December 8th-11th 2015, slow time?

[crystalanne79]

I have the un-official guide to Disneyland and it says that the time between Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas is the slowest time of the year. Is that true? We want LESS CROWDS so last time we went the end of January and loved it but if we can see the Christmas decorations and it be even slower then bonus! Any advice?

 

[DahliaRW]

Just make sure you avoid the candlelight processional weekend...

 

[abookworm]

According to touringplans.com that week is a good week for low crowds (ranked 5 or less of 10).

 

[crystalanne79]

According to touring plans.com that week is a good week for low crowds (ranked 5 or less of 10).

Thanks, now to make a decision. I think early Feb can be closer to a 3 out of 10 which is not a huge difference.

 

[figment_jii]

It's still a long time until December 2015, so a lot of things can happen. We do not yet know what the HolidayTime schedule will look like and whether there will be any special events, conferences/conventions, activities, or weather that will impact crowds.

In terms of the weekday crowds, I think you'll be okay on Monday through Thursday, but it won't be walk-on rides (unless it is raining). The crowds won't be as low as late-January, but they aren't going to be Christmas week levels either. It is worth noting that the weekend of 12/11 is the last Friday that SoCal Select and SoCal AP can get into the parks until after the holidays, so I would expect an uptick in crowds due to that.

Unfortunately, I think the Unofficial Guide is out of date. I think the time from the week after Thanksgiving to the week before Christmas is one of the slower times during the Holiday Season, but it is not the slowest time of the year. Crowds will steadily ramp up during that period. So while crowds will be manageable, especially on the weekdays (Mon-Thu), they will be high on the weekends (Fri-Sat).

 

[Sherry E]

I have the un-official guide to Disneyland and it says that the time between Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas is the slowest time of the year. Is that true? We want LESS CROWDS so last time we went the end of January and loved it but if we can see the Christmas decorations and it be even slower then bonus! Any advice?

crystalanne79 --

The Unofficial Guide is incorrect, if it is truly saying that that time frame is the "slowest time of the year." In no way, shape or form is any part of the holiday season the slowest time of the whole year. You will not find truly low crowds at any point during the holiday season -- especially not during the year of Disneyland's 60th anniversary, when all kinds of new entertainment will presumably be happening -- unless it rains or threatens to rain. You may find some brief windows of time in which it is slightly less crowded than other times during the holiday season, but that doesn't last for more than a couple of days at a time.

What they could have meant to say in the Unofficial Guide -- and what I will say -- is that the time frame right after Thanksgiving weekend and before mid-December is a slightly less crowded point in the holiday season, because it is between major holiday breaks, and a lot of people are still at work and in school. I have gone during that time frame many times and it is manageable and bearable, but there are still a lot of people in the parks on some days. Even the Candlelight Ceremony weekend is manageable at times.

However, all of that said, what has happened is something that I call "Crowds Causing Crowds While Avoiding Crowds." What that means is that a lot of people caught on to or learned about the first couple of weeks of December being a less crowded window of time during the holiday season than, say, between Christmas and New Year's, and guess what happened? That's right -- many of them decided to go post-Thanksgiving and pre- mid-December.

And then guess what happened? Suddenly, the "formerly less crowded" time frames became more crowded, and the "formerly super-crowded" times became less crowded. The crowd dynamics shift a bit when a bunch of people go to DLR during a less crowded time, and then eventually they shift back again.

During my last early December trip I definitely noticed an increase in crowds from what the parks had been like in the past, but it was still not unbearable.

 

[LizzyS]

We went on December 13, 2014 and my biggest observation is that I'd say it was a normal "off season" sort of day UNTIL it started to get dark. I've never seen that many people in the park, tbh, as we have gone in November and February before and not at Holiday time.

The bottleneck into Tomorrowland was atrocious to work your way through!

 

[SMD]

We went on December 13, 2014 and my biggest observation is that I'd say it was a normal "off season" sort of day UNTIL it started to get dark. I've never seen that many people in the park, tbh, as we have gone in November and February before and not at Holiday time.

The bottleneck into Tomorrowland was atrocious to work your way through!

Didn't it rain overnight? That would decrease morning crowds. But unfortunately it's hard to plan around weather.

 

[figment_jii]

Didn't it rain overnight? That would decrease morning crowds. But unfortunately it's hard to plan around weather.

It rained on Friday the 12th and a little during the overnight (I think), but it was clear by Saturday morning (we got there at rope drop). I remember Saturday morning being fairly typical; moderate crowds and you can get a fair amount done, but by lunch the crowds were picking up and by afternoon the lines were long (compared to September and mid-November).

 

[chickapin parterre]

and there is no week after thanksgiving in 2015, that week will come back in 2016. Sherry observation about CCCAWC is very right on, making 2016 the least crowded in the last five years.