We are looking at visiting DLR for the 1st time around Christmas next year, 2026. Our kids last school day is Friday, Dec 11. I am wondering if we should high tail it to start our visit over the weekend or wait until Monday the 14. We plan on just 2-3 park days, and I don’t know if it matters which days we will be there or not, as far as crowds go. Any tips are welcome! We have been to WDW a few times, but a short Christmastime trip just seems much more manageable at DLR.
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I would look at the passholder blockouts and try to go the soonest you can when the most of them overlap.
They don’t have the blockout schedule available past Sept 2026. But if they stick to their pattern for the last few years then all of the blockouts for all pass levels should be in full effect by Mon Dec 21 2026 (I could see them pushing it back a day to Tue Dec 22 just based on proximity to Christmas). So if it were me, I’d plan to be there somewhere in the range of Dec 21st and ahead of Christmas.
If it works better your schedule to go earlier, I would mind the last day in the parks for the Believe & Enchant (the two middle levels) passes as they both have a lot of blockouts year round & will structure their days in the park/lives to be able to travel or be in DL around those dates. And usually anytime an extended blockout is coming, they get maxed out on reservations and those tend to be busier days.
Looking at 2025’s schedule, I would expect those days in 2026 to be Tue Dec 15 2026 for Enchant and Fri Dec 18 2026 for Believe.
I could see them sliding back the day for Enchant back a day to Wed Dec 16, but Fri Dec 18 will probably stay for Believe. And they will both be blocked the Sat Dec 12 and Sun Dec 13 so that adds to demand for those last weekdays they can be in the parks.
I would definitely avoid Dec 18 and whatever day out of Dec 15-16 ends up being the last day for Enchant to be in the parks.
So for an earlier in the month date, going that weekend, the 12-13 (bleeding into Mon Dec 14 depending on how many days you were looking for) looks like a really good range.
Also the following weekend Dec 19th-20th is a good option too. Even if the 20th ends up being the last day that the highest level of passes (Inspire) can get to the parks, there’s less of a demand to make it there all the final days because their only blockout is between Christmas and New Years and isn’t as extensive so they generally don’t all pile in the days leading up to. The final day they can be in the parks could be slightly busier but not as busy as the Enchant or Believe.
So I would plan for the best 3-4 days that fit my life schedule between Dec 19-23 and if I was doing only 3 days and could work around it, whichever day was the last day for Inspire (either the 20th or 21st), I would plan a rest day to swim/enjoy Downtown Disney/resort or go somewhere close by in Anaheim and pick up my last day after that. But if doing 4 days, I wouldn’t try to plan around that one day and make that more of a show/characters/ambiance focused day
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Thanks! I was thinking it would be the sooner the better, so thanks for explaining how to check to different pass blockout dates. I’ll be sure to do that.
Too bad we won’t get early entry. Maybe we don’t need to stay on property after all! I was considering it mostly because of EE, now I’m not sure if it’s worth paying top dollar for it when there are other great options nearby.
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It’s a little bit of a balance of the soonest (to avoid peak Christmas crowds) but also steering clear of the days that will see an influx of pass holders getting their last fill. And if Disney is still operating like how they were at the end of our last pass in Sept 2024, the more passholders that are available to go, the leaner the staffing and therefore less efficient operations.
So even with more people physically in the parks they will staff it to a level that you’re breezing through lines with added ride capacity and more open security lanes (vs. days passholders can access that will have less overall crowds but will see reduced capacity at rides and less staffing to man security lines that make the experience overall longer and less magical).
But you do want to avoid peak of the tourist crowds which will include Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve and any of the immediate days surrounding those. So I was trying to balance it in a good happy spot of all the above.
There’s a post from earlier today that Disney is getting rid of EE in DL. I’ll see if I can find it.
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Here it is:
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I did see that and was pretty disappointed. Are there any perks left for staying on property once EE is gone?