Thanksgiving versus Christmas Crowds

[mareed]

We have a trip scheduled for Dec. 19 - 29 with extended family (total of 12 people ranging in age from 5 - 79). I know it will be very busy, but can anyone compare to Thanksgiving crowds to help give me an idea what to expect?

Some background about us:
We were there last Thanksgiving from Nov. 22 - Dec. 1, and while it was crowded, we managed quite well by arriving at parks early and using fastpass. We were a smaller group with only my family of 4 for that trip. My overall feel was that the crowds were not at a level that bothered me too terribly much.

This Christmas, we will be staying off-site and will be avoiding early entry parks and will not going to a park at all on Dec. 25. We will not be taking a break outside of the parks during the day, so I'm not worried about not being able to get back in in case the parks close to off-site guests. We've been 5 times in the last 3 years (with 9 trips to DL during that time), and I hang out on these boards daily, so I consider myself something of a Disney parks expert.

I keep reading posts about how crazy, crowded it will be over Christmas, and I guess I'm looking for some reassurance that we'll be able to handle it OK. Anyone have any comments?

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Chistmas is worse than Thanksgiving... One clue is that the Fl Resident Seasonal pass has a black out over Christmas & it doesn't over Thanksgiving... I was there on 12/23 one year & I actally left if was way too crowded to even walk. I am a Fl resident & can go just for a weekend...so for me, it wasn't worth it. The lines were crazy, fastpass was all out very early...

 

[WDSearcher]

The week between Christmas and New Year's is the busiest week of the year at WDW. The week prior to Christmas will be at Thanksgiving levels or a bit more. If you do your regular planning and using of Fastpass and all the rest, you'll be fine. But the crowds will be at levels much higher than you're used to.

 

[mareed]

Thank you both for the feedback. I think I'm prepared for the crowds, and I'll also try to prepare the rest of my group. There are a couple of first-timers to WDW in our group, and I'm hoping that the huge crowd level doesn't turn them off from ever returning! Hopefully the extra magic of Christmas-time will help make up for some of the crowds.

 

[swilphil]

We went Christmas in 2000, and I have vivid memories of sitting in traffic--in Orlando, going into the parks, in the parking lots. There were several days when MK was closed to off-site guests.

I would recommend getting to the parks at least 1/2 hour before opening, and go to the park that had Early Entry the day before.

 

[mareed]

We'll definitely get to the parks at least 30 minutes prior to opening each morning. Is MK the park that seems to get the most crowded and that is the most likely to end up closed to off-site guests? We'll be spending much of our time at Epcot, which I think will handle large crowds a bit better - at least I hope!

My immediate family of 4 will be staying through Dec. 31, and as my 2 DS (ages 5 & 8) won't be staying up until midnight anyway, we've decided to spend New Years Eve at AK. I've read here that since they're not open late, it's not as crowded on NYE.