early december - when to go?

[NicsMom1500]

Hi.
We enjoyed a trip to Disney in December 2002 from the 6th - 15th with MVMCP on Dec. 10th. Except for rainy weather which I hear is not the norm, we enjoyed this time of year immensely.

Looking ahead to dec. 2004 now. (We go in Jan. 2004 and would like to return at the holiday time as well as getting use out of an annual pass).

questions:
What is the first day after Thanksgiving that crowds are light again?
I'm wondering if we could begin travel (we drive down, taking two days from Pennsylvania with one overnight stop) over the holiday weekend, avoiding Sunday's traffic, if possible.

any ideas what dates would make for a peaceful drive? And what is the earliest we can arrive Disney and avoid any holiday/Thanksgiving crowds?
We found the dec. 10th MVMCP to be uncrowded. Will the earlier dates be the same?

Thanks!

 

[llebrekniT]

We have gone in Dec. 2x and are going again this year. The first time we went from Dec 12 - 19. It was great the first few days and got consistantly more crowded the last few days. The next time we went Dec. 7 - 13. Definetly not as crowded, except on the Friday night MVMCP. This time we are going from the 11th to the 17th and I think that will be just right, because although it wasn't as crowded the 2nd time, a lot of the special shows that we enjoy were not running yet.

As far as the weather goes, it's Dec. and you just don't know what you'll get. Our first trip in Dec. it was 82 the day we got there and 38 the day we left. The other trip was more steady, upper 70's and sometimes warmer. Dec. is generally a low-rainfall month. I think it is the least rainy month of the year, so you probably just got some bad luck.

Hope you have a great trip

 

[MrsMud]

We were there Dec. 2 - 9, 2001. The parks were very, very uncrowded with the exception of MK on a Fri. afternoon, it started to get crowded around 3:00. This was two months after Sept 11th, so it's possible that that affected the parks, but I'm not sure.
Weatherwise it could not have been more beautiful. 80 - 84 every day, with the only rain one morning as we were leaving to come home. BTW, as we were waiting (sadly) inside the airport and watching the planes take off, we saw a beautiful rainbow outside. It was the perfect finishing touch to our vacation

 

[JamesD]

We've went to WDW the week following Thanksgiving two different times now, and the best I can say about the weather is it's unpredicatble! Generally low rainfall, but it's pretty guaranteed that it will be cooler than during the summer months.
As far as the crowds right after Thanksgiving, it will remain heavy through the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The weekdays of the week following Thanksgiving are some of the best days of the year. As with the rest of the year, avoid the Magic Kingdom on Saturdays, if possible. Also it's best to avoid the early entry day parks, unless you plan on geting there early and take advantage of the first couple of hours, then move on to another park. Early entry is really only beneficial for the MK and Studios during this time of year. We've found the MVMCP to be less crowded on weekdays in early December, but sometimes they sell-out and there is really not much difference in nights.
We're looking forward to another great week this coming December, and participating in some of the MouseFest activities.