Finally Today

How are the crowds at Orlando theme parks the week before or afer Christmas? Universal, Disney, Sea World?

We live in St. Louis, MO and are thinking of planning a Christmas Break trip to Orlando with our children, ages 10 and 6. Our main goal is Harry Potter's Wizarding World, Sea World, and 1 day at Magic Kingdom.

Public Comments

1. Harry Potter's Wizarding World is going to be pretty busy, but not as much as now. Christmas is really a busy time but is great to go to the parks then. SeaWorld shouldn't be that busy at all and Magic Kingdom should be about a 5-40 minute wait per ride. Don't put your hopes up about Harry Potter's Wizarding World though. Many people (like me) are going to target that place then because of the weather and free time. Not to mention, its crazy right now!
2. between december 21st and january 1st is the absolute busiest time of the entire year to visit any orlando theme park. expect extremely long lines even for attractions that normally have a short line around other peak seasons. (for example jungle cruise at magic kingdom is normal a 15-20 minute wait even during the summer but during the xmas break it can easily be a 90 minute wait!) during that time frame parks have been known to fill to capacity by noon so get to the parks a good 30 minutes before they open to ensure you get in. and don't plan on leaving not even to make a trip back to your car until you are completely done at the park cuz once some people leave the park they start letting others enter and you may not get back in even though you were already there. also be prepared to feel like sardines packed in the parks. it can seem like one big long line just to walk from point A to point B. i'm not trying to deter you from going during that time of year i'm just trying to inform you of what you are in for and let you know you will need a lot of patience. if you love the xmas season as much as i do you will LOVE magic kingdom (and any other disney park you may go to) cuz they go all out for xmas with decorations, lights, music, parades, shows, and fireworks displays. i prefer going anytime between mid november and mid december though cuz you get everything that comes along with the xmas season but you don't get all the crowds.
3. All will be packed, especially Universal and Disney. I would expect the new Harry Potter section to bring huge crowds to Universal. It's a fairly small section of the park so it'll get swamped quickly. Around the opening Universal set up a separate line just to get into that section after you had already gotten into the main park. Disney has what they call "extra magic hours" where they let guests of on-property hotels in early, or stay late. According to their current schedule, every day from the 23rd-30th, minus Xmas eve, the Magic Kingdom will have extra magic hours from 8-9 am. This means if you aren't a Disney hotel guest, by the time you are allowed to enter the park there will already be thousands of people there. Sea World will also be packed, but not as bad. Their park is centered around shows, which handle huge crowds much better. Like Indy, I'm not trying to be a Grinch. Christmas in any of the Orlando parks is awesome, you just need to know it'll be massively crowded those two weeks.