Disney World Christmas Theme - Lightest Crowds

[dbal640]

In researching for our 2024 trip looks like all the sites have the lightest crowds the week before Thanksgiving. We can only go early November time frame 3rd - 22nd. So, we were thinking 9-14th or 12-17th.

Does this sound correct? Has anyone gone during this time? What were the wait times like?

We've gone in mid-September and the longest waited line was actually the Space 220 same-day reservation of like 40 minutes. HAH!

 

[disneygolfer1985]

Just be aware if you go before thanksgiving, you won’t get to experience all the Christmas offerings or decorations may not be up everywhere.

 

[beccasmom]

We visited the first week of November in 2023 and it was pretty crowded. The MK especially was crazy busy and the weather was quite warm - high 80’s with moderate humidity. Epcot was also very busy (F&W Festival was still going on) both during the day and at night. We didn’t visit the other theme parks. Disney Springs was busy in the evenings, a bit less busy during the day (par for the course in our experience). We were there from Monday through Friday, so no weekend days. I might also incidentally add that the weather was sunny and warm the entire week. We lucked out there.

 

[lynlynch]

We found mid-September and early December very crowded last year. Weather in September was oppressive, December downright cold. A friend said the same in mid-November (crowded, very hot.) The later in the month you go, the more Christmas you will experience, but be sure to avoid Thanksgiving high travel days. Maybe the changes implemented this year will help crowds, but unless you go in January (still decorated) Disney is pretty much crowded for the holidays.

 

[rangerxenos]

I know you said early November is the only time you can go, but other than Magic Kingdom, there won't be much else up in terms of Christmas decorations that early.

If you can do early December, that's the best time to go IMO. Crowds are manageable, all the decorations are up, and the weather is usually pretty nice. This past December weather was all over the place, in the 40s some nights, but almost 80 a couple of days, mostly 70s. No rain while we were there, which is usually the case, but I guess a week after we were there it rained a good chunk of the week.

In the past few years, most of my early December trips have had weather in the mid to high 70s, with almost no rain.

 

[lynlynch]

I know you said early November is the only time you can go, but other than Magic Kingdom, there won't be much else up in terms of Christmas decorations that early.

If you can do early December, that's the best time to go IMO. Crowds are manageable, all the decorations are up, and the weather is usually pretty nice. This past December weather was all over the place, in the 40s some nights, but almost 80 a couple of days, mostly 70s. No rain while we were there, which is usually the case, but I guess a week after we were there it rained a good chunk of the week.

In the past few years, most of my early December trips have had weather in the mid to high 70s, with almost no rain.

We were there for those 40s evenings. Thankfully, we were prepared. Several very large tour groups quickly added to the crowds and the inability to freely hop before 2 pm made difficult to avoid. That should not be a problem in 2024. But, as you said, many decorations will not be in place. I heard the first week in January is nice, but, depending on where you live, there could be storm- related airport delays.

 

[rangerxenos]

We were there for those 40s evenings. Thankfully, we were prepared. Several very large tour groups quickly added to the crowds and the inability to freely hop before 2 pm made difficult to avoid. That should not be a problem in 2024. But, as you said, many decorations will not be in place. I heard the first week in January is nice, but, depending on where you live, there could be storm- related airport delays.

Yep, we were also prepared, we're in Connecticut. We learned a long time ago to check the forecast a couple of days before we leave, and pack accordingly. Our first trip we were caught unawares with the cold, I want to say about 15 years back, and were unable to find gloves anywhere!

 

[lynlynch]

Yep, we were also prepared, we're in Connecticut. We learned a long time ago to check the forecast a couple of days before we leave, and pack accordingly. Our first trip we were caught unawares with the cold, I want to say about 15 years back, and were unable to find gloves anywhere!

Our first pre-Christmas trip was the same! Luckily we bought warm, but thin packable jackets that came with neck pillow bags before our trip. We wore them to the airport and turned them into pillows before we flew. We had no hats, gloves, or scarfs, though and were quite surprised how a December evening in FL could mimic one up north. We found work gloves from Walmart were inexpensive and warm, sweatshirt hoods served as hats, and a stretchy wide headband was a decent scarf alternative.