Okay… so the crowd calendar on this site gives me a 4-6 out of 10 for the days we are planning—December 18,19,20. But other sites tell it will be packed! What are your experiences… December sounds wonderful and we would only miss one day of school. But is it too crowded usually? We are early risers at least!! Please help me decide!
FYI – A common misconception about Crowd Levels is that they are an indicator of the number of people in each park. However, they are an indicator of average queue waits at the park.
A CL 1 can feel like a CL 4 in terms of park capacity, but the queues may be moving quickly. Conversely, you can be in a CL 9 park that feels like a CL 5 because the streets aren’t packed. However, all the queues are super long.
On those dates it will be crowded, but the queues will be moving at a medium level - CL 4-.6
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Are rides closed at DL MK during December? How is the weather in California?
Rides closed at Disneyland in December??? NEVER
Like WDW, the first 2 weeks in December is much less crowded and the decorations are amazing. The weeks of Christmas and New Years are a mad house but I have an adult nephew that goes with his family for 3 days from Dec. 24-26 every year and loves it.
Personally, I can’t handle the extreme crowds because of the tighter walkways at DL.
The weather is usually nice and mild in the 60s and 70s.
Winter is the rainy season but most of the rain is in January through April.
While it may be before a lot of the tourist crowds are out in full force, there are the Passholder Blockouts to consider, most specifically the ones that are the last days before the 2-3 week holiday blockout that happens to all but the Signature Plus passholders.
For Dec 18-20 it looks like the 18th is the last day available until Jan 6th for the SoCal pass; the 19th the last day until Jan 5th for the Deluxe pass; and the 20th the last day until Jan 5th for the Signature pass.
With the Deluxe & Signature being available to both locals & those out of state it may be that there aren’t as many who will specifically travel down for the last days prior to being blocked. However, if a large number of locals who have any and all of those pass types decide to get one last Disney day in before their blockout, it may be very crowded but may not be quite reflected in the Crowd Level (as has already been pointed out that since the CLs are only an indication of the lines not the “feet on the ground” as we like to call it). Since local/frequent visitors tend to not wait as much, or as often in lines, spending more of their times on shows, treats, atmosphere, dining there is less of a true interpretation of the impact these kinds of visitors bring to the “feel” of how full the park is. Other crowd measurements may take this “feel” into account (but without any data to back it up), where TP uses measurable data to arrive at their CLs.