A few comments --
1. I seriously, highly doubt that
The View is going to go back to DLR at the exact same time in 2014. To be honest, I doubt they will return to DLR in 2014 at all. They don't return to WDW every year, and this will be no different. I don't know of any talk show on TV that goes back to the same location at the same time of year every year and tapes for a week. It just doesn't happen that way. Certain shows may tape at the same location during a different time of year, or they may not go back to that same location for another few years.
So, please put
The View out of your minds. It won't happen in 2014. (Now I wouldn't be shocked if they return to DLR in 2015, when it's DL's 60th anniversary, but that could be at any time during the year.)
2. I go to DLR within the first 2 weeks of December every year -- either the first week or the second week, but more often than not it's the second week.
This year was, indeed, more crowded than the last couple of years -- but the crowds have never really been "low" during the holiday season for very long. The holiday season is
extremely popular. The crowds in the first 2 weeks of December are low
ER than the second half of December, and early December is in between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break so many people are in school and at work. There may be days here and there where the crowds drop a bit -- as I've said quite often on this board, I have found that Mondays in early December have been much less crowded than, say, Tuesdays. This year it seemed as though Tuesday was less crowded than Monday.
3. As
Janet/mom2rtk said, I think the late Thanksgiving may have had some sort of impact on crowds this year, with not as wide of a gap between that holiday and Christmas.
Also -- and this is very important to remember -- word of mouth is powerful. The more people ask about when a less crowded time to go to DLR during the holiday season might be, and the more "the first 2 weeks of December" gets floated around in cyberspace, the more people will pick up on it. Guess what happens then? The first 2 weeks of December are suddenly more crowded than they used to be!
I would bet that if people started floating around the idea that the week before Thanksgiving week is not crowded, it will suddenly become more crowded within a year or two! That's the magic of the Internet and a discussion board like this. People read things. Word spreads. Suddenly the crowded times are not as crowded and the less crowded times are more crowded!
As
Astylla said, there is really no concrete way to predict what will happen. All we can do is go by past experiences to inform what might happen in the future, but it can change every year. Expectations are key -- if you go in and expect that there will be low crowds, you will be in for a surprise. Have realistic expectations and know that, while certain time frames will be less packed than others, there will be other people in the parks doing the same thing you are doing -- trying to avoid crowds! And the more people that show up to avoid crowds, the more those people cause crowds.
4. While I found this past week (I was just at DLR for 5 full days) to be more crowded overall, and sometimes it wasn't fun, it seemed to ebb and flow. There were times when it seemed less crowded than I would have expected -- like on Main Street, for example -- and there were times when it suddenly got pretty busy. I would not have been able to predict which way the crowds were going to flow at any given point of the day, so I just had to roll with it. There was nothing so daunting to make me not want to come back, but that's because I expected -- or had a feeling -- that this year's "early December" time frame would be more crowded.
My main interest when visiting DLR during the holiday season is that I get the full experience -- I want the full array of hotel decorations. I want Santa and the carolers at the hotels. I want the full array of holiday merchandise and goodies in the parks. I want to hear holiday music playing in Downtown Disney as I stroll along.
Going to DLR pre-Thanksgiving week only guarantees that the decorations in both parks will be up. There is no guarantee on any of those other elements, because Disney seems to change the schedule of things here and there. This year the hotels' trees were up the week before Thanksgiving week -- but that it not always the case at all, so it cannot be depended upon to happen every year. And Santa does not appear at the hotels until Thanksgiving and beyond. That's why I always choose to go post-Thanksgiving and before Christmas. I want to be guaranteed to get the full holiday experience.
However, if you don't mind potentially missing out on some hotel stuff and are mainly interested in the parks' decor and entertainment, then the week before Thanksgiving week should be great (that is, until people pick up on the fact that it is great and all plan their trips for that time frame
)! Many folks are only concerned with what is happening in the parks, so there is no need to wait until Thanksgiving and beyond to go.
.
