This information to December 2022 at Walt Disney World provides a free crowd calendar, suggestions for when to go to & keep away from, climate, new attraction openings & closures, Christmas information, and extra. We cowl what’s taking place at Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. (Updated November 20, 2022.)
Expect extra of the identical in December 2022, and it continues the 3-month pattern starting in October and persevering with in November. Attendance will stay elevated throughout the board as in comparison with regular to due it being the guts of vacation season. Christmas attracts crowds, and even the much less busy days throughout this season are worse than some other time of 12 months.
With that mentioned, early December 2022 will stay a great time to go to because of climate that’s sometimes good (albeit chilly at instances), with crowds which might be usually reasonable. It’s additionally the finest month of the 12 months by way of seasonal occasions. That principally “just” means Christmas, however Walt Disney World actually does the vacation season proper. There’s a ton happening at Walt Disney World in December, with festivals at Epcot, Christmas choices within the different three parks, Disney Springs, resort resorts, and extra.
In case it’s not apparent, we’re large followers of Walt Disney World at Christmas. This is mirrored in December rating extremely on our 2022 Best & Worst Months to Visit Walt Disney World. As mentioned there, December additionally has our favourite week of the 12 months, too! For years, we at all times made a degree of an annual Christmas journey to Walt Disney World, and just about took it on the identical time yearly. As we see it, that is the candy spot by way of climate, crowds, particular occasions, and extra. We’ll cowl that within the sections beneath.
With that mentioned, one factor we do need to word up entrance is that though we love early December and the vacation season as a complete, the month has gotten progressively busier within the final a number of years. It’s a subjectively nice time to go to, however there are few–if any–really “low” crowd degree days. However, it’s nonetheless potential to beat the crowds by using Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Early Entry, Extended Evening Hours, and different savvy technique. We cowl the most effective & worst method for every park (our up to date for Late 2022) in Best Time-Saving Strategies for Walt Disney World.
Let’s check out what’s going on at Walt Disney World in December, and how one can profit from your holiday-time go to…
December Weather at Disney World
Weather at Walt Disney World in December is dicey. If you simply go by historic averages, it seems to be like good climate within the mid-50s to low-70s. The factor is, these are averages. In actuality, the climate you expertise seemingly gained’t be a historic common. Packing this time of 12 months is troublesome, since you may expertise climate within the 80s otherwise you might need a chilly entrance with frosty mornings.
The potential for chilly climate closes water parks for the winter, and in excessive circumstances, may cause flower beds and topiaries within the parks to be lined with plastic tarps to guard them (we’ve seen it occur!). Pack for a variety of climate circumstances and pay watch the prolonged forecast earlier than your journey.
During our late-November/early-December journey a number of years in the past, I packed all shorts and polos and we unexpectedly had lows within the 30s and highs within the 50s. As a consequence, I needed to buy new outfits from The Emporium, which wasn’t precisely low-cost…and I used to be nonetheless chilly! In equity, this was an unseasonable chilly entrance that hadn’t been skilled in years, however you’ve been warned! 😉 Check out our Winter Packing Tips for Disney publish for extra perception on what to take in your journey.
December Special Events at WDW
I’ll admit that I’m biased in terms of December. For me, nothing else that Walt Disney World does by way of seasonal choices compares to the Christmas season. Sure, Halloween is sweet and the opposite seasons have their attraction, however nothing compares to Christmas.
Walt Disney World does rather a lot for the vacation season, and comprehensively taking a look at every of this stuff is past the scope of this publish. Suffice to say, it’s a good time to go to if you wish to get within the Christmas spirit.
Consequently, I’m going to maintain this part brief–if you need our complete opinions, suggestions, methods, and so on., for Christmas, try our Ultimate Walt Disney World Christmas Guide. That information covers Christmas leisure you may anticipate at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Speaking of which, this vacation season marks the return of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP). This laborious ticket occasion has a ton of dates in December 2022…all of that are already offered out. Consequently, a lot of you now gained’t have the ability to attend even if you happen to wished to. Nevertheless, the occasion will nonetheless impression your journey as a result of Magic Kingdom opens and closes earlier on Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party days.
As defined beneath, MVMCP causes curler coaster crowd circumstances within the park that may appear counterintuitive. One of the most effective issues you are able to do when planning is working round these occasions, as that’ll prevent extra time than the rest.
In addition to this, there are a number of occasions on the ESPN Wide World of Sports December Calendar, of which you ought to be conscious. These are the sorts of youth occasions that solely actually are a draw for fogeys with children collaborating in them, however we’ll additionally cowl them in our December crowd calendar part beneath.
DECEMBER REFURBISHMENTS & NEW ATTRACTIONS
For December closures, seek the advice of our Walt Disney World Refurbishment Calendar. Not a lot is listed as taking place proper now, however that’s a bit misleading. There’s numerous ongoing development all through Walt Disney World, past the scope of attraction closures.
The development undertaking that can have probably the most noticeable impression on the visitor expertise is the large reimagining on the entrance of Epcot. The entrance of the park is a sea of development partitions with a large grime pit within the center consequently. On the plus facet, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Space 220 Restaurant, Creations Shop, Club Cool, Connections Cafe, and Harmonious all already having debuted within the final 12 months.
There are nonetheless a few issues that’ll debut in Late 2022, and people are the Toy Story Land Roundup Rodeo BBQ Restaurant (perhaps) and DuckTales World Showcase Adventure (probably). It’s additionally potential that one other restaurant or two will reopen, or that at the moment open places will broaden to serve breakfast or convey again characters. Stay tuned to Open & Closed Restaurants at Walt Disney World for extra updates.
Walt Disney World’s blockbuster addition for this 12 months is Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. For your complete month of December 2022, it will have a Christmas overlay: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind Holiday Remix.
Experiencing the brand new trip is a bit sophisticated, so make sure to try our How to Ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind & Virtual Queue Speed Strategy to enhance your possibilities of success for becoming a member of the free digital queue.
Another various is shopping for line-skipping entry by way of the Individual Lightning Lanes. Those posts clarify every choice, their execs & cons, and all the things else it’s good to know. Suffice to say, don’t simply present as much as EPCOT anticipating to affix the standby line–as there isn’t one.
Beyond that, there are a number of points of interest that haven’t but opened and gained’t till 2023 or later. These embody the Play Pavilion and Moana’s Journey of Water at Epcot, and TRON Lightcycle Run curler coaster at Magic Kingdom. Those will debut beginning in Spring 2023, so that you gained’t have the ability to expertise any of them throughout your vacation season journey.
December 2022 Crowd Calendar for Disney World
We don’t have a color-coded December crowd calendar for Walt Disney World on the high of this part as a result of it wouldn’t inform the complete story of attendance tendencies. If you spend the ~5 minutes studying this part from starting to finish, you’ll be much better ready to keep away from the worst of December crowds (relying upon when throughout the month you go to).
Crowd calendars are much less dependable as a result of how Walt Disney World manipulates attendance patterns, staffing, closures, and trip capability. Since Disney doesn’t launch official attendance numbers, crowd calendars use college schedules, airport visitors statistics, resort pricing & occupancy, and so on., as proxies for crowds. This method labored and made crowd calendars dependable for years.
This is doubly true for this December, because the reopening and capability restrictions have thrown one other monkey wrench into issues. We can nonetheless forecast normal tendencies, however that’s about it. With all of that in thoughts, listed here are our crowd calendar predictions for the most effective and worst weeks at Walt Disney World in December…
The starting of December is our #1 week of your complete 12 months to go to Walt Disney World. On the gang calendar, this would be the week for the bottom crowds of December, and is definitely the most effective week of December to go to.
Keep in thoughts that “lowest” is a relative time period. The vacation season as a complete is busier than spring, summer time, or fall. Christmas is a well-liked time of 12 months within the parks–and for good cause–if you wish to go to throughout this time of 12 months, you may keep away from crowds to a level, however not totally.
The first week of December was once comparatively uncrowded, one in all Walt Disney World’s “best kept secrets.” Thanks to a mixture of crowd calendars pointing friends in direction of these dates, savvy locals, Disney Vacation Members, and in addition as a result of Disney itself providing extra reductions to lure folks and teams down at the moment of 12 months, it’s not fairly as unimaginable because it as soon as was.
Our expectation is that this week leads to the 7/10 vary, which is much better than the ten/10 crowds of Thanksgiving and even what’s typical for mid-December, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. (Last 12 months, this week had a crowd degree of 4/10. However, attendance and wait instances have been increased throughout the board in Late 2022, so don’t anticipate crowds on par with the previous. Circumstances had been very totally different final 12 months with folks inflicting journeys as a result of Delta variant and reinstated masks guidelines.)
All round Walt Disney World, crowds will start to choose up the second week (December 4-10, 2022). However, that shouldn’t be as pronounced this 12 months as within the final a number of.
Normally, the second week crowd surge is pushed by Pop Warner, a youth sport occasion that pulls tens of hundreds of friends to Walt Disney World. However, it has been moved to Universal Orlando for 2022 (and for all future years). This is a big win for everybody else, as Pop Warner spiked attendance ranges. Expect some members to nonetheless go to Walt Disney World, however not sufficient to impression crowd ranges in a significant means. Consequently, we’re anticipating crowds which might be “only” within the 8/10 vary.
The third week (December 11-17, 2022) nonetheless isn’t horrible on the gang calendar due to the best way Christmas falls on the finish of the next week. Expect reasonable to excessive crowd ranges.
Still worse than the 2 weeks earlier than it, however not bonkers. However, when you’ve got the selection to go to any of the primary three weeks of December, positively select one of many first two. Crowds will seemingly be within the 8.5/10 vary.
All bets are off starting the Saturday earlier than Christmas. With this vacation and New Year’s each as soon as once more falling on weekends in 2022, it’s fairly protected to foretell even this far out that December 17, 2022 would be the begin of heavy vacation crowds at Walt Disney World.
This is when peak vacation crowds will descend upon Walt Disney World for the rest of December. From this week on, each single day ought to see peak attendance and excessive numbers on the gang calendar–you’re taking a look at a strong string of 10/10 dates. These final two weeks of December 2022 would be the busiest stretch of the 12 months at Walt Disney World. This is among the worst instances of the 12 months to go to until you recognize what you’re doing.
This consists of each Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. For some cause, lots of people anticipate any vacation itself to be mild by way of crowds, and assume they could have the ability to “outsmart” different friends by happening the vacation–the vacation itself is packed, too. If you dislike crowds, these two weeks are an terrible time so that you can go to.
With that mentioned, the night of Christmas Eve tends to drop off as in comparison with the remainder of the busy week and Christmas morning sometimes begins out a bit slower–however that is relative to the remainder of the week, not in absolute phrases. It’s nonetheless very busy!
Despite all of those dates being 10/10 on the gang calendar, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is usually the busier of the 2 weeks, with wait instances which might be about 20% increased. They’re each 10/10 as a result of Christmas remains to be one of many 10 worst weeks of the 12 months, it’s simply round #7 as in comparison with New Year’s, which is commonly #1 or #2.
For extra particular recommendation for the latter vacation, see our Tips for Surviving New Year’s Eve at Walt Disney World. That information will allow you to navigate and outsmart the crowds, in addition to benefit from the distinctive leisure and fireworks proven on and earlier than NYE.
Due to the Disney Park Pass reservation system, particular person parks and days of the week will not be as related as they had been prior to now. It was once the case that weekends can be busier as a result of locals and others taking vacation season getaways. In the final couple of years, that has ceased to be the case–and day of the week tendencies have change into much less related (and extra unpredictable).
With that mentioned, there are two parks with their very own quirks. First, Epcot will probably be considerably extra busy on weekends, particularly when Florida faculties like UCF have away soccer video games. Epcot’s attendance will probably be lightest on weekdays earlier than 4 pm, with heavier crowds after work as locals prove to graze on the pageant cubicles. Epcot can even be busier on days when fan-favorite celebrities are narrating Candlelight Processional.
On Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party nights, Magic Kingdom closes to common ticket holders at 6 pm. Consequently, the park is much less busy in the course of the day time hours on dates when MVMCP is held, and extra busy on non-party days. This may appear counter-intuitive, nevertheless it’s as a result of the social gathering is separately-ticketed.
Thus far, Magic Kingdom crowd ranges have been 10/10 most non-party days, whereas crowd ranges have been 3/10 to 4/10 on social gathering days. That quantities to a mean wait time differential of about 15-20 minutes per trip, which provides up over the course of the day to the purpose which you can accomplish extra within the party-shortened days when Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm.
Once once more, we strongly advocate doing Magic Kingdom in the course of the days shortened by MVMCP, after which hop to a different park by ~4 pm. Even with 4/10 or 5/10 crowd ranges, you’ll nonetheless come out forward by avoiding Saturdays, Mondays, and different non-party days. (So lengthy as you’re superb skipping fireworks or night in Magic Kingdom–however you may at all times Park Hop over on a special night!)
Although Magic Kingdom closes earlier to common friends on MVMCP days, it additionally opens earlier. This is a enormous benefit, as lined in Photo Report & Strategy: Magic Kingdom Early Entry at 7:30 am on Party Days. We’ve additionally lined the upside to the complete day at Magic Kingdom on the shortened days in our new My “Party Day” at Magic Kingdom WITHOUT Genie+. Those are particular to the Halloween Party, however the very same thought applies with Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
Finally, Disney Springs, resorts, eating places, and bars at Walt Disney World all are busier in the course of the Christmas season. This is because of a mixture of vacation dinners and locals desirous to benefit from the free Christmas decorations and leisure. Be certain to make ADRs for any superb eating exterior the parks, and bear in mind that you just’ll encounter heavier crowds in Disney Springs.
This ought to all underscore why we don’t actually take care of conventional color-coded or numerical Walt Disney World crowd calendars. None of the above tendencies may very well be adequately conveyed by a easy graphic, and it’d be straightforward to change into pissed off if we merely had an December 2022 crowd calendar beginning with a bunch of seven/10 or 8/10 days after which two straight weeks of 10/10 days. Hopefully this offers extra nuance to how Walt Disney World attendance and wait time tendencies are–and will not be–predictable by way of crowd calendars.
December Discounts & Pricing
Discounts of as much as 25% off rooms at Walt Disney World for APs & Floridians have been launched for many nights via December 25, 2022. There’s additionally the Christmas Deal for Disney+ Subscribers, however dates are extra restricted in the course of the vacation season.
Those aren’t the one offers out there for reserving proper now.For all the things else, see All Current Walt Disney World Discounts. You can even save with last-minute offers on DVC level leases–simply be aware of the versatile cancellation insurance policies, as they’re not almost as versatile.
If you’re reserving a room-only low cost, you may resolve for your self which resort is likely to be finest by studying our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews. To lower your expenses on airfare, we advocate ITA Software to seek for the most effective costs. Obviously, none of this does you any good if you happen to’re planning on visiting in a number of weeks and have already booked your journey, nevertheless it needs to be helpful for these of you contemplating a December go to to Walt Disney World.
Overall, December is a good month to go to Walt Disney World if you happen to can work round the entire caveats talked about above. This is a type of months with so many exceptions that they nearly swallow the rule. It is true that the dangerous instances (by way of crowds and climate) might be actually dangerous, however the upside if you happen to can plan round teams and the final two weeks, and also you’re keen to roll the cube on climate, is so nice that it’s robust to contemplate December a “bad” month.
Our secret to visiting this time of 12 months is beginning your journey the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and ending it previous to Pop Warner beginning. This is one in all our favourite weeks of the 12 months to go, and if you happen to can handle to go to then, not solely do you get the entire Christmas choices, however crowds aren’t as chaotic, and there’s a better chance of fine climate. Just don’t go round spreading that ‘secret’ an excessive amount of, as it might not keep a good time to go to if you happen to do! 😉
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about resorts on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To lower your expenses on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips publish takes a novel have a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the most effective place to start out is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for all the things it’s good to know!
Your Thoughts
Do you want Walt Disney World in December? Are you a fan of the vacation choices at Walt Disney World? Will you be visiting for Christmas 2022? Hopeful that extra of the traditional visitor expertise is introduced again for this vacation season? Do you agree or disagree with our recommendation? Any questions we will help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!