crowds on 12-19 thru 12-22

[minnie04]

I have a trip planned for Halloween weekend, but I want to change it to Dec. I just love the Xmas atmosphere in Disney during Xmas. My question is I know the crowds are heavy, but how heavy. Enough to stay home or can you still enjoy the parks... I have been in the beginning of Dec. when it’s not as full, but with school I need to wait until break to go..

[faline]

Right around the 19th or 20th are exactly when the crowds begin to roll in and, once they start, they just keep getting heavier. Personally, I'd probably stick with Halloween.

[disneyboundagain]

We've gone from 12/19 to 12/26 for the past 5 years. We booked the same dates for this year as part of a bounce-back, but the crowds have become increasingly worse every year, to the point that we just cancelled this year and rebooked for Feb. Christmas won't be the same without being there, but the the crowd levels are just too bad anymore. We saved $2k by rebooking in Feb, and we will have a lot more fun.

Don't mean to scare you, but I hope this helps!

[minnie04]

Thank you, we have gone the first week of Dec. and it used to be perfect, but now its really crowded then too. I think Im going to stick to my original plan. I will book a trip maybe in Jan or Feb to hit the parks..Thanks again..

[2MuchWDFun]

We were at WDW last year from Dec 18th-23rd. It was not crazy crowded at all. I imagine that from the 24th on it gets way more crowded==especially with Christmas occuring on a weekend. I think we've all seen the packed people pics of MK.

We are going from December 20th-26th this year. Our plan is to make sure we see and do the "must do"rides and attractions on the front end of our vacation (using fast pass and early entry to the max) and just go with the flow at the end. We have great ADR's planned and will just enjoy the Christmas spirit at all the parks and resorts.
Another thought--there is only 3 of us (DH, me and DS-22). Not sure how it would be with a large group.
No matter what you decide--you'll be with family on a wonderful vacation!

[disneymom2000]

I am leaving on the 16th because right after that is school break and I just can't handle the crowds. I have already had to stop going in the summer because of the crowds. I don't get it. I don't think the economy is as bad as the government leads us to believe because I haven't seen a vacation spot so far that has suffered because of it. Just have fun whichever time you decide on.

[wxsmwhrms]

Maybe I look at things wrong, but I figure Disney has a pretty good idea of what to expect for crowds. The fact that they are offering discounts for rooms through the 25th leads me to believe they are not expecting huge crowds until then, and are trying to encourage attendance by discounting things. If they were expecting huge crowds, they wouldn't need to offer discounts.

[Martino]

Hi, there,

From other reports sounds like things may have changed a bit.

My Christmas trip was in Dec 2006, it was very quiet, and we loved it. Numbers did start to increase from about 21st Dec, but still only about 10 minutes queue for attractions.

We were there from 14th - 28th Dec, and I would never want to be there from 26th onwards again. It was shoulder to shoulder in Magic Kingdom, and you just couldn't get anything to eat! But up until Christmas, even Christmas Day crowds were very manageable.

Hope this helps, Christmas is magical at Disney, it has been one of my most favorite times to visit.

[jpcns50]

Glad this thread got started because my wife and I are going down this year for Christmas, arriving on the 24th and leaving on the 28th...

I think we have accepted the fact that the crowds will be enormous, and just are going to really see the decorations and the fun Christmas stuff.....we both realize that most of the rides we love will have to be skipped because we refuse to wait over an hour for any ride....

Maybe we will see you down there!