So, it's been very exciting - my fiancee got a job at Disney and we finally live in a place where my family can easily make a trip to see me more often and I won't have to spend the holidays missing my family! (Of course, living 15 minutes away from WDW and being able to get discounts might provide extra incentives). Anyhow, so my mom, dad, one of my sisters and her two boys are coming here from Nov. 28th to Dec. 5th and though my mom and my sister don't want to...my dad says he wants to go to Blizzard Beach (he LOVES water parks).

So I gave him ticket prices on everything but the water park because I wanted to check...just how cold does it get around that time? My family doesn't like the cold very much at all...even if it's 70 or low 80s (we're coastal Texans). I think my dad thinks that it's going to be up in the 90s or high 80s. But I've read that it does actually get colder than that...am I right?

Would it be better to just go to DisneyQuest or catch Cirque du Soleil?

We were there last December (early December) and it was usually high 70's or low 80's at the warmest.

And that was at the warmest part of the afternoon.

It really depends on if there's a cold front pushing down far enough, too. But if they're from coastal Texas, I'm guessing it's not going to be THAT much different from home at that time of year.

You'll really want to play it by ear. The weather temp is unpredictable during that time. We have gone twice in early December and both times some of the days were warm enough to go to the pool/water park. But some were definitely not. We had set aside a day to maybe go one year and ended up going to DisneyQuest instead. But my son and husband were still able to go in the pool a couple of days later. It really cools down at night, so be prepared with warmer clothing / jackets. We watched the candlelight processional in Epcot one evening and I was so glad to have little stretchy mittens in my coat pocket to put on - it was by far the coldest night we encountered there (somewhere in the 40s).

Pearl, we've been there three times in December/January. The first it was in the upper 80s every - VERY nice to be in the water. The second time it got into the mid-20s for several nights -- crop-killing freezes. Everyone was bundled up to stay warm. And the third time it was in between - quite pleasant for hte theme parks but too cool for the water parks. It it was me, I'd by a hopper for part of the vacation in advance, then when I got there either upgrade to more theme park days or add water parks depending on the weather at that time. Why decide ahead of time - adding on is so easy!

We keep the water in all the slides and pools around 80F (27C) except for Shark Reef which does not have filters, pumps or heaters. What you want is a day that will be bright and sunny and preferably not windy.

If you go on a day that is heavily overcast you will not be able to take advantage of any radiant heating (from the sun) or on a windy day (especially with a dry wind from the North) you will get hit by wind chill.

But a day with the highs in the mid-50s or above which is sunny and calm most people (at least from Northern climates) should be comfortable.

Sounds perfect for me! We don't even wear coats here until it is around 20. I can HARDLY wait for my first December trip this year. I will look at the weather closely. Sounds like I can't plan my outfits 6 months in advance like I usually do.

I have been to DLR once when they had a freaky cold snap and I had to buy a $50 sweatshirt to get through the day. It is better to just pack on on the off-chance that FL has a cold/cool snap. I would think that a pair of mittens/gloves would be good. I can go with a sweatshirt and a pair of mittens and be quite comfortable.

Thanks for this thread! I was wondering about this myself!

I have been to DLR once when they had a freaky cold snap and I had to buy a $50 sweatshirt to get through the day. It is better to just pack on on the off-chance that FL has a cold/cool snap.

I've had to do this more than once on both coasts, but I really don't mind. My CM brother works in Rushin' River Rapids store in DCA, where they have a lot of warm, sweater type wear. Their sales of the warm clothing goes through the roof on the chilly days. I think people come to Florida and southern California expecting it to be 80 and sunny year round!

On our December 2005 trip we were suprised at how cool it was and ended up having to wash the few cool-weather clothes we brought. That being said, we played it by ear and went to the water park on the one warm day we ended up having. The good thing is that the water park was empty!

Thanks for all the input! Looks like planning an early December trip is probably the hardest part of the season to plan for (meaning, you probably can't have EVERY day planned ahead of time). We decided though, that since we're going to be there around the down season, it shouldn't be too hard to play by ear. I think the next tough disscussion would be..does Disney Quest get very crowded during that time of year (being that it's smaller than the other parks)?

We went to DQ during this time of year and it was the coldest day while we were there and it still wasn't that crowded. There was a line outside before it opened, but once we were inside it wasn't too bad. The lines for the Virtual Reality rides (especially the Pirates and create your own roller coaster ones) do get somewhat longer.