Thinking of visiting during Nov or Dec and need advice...

[DLRExpert]

Normally I would plan my vacation around late August to early September to avoid the crowds, but this year I am thinking about making a quick 1-2 week trip around November or December to check out some of the Holiday Events.

#1 What the best time/week to visit? The lesser the crowds the better
#2 What is the weather like? Are water parks still doable?
#3 I am planning to visit Disney and Universal, but is there any other Holiday related events I shouldn't miss when I go?

Thank you for your help,
ME

 

[kmb584]

Normally I would plan my vacation around late August to early September to avoid the crowds, but this year I am thinking about making a quick 1-2 week trip around November or December to check out some of the Holiday Events.

#1 What the best time/week to visit? The lesser the crowds the better
#2 What is the weather like? Are water parks still doable?
#3 I am planning to visit Disney and Universal, but is there any other Holiday related events I shouldn't miss when I go?

Thank you for your help,
ME

1: Look into the week after Thanksgiving through the first week of December. Good time to go as Thanksgiving crowds have left and Christmas crowds have yet to arrive. The only issue I seem to have that time of year is with ADRs, as it's usually a free dining time.

2: Last December, it was chilly at night and warm during the day. Daytime temps hovered in the low to mid 70's, and nights were in the high 40's. We spent some time at the pool at BLT during the afternoons and didn't find it too cold to swim. We live in PA, so coming from daytime highs of 25 to 75 in WDW was fine for us!

3: As far as Universal is concerned, they're going to be outfitting the WWoHP in Christmas decorations for the first time ever this Christmas season. The decorations will debut on November 18. SeaWorld is beautiful during the Christmas season and I recommend checking it out if you have the time. There are a lot of themed shows, millions of lights, Christmas trees galore ... just really pretty and well done. Gaylord Palms has ICE! and I can't recommend that enough. It's an 18,000 sq ft exhibit of themed ice sculptures and truly amazing. Last year's theme was Charlie Brown, and if you have a minute or two, Google it to see what ICE! is all about. They also offer snow tubing.

 

[janicept]

I always go the week after Thanksgiving and the crowds are low. In past years Universal's Christmas stuff didn't start until the first Saturday in Dec but with the HP stuff being added I'm not sure what else will start earlier. They have the decorations up at Thanksgiving but the Christmas concert and Macy's parade weren't until Saturday. SeaWorld does have a lot of Christmas shows but only on the weekends and they start that first weekend after Thanksgiving.

 

[DekrRini]

I always go the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and I've found the crowds quite managable. As a previous poster mentioned, I did have some trouble getting ADRs even at the 180 day. I thought the weather was great. Very pleasant. I don't swim or do water parks so I can't speak to that question.

 

[Babsy]

IDK if this has anything to do with crowds, but the BB offer was blacked out from September until the second week of Dec this year. Certainly after Thanksgiving the crowds will be lower. We have opted for the second week of Dec, obviously, but will switch to the first week if an equivalent or better discount is released.

Swimming ta this time of the year depends upon luck (weather can be quite variable) and your own concept of what is too cold. We are from Canada, so we can swim in Florida year round, especially where the pools are all heated. Some days it can be chilly getting out of the water, though.

We just do Disney, so no help with Universal. Sorry!

Good luck!

 

[Figmentmommy]

Normally I would plan my vacation around late August to early September to avoid the crowds, but this year I am thinking about making a quick 1-2 week trip around November or December to check out some of the Holiday Events.

#1 What the best time/week to visit? The lesser the crowds the better
#2 What is the weather like? Are water parks still doable?
#3 I am planning to visit Disney and Universal, but is there any other Holiday related events I shouldn't miss when I go?

Thank you for your help,
ME

If you want to check out the Disney holiday events I would recommend going after thanksgiving. Before then it will be mainly MK and MVMCP for Christmas ambiance with the other parks and resorts adding in until Thanksgiving. Candlelight Processional/storytellers at EPCOT will then be in full swing and the gingerbread houses will be complete. We are December people and our last two trips had fabulous weather in the upper 70s-80 daytime and still warm enough at night that we hardly ever chose to wear a light jacket or sweatshirt. We used the pool on both trips. Although we have been in December in the mid 40s at night where we were drinking the hot cocoa at MVMCP just to keep warm! So it's definitely a possibility that it may be cold - definitely come prepared. I would recommend the second week of December. Crowds are still low and you will be able to see Christmas in full swing. Our last trip we were returning home by the 15th and crowds were more than manageable. We have also visited during the week leading into Christmas (14th - 21st) and the crowds again were on the low moderate side until our last day which was the Friday before Christmas. So definitely still a good week to go. This year with Christmas Eve falling on a Sunday -if it were me I'd want to be done with my trip by mid week before that. December is our favorite time to visit. If you want to avoid the Christmas crowds there is plenty of time in the month to do so.

 

[caliope]

We went Dec 9-13 last year with a bounceback rate at the Poly. We thought it was a great time to be there. The crowds weren't bad except for MK on Saturday the 10th. But, I think that Saturdays in general are more crowded so it didn't detract from our experience at all. We enjoyed the decorations. We also swam every day. As others have said, the daytime temperatures were definitely warm enough for us, coming from New England. I'd go again that time of year, or even the week earlier, if I could sort it out with school and work.

 

[DLRExpert]

Great information thank you

 

[CynBeth]

We love Sea World Christmas! The special shows, etc are not until the evening and mostly on Fri and Sat and there are only a few show times for each show so they tend to get packed. We buy the special holiday show preferred seating package which is a little expensive but worth the cost as it assigns show times and you sit in a special reserved section. That usually is available online a few months ahead of time. If you don't buy that the holiday stuff is included with admission.

As far as Disney I love the holiday season there! We have been twice over Thanksgiving Week and twice the beginning of Dec including this past Dec. This most recent Dec trip was more crowded than we thought due to free dining and Pop Warner but was manageable. We usually do 9 days but if you can do more great. We find Epcot takes about 2-3 days because we spend 1 day in FW and then want to try to see all of the storytellers in WS plus the CP along with the regular attractions and stores. We do 2 days at MK and 1 of them is we spend the full day there and do MVMCP at night and the other day we pick is a non party day. We do 1 day at DHS and as if right now 1 day at AK but that might change with the new stuff. We leave time to resort hop to see the holiday decorations and take an evening in DS. Last year they had the Christmas Tree Trail and drone show.