Why It's Getting Harder To Go to Disney World During Christmastime

We’re fast approaching the busiest time of the year in Disney World, so prepare yourselves!

Typically, the two most crowded weeks of the entire year are the week of Christmas and the week of New Year. During that time, hotels and park tickets are at their peak prices, and we’ve even seen the parks hit capacity in the past. So will this year be more of the same? Well, looking right now, some Disney Park Passes are already sold out.

Disney Park Pass reservations are still required for certain types of theme park tickets that aren’t date-based, as well as for Annual Passholders on most days (if they’re visiting before 2PM). Looking at the Park Pass availability calendar can still give us a glimpse into the expected crowd levels of upcoming days because Disney will likely not allow those ticket holders to make reservations if a day is already projected to be absurdly busy.

For a large portion of the last two weeks of December 2025, Park Passes are already booked up for theme park ticket holders and Resort guests. This starts on December 24th (Christmas Eve) and runs through December 31st (New Year’s Eve).

For Annual Passholders, all of these dates remain open. The tricky thing for this season of the year, when it comes to Passholders, is blockout dates. Most pass tiers are blocked out during the last two weeks of the year, so those reservations might not fill up.

You’re more likely to see hordes of Passholders visiting the parks in the early weeks of December. Since many pass levels are blocked out at Thanksgiving and Christmastime, those Passholders only have a few select weeks in early November and early December to check out the holiday offerings around Disney World.

Keep in mind that even if you don’t need a Park Pass, the parks could still reach capacity on a day you plan to visit.

We’ll continue watching the crowds and Park Pass availability going into the holidays and keep you updated if anything changes. We’re getting ready to brave some very packed parks!