How crazy is Christmas week at WDW?

[toodycat]

DH and I had two 2017 trips to WDW planned that had to be cancelled due to work schedules. Now, he's getting into his busy season and says it is unlikely that he will be able to travel from January -August 2018. My last chance for a vacation would be Christmas week of this year. There are still resorts with rooms, but how crazy and crowded are the parks? I would love seeing the Christmas decorations at WDW, but I am a little apprehensive about the lines. Is it worth it? Thanks.

 

[TeamEvansGo]

Most crowded week of the year. If you aren't a fan of crowds, you are going to hate it.

 

[mom2rtk]

As crazy as it gets.

 

[Disney_and_Wine]

Boy, oh boy. Essays could be written. If riding rides is your primary focus, it will be super crowded. Crowd levels of 9 and 10 every single day in every park. Rope Drop is a must and you will probably give up on riding rides by 1:00 p.m.. Park hours are extended, so making RD requires arriving at the parks in the dark. If attractions were the focus of my trip, I would not go during that time of year. However, if Disney Christmas Magic is your primary objective, it is a great time to go. Are you the type of person who could spend an entire day resort hopping, or are you the type of person who thinks that that is just plain nuts when you are at WDW? Only you can decide. If you go during the Christmas week, prepare yourself for a different style of Disney World vacation. It simply cannot and will not be like going in May or October. If you can adjust to that difference, you can have a great time. But if you are a ride commando who considers any day that does not include 25-30 rides a failure, you will be very disappointed.

 

[Pmlocke]

Our neighbors go for Xmas every other year. I think they said the best day was when they rode three rides and they were there for the entire day. I can do that in the first hour when I go in early February. They close the park, usually at 10 AM for non-disney hotel guests. If you LOVE crowds, you will be very happy. I can't even imagine 100,000 plus at that park.

 

[Disney_and_Wine]

Here's a blog from an author who made observations back in 2012. A little outdated (pre-Magic Bands and electronic FPs), but the sense of crowding is well captured.
http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2012/01/christmas_week.html

 

[Klayfish]

I disagree with all of the above posts to some extent. Busy? Sure, of course, it's the holidays. MK itself on Xmas Day itself was the nuttiest I've ever seen any of the parks. Ever. So I agree that it's busier than normal. However...outside of the one exception, I really didn't think it was some horror story. I guess a lot of it will depend on your perception and ability to deal with a crowd. IMO, all the other parks on all the other days (including MK) were very manageable. We were there Xmas week 2015. As I noted, we went to MK on Xmas day. We got there at park open and stayed until about 1pm. We got on 7 rides, maybe 8 (I can't recall, but it was one of the two). Yes, when we left at 1pm, it was a madhouse. But the other parks on the other days were fine. Certainly longer lines and such, but between using FP+ and smart strategy, we never had issues getting on rides or having fun things to do. Plus, the Xmas spirit is awesome!

Maybe I'm going against the grain, but I'd highly recommend it during Xmas week. We're going again this year, and I can't wait!!!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We went Christmas week 2015 (Dec. 25 - Dec. 30) and, yes, it was crazy, crazy crowded. Would we do it again? Not if we could go any other week of the year. But, if Christmas week was my only chance to go, this is what I would do:

1) Pick which park/parks are your priorities and pay to spend the money to stay close to that park/parks. We stayed at BWV and it was the saving grace of our vacation because we could walk to DHS and EP. ALL Disney transportation will be immensely crowded that week (buses, boats, monorails) and traffic is horrendous, so the more you can avoid buses (in particular), the better. I'm not a fan of the monorail resorts because the monorail is so unreliable. EP is my favorite park so to be able to simply walk back and forth, was a vacation-saver.

2) If you have to go to MK (if I went this week again, I wouldn't step foot in MK), plan on half-day, RD mornings and either make a TS lunch reservation or get out of MK to eat lunch. You will not want to attempt QS in MK this week. Literally lines out the door and nowhere to sit. At one point, in MK, the only seat we could find was at the face painting area in Tomorrowland - so my DS got a nice, relaxing face painting to get out of the crowds. See the early parade. Unless you make an MK dessert party reservation, watch the fireworks from a near-by resort (or try to get a reservation at Cali Grill or Narcoosee's)

3) Make a tour reservation. We did Wild Africa Trek during this week. Yes, it's expensive ( no discounts during this time frame), but it enabled us to tour the safari area of AK with zero crowds. If you've ever wanted to do a tour in WDW (and the tour is running this week), do it.

4) Avoid DS like the plague. It's as crowded as MK.

5) Tour EP in what may feel like reverse order and start touring the countries when they open at 11 am (or simply start here at RD to ride FEA if you don't have a FP+). Once the Candlelight Processional performances start late afternoon, it is almost impossible to walk through the middle section of WS. If you tour the countries first, then go to FW in the early/late evening, FW is far less crowded than it will be in the beginning of the day. If you want to see CP, book a dining package.

6) If you can, spring for special experiences (as I sort of already mentioned above). Reservations at restaurants where you can view the fireworks, fireworks cruises, tours, dessert parties, etc. Yes, it's going to add to an already expensive trip, but it will help you avoid crowds.

7) Pick a resort where you would like to spend a lot of time if you can't handle the parks anymore.

8) Don't expect to get as much in as you probably would if you went another week.

9) Tour the deluxe resorts! We did a monorail crawl on our last trip - started at Trader Sam's, visited GF to see the gingerbread house and had dinner at Cali Grille. My DS9 still talks about how fun it was.

10) Go to a dinner show, visit the Boardwalk at night, etc. Again, find non-park events and activities that you will enjoy that will get you out of the crowds.

 

[greenmom2b]

We have been the past two holiday seasons on the tail end - 12/26/16-1/1/17 and 12/31/15-1/3/16.
We completely enjoyed both. And really it was about as crowded in MK as the 24 hour event we attended in May 2013. We've been 6/7-6/14/14 and the heat cost us more in downtime than the holiday crowds did. We are from the south but it's different with a ten hour day in the sun. So we enjoy the cooler weather & the holiday decor too! I would say go with it but PLAN! We had TS reservations at park or resort each day for guaranteed eating time. The QS had terribly long lines & limited seating. You will be elbow to elbow at times but go early. No one is out early much. We had a great time and are probably going back again next holiday after skipping this one due to family situation. I would choose cooler weather with crowd over hot withering weather any day! My girls ages 12 & 7 loved the holiday decor & the different costumes on characters. It's just a very special time of year for sure. Hope you get to go soon!

 

[mamamelody2]

We were there last year for Christmas week and we currently have our videos coming out right now from that week so you can see how crowded it is there. The worst place was MK and DS. Other parks were tolerable but lines were bad everywhere. MK and DS were the only places that at times I couldn't even move due to the amount of people. We went with the plan of enjoy the decorations and not worrying about riding anything. I'm not saying you can't ride, just book the 3 FPs and prepare to wait for the rest. Buses and security check lines worked better than I expected because they were fully staffed. I felt like most mornings I actually waited less in bag lines and turnstiles than on a normal trip.

Here's our playlist of that week - more still to come, new WDW video each Wednesday:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=**********************************

Here's our review of the week:

Thanks for sharing your videos!

 

[Auntie_Maim]

I've been twice around Christmas, and as long as you keep your MK time to a minimum and make your visit there as far from Xmas Day as possible, it's fine. MK is our least favorite park, so that was fine. Everything else was busy but not horrendously so.

 

[Scubee]

 

[flortlebap]

Have a look through some of the photos from previous years. It's INSANE and I wouldn't even consider it.

Plenty of people do though - hence the crowds!

 

[kay1864]

However, if Disney Christmas Magic is your primary objective, it is a great time to go.

IIRC this same magic can be experienced from Thanksgiving week until the first part of New Years' week.

 

[hakepb]

IIRC this same magic can be experienced from Thanksgiving week until the first part of New Years' week.

While that is quite wonderfulin it's own right, it's not quite as magical as the heartfelt "Merry Christmas" greetings by CM's on the actual Christmas Day

I loved Christmas week as a bonus trip (where I didn't care if I did much more than 4-5 FP+), but it could be more difficult as an only trip.

 

[kay1864]

While that is quite wonderfulin it's own right, it's not quite as magical as the heartfelt "Merry Christmas" greetings by CM's on the actual Christmas Day.

Not worth the insane crowds and long lines, when I can get everything but the greetings during Thanksgiving week. Bah humbug!

 

[mom2rtk]

I loved Christmas week as a bonus trip (where I didn't care if I did much more than 4-5 FP+), but it could be more difficult as an only trip.

That's a really critical point. I think I could enjoy it as a "bonus trip" as well and would be disappointed with it as an "only trip". I imagine a fair number of the supporters of Christmas week trips are also visiting another time of year.

 

[kay1864]

I imagine a fair number of the supporters of Christmas week trips are also visiting another time of year.

Sadly I'm convinced there are many who decide "hey let's go to Disney World, it won't be that crowded because everyone is home with family opening presents!" And then they never go again.

 

[toodycat]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. As sad as I am not to have been to WDW since 2014---I've had breast cancer, knee surgery and pulmonary embolisms pretty much back-to-back, but I'm healthy now---I don't think that this is the week for us. DH is literally an efficiency expert...OK, a project/program manager. He likes things that are timely and efficient. It doesn't sound like our traditional strategies would yield any results, and he might find the cost of park passes vs. number of attractions experienced insufficient, especially since taking off from work would still be asking his employer for a pretty big accommodation. It would stink f it weren't worth it. DS (23) has HFA. He has the appearance and behavior of a typical adult and he loooves WDW, but he still has a lower threshold for noise, and by extension, crowds. Also,he too would be asking a big favor from his boss if he were off that week. I'm off from work that week and I love resort hopping during Christmas season, but last time I went in early December and the parks were pretty empty. Also, I really want to do the Pandora attractions and it sounds like that would be close to impossible. It looks as though we're not going to get back to the happiest place on earth until late summer '18. At least I know the crowds will be smaller.

 

[BuzzLiteyear]

I disagree with all of the above posts to some extent. Busy? Sure, of course, it's the holidays. MK itself on Xmas Day itself was the nuttiest I've ever seen any of the parks. Ever. So I agree that it's busier than normal. However...outside of the one exception, I really didn't think it was some horror story. I guess a lot of it will depend on your perception and ability to deal with a crowd. IMO, all the other parks on all the other days (including MK) were very manageable. We were there Xmas week 2015. As I noted, we went to MK on Xmas day. We got there at park open and stayed until about 1pm. We got on 7 rides, maybe 8 (I can't recall, but it was one of the two). Yes, when we left at 1pm, it was a madhouse. But the other parks on the other days were fine. Certainly longer lines and such, but between using FP+ and smart strategy, we never had issues getting on rides or having fun things to do. Plus, the Xmas spirit is awesome!

Maybe I'm going against the grain, but I'd highly recommend it during Xmas week. We're going again this year, and I can't wait!!!

100% agree! This Christmas will be our 4th trip that extends from before Christmas to NYD. There have been two times that we were overwhelmed by the crowds. Christmas Day at MK - we go anyway. Early in the morning is no different than summer. By noon people flood into the parks and it gets very crowded. The other overwhelming crowd would be NYE. But it doesn't get really crowded until later in the afternoon. We usually go to EPCOT. For the rest of the week we enjoy morning EMH and stay in the park of our choice until lunch. We usually ride 5-7 rides or more by noon. We leave head back to the resort and swim and then go to another park for the evening. We use our FP+'s at the evening park and probably ride 2-3 other rides. In total, we ride 10 or more rides on most days. The exception being Christmas Day. We are there for the experience and parades, etc.

I know that people's tolerances for crowds are different, but with the right approach and some planning the crowds are not as bad as some make them sound.

Hope this helps and maybe I'll see you there