Christmas Decorations - how long into January are they still up?

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Does anyone know when the decorations come down at WDW?

We would love to go for the 2nd & 3rd weeks of December 2011 but in many ways a January trip would be more convenient for the family. But the deal breaker for me would be I just won't miss the decorations so if they aren't still around the first week or so of January we would have to scrap that idea.

Has anyone been to WDW in January? What are the crowds like?

 

[aussietravellers]

I think the Christmas Decorations start coming down the first week of January but I could be wrong.

December is a great time to go, except for the week leading up to Christmas it is so quiet, we were there from 9th to 22nd December and for the first week and a half it was so quiet, we walked straight onto Soarin twice, the fastpass line was open to everybody because there were hardly any people in the queues.

I think it is so worth going for the Christmas feel, it is just so beautiful and even venturing elsewhere and seeing all of the decorations everywhere it's just lovely.

Another thing to consider too is the airfares. Our trip this last December was a very last minute trip, organised in about 5 days as we saw these ridiculously cheap fares on VAustralia and couldn't pass them up! But we were looking at January too as my mother was going to NY on the 7th Jan, so we thought of going then but the airfares were over double than what they were in December. With many public schools and NSW and VIC schools not breaking up until later in December, the flight are pretty cheap earlier in December.

If it were me, I would choose December over January because of cheaper airfares and the beautiful Christmas feeling even though January would be more convenient for us.

 

[queenie82]

I would also very highly recommend December over January.
While there still may be decorations up NONE of the special events and parades will be on past about the 3rd/4th/5th at the latest.

The HUGE amount of Decorations that go up in WDW take time to dismantle. They start with the parks and then attack the resorts. So it can take up to 2 weeks for everything to disappear. But there is no Christmas feel...it just is remnants as it gets removed.

DL it happens more quickly
We did DL from the 31st Dec - 6th January 2010 and the first few days did have Fantasmic and the Christmas Parade but it was GONE immediately after the 4th and even though there were still some decorations around there was NO Christmas magic.
The Nightmare Overlay of the HM was on until the 3rd and then the HM was closed for 2 weeks as the overlay was removed.
Small World overlay was still there until our departure which was 7th...but again once outside the ride there was no Christmas magic.

In addition the crowds on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of Jan 2010 were really high. So it wasn't fun. The queue for HM on the night of the 3rd was crazy....even with my fastpass!!! People were desperate to fit in all the 'christmas' that was left in before the 4th when normality resumed.

I can't speak to the specifics of WDW in the first week of Jan because we always go in the first weeks of December...but....

If you really want Christmas you HAVE to go in December.

 

[dollarmite]

We went to WDW and DL in Nov 09.

We left WDW on 14 Nov and the Xmas decorations were just starting to go up, mainly in MK for Mickey's Christmas Party.

At DL the posters we saw said that the Christmas 'holiday season' would last from 12(?) Nov-3 Jan.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

You've all convinced me. December it would have to be