Hi All, we are planning a trip for first week of December 2020. I know it is far out and we can book hotel and park tickets. I am wondering when we will be able to see dates so that we can start planning park dates. Wondering about extra magic hours, Christmas party, dessert parties, etc… Any advice on what I can be doing this far out would be appreciated!
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The touring plans crowd calendar adds dates 1 year out from that date (rolling out one day at a time), so the December 2020 calendar won’t start popping up until December this year, but when it does it will have their best guess about park hours (and it will list guesses on EMM too). Then crowd calendars are updated monthly usually at the beginning of the month, sometimes more often.
Party dates and special events are farther out still. For example, this year it looks like Christmas party dates came out on April 9. Some of the other events seem to have been hit or miss whether you could book them +/- 6 months or +/- 2 months or less from travel, probably depending on what other “stuff” Disney has in store. Others who watch EMM and dessert party offerings can answer that better than me, as we aren’t planning those for our 2020 trip.
Have so much fun! You’ve found a good place to spend the next 16 months!
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As a proxy you can look at this Xmas as a potential predictor of next year - no guarantees. They often have a cadence (party days, EMH days, EMZm days).
Welcome, and happy planning! Dessert parties are not always released at a regular schedule. Don’t expect them at 180 (like other ADRs). Often there are threads in this forum keeping an eye out for them and sharing with each other as soon as someone sees that they are available to book.
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Welcome! This really is a great place to hang out while you wait for your trip and plan your next one! Please feel free to ask anything.
The WDW event calendar is released about six months in advance, but is subject to changes & additions. You’ll have a better idea about Dec. 2020 next June.
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We, too, are going first week of December 2020. We have our back-up reservations in place, with the plans to swap them out for DVC rental instead when January rolls around.
Unfortunately, the detail stuff you will just have to play around with for fun until you are much closer. They won’t have dates for a lot of stuff until potentially even within the 60 days out. For example, the DAH events at AK didn’t get scheduled for the summer months until about 30 days out (making planning around it difficult).
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This is so helpful, thank you!
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Sounds like that week is going to be crowded. 2 families in this thread alone. I was thinking of going that week but now I’ll make other arrangements. 
I think its only going to get worse for the next couple years. Enjoy it mow😁
I’m expecting a slight decrease in attendance late next year due to people waiting for the 50th anniversary stuff in 2021. Fingers crossed 
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Haha, im one of those. I think, that b4 the bulk of the new things come out, crowd levels are safe. Being that EPs getting alot, HS is getting some and MK is getting tron, Disney will be crazy from spring 2021 - most if 2022. And ill be in the thick of it😁 cant help it, not sure the appeal, lol
When does universal plan to open the new park? That should provide a little relief.
Anytime! As a fellow crowd calendar stalker, it is fun when your actual travel dates start popping up. (Granted the predictions will change over time but it is exciting seeing them and not just obsessively trying to reverse engineer based on historical crowd data. (Historical crowd data is available too, that will show you the crowd levels for past years. Another rabbit hole to occupy you until this December 
.)) I know others here who don’t pay attention to crowd level predictions at all, but I do. For what reason I’m not sure, I just like feeling like I know more about that factor of the trip.
You’ll notice too that if you look at the crowd levels on your phone on the website it will show like a “heat map” by hour of what times are most crowded for each park during a given day. It doesn’t show up like that if you look on the computer, but on a computer you are able to see more than one month at a time. Those heat maps don’t start populating until maybe 9-10 months out. (I.e. the crowd level could say 7, and the heat map will be green for the first few months (which makes it look like a 1) but then start filling in as yellow and orange on some parts of the day, which more matches what a 7 would be.)
…not like I stare at the TP website a lot or anything…
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I dont know that they’ve set a date but Im sure it wont be in the next couple years.
The rumored date is no sooner than 2023 - 2024.