December crowds pattern

[four michies]

Our family is going from December 16-23. At what point in that period will the huge Holiday Crowd arrive? Any suggestions as to what to do in the first few days v. the later, presumably more crowded, days?
Thanks!

 

[rapriebe]

I would really like to know this also. We are scheduled to go 11-21 December and I hope the crowds won't be there 'til later in my visit.

 

[QuickGold]

Well you can find wait times at http://www.mgmstudios.org/wait.html

But I'd say with every day you get closer to the 25th, it will get more crowded. After that weekend you arrive, it will coincide with the mass rush.

 

[michaelwilliammidd]

DW and I were there last year from 12/19-12/27. Like everyone else we had heard horror stories about the crowds during the holidays, however although it was crowded it really wasn't all that bad. Like most crowded days at WDW the people seemed to just be wandering around the parks but not really getting in line for anything. With the temperature being lower it seemed much less crowded than around July 4th holiday. The worst day, of course, was christmas day, but if you are there for any length of time you can plan to just be able to do what you can on that day. Christmas Day seemed to be the only overly crowded day because on just the day after Christmas the waits were already back down to a bearable amount...for example we only waited 5 minutes for POTC and 15 minutes for JC....which was suprising to me. If it tells you anything we are going back this year 12/17-12/27 so it couldn't have been all that bad.

 

[hoosll]

Put yourself in the place of the nearby residents- crowds will be heavier on weekends and as soon as school lets out. MVMCP and CP will be lighter if the next day is a school day until school lets out.

I find that the difference in December is that it is more adults and pre-schoolers. We are going on a long weekend this year but I can't wait. This is our fourth trip in 4 years so we can hit our favorites and take it easy. We know that we can't do everything in 4 days.

 

[RebeccaLovesDisney]

We are planning on visiting the parks around the same time, actually with a "split" stay around our cruise. We plan on arriving either late Dec. 9 (Thurs) or early the 10th, depending on flights. Plan on attending MVMCP Dec. 10. May or may not visit a park during the day of the 10th, depending on when we get there.

Then we leave on our DCL cruise on Sat, the 11th to the 18th!

We will then come back to WDW on the 18th, and plan on visiting the parks again from Sun, the 19th through the 23rd. I really don't know what to expect as far as crowds during that week. We're hoping to see some of the big MK attractions during MVMCP since MK will probably be the most crowded park during that week before Christmas.

Should be a fun time no matter what!!