Disney the week of 12/22-12/28

gulliesmom

Mouseketeer
Joined
Dec 6, 2017
OK, give it to me straight. Are we crazy to do Disney at this time? I REALLY want to be there for the beauty and magic of the holiday season and we are considering spending Christmas there next year. I have been in touch with a "Disney Planner" and she is asking if I am aware of how intense the crowds are and warning me that the parks usually close to capacity by 10 am :( Is this a reality?
 
I’m a travel agent that specializes in Disney clientele. If I had a client approaching me at this late date, I’d very nicely try to suggest a different date for your travel. Unless you’ve been to Wdw bunches of time and know that you’re spending top dollar to go and spend the majority of your trip in line, I think there are better times to go. Like early December next year or mid November when the decorations are up but the lines are not.

To be fair, parks haven’t closed at phase 4 in years. So no, they don’t close to capacity by 10 if you are onsite with tickets using Disney transportation.
 
Thanks for your reply. We would go at a different time but at this point it is too hard to pull the kids from school. We will be staying on site at the Grand Floridian.
 
We are going to be there this year over the Christmas holidays. We are going in understanding that the parks will be extremely crowded. We booked our room over six months ago and have had our dining/fastpass plans locked for a few weeks now. I've never been to Disney over the holidays before, but I would never try to plan a holiday trip on this short of notice. We anticipate that our rope drop rides and fastpasses might be the only attractions that we do on this trip - and that is OK with us. If this is a 'once in a lifetime' trip, or even a 'once every 2-3 years' trip - I would recommend selecting different dates or to start planning for Holidays 2018 now.
 


I’m a travel agent that specializes in Disney clientele. If I had a client approaching me at this late date, I’d very nicely try to suggest a different date for your travel. Unless you’ve been to Wdw bunches of time and know that you’re spending top dollar to go and spend the majority of your trip in line, I think there are better times to go. Like early December next year or mid November when the decorations are up but the lines are not.

I respect that you're a travel agent, but I would completely disagree with this.

If you want to see WDW at Christmas, which is awesome by the way, then absolutely 100% go. Yes, it's crowded, especially Magic Kingdom. But if you do a little research, have some patience and are in the holiday spirit, you can have a fabulous time. Yes, we are WDW veterans, so we have that advantage. But having said that, we never "rope drop". We never do a lot of the things that some do, and we always have a great time. We were there for Thanksgiving this year...very busy. But we still got on rides, saw shows, and just enjoyed being there. Sure, if you try to get into the hub in MK at fireworks, it's a sea of people. But if you understand and expect that, then you can either deal with it or just avoid it.

We'll be there for Xmas this year, and I am beyond excited. If you want to go, GO!!!
 


We are going this year as well. I know what to expect (or think I do) and we have been there many times so there are days I am only planning on being at the parks for the first 3-4 hours of operation and then maybe come back later in the evening to do a fastpass ride. I'm just looking forward to being there over the holidays and I'm not concerned about making sure I get in a lot of rides. I have my expectations set and I think if you set them and realize you aren't going to get in the number of attractions you would at other times of the year, you will be fine.

After all, you are still at Disney World!!
 
Personally, I can't imagine myself ever going at that time. If I absolutely could not take my daughter out of school and 100% insisted that I see it at Christmas, I might possibly consider going over Thanksgiving. The week of Christmas and into the week between Christmas and New Years? Forget it. I'm not going to pay the highest prices of the year to stand in lines that are ridiculously long and feel like a sardine walking around the parks. No way. No how. The idea of being in the parks when they are doing any kind of closing to capacity doesn't interest me. In that situation, if I am in the parks, that means I can choose between staying in a mad house or leaving and risk not being able to get back in if I decide I really want to ride a specific ride. If you follow Josh over at easywdw, he has a few entries from that time of year that include that wait times for various days. Personally, the idea of being in Magic Kingdom when Its a Small World has an hour long wait and you actually have to stand in line and wait more than one rotation for Carousel of Progress just doesn't appeal to me, especially if I start to think about how hotel prices are at their peak during this time. But, if you and your family really don't mind standing in line and paying top dollar to do it because you love just being inside WDW that much (and I know that there are definitely those out there), go and enjoy.
 
@Guillesmom

Hey there...

We first went for Christmas back in 2009. I remember coming on these boards and reading about how crowded it was during Xmas week and fearing that we had made a grave mistake. We figured we'd go for one year and try it out. It's Disney, after all.

Fast forward to this year and we're going for our 8th Christmas trip in 9 years.

Is it crowded?
Yes. It's the most crowded time of the year. Christmas is insanely popular at Disney due to the holiday break, the holidays, and the idea of being in the happiest place on earth during the happiest time of the year.

So why do you do it?
We're often asked this. Well, for us, it's become a bit of a tradition. At first family and friends would become annoyed that we'd be celebrating CHristmas and NYE in Disney. Now it's just accepted. "Oh, you're going to Disney again, right?"

We're an older family. I'm 28, my sister is 33, and my parents are in their 60s. My sister and I are both single, hard-working adults. My sister is a teacher and I work in NYC. My dad is retired and my mom is semi-retired. We started going when I was in college and it's remained a time for us to all be together. It "extends" Christmas a bit. Rather than Christmas being on 12/25, then going back to our normal lives on 12/26, we celebrate each and every day of our trip. The parks are still decorated and filled with music and cheer on 12/26 and so on... so it keeps us in the spirit.

HOW do you do it?
Long ride wait times, crazy-crowded parks—how do you do it? We just do. During our first trip we were overwhelmed. We learned in 2010, and by 2012 we had it down pat.

You can absolutely have an enjoyable Disney vacation, despite the crowds. For one, the mornings are never overwhelmingly crowded. For whatever reason, it doesn't get too crowded until 11am or so. By 1pm it's difficult to maneuver some areas and the wait times are higher than you've ever seen or experienced. That's when we leave the park, go back to our resort, and relax until dinner. After dinner we'll go back to the parks, depending on what's open late/has EMH.

I think Christmas week is perfect for seasoned Disney vets. You're not going to be able to see and do everything, so I don't recommend it for a first or even second trip. As long as you go in knowing what to expect, you'll be fine.

With that said, FP+'s are not impossible to secure. We've never had a problem, even traveling with 8 people this year. We ride 7DMT on Christmas Day, we've always gotten Frozen Ever After and TSMM, no problem. You HAVE to book at your 60-day window and book ADRs at the 180-day window, but you'll be fine. There's a lot of strategy involved, but it's not all that impossible. I book the most popular attractions first, regardless of dates (Flights of Passage on 28th, followed by 7DMT on 12/26, etc.)

So really...
It's up to you. Are you ready to spend a little less time in the parks and take a less-than-ordinary trip? Are you willing to put the hours into booking your trip and planning everything out? Then I see no reason why you can't pull it off.
 
We too are planning a trip next Christmas. My husband's high school basketball team will be playing in a tournament about an hour outside of Orlando after Christmas, so we're squeezing in about 6 days at Disney World before his games.

We've always gone when it's hot as balls, so despite the crazy crowds, I'm really looking forward to going when it's a bit cooler temperatures. We're also religious rope droppers so at the very least I figured we'll get 4 hours of touring in at least!

I agree with previous posters that as long as you temper your expectations for how many attractions you do, you can enjoy yourself! But then again, I may be a little naive!
 
I think it would be crazy for a first timer to go during that week, but for me, it's my favourite time to go. :)
 

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