Early-Mid December crowds this year?

[saskdw]

Looking for an educated guess on this from the experienced bunch in the Dark-side section!

We are looking at a possible split stay WDW/Universal this December. We have been to Universal twice before. Dec 2012 for 10 days and the tail end of a split stay in Dec 2010 for 6 days.

The Dec 2010 stay was the first year for HP, we were there from the 22nd-28th and of course the crowds were insane. We always stay onsite so Express pass was great, but we pretty much just avoided the HP section because it was beyond chaotic. The 2012 stay was great because we were there Dec 13th-23rd and the crowds were low except the last couple days. We enjoyed the HP section as well as everything else.

My question is this: with the HP expansion opening this year will there be a pre-Christmas crowd quiet time? That first year of HP was it much better than what we experienced or was it that crazy in mid Dec as well?

We do not get up at 6am on vacation to take advantage of early entry. So we want to know if we will be able to enjoy the parks during "normal" hours like 2012 if we go sometime in the Dec 10th-20th timeframe or should we put off our next Universal trip until the following year?

 

[RMulieri]

At this point, it is too early to tell.Personally I think crowd levels will be higher overall.Not insane, but not slow like previously.We are going around then and planning on larger than usual crowds

 

[Metro West]

At this point, it is too early to tell.Personally I think crowd levels will be higher overall.Not insane, but not slow like previously.We are going around then and planning on larger than usual crowds

 

[saskdw]

Anyone know or remember what the crowds were like on those days (Dec 10th-20th) in 2010?

 

[Metro West]

Anyone know or remember what the crowds were like on those days (Dec 10th-20th) in 2010?

Well...they were slow but I hope you aren't trying to compare crowds from four years ago...there's really no comparison.

 

[damo]

Anyone know or remember what the crowds were like on those days (Dec 10th-20th) in 2010?

My kids were there in Sept. 2010 (the fall after Harry Potter opened) and they said the crowds were moderate.

 

[RMulieri]

Well...they were slow but I hope you aren't trying to compare crowds from four years ago...there's really no comparison.

2nd this..KEEP in mind that 4 years ago WWOHP at IOA was the big draw...Crowds have increased since then and even in SLOW times WWoHP is still the busiest section in the parks .Now you will have the expansion in the Studios and the Hogwarts express connecting the 2 parks.I expect it to drive crowds in both parks.

 

[saskdw]

Well...they were slow but I hope you aren't trying to compare crowds from four years ago...there's really no comparison.

Yeah, I realise it's 4 years later. Just wondering how the opening of WWOHP affected those date's the first year. I can't go by our experience because it was in the middle of the Christmas rush.

I'm thinking the parks will be about what I'm expecting, but the WWOHP section will be busier than we experienced in 2012. Before we make a decision I think I will wait for reports of how the crowds are moving through that section this summer. Curious to see if any of the new area will be included in the Express Pass as well.

 

[saskdw]

2nd this..KEEP in mind that 4 years ago WWOHP at IOA was the big draw...Crowds have increased since then and even in SLOW times WWoHP is still the busiest section in the parks .Now you will have the expansion in the Studios and the Hogwarts express connecting the 2 parks.I expect it to drive crowds in both parks.

Thanks for the reply. I don't know what it was like before WWOHP, but I found the parks quite pleasant during our 2012 trip.

 

[Metro West]

Yeah, I realise it's 4 years later. Just wondering how the opening of WWOHP affected those date's the first year. I can't go by our experience because it was in the middle of the Christmas rush.

I'm thinking the parks will be about what I'm expecting, but the WWOHP section will be busier than we experienced in 2012. Before we make a decision I think I will wait for reports of how the crowds are moving through that section this summer. Curious to see if any of the new area will be included in the Express Pass as well.

Gotcha...you can expect a modest increase during the "slow" season. No one knows yet but I think it's going to be more than most people think.

 

[RMulieri]

Thanks for the reply. I don't know what it was like before WWOHP, but I found the parks quite pleasant during our 2012 trip.

The parks were literally empty before Harry Potter.I think its too soon to tell yet, but I think it will make it more moderate crowds in the off times.

 

[Love Tink]

We were there in December 2010 - at WDW from Dec 10-14 and Universal Dec 15 and 16, which was a Thursday and Friday.

We stayed on site (we do get up at 6:00am on vacation to take advantage of early entry) so we had some advantages with the crowds. But I would say I found the parks very uncrowded. We had read and seen reports about the crowds in the Harry Potter section that summer and fall (and what came down that Christmas season) and we saw nothing like that when we were there. Harry Potter was bustling but still enjoyable, IoA was mostly empty, and US was a ghost town.