximize budget but feel like we had enough park time? We should avoid MK on Xmas, right?

 

[princessebird]

How is Galaxy's Edge (which, if I'm remembering correctly, is due to open right before or during your stay) factoring into your touring intentions?

 

[DizFan13]

In addition to thinking about SWGE, as princessebird mentions, remember how busy it will be. My family and I have taken a few trips between Xmas and New Years, and DH and I just finished a trip that included Christmas. We love that time of year, and the crowds are worth being a part of the extra fun and magic, as far as we're concerned. On that note, please know I'm not trying to be discouraging at all. Nonetheless, it's so busy that week that I don't know if it's possible to have a very relaxed, no rush approach with only four days in the parks. I, personally, would add the extra day (or two, if you can have even just an evening on your arrival day) so you can have a filler day when you can do or redo what you might have missed.

 

[DarX]

Standby lines are horrible I went that week this year. What we did that made it more enjoyable was do half days and plan on only going on the rides we had fast passes for. I would suggest adding the extra day and just do half days at the parks. Once your fast passes are done spend the rest of the day at the resort.

 

[JJ2017]

Thanks for some feedback. I guess part of me has always heard about Xmas week and until I see it for myself I can’t really assess how it will feel for my family. We have always gone Jersey Week and it’s crowded but I have no idea how that next level of crowds will be. SWGE freaks me out even more in terms of crowds (we are not Star Wars fans so not even sure if we would check it out). But.....if we don’t go Xmas week we don’t go at all in 2019 and that doesn’t sit well with me, ha. I did forget to mention that IF the CL FP program is still running we would do that since our suite at Dolphin would qualify. So maybe three park days with hoppers with 6 FP per day could help with the crowds.

 

[delgrec]

Thanks for some feedback. I guess part of me has always heard about Xmas week and until I see it for myself I can’t really assess how it will feel for my family. We have always gone Jersey Week and it’s crowded but I have no idea how that next level of crowds will be. SWGE freaks me out even more in terms of crowds (we are not Star Wars fans so not even sure if we would check it out). But.....if we don’t go Xmas week we don’t go at all in 2019 and that doesn’t sit well with me, ha. I did forget to mention that IF the CL FP program is still running we would do that since our suite at Dolphin would qualify. So maybe three park days with hoppers with 6 FP per day could help with the crowds.

We have gone Jersey week and Christmas week. They don't compare for crowds. Jersey week felt like we were alone in the parks compared tomchristmas. That being said, we love Christmas and are going 12/20-12/28

 

[cygnusx1jg]

Based on the first part of the original post, how does DLR compare to WDW as far as crowds during the Xmas holidays, for those that have been to both?