Crowds: week before Christmas

[sams_daddy]

Hello all.

We are going to WDW Dec 15-21. "Info Central" describes this week before Christmas as "The Next Best Time to Visit".

Two questions:
1. Anyone been this week? Can you compare crowds to the 1st week of June, which is when we have been in the past?
2. We suspect our last day (Dec. 21) will be an extremely busy travel day. Anyone have trouble with DME on such days?

Thanks in advance!

[keacc]

This year will be our 5th trip during that week (Dec15-22). It is our favorite time of the year to go. The crowds are very manageable. The weekend days are more crowded. We haven't been in early June since about 1995 so I can't really compare. Plan to get to the most popular attractions early and use fast pass and your day will be very enjoyable. There is a lot more to see in EPCOT because of the Holidays. Take time to visit many of the resorts to see the Holiday decorations. The GF has a life size gingerbread house. The WL has a spectacular tree. Take a sleigh ride in fort wilderness. ENJOY!!!

[faline]

We've been in this December time frame a number of times and have found it to be quite a nice time to visit. Crowds will increase as you get closer to the holiday but should, for the most part, be manageable.

It's hard for me to compare to the first week in June. We went for a quick weekend the first weekend in June of 2006 and were surprised by the lack of crowds. In fact, we were so pleased by attendance levels in 2006, that we took another quick wekend the first June weekend in 2007. What a difference a year made! We found it to be quite crowded this year!

If I were comparing these two experiences to the week before Christmas, I would have to say that our 2006 June weekend was probably comparable to the week before Christmas while we found June of 2007 to be far more crowded than what I've experienced in the week before Christmas.