Christmas break tips?

newdeal

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
We have been to WDW over 20 times and are DVC owners so we have a lot of experience touring WDW however we have never been between Christmas and New Years. We decided to go that week this year, unfortunately there isn't much available for DVC rental. We are having a split stay, first night at BLT then plan to walk to the MK from there. Then two nights at all star sports, a night at beach club (going to walk here from Epcot candle light processional) and then three nights at all star sports again. If some rooms open up for DVC we may add some more time at beach club or BLT but I doubt much will come up. We did this because I assume that Disney buses are an abomination with the high demand during this time? We have a few things that we really want to do, however we know that we won't be touring like we do in September. Generally we try to avoid EMH, is this a good idea for this week as well? We are never up for evening EMH, our kids are too young, I am just talking morning EMH. Normally we do the dining plan, however this time I think we will hit more quick services, are there good and bad times of day to go to quick service locations? Any quick serves that don't get big lines compared to others? Just looking for some tips as to handle transportation, EMH and dining!
 
We don't stay on property, so I can't comment on the hotels or even the dining plan (we pack our own food), but we're WDW veterans also. Last year was the first time we had ever been there at Christmas. Honestly, the only day that was really crazy to the point of noticing a major difference was Christmas Day in MK. Beyond that, while it will be more crowded than a typical summer week, to us it really didn't cause us to alter our plans from what we normally do. Set your FP+ for the stuff you know is crowded, do standby for the others. All the usual tips and tricks work. We did notice the quick service locations are pretty busy at lunch and dinner, we found it a bit harder to find a table to sit at...though not impossible.
 
The good thing about a peak week ... Disney knows it's a peak week and does as much as possible to staff and run everything at peak capacity (CM's will be all over, helping direct crowds, etc) including busses. You will notice a few, older busses and additional Mears busses helping with transportation. I didn't think busses were that bad over Christmas (except the POP to AK bus that decided to drive into the 1hr EPCOT traffic jam on Christmas Day... But otherwise busses are usually good at taking back routes to avoid that congestion)

Avoiding morning EMH may be impossible at MK, usually the entire week is MK EHM at 7a before the park opens at 8a.

Not eating during peak times 11am lunch or 2p lunch will help. There will also be seasonal places open (like Tortuga in MK) that might normally closed in Sept.
 
Hey there,

Alright, a lot of questions seeded in there, but I'm gonna try and help haha.

My family has been going to Disney for Christmas the past 6 out of 7 years. We love it, and you're in for a real treat.

As far as the split stay goes... You're going to be moving around a lot. I wouldn't expect the DVC to open up, but you never know. I believe the final deposit/last chance to cancel is coming up in late October. You may get lucky then, but it's a slim chance. The split stay is also going to affect your FP+ window. You don't have to worry about the ADR window as it's already open. But, you're a Disney vet, so I'm sure you already know that.

You forgot to include the trip dates. You mentioned you'd be there between Christmas and New Years, so I'll go ahead and assume you'll be there when my family will: December 24th-January 1st (or somewhere between there.) You mentioned you had young kids, so I'd assume you're going during their school break.

Extra Magic Hours
As far as evening EMH's go, Disney has (seemed to) cut down on the amount of late nights. They've already posted an evening EMH for MK on December 30th. It'll be from 12am-2am. That's even been cut, as it used to go until 3am. MK usually does a NYE "dress rehearsal" on 12/30, giving guests the opportunity to see the NYE show the night before. It's great, especially for guests who don't want to deal with the crowds on NYE or can't decide on a park.

But, let's not worry about evening EMH. Let's talk morning.

- Right now MK is scheduled to open at 9am, with a few 8am-9am EMH's sprinkled in. Expect the MK hours to change. It should open at 8am, with a morning EMH from 7am-8am. I'd bet the house on this for at least Christmas Day.

- Do know that Disney is always adding EMH's based on the crowd levels. A few years ago, we were checking in and gathering the park hours from the check-in desk. The CM stopped us and said "wait.. wait.. we JUST added EMHs for EPCOT. Those hours are outdated. If you wait an hour the new ones will be replenished." They'll start adding hours as early as mid-October and late as intra-week. You'll have a better idea when you go to schedule your FP+.

Park Crowds
It's gonna be crowded. It's gonna be insanely crowded. Seriously. But it sounds like you've already accepted that.

When people hear about how crowded it is at Disney, they look at my family bewildered and ask "why do you keep going back?!" Main Street is nearly impossible to navigate by midday. Wait times for popular attractions often eclipse 2-3 hours. Sometimes the bathrooms have long lines. We start planning our trip months, sometimes A YEAR in advance. So why do it? Why put ourselves through the stress? The second you turn onto Main Street and see the castle—a backdrop to a fully decorated Main Street, nothing else matters. It's like running down the stairs and seeing the tree, full of presents, for the first time on Christmas morning. There's a backdrop of Christmas tunes playing and you're in DISNEY for Christmas.

The best part is December 26th. When everyone else is going to work and dealing with their Christmas hangover (whether alcohol inflicted or just tired from the holidays) you're getting up and doing it all over again. Your holiday is lasting a week - not just one day!

So, yes, it will be crowded... but the trip will be as good as you make it. If you go in expecting to ride everything, you'll be disappointed. If you go in saying "it's gonna be crowded, but we're in Disney for Christmas and we're gonna have a good time..." you'll love it.

There are some tricks to avoiding the crowds & long waits:
- Go early. You mentioned you like the morning EMH. We always arrive at MK on Christmas morning by 7:30am. We head straight to Space Mountain, which usually has a 20-minute wait. We finish up by 7:50-8amish. We go right to Buzz Lightyear and are on and off within 30 minutes. The park is now open and Main Street begins to fill up. We'll usually head to either Jingle Cruise, Pirates or one of the cult favorites (Peter Pan, Small World, Pooh) next. Whichever we don't have a FP+ for.

- For whatever reason, the parks don't get crazy crowded until 11am or 12pm. Maybe people are eating breakfast or it's taking a while for the off-site guests to park.. who knows. That window between EMH or rope drop and 11am or 12pm is your opportunity to ride your favorite attractions without a long wait time. As I mentioned above, we always do Space Mountain. I know you mentioned that you have younger kids, so your plan may be different, but that should give you a proper idea.

- Don't fall for the "newness" novelty. I've never had a problem grabbing a FP+ for 7DMT. We had one back in 2014, but decided to run down there on Christmas morning shortly after the EMH started. The wait was already at 1.5 hours. People will be flocking to 7DMT, the new Frozen ride, etc. Don't be a sheep. Use this time to head to your favorite rides that may have a lower wait times. Rides like Space Mountain, Small World, Jungle Cruise, etc.

- While on that note, get a FP+ for the bigger rides. It's a must. Sure, you can get on things at rope drop and during EMH, but I view it this way: during EMH or rope drop, you only have time for ONE big ride (think Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Soarin', Test Track) and ONE, sometimes TWO smaller rides (think Buzz Lightyear, Pirates, etc.)

- Take Breaks. The afternoon is perfect for a break or nap. You have two things in your favor: 1) you're staying close to the parks sometimes and 2) there's so much more to do during Christmas than the parks. The parks are the most crowded from 11am to around 4pm. That's when you can really feel the crowds. Leave around 1pm. Take a nap or explore the resorts and their decorations, then head to dinner and back to the parks or dinner at one of the parks. It'll still be crowded when you return, but the break should offer you some reprieve. And seriously... your kids won't be the only ones in need of a nap. I'm 27 and always need a nap during my Disney trips.

The Curious Case of Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Studios is a shell of itself. Construction has led to a lot of closures and with the Osborne Lights no longer there, it won't be as popular for guests. It should help alleviate the off-site guests. On the negative side, though, the construction only leaves a few big rides—meaning longer waits for RnR, Tower of Terror and Toy Story Midway Mania. Again, I don't know how old your kids are. Maybe you don't even go on ToT or RnR, but I can offer some advice when tackling DHS.

Here's what my family plans on doing (and has done in the past.) On the day of the EPCOT candlelight processional, I'd do DHS in the morning. Use FP+'s for ToT, Toy Story Midway Mania and Star Wars. Finish up around 1pm and either head back to your room or go directly to EPCOT. Spend the rest of the day at EPCOT and finish your night with Illuminations.

Another day during your trip, do Test Track or Soarin' at Rope Drop and have FP+'s for Frozen, Spaceship Earth and the Character Meet. Spend the rest of the day touring the countries, checking out the storytellers. They're actually pretty interesting. Then, head back to your resort for a quick break or go to DHS for the evening for Fantasmic (if you wanna see it.)

Transportation
You can hit transportation snags anywhere. We always stayed at POFQ and never had a problem. It had one bus stop, so we always got right on. This trip the buses were late. We still got on, but they were often late.

The best advice I could give is to use the transportation to your advantage. Do MK when you're at BLT. Do DHS and/or EPCOT at BC. Figure out the first stop at Sports and try and get a room there. Staying at a value, you're gonna wait a bit for the buses. It stinks that you're going Deluxe to value to Deluxe to value. You're gonna be pampered with the quick walk to the parks before heading to a value where you'll most likely wait for a bus. It'll make it seem worse. Again, just roll with it. It is what you make of it. If you're running late for an ADR, call a cab or an Uber.

Quick Services
Try the resorts. We love Contempo Cafe, Capt. Cook's, and Landscape of Flavors. All have really solid food. Take a trip over to DS and go to Wolfgang Puck Express. Another really solid place. Outside of NYE and Christmas Day, no QS spot is gonna be OVERLY crowded. You may wait a little to place your order, but we've never had a problem. We did go to Wolfgang Puck Express once and the line went out the door shortly after we placed out order.

- I'd say do Contempo Cafe during your stay at BLT
- Try Boardwalk Bakery while you're at Beach Club
- Be Our Guest lunch or breakfast is solid on the DDP. Otherwise it's a bit overpriced. It's worth going just to see the decor and theming.
- Sunshine Seasons is highly regarded. We always like the Mexico QS. Sometimes it has a longer line, but it's very good.

Overall, good luck. Feel free to ask any other questions. I do have a free ebook I wrote that's dedicated to Disney during Christmas. You can find it at survivedisxmas.com.
 
Thanks for the long post. My kids are 4 and 6 but we have been around 3 times per year since the oldest was born so they are Disney veterans too. They like coasters but the 6 year old just past 44 inches and the 4 year old just past 40 inches so we are blocked out on some rides like space mountain. I doubt we will do much that my little one can't ride possible exception is mission space green. We have stayed value many times and DVC many times. We booked all star sports because it tends to be the first resort that the busses pick up at and the first resort that they drop off at as well so I figure that we won't get too much of the busses being full and bypassing our resort, there is only one stop for each all star (so three stops total) and they share busses normally. We are going to go to MK on the day after we arrive at BLT and then on the days surrounding beach club we are doing Epcot on the day of check in and DHS on the day after. We arrive christmas day, but not until the evening so we won't be going to a park on Christmas day, our first day at a park with be the 26th and then the last day will be the 1st. We have the candle light processional dining package at La Hacienda for the 28th. Is the new years eve show a must see (on the 30th), what time does it start at the day before? We generally eat dinner either in a park at 5pm or outside a park at 5pm and then head back to the hotel. My kids like the community hall at BLT so if it gets too crazy that is our rest area. My kids don't nap during the day
 
We have been to WDW over 20 times and are DVC owners so we have a lot of experience touring WDW however we have never been between Christmas and New Years. We decided to go that week this year, unfortunately there isn't much available for DVC rental.

We are having a split stay, first night at BLT then plan to walk to the MK from there. Then two nights at all star sports, a night at beach club (going to walk here from Epcot candle light processional) and then three nights at all star sports again.

If some rooms open up for DVC we may add some more time at beach club or BLT but I doubt much will come up. We did this because I assume that Disney buses are an abomination with the high demand during this time? We have a few things that we really want to do, however we know that we won't be touring like we do in September. Generally we try to avoid EMH, is this a good idea for this week as well? We are never up for evening EMH, our kids are too young, I am just talking morning EMH. Normally we do the dining plan, however this time I think we will hit more quick services, are there good and bad times of day to go to quick service locations? Any quick serves that don't get big lines compared to others? Just looking for some tips as to handle transportation, EMH and dining!

We go to WDW every year between Christmas and New Years. I've had my DVC reservation since January and they do fill up fast.

Personally, I think it's critical to get to the parks early over that week. It gets so crowded that the MK parking lot will fill up every day and the MK itself will close to new guests a couple times. As a resort guest you won't be barred from entering but you won't like it once you get there at anytime after 11 am. It's NUTS.

Here are some photo from the past couple years.

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Epcot is not immune ...

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@newdeal, do you ever go back into the parks for fireworks or the evening parades? Do you still use strollers for your kids?
 
We did New Year's several years ago. Epcot is nuts! But the fireworks are really something! (expect lots of staggering adults especially as the night wears on) We stayed towards the front of the parks for the fireworks (for easy egress) Back then everyone got hats and noisemakers for free (if you locate a CM giving them out!) It's crazy, busy, but fun!
 
@newdeal, do you ever go back into the parks for fireworks or the evening parades? Do you still use strollers for your kids?

we rarely go back in the evening. We might go and catch the magic kingdom fireworks one evening but most likely would watch them from outside the park. We have a double jogging stroller that we bring on every trip. Broke the stroller last trip and ordered a new one saturday delivery to our hotel from Amazon so its a pretty new one that we have now
 
we rarely go back in the evening. We might go and catch the magic kingdom fireworks one evening but most likely would watch them from outside the park. We have a double jogging stroller that we bring on every trip. Broke the stroller last trip and ordered a new one saturday delivery to our hotel from Amazon so its a pretty new one that we have now
So you tend to go to a park and then hang out there all day until dinner and then go back to the resort? I'm glad you have a stroller. A stroller is a MUST. Your kids need to have a safe place in the crowd.

Epcot has two showings of IllumiNations on 12/31. One at 7:30 (I think) and then the big NYE fireworks at midnight. I believe that the MK has Holiday Wishes on 12/30 plus Fantasy in the Sky at midnight (the same NYE fireworks). It sounds like your family won't be up for the midnight fireworks, so I would plan for the Epcot early IllumiNations. The parties around the World Showcase will be in full swing and each country celebrates a little when it's NYE at "home". For instance, the UK will celebrate at 6:00 pm. Going home early will be a real advantage to you on 1/1 if you make it into a park. Most of the population is still in bed snoozing when the parks open up.

I think a good schedule for you would be to get to the parks at rope drop, pick a headliner to ride and then do as many other rides as you can. Schedule your FP+ for later in the day after lunch. That way you can ride stuff, eat lunch, and then ride more, eat dinner and then back to your resort. We usually take a break for a swim or nap and then go back for a few hours at night and use our FP+ after dinner.
 
We have been to WDW over 20 times and are DVC owners so we have a lot of experience touring WDW however we have never been between Christmas and New Years. We decided to go that week this year, unfortunately there isn't much available for DVC rental. We are having a split stay, first night at BLT then plan to walk to the MK from there. Then two nights at all star sports, a night at beach club (going to walk here from Epcot candle light processional) and then three nights at all star sports again. If some rooms open up for DVC we may add some more time at beach club or BLT but I doubt much will come up. We did this because I assume that Disney buses are an abomination with the high demand during this time? We have a few things that we really want to do, however we know that we won't be touring like we do in September. Generally we try to avoid EMH, is this a good idea for this week as well? We are never up for evening EMH, our kids are too young, I am just talking morning EMH. Normally we do the dining plan, however this time I think we will hit more quick services, are there good and bad times of day to go to quick service locations? Any quick serves that don't get big lines compared to others? Just looking for some tips as to handle transportation, EMH and dining!
1.- Rope drop as much as you can, and if you can do morning EMH
2.- Don't over plan, be realistic, prioritize 3 attractions at each park and try and get fp for them. Then the rest would be bonus
3. Eat at off times, for lunch go before 11am or after 2:30pm, dinner before 5pm
4.- Buses are not that bad, Disney hires more buses to run during very busy seasons
 
We are Disney veterans also planning our first christmas week trip! We will be there 12/23-28. I am planning on trying to RD most days and go back to resort (Shades of Green) after lunch. The one thing tripping me up is my need to see (hopefully 2x) the Christmas parade at MK and also the castle lighting/holiday wishes (once at MK and maybe once at the Poly). I don't see any times listed for these yet. Any helpful suggestions on seeing these things?
It will be me, DH, DS9 and DD6 (prob with stroller to help her deal with crowds)
 
I know you said that you were going strictly quick service, but I personally would try to book a few table service meals. It may be the one time all day you don't have to stand in line.
 
I know you said that you were going strictly quick service, but I personally would try to book a few table service meals. It may be the one time all day you don't have to stand in line.

It may also be the only time they get a seat except on rides.

We are going for the first time during the holidays, 12/27-1/2. It's just DH and I. DS will be with the grandparents. Even though he's 10, I don't know if I want to put him through that yet. Plus, it was intended as an adults only trip. We have been during Spring Break, so we have seen some heavier crowds before. Thanks for the advice everyone:wave:
 
We were there 2013 12/21 to 12/30 . Bring your patience Fastpasses and make ADR's. We found evenings in the park this week much more manageable. The MK is generally out of control
so take it in little bites. Christmas Eve (nighttime) at the MK is a must.
 
Also planning Christmas but I have the added obstacle of my 84 yo mom using an EVC. I am trying to get her to use a WC but she just barely gives in in using an EVC. I would like to do MK on 12/30 and Epcot on 12/31. We have been to WDW 20+ times, summer and spring break. Is this possible with an EVC? Also, what time is the Christmas parade usually at.
 
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Also planning Christmas but I have the added obstacle of my 84 yo mom using an EVC. I am trying to get her to use a WC but she just barely gives in in using an EVC. I would like to do MK on 12/30 and Epcot on 12/31. We have been to WDW 20+ times, summer and spring break. Is this possible with an EVC? Also, what time is the Christmas parade usually at.
Did you look at my photos upthread? I hate to be a wet blanket, but Christmas week at WDW is no place for an elderly new ECV driver. She will become frustrated creeping through the crowds or run someone over unintentionally ... or both. For your own sanity, do your best to convince her that a wheelchair is better.
 
I know you said that you were going strictly quick service, but I personally would try to book a few table service meals. It may be the one time all day you don't have to stand in line.

Thanks for the tip, this makes a lot of sense to me, I think we will try to book some ADRs and do a table service for dinner. Too bad I can't seem to get the Disney site to load ADR times the last two days.
 
She is a veteran EVC driver. It's an arguement every year but eventually she gives in. No she won't run anyone over what I was asking if she will be able to move at all.
 
Just chiming in here we are also DVC and had a crazy 3 split stay going for the weeks on dec 26-jan 7 and wait listed a bunch of options and all waitlist came through perfectly so don't lose hope and do some wait listing.......It is also my first christmas season and i also am slightly concerned but so Excited to see all the christmas things during the season instead of after when they are taking them all down . :) I think the key is stress free this is not your first of last time at disney i'm sure so let rise early take a break and let all the first timers stress while you people watch and enjoy the highlights of each park:) MERRY Christmas.....Soon

And totally agree with some ADR's it will be a wonderfull time to sit down and chill .......Find some gems you never thought of before , during the summer we went to Fort wilderness during busy times and it was so wonderfull !! and Peaceful A part of disney i had never done before !!
 

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