How were the crowds in the week leading up to xmas?

[amystevekai&bump]

Having just read another thread about the crowds at disney parks between christmas and new year, I was wondering how the parks were in the build up to xmas this past holiday?

We are in WDW up until Dec 23rd and then we are on the Disney Wonder for Christmas, I planned it this way to avoid the crowds, but so we still get to enjoy all of the xmas stuff - but am I going to be shocked by the number of people around or are the queues not so bad before the big day??

Many thanks for any info!!

 

[steve76]

We were there from the 12th-20th December 2009. The crowds were light/moderate for the 12th-18th - perfectly manageable.

However, it suddenly got incredibly busy on the 19th (the Saturday before Christmas). Based on that, I would assume that it would start to get more crowded at Disney on Saturday 18th December 2010.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

As Steve says first 2 weeks or so are fairly quiet but towards the latter part it gets busier & busier.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

thank you both for your replies

So - my current plan is to do MK, Epcot & DHS during our first week (from Dec 11th through to Dec 18th). Then we are hopefully transferring to AKV for five days from Dec 18th (which is actually the sat before xmas) and we will then only be doing AK & possibly back to DHS until we leave on 23rd - the rest of the time will be at the resort, (weather permitting in the pool) or playing crazy golf, visiting Celebration etc. Does that sound like a good strategy??

Kai and Lucas will only be small still and they are not the most patient of boys when it comes to queueing. So avoiding the really busy times will make for a much happier time I would imagine!!

 

[wicket2005]

We were there from 10th to 21st December 2008 and in the Disney parks did not notice any change in crowd levels from the July 2008 holiday. We were surprised at this because they were supposed to be quiet weeks. Universal was quite a different story very quiet.

 

[Ware Bears]

Sounds a great strategy to me. We were there from 16th December until 2nd January and took a cruise on the Wonder from 20th-23rd. We decided to hit all four parks before we went on the cruise and also bought tickets for MVMCP to buy us extra time in MK.

However, it suddenly got incredibly busy on the 19th (the Saturday before Christmas). Based on that, I would assume that it would start to get more crowded at Disney on Saturday 18th December 2010.

I agree, the 17th and 18th were very manageable but we noticed a big difference in crowds on Saturday 19th when we were at Epcot. Listening to conversations around the park, a lot of these were locals. We didn't visit a park again until Christmas Eve when we went to AK and I have never seen it so busy although it had quietened down by late afternoon. We spent Christmas Day at MK which was very quiet compared to what I'd been expecting although I think the weather may have been to blame!

How wonderful to be cruising over actual Christmas!!

 

[amystevekai&bump]

thank you everyone - I am sure it will all be ok, as with the boys still being quite small we won't really be queueing for the headlining rides - although fastpasses will be the order of the day for toy story mania no doubt!!

We are really looking forward to the cruise - are you doing a trip report Elaine? - I would love to hear all about your holiday - it sounds fab!!

 

[gemmybear83]

This is a greta thread! We will be in WDW 4th - 11th December and plan on visiting all the parks before we cruise 11th-18th December. Were then back for 2 nights, I knew it was going to be really busy but we will just pick our favourites to ride and soak up the Christmas atmosphere

 

[Roddy lawrie]

We were their from the 10/12 through to the 29th .All theme park crowds were fine bar saturdays where it became really busy , someone mentioned Epcot on the 19th i think -we were the same day , and it was very busy

 

[Ware Bears]

We are really looking forward to the cruise - are you doing a trip report Elaine? - I would love to hear all about your holiday - it sounds fab!!

I will be ~ hopefully I'll get it started in the next week or two.

This is a greta thread! We will be in WDW 4th - 11th December and plan on visiting all the parks before we cruise 11th-18th December. Were then back for 2 nights, I knew it was going to be really busy but we will just pick our favourites to ride and soak up the Christmas atmosphere

I am so envious, this time last year I was planning like this and now it's all over even when it's really busy if you're in the right place at the right time you can strike lucky. We managed to ride Everest 4 times in a row on one really busy day when the parade was on.

 

[gemmybear83]

That's great to know Elaine, I think we will be using as many fastpasses aswe can get our hands on!!

I'm looking forward to your trip report too - it will get me very excited!!