Hi, my husband and I are wanting to take our 4 children ranging from teenager to toddler to disney next year for Christmas. We have been to disney many many moons ago but we never did character dining etc. Our toddler will turn four next year, so she is getting to the age of really enjoying disney things. I would really like to do Cinderella's Royal Table and Minnie's seasonal dining. I know you can book up to 180 days in advance. Do the spots go fast? What should we expect. Also, what was your experience with the factasmic and Minnie's dining? Are there any other character dining you would suggest?
Hey there! We're currently gearing up for our 7th Christmas trip in 8 years. We typically go from Dec. 24th through Jan. 1st.
First things first, as many have touched on and will warn you, yes, it's very crowded and packed. Shoulder-to-shoulder people, long lines, etc. It's enough to scare anyone away. In fact, it nearly scared us away when we first booked. It was about 2 weeks until our trip and I'm procrastinating studying for finals and decided to start looking into Disney. I start finding blogs and posts about how it's insanely crowded and people regret going, the whole nine. It was obviously too late to cancel and... we weren't canceling, but we were concerned. Outside of the record low temperatures in 2009, we had a blast. We went back again in 2010, skipped 2011 (a family friend got married in Disney and I had just graduated and started a new job) and went back every year after. In fact, in 2011 we hosted Christmas. Midway through doing ALL the dishes and cleaning up, my mom looked up and goes "I'll wait three hours for Spaceship Earth before I host another Christmas." Funny enough, after Sandy wiped out our house and it was under construction, we STILL went to Disney.
It's not for everyone, but if you make the best of it, it's an incredible stay. Accept that you won't see and do everything. Use the trip to do some different things around WDW. All the resorts are gorgeously decorated, the campgrounds at Fort Wilderness are decorated by the campers, and there's plenty of shows, etc.
Now, to get to your question...
The restaurants you choose are going to really depend on your children's tastes. I have a little cousin who won't eat anything but chicken fingers and ice cream. But who knows... in today's day and age of Food Instagrams and the Food Network, maybe your teens are total foodies... Edit: just read that you have a picky eater... okay.
First things first, I wouldn't recommend Minnie's Holiday Dine. The food looks good but I've heard less-than-stellar reviews. Again, everyone is different, but I've heard it's worse than Chef Mickey's. We always do Narcoossee's for dinner on Christmas night. It's our favorite and it has a real elegant feel to it. If you can score an ADR during Wishes it's even better.
We also like to take a day and just eat around the world at EPCOT. It's kind of a "bleh" day after Christmas. We're tired from traveling 12/24 and waking up early 12/25, so we sleep in then head to EPCOT. EPCOT does a Holidays Around the World, which features storytellers in each pavilion, telling of the country's traditions during Christmas. They also sell snacks traditional to that country. This year we'll head to Via Napoli for a pizza for "dinner." Via Napoli has gigantic pizzas for like $50. That sounds like a lot, but split between 4 people it's not bad for ~$10-$15 per person.
I'm rambling on here, so I'll narrow it down to a few spots, based on traveling with a picky eater and the fact that you want a nice experience during Christmas:
Magic Kingdom: Crystal Palace. Big fan of Crystal Palace's breakfast. It's with the characters, so it could be a cool experience on Christmas Day. We're doing Xmas Day breakfast here. Another vote for CRT.
EPCOT: Do the Candlelight Processional. You can choose from a few different restaurants. Find one that fits your taste.
DHS: I'm a fan of 50's Primetime, but you can also skip.
AK: Tusker House, although it is another buffet, it's very good and will have a kids' section .
Resorts, TS: Honestly, I'd go with 'Ohana or Cape May Cafe. Cape May Cafe's breakfast is fantastic. 'Ohana is a very popular spot at Disney.
Resorts, Signature: We love Narcoossee's. We also love Artist Point.
Money-Saving Tips:
1) Simple enough: start saving now. Put away a little money each month. We each pay our own was (myself, my sister and my parents.) I've been putting away around $150-$200 since last January and have around $2k saved up.
2) Get the Disney Visa and use it for EVERYTHING. The Disney Visa gives you points that could be used toward paying off your trip or redeemed for a gift card. We had a $300 gift card last year that we used for snacks here and there.
3) Go a day or two earlier. Free dining should be in effect until Dec. 20th or 21st. This shouldn't really affect your family as you'll be cooking most days, but funny enough—we do the meal plan and we considered going down early last year. Had we gone two days earlier, we would have actually saved $200-$300.
Booking ADRs
The popular ADRs will go fast. My "hierarchy" of reservations usually goes: 1) Book dinner for holidays 2) Book the most popular restaurant 3) Book everything else.
Many people will book in chronological order then when they get to December 26th and want 'Ohana, it'll be gone. Instead, this year I booked dinner on Christmas and NYE, then 'Ohana, then Beaches and Cream being that it's so small, and so on... I got everything I wanted.
Also, save the most popular restaurant for the end of your trip. This works
more so for those that travel like my family. Many families are like yours: they go just for Christmas or just for NYE. We go for the entire week. SO - because of the 180+10 window, we have far less competition in getting BOG for December 30th than December 26th.
.
