How Busy is it & Suggestion on Dec 20-28 Trip

[Jennylen]

Never visited WDW during the Christmas season and wonder how busy the parks will be, any suguestion what to do if there are crowds? Thanks in advance on the info.

 

[Destination Disney]

The holidays, especially Christmas is SLAMMED!!! Parks are so busy, most schools are out, the weather in Fl. is a lot warmer then the rest of the country, and the decorations are out of this world. Everyone want to experience this. Now at the beginning of Dec. it is less crowded during the week but come the weekend it get's busier. There were a lot of AP rates that came out in Sept. for resort dicounts along with Florida resident discounts so many people jumped at the opportunity for a quick pre-holiday get a away. I know I did.

If you are going any later then the second week of Dec., be prepared to deal with crowds. Utilize the Fastpasses and get to the parks early. Other things to do...I am not sure because I think all theme parks in Orlando will be the same. Busy, Busy, Busy!


There is always putt-putt golf, DTD, shopping, etc. but that is not a vacation!

If you are looking at spending money on a vaction I would do it at another time. Christmas is SOOOOOO busy!

Good Luck,
Jaime

 

[jmclester]

Have been twice during this time. First time was the week before Christmas, leaving on Christmas Eve. Crowds were great especially in the late evening hours. Second time was the week after, leaving on New Years Day. Crowds were manageable until NY eve.....never, ever, ever again!!! I think you'll be fine but you'll need to strategize, i.e. use EMH and FastPasses. Have a great time if you decide to go!

 

[Kitty-chan]

We were there last year Dec 20-23. There were definitely crowds, but it wasn't too bad. We got there early in the morning, hung out at the hotel in the afternoon, and went back to the parks in the evening. Also, we were willing to skip shows and parades to hit the rides when the lines weren't too bad.

The one morning that was VERY bad was when we went to Animal Kingdom on an "early hour" day. We were staying offsite, so we couldn't go in early, and then once we did get in the park was mobbed.

This year we're going Dec 19-22. We're staying at POP so this time we'll either get to the parks early to take advantage of the early openings, or avoid the early-opening park on that morning instead if we wouldn't get there until normal opening.

 

[swilshire]

We were there last year the week between Christmas and New Years. The parks, especially Magic Kingdom, were awfully crowded. I saw my husband (6', big strong guy, tough) actually frightened for the safety of the children at one point because of the gridlock right in front of It's a Small World. I thought that was the end of getting him into any of the parks. There were frequent closures because of capacity limits.

If you're going to ride rides and the like, I'd go at another time of year. We plan on returning for the holiday this year, but will arrive on 12/18. I hope we might get a few light days in early, but I'm afraid that the holiday falling on a Saturday will make the week prior to Christmas just as busy.

Sheila

 

[YetanotherMouseFan]

We are also going the week after Christmas due to scheduling conflicts, etc.

I have noticed that WDW has posted opening for ALL parks as 8am that week. Do you think this will change the EMH patterns?
IE: Avoid EMH parks, since EVERY park wil have EMH hours?

 

[mareed]

YetanotherMouseFan - my understanding is that even though the park opens at 8:00, there will still be EMH, it will just be at 7:00. We're staying off-site, so we're definitely avoiding the EMH park!

 

[YetanotherMouseFan]

Hmm...All I can say to that is: yikes! It takes miracles of persuasion to get DH up in time to make one 8am EE as it is.
Guess I'll need to revise our parks schedule.