Shocked at Crowd differences Sept or (early) Dec?

[LLane82]

We're likely booking a trip for Dec 11-17th. We've always gone to DW in early to mid Sept with very light crowds. From the crowd calendars Ive looked at it seems the crowd increase goes from very light (in Sept) to light (that week of Dec). We're wondering if we're going to be shocked by the increase in crowds from Sept vs (that week of) Dec?

 

[RachaelA]

I don't consider early December light crowds anymore. If September is a 2 or 3 on 1-10 scale, early December is more of a 5.

 

[AshleeH]

September is one of the lowest times of year, so just about any other time you choose is going to be more crowded. I think the first part of your December vacation will be fairly decent crowds, but toward the end you're going to see more and more roll in as schools let out for Christmas breaks and adults get early time off for the holidays.

 

[Sagginit]

I went twice in September (last week both times) and then went the week before Thanksgiving week. I was shocked at how much busier it was at Thanksgiving. Disney is really magical during Xmas so once the Xmas decorations go up it will bring in more crowds. Also September is still hot and many children just got back to school so the parents won't pull them out. November/December it has cooled down and parents may be willing to take kids out of school. Also Hurricane season is in early fall so some people just won't plan a trip then, so they would wait until later in the fall.

We found the busiest place was MK and MVMCP was much more crowded than we anticipated. It rained and we still had long waits at rides which meant a lot of people pre-purchased.

 

[amy1981]

With Christmas being on a Sunday, most schools that I know of will have there last day before break the 16th. That should keep crowds fairly light until the end of your week when they will pick up a bit. We went during a similar time a few years ago and we thought crowds were fine. It will be a higher than September obviously, but still very manageable.