Crowd levels December 7-12?

[hope23]

Any ideas what to expect for crowd levels early December... specifically Dec. 7-12? I am most interested in Magic Kingdom, but any info would be greatly appreciated... I have no idea what to expect this time of year. Thanks!

[Strmchsr]

December in general has gotten a LOT more crowded in recent years, but the 7th-12th should be lighter. It's the weak after thanksgiving and first week of December that are the most popular before Christmas week.

[wdwnutz]

What about 12/11 - 12/17?

[SurferStitch]

OP - you should see moderate crowds, but nothing too terrible. We've gone during this time in 2006 and 2007, and crowds were pretty good. We found this time to be a lot better than mid October with crowds. I don't know what free dining will do, but I really don't care. Christmas is the most amazing time to be there! :cloud9:

As to the 12/11-12/17:

You will see significant crowds building starting by the 16th...and I mean significant. Just be prepared, and don't let it ruin your days. You just have to be patient!

[Gator]

I've stayed at WDW about those same days the last two trips. The first time I went in 06, the crowds were not light, but really not too busy. This last trip in 08 was different. It was much more crowded, no discounts were offered (because of the Pop Warner teams filling up the rooms), and the transport seemed a little less accessible. But it's still better than the heat and crowds of the summer.:D

[Tigerinvestigator]

Personally I think the crowds should be great for that week. We were there up to Dec.23 and the crowds didn't get bad until the 22nd. Crowds were nothing compared to June-September.:thumbsup:

[stitchaholic]

i,m wondering why the first week in december would be busier?

[Dsnygirl]

We were there last year Dec. 9-16, and it was perfect, crowd-wise!! We barely waited in line for anything, it was really quite lovely. A little chilly mid-week, but other than that, quite close to perfect!!

[sorcerer fan]

the first week is busier cause Pop worner is there and it's the weekend they tape the christmas parade. Lots of people want to try to get on tv. It's a real mess and time consuming. been there, done that. now we wait a week to go. We'll bve there the 6 through the 15. see you then

[redleg96]

I'm trying to put all this into perspective....I've only been once, in July 2008; now I'm going from 6-16 DEC (around same time as OP) I have no idea what to expect....what I think I'm reading is that the crowds, while they have gotten larger over the years at this time, are still nowhere near the magnitude of late June thru late July? Please correct me if I'm off.

[SurferStitch]

I'm trying to put all this into perspective....I've only been once, in July 2008; now I'm going from 6-16 DEC (around same time as OP) I have no idea what to expect....what I think I'm reading is that the crowds, while they have gotten larger over the years at this time, are still nowhere near the magnitude of late June thru late July? Please correct me if I'm off.

You're pretty much right on. The crowds aren't close to summer crowds. It's far from slow, but still very, very easy to do everything you want. You will be very happy.

We find the crowds to be smaller than during October, and there are many here who feel October crowds are light (we are not one of them).

[kat70]

I've just learned that the Pop Warner crowd is there all but the first two days of my 60th birthday celebration week. Their football super bowl and cheer leading/dance championships have been held at the sports complex for the last 10 years. In 2008, there were 68 football games during 6 days, plus 500 cheer/dance squads competing. The most negative impact, so far, is that I haven't been able to secure my much-anticipated reservation at the Castle on my birthday - the convention is being held there ON my birthday - the 10th. :( My niece/travel agent is working with her Disney manager to see if he can help. I've told her that it doesn't HAVE to be during the dinner hour... I'll settle for breakfast or lunch. An earlier post indicated the impact on park attendance wasn't bad... they will be competing (or watching others compete) much of the time, I imagine. And Hubby and I don't do the thrill rides (I've had back surgery so have to be careful), so I expect most of the areas we'll be frequenting will still be OK. In any event, I plan to have an awesome time... 74 days and counting! :thumbsup:

[Mitzie]

We will be there the 5-11! We were there the last week of Oct. last year and I thought the crowds were good. Still trying to figure out what to pack and will just have to check in with Chris before hand. We have never been before Christmas and are very excited.

[FutureCorpsFan]

We went the first week of December in 2007 and the crowds were pretty bad. We were a bit supprised as we've heard it's dead that time of year. We were looking forward to having a good time and instead we fought crowds the entire week. We didn't get to do have of the attractions we wanted and really felt like we got nothing accomplished. We finally had to make the decision to focus on seeing the "Christmas" stuff while we were there or else we would have missed much of that waiting for rides..

Hopefully your experience will be better..

[CosmicRay]

We went the second week of Dec in 2007 and the crowds were bad compared to the past years we've gone in December. We were disappointed and after being told we'd have to wait 3 hours for a bus back to our resort the first night, we took our car everywhere. We told ourselves that the next time we go, we would go in January. Well we just can't wait till Jan and we want to see the decorations, so we are going back the first week of Dec in hopes that it won't be so bad. I am expecting that it might be though. We have heard that our resort (ASMo) is booked. But like others have said, we will just have to focus on the fun we will have.

[Giselle]

I have been in early December a couple of times and the crowds are light. We walked on to rides over and over and got special treatment the entire visit. It was great. I think a lot of people don't go then because they are planning on coming on Christmas. It did actually get down into the 30s a couple of nights when we were there, so that probably kept people away too. So bring something warm just in case.