Week After Christmas at WDW?

[momof1princess]

i need some big-time help, guys...there's a REALLY good chance my DH will be changing jobs soon, and when/if he gets this new job, his only off weeks will be 4th of july, week of christmas and week of new years, so my question is this: what is the week between christmas & new year's like at wdw? i'm talking all aspects here-crowds, weather, park hours, special events, etc.? i know almost nothing about holidays at wdw (i've read the "holidays at wdw link, but i know you guys know it ALL ), but if i can convince my DH to go for a few days right after christmas 2007, what can we expect? HELP!!! TIA!

 

[dixiedizfan]

The week between Christmas and New Years is the most crowded time of year at Disney. The weather can be a mixed bag, but for the most part is usually sunny and mild, with cool evenings. A cold snap can change things fast, though. The holiday decorations will still be up, and Christmas music plays everywhere. The parks keep longer hours than normal during that week, due to the crowds. The parks might also close due to capacity; usually on Christmas Day and New Years Eve. You'll need to book your resort room and make ADRs well in advance of going at that time.

 

[Hugpug]

This is the most I mean MOST crowed time of the year Wall to Wall people everywhere. I would not do this to your DH .

 

[momof1princess]

lol, thank you both-i agree HugPug, i wouldn't dare do that to my DH. perhaps a few days after new year's day would be ok?

 

[AJKMOM]

Depending on what day of the week New Years Day is, the crowds drop off dramatically then. When New Years Day was a Saturday, by Sunday night, the place was a ghost town. If you could plan to arrive on Jan.2, it would be a whole lot better than the week between the 2 holidays.

 

[dixiedizfan]

January 2 would be better, but not by much. New Years Day falls on a Monday next year, and judging from the crowds this past January 1st week, most of the people will stick around for most of that week. (Most of the schools in the southeast have Christmas break til the second week of January.) But it will still be less crowded than the actual week between XMas and New Years.

 

[unbroken chain]

Of your three choices, I would go with after New Year's.

I will tell you a story. I had an uncle who received a number of free passes to WDW every year. The year he died, my aunt gave the passes to my mother for us kids so they wouldn't go to waste. They expired year end.

Well, my sister and I went Dec. 30 or 31, can't remember, for the day. It is one hour to Disney from my folks' house. It took us four hours. The last three hours on I-4 I think we went about 5 miles per hour.

There was an accident, right? Nope. We get to the Magic Kingdom and they are turning everyone around. The park is so crowded it is closed. But because we have our special tickets, they let us in.

This should have been a sign that I ought to have been willing to pay full ticket price NOT to go in, but in we go.

We....couldn't.......move. No kidding. My sister compared it to the Star Trek episode with the overcrowded planet where everyone lives shoulder-to-shoulder (the one where the crew keeps hearing this noise, and it's the collective heartbeat of millions of people pressed up against the ship).

Forget going on the rides....we couldn't even SEE the rides. The crowds were like a river, you were just pushed downstream. The maps were useless...walking around in the hub in front of the castle, there was absolutely no way to see where any of the paths to any of the lands were, because you couldn't see the ground, let alone any landscaping or any clue as to what was around you. You couldn't see anthing but the shoulder blades of the person in front of you, and that's it.

The highlight of the day was finding an out of the way building we could stand behind with enough room to move our elbows out to our sides so we could eat the sandwiches we brought.

 

[DrmWvr1299]

We went one year on Dec. 28. It set all time records for that year. We were eating at the Columbia Harbour House around 2pm (that was all we could get to) and found out that MK had closed to guests at 11:15 that morning. We waited in line for over 2 hours for Jungle Cruise and that was the only attraction we were able to get close to. There was such a backup on I-4 we thought there was a horrible accident. But the back up was from the traffic trying to get into WDW