December Crowd levels?

[Crazy4Disney06]

Going to visit DL in December. This will be our first trip to DL during the holiday's. Does anyone how the crow level is compared to WDW? We were at WDW during the same time last year and it was not too horrible until our last night (21st).
We are saying 3 nights in a 1 bedroom Villa at the Grand Californian and the other 3 off site... was it a mistake booking this time frame?

 

[Astylla]

DH and I went last year to Disneyland from Dec 14th - 20th and had such great experiences we planned another trip immediately after for that time frame. Crowds last year weren't bad at all. I think we arrived on a Wed. and Thurs and Fri we walked onto most rides and the weekend was when it really went busy , but not intolerable. PP Flight wasn't even that bad at 30 minutes , that seems to be my benchmark lol.

December was really fun for us. It wasn't the week of the holidays so crowds were manageable and the bit of rain that came around helped too. Even though I grew up in Florida/WDW never having gone at that time I can't compare but I highly recommend a December Disney trip

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

DH and I went last year to Disneyland from Dec 14th - 20th and had such great experiences we planned another trip immediately after for that time frame. Crowds last year weren't bad at all. I think we arrived on a Wed. and Thurs and Fri we walked onto most rides and the weekend was when it really went busy , but not intolerable. PP Flight wasn't even that bad at 30 minutes , that seems to be my benchmark lol.

December was really fun for us. It wasn't the week of the holidays so crowds were manageable and the bit of rain that came around helped too. Even though I grew up in Florida/WDW never having gone at that time I can't compare but I highly recommend a December Disney trip

Thank you! I am happy to hear this! Last year at WDW was manageable until our last day which go so bad we ended up going back to our room a bit early. We will be at DL the 17th through the 21th with no weekend time in the parks so hopefully our trip is as pleasant as yours was!

 

[Kittyskyfish]

I'm not a fan of heavy crowds and I found DL in December to be very manageable with a weekday-oriented schedule. Plan enough weekdays into your trip and you'll have a wonderful time!

Weekdays: crowds are light/comfortable in the daytime and build up toward the later afternoon. In the evenings, it'll be the busiest but usually not *too* crowded-feeling heavy.

Weekends: Gets heavy! Later afternoon, evening parades and firework shows can get really congested. The parks don't usually reach capacity but it'll feel noticeably crowded. FYI.

We try to schedule our trip to arrive on a Sunday or Monday and spend the rest of the week and weekend in the park, leaving on Sunday. Our rule is to see it all in DL/DCA before the weekend arrives so we can spend the last days kicking back and going at a slower pace while the park is crowded. If there was any day to camp out for Fantasmic, we like it on these days. No pressure to rush, just relax and cool our feet.

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

Thanks for the advice! We are set to arrive on Sunday and spend Monday offsite as well as visiting the parks, Tuesday through Thursday we are booked at VGC and plan to hit the parks as well as enjoy the hotel and room at a much slower pace. Will move off site for Friday and fly back to Oregon on Saturday. Glad to hear we "should" miss the heaviest times for crowds!