Christmas 2022

[Devie]

Early planner here. Going 12/24/22-12/30/22. I’m anticipating extreme crowds, but looking for positive experiences.

What have you done to avoid the crowds and had a nice time? Dining on Christmas Day suggestions?

Toddler and grandparents traveling so expectations are low, not looking to “do it all”

 

[scrappinginontario]

Moving to Theme Park Planning.

Also think you may wish to update your title to 2022 for more assistance.

 

[ftbaker1313]

We've done family Christmas trips twice. The first time we had Christmas dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. That was a nice dinner and it didn't seem crowed inside. outside was another matter. We all just wondered around doing the classics: Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Small World. The climax was watching the Christmas parade and seeing it snow on Main Street. the second trip we spent Christmas day at Epcot. We wondered the countries listening to the different story tellers talk about Christmas in each country. The dinner was at Chef's da France followed by the Candle light Processional. If you like the Christian version of Christmas I highly recommend it. Our whole family still talks about those trips. It sounds like you already have the right attitude. Just relax and enjoy.

 

[Devie]

QUOTE="ftbaker1313, post: 63540768, member: 681210"]
We've done family Christmas trips twice. The first time we had Christmas dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. That was a nice dinner and it didn't seem crowed inside. outside was another matter. We all just wondered around doing the classics: Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Small World. The climax was watching the Christmas parade and seeing it snow on Main Street. the second trip we spent Christmas day at Epcot. We wondered the countries listening to the different story tellers talk about Christmas in each country. The dinner was at Chef's da France followed by the Candle light Processional. If you like the Christian version of Christmas I highly recommend it. Our whole family still talks about those trips. It sounds like you already have the right attitude. Just relax and enjoy.
[/QUOTE]

Thank you! I had originally thought MK for obvious reasons, but I’m afraid even with a reservation overall will feel too crowded.
Epcot is the next plan, debating about some of our group doing candlelight. Don’t think my daughter can hang that long. Thanks for the input!

 

[dawsontodd]

You're right about one thing....the parks will be packed. Resort hopping is always fun. Each resort has their own Christmas/holiday display and decorations. If you're planning seeing attractions, go early because by late morning and afternoon, the wait times are really long. One writer suggested Liberty Tree Tavern but I can tell you since my trip this past Labor Day week we dined there and now it's family dining to the tune of about $35 each for lunch. It's a nice experience but pricey. Country Bears has it's own Christmas show which is nice. We've spent over 15 Christmas holidays at WDW and we just resolved ourselves to the fact that it's wall to wall people and you just have to enjoy the ambience. Epcot is pretty cool with each country having a speaker (France has St. Nick) talk about their holiday traditions and those are pretty cool. One thing I'd caution you about....keep your eye on the weather. We've been down there in December with winter jackets on. Temps vary widely...

 

[Moms]

We have gone at Christmas several times and will be returning this year. It is crazy crowded but knowing that up front is half the battle. We always rope drop and find that the parks are far less crazy first thing in the morning. We generally do whatever we can before things start getting busy then we hightail it out of the park for a break. We either go back to the room for some R&R or visit one of the resorts ... a fave is Wilderness Lodge ... admire the decorations and maybe grab a quick lunch. After that we might park hop to another park or back to the original one and brave the crowds for awhile. We generally stay at the Boardwalk Inn so we often end our days at Epcot ... we always skipped the NYE craziness and enjoyed the new year's arrival from the comfort of our beds! We sometimes would wake up for the fireworks at midnight but other than that we were the same party poopers at WDW as we are at home!

 

[MissionMouse]

Early planner here. Going 12/24/22-12/30/22....What have you done to avoid the crowds and had a nice time? Dining on Christmas Day suggestions? Toddler and grandparents traveling so expectations are low, not looking to “do it all”

Yes, it will be crowded, but not initially. Keep tabs of all of changes from today until then, but watch your dates where you need to take action...like ADRs. Consider the crowds not only make it take longer to travel within the park, but outside of it too. At times you may notice a flow in one direction in the parks where you can feel like a fish trying to swim upstream. Overall, we had park hopper tickets, dined within and outside of the park. Most relaxing dining on Christmas Day was not in a park, but a resort. It was refined and special. The best thing was that it was a place where everyone would enjoy and where we were able to get away from the crowds. Sort of sheltered from the pace of the park day, highly enjoyable and turns out everyone in the group thought it was the best part of Christmas Day, together as a Family, food, beverage at our own pace.