How crowded will parks be on Dec 16-21st?

[dutton]

We want to plan a trip during this time while our kids are out of school. Will it be busy? We have never been so we will have to learn our way around the parks. We have 4 kids aged 12,10,7,and 5. Thanks for any advice!!

 

[goofy!]

We were there 12/17 - 12/23 last year. We were also there the first week of August. What a difference!! We have now decided that the week before Christmas is definitely the time to go. The crowds were minimal and the weather was decent, although a bit cool. But we were told it was a bit cooler than usual. Mostly in the low to mid 60's with one 42 degree day and a few 70 degree days. We LOVED it after being there in August with the heat and humidity! We did have to buy sweatshirts one evening while waiting for the parade as we had left them in the hotel and it cooled off very quickly, but wore shorts and t-shirts during the day. We opted not to do the water rides (had our fill in August), but many people did do them - it was not that cold, especially on the 70 degree days. We saw plenty of people in the pools too.

We had FOTL, so everything was an absolute walk on. We became very, very spoiled. We started becoming irritated when we couldn't go right up the stairs at Mummy or right down the stairs at MIB.

Just walking the paths was great - not jostling amongst hundreds of people. We actually took our time and looked in the windows at US and in all the times we have been there, this time we really had the time to appreciate the detail in the theming of the parks.

As we got closer to Christmas though, the crowds did start getting thicker. One time we were turned away from Hulk in the FOTL line and the operator told us that we had to come back in 2 hours. Said that due to the crowds they were implementing the once every 2 hour FOTL rule. However, it only happened that one time and not on any other ride, so I just think the operator was given misinformation. We didn't experience any major delays on any other ride and I was surprised they thought the crowds were big. So, your dates sound perfect - you will leave right before the big Christmas crowds.

I am afraid that when we are there next week, we are not going to be as patient with a 15 minute FOTL after being so spoiled in December. And I am not looking forward to the humidity, especially after experiencing Florida in December.

We will definitely go again in December again this year. The Holiday decorations and the weather make it very special!