Crowd levels days leading up to Christmas

[#1hoosierfan]

I know the week between Christmas and New Years is crazy. What about before? We are tossing around the idea of doing park days Sun 12/22 - Thurs 12/26. Will the be offering after hours for Deluxe guests during that time?

 

[Tom_E_D]

I know the week between Christmas and New Years is crazy. What about before? We are tossing around the idea of doing park days Sun 12/22 - Thurs 12/26. Will the be offering after hours for Deluxe guests during that time?

Last December's crowd level data can be found here: https://wdwpassport.com/past-crowds/december-2023

I think that the fact that Christmas was on a Monday last year and will be on a Wednesday this year will make a difference. With it being on a Monday last year, not many schools had days off before Christmas. They had their days off starting with Christmas. This year, I would expect many schools to take all of Christmas week off. If you aren't arriving until the 22nd, you'll be there for the peak week. Looking at what happened the week before Christmas last year won't be a good comparison.

I believe they have offered Extended Evening hours for deluxe resort guests every week since they started them, usually twice a week. The December 2023 ones are listed in this article: https://blogmickey.com/2023/10/delu...-january-2024-following-epcot-heavy-december/

They even had them on Christmas day last year.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I would anticipate crowds being very high those days as schools are out for Christmas vacation by then as Christmas falls on the Thursday Wednesday.

 

[Minnie1222]

Wait times are great to use in your planning, but I don't think they truly reflect the actual crowd size. I would just go at whichever time that's most suitable to you.

I'm attaching a few pictures from our December 2023 trip for you to compare with the crowd calendar.

12/10. MK at Level 2 according to the crowd calendar.


12/11. MK at Level 8.


12/12. Epcot at Level 3.


To me, Epcot at Level 3 was more congested than MK at Level 8.

 

[Tom_E_D]

I would anticipate crowds being very high those days as schools are out for Christmas vacation by then as Christmas falls on the Thursday.

Are we looking at the same year? My calendar has Christmas as being on a Wednesday this year.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Are we looking at the same year? My calendar has Christmas as being on a Wednesday this year.

Sorry, you are correct. I was going from memory. I have corrected my post.

 

[Marthasor]

If you could push your trip slightly earlier, I would do it. We were there last year from December 17 to December 22 and as soon as the Sorcerer and Pixie Pass holders were blocked out, the crowds dropped. Those passes are blocked starting on Dec. 19 this year. That's when I would aim to arrive.

 

[JBelle19]

No to hijack your thread, but I have been wondering almost the same thing. We will arrive 12/20, early morning (driving from Alabama after work on 12/19, it's only 6.5 hours for us)

We plan to stay in a more inexpensive Orlando area hotel the night of the 19th, then drop our bags at POFQ as early as possible, hopefully by 8:30. My plans as of now are as follows:

Friday, 12/20 Epcot. I think this may be our best park for the only day we won't be able to rope drop, but hopefully we will still be there by around 9:30

Saturday, 12/21 Animal Kingdom. this is my best guest for our Saturday park, which I know will be super busy

Sunday, 12/22 Hollywood Studios. DH's birthday and his favorite park, so non-negotiable lol

Monday, 12/23 Magic Kingdom. My hope and prayer is that a lot of people will either hit MK on the weekend, or on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, so maybe we can fall into some magical realm of luck and it won't be that bad on the Monday in between.

We go home on Christmas Eve, because after our NYC trip last year my kids refuse to travel on Christmas Day ever again haha.