What Time is it Dark in December??

[Goofy4TheWorld]

Can someone tell me if the sky is dark enough for a good Castle photo by 6pm December 7th?

My wife and I will be arriving at WDW Dec 7 for a few days. We want to go to MK first thing to get a picture for our Christmas cards, then order them that night when the photos upload to Photopass. My wife is worried that if we wait until we get home that we will not able to get our cards delivered to us and then mailed out to family and friends in plenty of time.

Sunset is listed at 5:29pm, but I am not sure if that means it will be dark enough. That Tuesday has a MVMCP, so I would assume we need the picture taken by 6pm or there may not be any Photopass people out on Main Street since CMs start drumming people out the gate well before 7pm.

[Hair_Razor]

You should be good, I would think considering it says sunset at 5:30pm.

[disneymom15]

Should be good. I think they light the castle at
6pm. It will be really crowded around the castle at that time. You may want to wait till later to take the picture. Its shoulder to shoulder.

[disneymom15]

Oops, I see you're going to have the photopass people taking the photo. I think you might be ok.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

After reading more about the Castle's Christmas lights, I do not think our plan will work.

Steve Soares' website appears to say that the Castle's Christmas lights are not turned on until 6:15pm each day. If that is the case, the crowds of people exiting the park from 6:15 on will be way too bad to get a picture without us being a big traffic problem. Really, I doubt there would even be any Photopass people out on Main St during that last hour (6-7pm).

Does anyone have any experience getting a Photopass picture post-Castle-lighting on a party night prior to 7pm? We will not have party tickets that night.

[Buttercup]

I find it strange that you read they don't turn the castle lights on till 6:15pm.

It's completely dark in November at about 5:30pm... why would the castle sit in darkness for another 45 minutes? I think by December 7th you'll have no trouble getting a photopass picture with castle Christmas lights before 7pm.

[DizneyRox]

I agree, sunset in Florida is almost like a light switch. I can't imagine lights not being on/necessary 45 minutes after the sun goes down. At 6:15 now, I wouldn't be able to see my hand in front of my face, although I'm a bit further north.

[CaptainSad]

When I was down back in December of 2007 you could look to the west and you could see that the sun had set. You know that yellow to orange/red/pink sky. It is not completely dark at 6:00 to 6:30. I have pictures of the Castle Lighting of the MVMCP on 18th of that year and you could see the sky was not completely dark. But I don't think you would have a problem with it being dark enough. I think it will look as though it is dark. With Manual setting on 35MM or digital camera's they will adjust to the lighting anyway. Video cameras are a different story. You see what you see.