Okay... what are the crowds like in late December/early January?

[fayt19]

Apparently my brother(who will be in his third year of college by that time) will be facing finals in December. We're pretty much stuck going on either a weekend, or the week after Christmas/first week of January. I've read the weekends are not worth bothering with, right? Too crowded because of locals and the like? So how bad is the week after Christmas? The first week of January? And how long do the Christmas decorations/special parades or what-not stay up? Do It's A Small World and Haunted Mansion stay 'Christmas-y'?

Thanks a bunch.

 

[Sy-]

The park is packed... When the kids are out of school on weekdays you can always expect large crowds!!!

 

[DangerMouse]

The week between Christmas and New Years is notoriously the most crowded time of the year for DLR. You can expect capacity gate closures at DL during that week. I would choose the first week of January, but still plan for large crowds, but not as bad as the last week of December.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

its really bad crowd wise and this coming christmas season you wont be seeing IASW anyways because of the refurbishment...I went this past jan during the week starting on the 5th and it was packed

 

[Sleepless Knight]

IASW is supposed to reopen in late November this year, but we'll see. As for crowds, expect them to be very large, especially on New Years Eve. If you go after January 1, you might find lower crowds, but be prepared for the possible lack of Christmas decorations. In years past, the castle literally had wreaths up on December 30th when the park closed only to see them gone when the park opened on December 31.

There is one advantage to crowds in December as opposed to crowds in summer. The weather is cooler.

 

[NicoleDisneyFan]

We planned to go last year at that time and a CM laughed and said a bad time to go from December to after the 2nd week of January. She told me that the decorations go down after New Years but it all depends. IASW decorations stayed on late because we were there when it closed so they keep it since it was closing anyways which worked out great for us. They do say that IASW is suppose to open in November(late)
Best to say to not be surprised with the crowds.

 

[wazowskiLOVER:)]

My family went in January from the 4th - 6th and it was great ! It was technically the first weekend of January and all of the decorations were up. We even had the chance to see it snow on main street. It wasn't too busy at all. The ride lines were low, although we did run into one day of rain. We were equipped with ponchos and determination though !

 

[fayt19]

Hmm.... that's what I feared. :/ Thanks for responding though, guys!