When do the parks start to fill up before Christmas?

[Spike-in-Berlin]

After a more or less failed Late-Fall-Early-Winter vacation including DLP we are planning an additional spontaneous trip to WDW before the Christmas crowds start to fill up the parks. As we never have been to the World so close before Christmas we have no experience with the crowd levels at this time so we need advice about this because we normally are at the World at the least crowded times of the year.We read (Birnbaum and Unofficial Guide) that the weeks BEFORE Christmas are the least crowded of the year but then it fills up very quickly. When do the Christmas crowds begin to arrive, when are the last days with at least acceptable lines and waits? Is it not before 2 or 3 days before Christmas Eve or at least a week or what? As the trip is very spontaneous and with an extremely short preparation time we need the information rather quickly, Thanks a lot.

 

[Tuvalu]

December is no longer a "slow time." The first week is busy with Pop Warner. The next 2 weeks are better, so if you are planning to visit this year you'd better be on a plane tomorrow . We have been during this time the last 5 years and it has been crowded, but not insanely so...it begins to get VERY busy around the 20th and then stays packed through New Year's.

 

[harryk]

After a more or less failed Late-Fall-Early-Winter vacation including DLP we are planning an additional spontaneous trip to WDW before the Christmas crowds start to fill up the parks. As we never have been to the World so close before Christmas we have no experience with the crowd levels at this time so we need advice about this because we normally are at the World at the least crowded times of the year.We read (Birnbaum and Unofficial Guide) that the weeks BEFORE Christmas are the least crowded of the year but then it fills up very quickly. When do the Christmas crowds begin to arrive, when are the last days with at least acceptable lines and waits? Is it not before 2 or 3 days before Christmas Eve or at least a week or what? As the trip is very spontaneous and with an extremely short preparation time we need the information rather quickly, Thanks a lot.

Third week of December the crowds begin to increase - and not very slowly....... Christmas week is an impossible time.....

 

[wm49rs]

After a more or less failed Late-Fall-Early-Winter vacation including DLP we are planning an additional spontaneous trip to WDW before the Christmas crowds start to fill up the parks. As we never have been to the World so close before Christmas we have no experience with the crowd levels at this time so we need advice about this because we normally are at the World at the least crowded times of the year.We read (Birnbaum and Unofficial Guide) that the weeks BEFORE Christmas are the least crowded of the year but then it fills up very quickly. When do the Christmas crowds begin to arrive, when are the last days with at least acceptable lines and waits? Is it not before 2 or 3 days before Christmas Eve or at least a week or what? As the trip is very spontaneous and with an extremely short preparation time we need the information rather quickly, Thanks a lot.

Christmas is on a Thursday this year. That said, I would imagine the parks will become packed starting with the prior weekend, if not earlier, as school systems let out for the year....

 

[ToTBellHop]

Christmas is on a Thursday this year. That said, I would imagine the parks will become packed starting with the prior weekend, if not earlier, as school systems let out for the year....

Exactly this. It is always crowded the full week that includes Christmas and the full week that includes New Years. Except in years where the two holidays are on weekends, when the Christmas rush expands to about 4 weeks (extra week on either side--a few years back, we arrived on 1/1 (a Saturday), thinking crowds would die down on Monday. They did not. On the plus side, all of the Cheistmas decorations were up for a few days and then they disappeared, so we got to see the parks and resorts both with and without their decorations. With 50,000 of our closest friends.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

Thanks a lot to all of you, you really were very helpful for our trip planning or better trip cancelling. Because we consider 5 days at WDW, before the crowds come, a little too short to justify costs in the range of 3000 $+ we finally cancelled all plans for a US-trip this year.