Disney at Christmas

[Mkripke]

My DW love Christmas (decorations and holiday feel) and Disney, so I want to take her and my DD's (age 13) this year 2009. I was thinking of giving it as a Christmas present and leave Christmas Day. My questions are:

Will the Decorations, lights, and holiday feel still be going strong?

What resort is the best for decorations? I was leaning towards BWI.

Thanks all

 

[ChanStrong]

Yes, all the decorations should stay up. I've never been to WDW at Christmas, but I have been to Disneyland. We arrived on January 5th (a Sunday) in 2008. That day was the last official day of their holiday festivities. So I think you could expect all decorations and holiday events to last a few days into the new year without any problems.

 

[ilandrazdsw]

We just returned from a Christmas trip. Decorations are everywhere til after New Years. Be prepared for BIG crowds! Take advantage of EMH AM...it really does make a difference in being able to ride with short waits. I wish we could go back this year, maybe for 2010.

 

[mirlow]

The decorations and the music will still be going on.

We stayed at the BWI for Christmas and I loved it! We visited every deluxe resort when we were there and I thought the BWI did a fabulous job decorating.

What I especially liked about the BWI is the crowd stays on the BW rather than in the lobby. During the holiday season it's so busy!

I have a 13 yr old and she enjoyed her stay at the BWI.

Here are a few holiday photos of the BWI:

 

[Silver Queen]

We went to WDW last month. It was the first time that we had been there for the holidays and we loved it. The decorations are lovely. We especially enjoyed the different holiday storytellers in World Showcase in Epcot (like Pere Noel in France) and the Candlelight Processional. We would love to go back again for the holidays. We were there from Dec. 9-12. It was busy, but not as busy as later in the month.

 

[purpliequeen]

We were there 12/28 to 1/3 this year. It was beautiful. We did a split-stay at the YC and the GF. The GF took down its huge Christmas tree from the atrium lobby on 1/2. The gingerbread house was still up. Even though we were there after Christmas, the parks still showed holiday fireworks and parades. We were there mainly for New Year's, but definitely enjoyed the Christmas-y feel there, although the Christmas music did get to me when we were checking out on 1/3...

 

[cmac609]

My DW love Christmas (decorations and holiday feel) and Disney, so I want to take her and my DD's (age 13) this year 2009. I was thinking of giving it as a Christmas present and leave Christmas Day. My questions are:

Will the Decorations, lights, and holiday feel still be going strong?

What resort is the best for decorations? I was leaning towards BWI.

Thanks all

Hi

We were in WDW 12/12-12/17 and it was awesome. It was our 3rd time in Disney but 1s time for Christmas. There were only crowds on Saturday and Sunday night. During the week it was not crowded and was very nice especially since we are use to being there in July when there are crowds. My dh loved it so much that he said he would never go back to Disney during the summer again...only Christmas time. I think I am going to try to plan another trip in December. However, I am going to make it a little earlier probably the week after Thanksgiving going into the following week.

 

[Mkripke]

Thanks for your help!

 

[lrf92984]

We were there from 12/25 - 12/30 - would never, ever do that again!!! The crowds were so bad it was not even an enjoyable time. We expected it to be crowded, we have been there a few times at July 4th so thought we knew what to expect, we were very wrong. It was 10 times or more worse than any July 4th. We do not have small children ours are grown - I wouldn't be caught dead there at Xmas with a small child. Sorry to sound like a killjoy just giving my opinion. If anyone that is thinking about going at Xmas has another option I'd go for another option!!!! It was that bad!!!!!

 

[yanners]

Personally I think all the resorts are lovely. You can visit allears.net for pictures of resorts at Christmas. I think the photos are generally towards the end of the slide show.

We went at Christmas is 2007 and it was fantastic! As long as you have a touring plan you will be fine. We never waited more than 10 minutes for any ride (if that).

I agree that you should take advantge of the EMH (am). It made a huge differnce.

Have a great vacation!

 

[disney pro]

We have gone to WDW at Christmas for the last several years. We go the first week of December, and it is not so crowded we stayed at WL and it was so beautiful with all of the decorations and the sleigh ride. Mickeys very merry Christmas party is going on at this time (which sell out pretty quick for some days). I love going to the different resorts and seeing all of the Christmas decorations, and Disney has Christmas music playing every where to put you in the Christmas mood, there are different shows and fireworks at this time of year. You will enjoy being in the most magical place on earth at the most magical time of the year.

 

[HM]

We've been at Christmas (19-26) once and will probably be back for the same dates this year. It's lovely. The only thing I really miss is the usual music loops playing around the parks, which I think adds so much to the resort. I really wish they'd intersperse it with the Christmas music rather than play holiday tunes all the time, everywhere.

 

[MIC-KEY]

We are planning to go this coming Christmas as well, and I think most have said that WL is the most Christmas-ie resort in DW. We are going to try that resort, although our favorite "home" is BW! Decisions!

 

[princess-rn]

In my opinion Christmas time is THE BEST time to go to Disney....(even though the week of Christmas it is crowded...) The decorations and the Christmas magic is just AMAZING!!!! I think the decorations stay up through the end of December or so. You will LOVE it!! What a GREAT gift.

 

[m&pForever]

we went from 12-20 to 1-4 and loved it. family of 6 with 4 kids aged 11 to 2

We usually vacation in the summer and i was dreading crowds worse than that but never saw them. We were always out early and usually back by afternoon but some days we stayed until 5 or 6pm.
with fastpass we never waited long on anything.
There were crowds but i didnt see a difference from the summer.
Christmas decorations and music were great...loved hearing the music from our balcony each morning.

I would easily go again for Christmas.

 

[RMulieri]

It is very beautiful, all the decorations.That is about the only thing beautiful.It is the single most expensive and crowded time of year for WDW.If decorations and holiday cheer are your interests I suggest taking kids out of school and visiting earlier in December.I went 12/23-1/7 in 2002.The crowds were so so bad( and I was prepared for it... so I thought), it took over an hour to move from the hub of the MK to the main gate.I was terrified I was going to lose my niece.We were able to ride things first thing in the am, but by noon things had wait times of over 120 mins and fastpasses gone..Food lines were huge.It toof 45 mins to get food from pecos Bills and another 20 mins to find a table.One day,We figured we would stay at the resort and hang by the pool...well the resort was sold out so everyone was also at the pool(no chairs and the pool was wall to wall people at mid day).I have been to Wdw in early December and the prices were a lot cheaper, and the crowds alot smaller..Most things with minimal waits at mid day.i would never go back to WDW for Xmas...they would have to pay me to come.