Anyone been to Disney the week BEFORE Christmas?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
We are regulars and have been during the summer (as well as fall/spring off peak) - can anyone comment on the week before Christmas? We are looking at 15th-22nd, 2017.
I know it will better than the following week - but how will it compare to summer, spring break, Presidents' Day, etc? |
Anonymous
| It will be bonkers. Look at the online crowd calendars. I am planning a trip in February now and noticed this week's crowds while looking at the crowd calendars for the week we're going. The crowds this week are 10/10. |
Anonymous
| Cray Cray. NEVER again. Ruined the magic for sure. |
Anonymous
| OP here. Worse than spring break? |
Anonymous
|
This is from mickeyvisit.com
Disneyland Crowd Trends: Most Crowded The weeks before and after Easter: mid-March through mid-April, or Spring Break Season The week before Christmas through the first couple of weeks of January, Christmas Day and New Years Eve bring in some of the largest crowds the park sees all year long. July through early August, during the time that schools have summer break During June, most annual passholders are not blocked out yet (they are blocked for many peak summer days) If July 4th falls close to a weekend, then it will be extremely busy Check the Anaheim Convention Center website for large conferences. Busy in the late afternoon during these time periods. Busy, But Not Overrun End of August through Labor Day The month of December, leading up to Christmas week Weekends throughout October and beginning of November while the theme parks are decorated for Halloween Not Crowded Labor Day through Thanksgiving, except avoid weekends Late January through February Late April unless Easter falls at that time January through the beginning of May is what many call the “off season.” These weeks have the least amount of crowds, but a lot of the shows will not be running like the fireworks. |
Anonymous
| That's Disneyland, though. I'm guessing OP is looking at Disney World. |
Anonymous
|
We went to Disneyland the week before schools let out for Christmas break (around the second weekend in December). It was awesome.
The park was empty enough that we never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride and we were able to see everything with zero effort, and everything was decorated for Christmas. |
Anonymous
|
OP here. Thanks. I'm debating mid-December next year (maybe leaving the 14th, school gets out the 15th next year!) or going during that wacky November week with election day/teacher work days, etc.
Which would be less crowded? |
Anonymous
Nov would be much better. Thanksgiving is also better than Xmas break. |
Anonymous
| We went about 4 years ago for a couple of days right before Christmas (like Dec 22-23) and it was pretty busy but honestly I didn't think it was worse than most random days in summer. |
Anonymous
I'm talking about Disney World fyib |
Anonymous
| Np. How are the resorts (say now...but like op..in 2017). Are the Disney resorts a bit crazy or just the parks? |
Anonymous
We did both of these options. The mid December week was much less crowd for us. There is something called Jersey week in the Nov Election Day/teacher workday timeframe that made it much more crowded for us. Check to see when the state of New Jersey teacher convention is and don't go that week. |
Anonymous
| Serious question: is DW ever not completely crazy busy? We've been 6 times at "off peak" times and it was completely nuts every time, except one day when it rained. |
Anonymous
Slow times no longer exist the way they did ten or more years ago. I went during the fall, not during a US vacation time, several times in the early 90s, and just about everything was a walk-on almost all day. There were some more slow years after Sept. 11th stalled tourism. Then Disney cranked the promotions and discounts into overdrive to eliminate the slow seasons, and now their own hotels are close to full almost any time of year. The outside visitor numbers do vary seasonally, but Disney has gotten really good at tweaking staffing and non-ride entertainment to fit crowds. When there are fewer people, they staff less and run rides at lower load rates - so waits don't go down as dramatically as before. Plus, Fast Pass+ has driven waits up at the rides that never used to get very busy, while reducing waits at headliners slightly - so, again, even at the slowest seasons you're not going to see the empty lines of yore. Oh, and restaurant wise, Disney pushing the meal plans + 180-day booking has filled the table service restaurants, especially during "free dining" promotions. There's several factors aligning to make it feel more and more nuts if you don't have your plans figured out just so. If you have your FP+ and meals planned right, and you know your way around, and you have filled your brain with Disney tips, everything is easier and the crowds don't affect you as much. I've gone during theoretically moderate crowd weeks several times in the past three years and none of those days felt crazy crowded to me. But if you're not over-prepared or already Disney savvy... I see families around me that will probably go home frustrated and swearing never again. (On the other hand, to be fair, I think the high-crowd times are handled better now than before, thanks to the same obsessive tweaking of staffing and entertainment. When there are big crowds, the rides run more frequently, there are more shows to draw crowds away from rides, there are more special events in the hotels to draw crowds away from the parks, etc.) But good news: this year Disney seems to finally have pushed too far and started seeing an effect on attendance. That, and Universal is kicking their ass, plus the collapse in Brazilian tourism. I love Disney, but I'm hoping the attendance numbers keep flattening or dropping. |