Disney world in the summer vs December

[teacup princess]

Are you ok with potentially not being able to swim in December? We’ve been in July and yes, it’s hot and rainy and at time unbearable but you can go back to the hotel or water parks and cool off. My kids personally love to do rope drop, then go to the water parks for a couple hours then the parks at night. It’s exhausting but that’s how we roll. And although we’ve not done Christmas time, we’ve been in January and that was our least favorite trip. It got down in the 30’s. We wore every piece of clothing in our suitcase and were still cold. The kids were disappointed that we couldn’t swim and it just didn’t feel very Florida-ish for us Midwesterner’s wanting to escape the cold. We have the same issue with school breaks but we are choosing to go in July this year.

 

[YesterDark]

I did August in '17 and '19. Never again.

I mean, you can push through and the crowds are lower and you're probably getting a "deal" to stay. But the heat just saps the life out of you. Depends on how much you can deal with humidity and sweat.

I like the parks at night, so most of my future trips will be in the Oct-March time frame I think.

 

[xipotec]

Hmmmmmmm. Death by heat or death by stroller......

 

[BobbyDukes]

Go in July. One reason right now, most likely Disney will put out free dining during the summer months, they have done it the past few years and they just did it again for 2020.

 

[Nancyg56]

I am not at all sure your choices woudl be on my list. I love December, however not Christmas week. We go often in December, but leave by the 23rd. July is going to be HOT, and HUMID, so I guess you will need to pick your poison. Heat and humidity or crowds.

Personally, I would probably opt for December, get up early and make RD for any park I wanted to visit, get out when it gets crowded, and go back at night for evening entertainment. I would be sure to have a solid plan in place, book ADR's for meals, especially if I was planning to be in the parks at lunch or dinnertime. You can book an ADR at a few CS restaurants, so that woudl be part of my plan.

 

[seggerman]

Take the kids out of school for 3 days - and go Sunday through Wednesday early December

 

[Moliphino]

I would never go during Christmas break. Ever. Early December is great, but once you get to even a week or so before Christmas it starts to get unbearably crowded.

 

[rdaky]

It really is a personal preference. Which one can you handle better? Extreme heat or extreme crowds. We love the Christmas decorations and the weather, but the crowds are intense. So we have chosen to go in the Summer during the past few years because we handle the heat better than we handle crowds.

 

[rcj2000]

We have been to Disney both July (4th of July) and this past December arriving right before Christmas and leaving NY day. We were fortunate to have an extended holiday break which we never had before. We also had a free dining promo. I loved going during Christmas. I loved the decorations and the special holiday offerings and the atmosphere in general. Having said that, if I had to choose I would pick July. Yes, it’s hot and humid but we can take a mid day break. Also, the days are longer in the summer. The crowds were slightly lower in July. Yes it rains almost everyday but it rained almost everyday during our Christmas vacation too. And we had to layer because the days would start out cool and get hot during the afternoon. We did have a great time during our December and July trips.

 

[constanze]

Although Christmas time is magical---we prefer July. Yes it's hot---but the way we tour July works better for us---park in morning, afternoon at resort pool, evening back at park---My DH definitely likes to take a break from the crowds and relax by the pool, and in December it's almost always too cold for us to do that. We also like to do quite a few TS restaurants and that will give us a break from the heat as well.

 

[Orionreplay]

We will be looking at December ourselves next year. We are not pool type people so I can cross that right off the need-to-do list and we loathe the heat, but have been in September. We are from Maine and do prefer the cooler temps. In recent trips we go in November to get that taste of Christmas. It truly is a magical time at WDW to experience. We make trips to see resort gingerbread displays. We buy the obligatory flashing Christmas bulb necklaces. We just love it all.