Crowd Comparisons Memorial Day weekend vs Christmas week About This Page:

[taymaesmom]

We have always gone to Disney over Memorial Day weekend and the following week. Crowds have been big but doable. We have always gotten to ride all we wanted utilizing FPs. We are taking a quick trip to Florida the day after Christmas for 4 days, originally we planned on doing Universal Studios but are staying at Coronado Springs as a surprise trip for our girls. Dh came to me this morning and said he thinks we should do Disney instead of Universal since we know Disney and havent done Universal yet. He is afraid the girls with be dissapointed to stay at Disney and not do their favorite rides.

So realistically how do the crowds compare between the two weeks. We will do one day at MK and one at HS. Is there someplace that shows what parks have closed to capacity on which days? We typically do early morning at a park, back to the hotel to swim, back out to the park in the evening. But I am afraid if we leave it will close and we wont get back in.

[janicelovesmickey]

this week is very crowded, we are going again this yr for NYE 2 days after christmas.
we knew we would not be able to get on everything we wanted, if you take that into consideration you will have a better time.
We did get FP whenever we could but since we have AP's and go quite often it didnt bother us.
its still a wonderful time to go and enjoy the decorations.

[Pris]

There is no comparison. Christmas is at least double Memorial Day if not more.

[pixie08]

I have been to Disney on all sorts of Holidays and I have never seen anything like christmas! It's crazy.

[Caldercup]

Originally Posted by Pris

There is no comparison. Christmas is at least double Memorial Day if not more.

That would be my assessment too.
Eileen

[chezp]

I was interested to see what the answers were to this one, having been at Christmas many times. I've seen how mad the parks are then, they're obviously much busier than Memorial Day weekend, from what people are saying.

Let's just say I've seen the parks closed to everyone but resort guests on many occasions at Christmas and sometimes I've been in the parks when that's happened - it wasn't a pleasant experience. The Magic Kingdom especially gets exceptionally crowded, to the point where you can't move.

Don't get me wrong, Christmas is an amazing time to visit WDW, you just need to be prepared for huge crowds.

[Ashli]

Originally Posted by Pris

There is no comparison. Christmas is at least double Memorial Day if not more.

[nurse_mom]

If you look at touring plans only a day or 2 are 9's. Christmas is max for that week. High crowds=high wait times

[B.M.]

I have never been at either of those times, so I won't weigh in on crowds. But just in a thought on your decesion- I would think Universal would also be mega busy at Christmas, so I still think Disney would be a good choice even if it is crowded. Hope you have a great trip!

[Jewelleigh]

Oh My, This thread is making me nervous! We will be there at christmas also. We go every year at spring break and I just assumed that we would do alright since we are used to the Spring Break crowd! Should I worry?!

[HiddenMickey]

We've done the week up until Christmas before (and will again this year). Christmas eve was VERY busy at MK. Christmas Day at Epcot was quiet in the morning and a madhouse in the afternoon and evening. Horrible I have also done Memorial week before and it was no where near what it was like at Christmas.

If I were you, I'd go with the plan to do Universal, to do something different and because your girls look to be the perfect ages for it. We did a Universal trip one year. What we did to get our Disney fix while on the trip, was to go to DTD at night for meals and shopping. The kids loved the Univeral Parks (as did the adults!).