Research time! CROWD LEVELS in December and November? About This Page:

[Pax]

What are the crowds like, week to week, for November and the first 2 or 3 weeks of December? Specifically, how do they compare with the crowds in January?


All three of us are crowd-averse, but we'd love to see WDW in full Christmas-season glory. I know I've seen people mention that some of the weeks in there are not "sardine can" crowded ... but I need a bit more detail. Also, I need to be reminded which weeks exactly are to be avoided, and which are to be sought out.

So ... fill me with your wisdom, fellow PPers.

[chezp]

I can't help you with January, as we've never been there, but we've found the first two to three weeks of December fine for crowd levels. We've never had particularly long waits for anything and I remember taking a photo of Fantasyland a couple of years ago around something like 16 December and it was pretty deserted by about 10/11am.

[phoebec]

I've been researching the same thing. I don't have any experience to compare with January, though. From what I have found, avoid thanksgiving week. It looks like crowds drop off the sunday after Thanksgiving and are pretty low that week. The only other times crowd increase in that time period is Jersey Week (2nd week of Nov?) and Pop Warner. We decided to go the week after Thanksgiving. I think the week before Thanksgiving week was pretty good too. The 2nd week of December was also good crowd wise. This is just what I have gathered, if anyone has more accurate info and this needs corrected please feel free

Good luck deciding!!

[MichaelF]

Can't tell you about every week but I can say the week before Thanksgiving the crowds are pretty light. The week of Thanksgiving gets busier the closer you get to Thankgiving. Then the week after the crowds are pretty light again.

[shazza]

We're going the week of Dec 11th - historically, crowds are fairly low during this time. And, I was able to easily book my ADRs, and the Candlelight Processional, if that's any indication.

We haven't visited in December in ages - looking forward to seeing the decorations.

[ImGoofy3mmc]

We've been there in November, around the second week which is usually when they start putting up the Christmas decorations, it really gets you in the holiday spirit and it is my favorite time of year to go, the weather is great warm enough to go into the pools but not too hot, and I don't think we've ever waited more than 15 minutes to get on a ride. We've also gone in late January and the crowd levels were about the same as November but the weather was much cooler and we only had one day that we could go swimming comfortably, and at night it got so cold we needed our winter jackets several times. I think both times of the year are great times to go. Hope this helps, Jen

[goofygirl74]

We went the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2010 and are going the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year as well. We didn't have any problems with crowds in 2010. Very light crowds and the Christmas decorations were spectacular!

[Pax]

Hmm, given we're planning a two-week (16 days, 15 nights) trip .... like "the first three weeks of December" might be the best choice so far.

[Pax]

.... how accurate woudl people say the calendar image is, at this page:

December Disney World crowds - Christmas and more

.... specifically, the wait times on rides and such. Is he right, that most of the days (the yellow ones) would be "1-2 hours for big rides" ...?

[SARH7]

I've been in January and the crowds were light, but we experienced a lot of large tour groups.

In 2010 we went the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, which is the same week we're going this year. The parks seemed crowded when walking around, but lines were super short. It really made no sense to us, but we sure weren't complaining!

I always use Touringplans.com and usually the advice is spot on

[Pax]

Yeah, I figure I'll get a membership to Touringplans, too. But it never hurts to seek the wisdom of fellow PPers, first!

[karen63]

Originally Posted by Pax

Yeah, I figure I'll get a membership to Touringplans, too. But it never hurts to seek the wisdom of fellow PPers, first!

Check out easywdw.com too. It's free, and I like how he explains why he makes the recommendations he does.

[Tonichelle]

I dislike crowds, but the week before Thanksgiving was not crowded at all... January is empty, though... that was the best for crowds, but FREEZING.

[carters_mom]

We went in early December 2008 and had low crowds, traveling the second week of December this year and expecting/hoping for the same

[sherreexx1]

I joined touringplans as well. Hope to have a good plan to attack the parks with. I'm going the week after Thanksgiving which should be a slower time, but still want to go in with a good plan.