How busy in December?

[CustardTart]

Hi! Have booked a sneaky surprise week as a Christmas prezzie for DS13 from December 14th to 21st. I haven't been in December for many years so just wondering how busy it might be in WDW and the Universal parks? Many thanks...

 

[JohnnySharp2]

hmm, never been in December - I always thought the first 2 weeks though were generally pretty quiet and then gradually the crowds build up from the middle of the month onwards.
Which is when you go......sorry, hopefully someone will come along who has been at this time of the year and dismiss my 'theory'.

 

[UKDEB]

We went from the 14th to the 22nd one year. It was a few years back and I can't really recall what the crowd levels were like, but I don't remember thinking it was particularly busy. I think Johnny's right - the first couple of weeks will be very slow, but you'll probably notice an increase in the crowds the closer it gets to Christmas. All that said, that week will be a lot quieter than Christmas Day through New Year's Day, when the whole place will be mobbed.

 

[tashasmum]

We went last Dec from the 14th-2nd jan and the days before Christmas were great, it only really got busy from Christmas day onwards. Don't know about the water parks as we did not go. Hope this helps.

 

[Camac]

We were there last December from the 16th onwards and thought that the crowd levels were quite low and easily manageable, especially if you go in early. Universal and IOA we felt were especially quiet - 10 minutes waits max for the big rides and no waits for single rider lines, but all parks did get progressively busier as Christmas approached. Weather was great - mid 70s with the odd downpour but mostly at night.

 

[pauldolling]

We went last Dec from the 14th-2nd jan and the days before Christmas were great, it only really got busy from Christmas day onwards. Don't know about the water parks as we did not go. Hope this helps.

I agree, we went last year pretty much the same dates and it was very busy from the 24th onwards, great atmosphere though

 

[CustardTart]

Thanks guys! I know DS will want to go to Universal/IOA but it sounds as if we can just take a day trip rather than booking an overnight stay which is fab news...