Christmas at Disney: Santa Question (for grown ups only!)

[shelli132]

Hello everyone! My family will be spending Christmas at Disney World this year. It will be our first trip during the holiday season and also our first time away from home Christmas Day. I have 2 children, ages 11 and 6 who still really look forward to Santa bringing gifts for Christmas morning. For all of you that have been to Disney at Christmas or are planning to go, how did you handle the Santa situation? Did you have Santa bring his presents early or were they waiting for you when you got home? Or did he find you at Disney and leave them in your hotel room? I would love to hear your experiences or opinions!

 

[ranthony]

and we're doing a combination of both. We'll have a small tree and a few gifts from Santa at the hotel and then we'll have a friend put the gifts under our tree from Santa while we are gone.

We'll probably leave some sort of note or card from Santa...or maybe even Tinkerbell telling the kids that gifts are waiting at home too.

If you're driving you have a bit more flexibility in how you handle this situation. Have fun.

 

[Janet Hill]

We will have a small tree at our resort and Santa will leave presents. My kids want big ticket items so there won't be much under the tree.

 

[merryweather's twin]

This will be the 7th Christmas visit for us and we open all presents the night before we leave form Grandparents and each other... But Santa comes at WDW! I allways pack a box or a bag that I ship or put on the plane with the safty locks on so the kiddos are out of it(like anyone ever helps me pack for 8 anyway). The older ones know better than to look and the little ones never seem to notice how many suitcases are in the closets! I have always unpacked everyone into dressers so no one but me gets into the bags anyway. The tree is the real problem for me. DH has to bring one of the 2 we have and I have not chosen which I want up for a month at home and which I want to bring with us. When the kids were small Medium Mickeys were under the tree for them Christmas morning from Santa. THAT WAS THE GOOD OLD DAYS! Good luck.

 

[kerry34]

We were at the Polynesian for Christmas 2005, it was wonderful. You will have a great time!!! As for gifts we did a combination. Santa left their stockings and a few smaller sized gifts there and the rest at home. The toughest part for us was hiding the presents from them when we packed up the car and then unpacked it when we got there. We had to make sure we kept the gifts in a black trash bag packed way in the bag of the trunk of my moms car. Then once the kids fell asleep Christmas Eve (which took a while since we were all in rooms together) DH and I went out and got the bags from the car and snuck back in and put everything under the little tree that we had. We hung their stockings on the closet door handles. The kids were so excited about Santa leaving them gifts at Disney. Hope you have a wonderful trip and Christmas!!

 

[Princess Roo]

We always fly to the grandparents' for Christmas. Mommy & Daddy bring the (small) gifts there and Santa fills the stocking then leaves a note that his other (larger-sized) presents are at our house waiting for him. Gives something to look forward to going home, too, which I like.

 

[daisyduck123]

We will also be there over Christmas (Dec. 20-26) for our 1st WDW Christmas.

We hav ordered a gorgeous Disney tree & will bring most of our gifts with us to put under the tree Christmas Eve. DS9 has been worried about that! We drive & have a HUGE Denali, so we should be able to pack a good amount of the presents...I just have to hide them from the kids. I also plan on buying a few more gifts when I get down there.

A few of the BIG gifts (like some of the $80.00 Lego sets) DS wants, will be waiting at home for us when we return from WDW.

 

[tinksmomce]

Daisyduck123....where did you order your Disney Christmas tree and if you don't mind me asking, what price? We are going to be there over Christmas also, and this has been one of my main concerns....the other concern, is, what to take and how to get it there. We will be flying, so I think I will be shipping some things down early.

Thanks!

 

[daisyduck123]

Daisyduck123....where did you order your Disney Christmas tree and if you don't mind me asking, what price?


Thanks!

Hi!
I ordered the tree from a DISer, Feralpeg.
She has a site....www.peggyssweetsandmore.com

The last I read was that she is sold out of her Disney Christmas Trees, but you could check.
She is going to deliver it to our room while we are out, so that the kids will be surprised.

*It was $170.00.

 

[ZPT1022]

Daisyduck123....where did you order your Disney Christmas tree and if you don't mind me asking, what price? We are going to be there over Christmas also, and this has been one of my main concerns....the other concern, is, what to take and how to get it there. We will be flying, so I think I will be shipping some things down early.

Thanks!

I'm not her but I'm going to guess that Disney Florist can help you out! You could also just call your resort and ask them their advice and they should be able to patch you through to the correct person but I really believe it is Disney Floral. Good luck!


ETA- I just checked online. You can check out www.disneyflorist.com

 

[my3boys]

When we celebrated Christmas, we sent boxes with all the necessary goodies and presents to surprise our kids with for Christmas. It was great since they saw us empty the suitcases, and no presents were in there. We also brought along a small tree and Disney lights/ornaments and checked it in the airport as one of pieces of luggage.

We did utilize Gifts of Lifetime that did a great event reassuring the kids that Goofy would be helping out Santa for Christmas.

I love WDW at Christmas! Enjoy yourselves. I've heard the water parks are great options on Christmas day, too.

 

[shelli132]

Hi!
I ordered the tree from a DISer, "DreaminDisney" (used to be "Feralpeg").
She has a site....www.peggyssweetsandmore.com

The last I read was that she is sold out of her Disney Christmas Trees, but you could check.
She is going to deliver it to our room while we are out, so that the kids will be surprised.

*It was $170.00.

Hello again...thanks for all of your responses. I love to hear your ideas. We are driving so I could easily bring presents w/us. I really like the idea of having some Santa gifts at Disney and a few of the larger ones waiting at home for the kids. Now, if I could just find someone to set them out for me!

Ironically, I just cancelled a tree order from Feralpeg a couple of days ago. We decided to bring our own tree with us to save a little money. You may want to check her website and see if it's still available. I think w/tax it was around $180.oo

 

[daisyduck123]

Hello again...thanks for all of your responses. I love to hear your ideas. We are driving so I could easily bring presents w/us. I really like the idea of having some Santa gifts at Disney and a few of the larger ones waiting at home for the kids. Now, if I could just find someone to set them out for me!

Ironically, I just cancelled a tree order from Feralpeg a couple of days ago. We decided to bring our own tree with us to save a little money. You may want to check her website and see if it's still available. I think w/tax it was around $180.oo

Hi again!
Just wondering where your family is eating Christmas Eve/Day??

We'll be at 1900 PF on Christmas Eve.
'Ohana on Christmas morning
Chef Mickey's for Christmas dinner.

Your staying at WL, right? I've got a sleigh ride booked for my family there.
Hope you have a great trip!

 

[wld4mky]

Our family is going for the first time at Chrismas, POFQ.DS15, DS4,DD2
We were thinking about doing stockings with gifts. DS15 and DD2 I'm not worried about but DS4 will question. Is there a santa they can visit in WDW? I think we will tell the little ones that all the Christmas trees they see are there for them. They are young enough to accept that.

 

[shelli132]

Hi again!
Just wondering where your family is eating Christmas Eve/Day??

We'll be at 1900 PF on Christmas Eve.
'Ohana on Christmas morning
Chef Mickey's for Christmas dinner.

Your staying at WL, right? I've got a sleigh ride booked for my family there.
Hope you have a great trip!

Our family is going for the first time at Chrismas, POFQ.DS15, DS4,DD2
We were thinking about doing stockings with gifts. DS15 and DD2 I'm not worried about but DS4 will question. Is there a santa they can visit in WDW?

Yep, we are staying at the WL. I am so excited to see it decorated for Christmas. It's one of my favorite resorts! We are eating Christmas Eve dinner at WCC at the Lodge and Christmas Day we will be at AK. My family insisted on being in a park on Christmas Day so please say a prayer for me. I know it will be nuts. Probably the only day I'm worried about on our trip. We don't have ADR's for that day either but we are Rainforest Cafe members so we could always get a table there quickly. Ohana's and Chef Mickeys are 2 of my favorites. Enjoy and have a great trip!

wld4mky, Some of the resorts have Santa visit the lobbies closer to Christmas. I'm pretty sure that you can visit with Santa at the MK also. Have a great trip!

 

[debbiet1]

Hi Shelli, I'm in the same boat as you.. We will be at Disney Dec 19-31. Santa is making the rounds this year. My kids are 7 and 15. Santa will be leaving gifts at home under the tree( just a couple) while we are there hubby and I are going to go to DTD and pick up a few things for Christmas morning.. as Santa will be coming Christmas Eve. We're bring the kids Christmas stockings with us. I was bringing a little xmas tree and everything but as we got a too good to be true deal from Air Canada I wont be driving for the extra space to bring things. The kids know that Disney is mom and dads present to them. Then my sons bday is Dec 29 so then I have to buy Birthday gifts lol.

 

[shelli132]

Hi Debbie, wow, Christmas and a birthday! That is alot to plan for.

This trip is our big present too. We won't be buying much for the kids this year but there was no way I could explain missing Santa. We're planning to visit with him at our hotel on Christmas Eve just to make sure he knows where we are.

After reading everyone's great ideas I think we will leave a few gifts under our tree at home so they will have a nice surprise when we get back from our trip. Santa will leave something for them in our hotel room too. I like the idea of picking up a few things from DTD. This will be a nice way for them to get a few extra souveniers from Santa. I'm still not sure what to do about the stockings though! We are driving, so I have plenty of room to bring them. I just don't know how we would keep them hidden in the hotel room for most of our trip!

Thanks for your advice! Hope you have a wonderful trip! 53 more days for us, can't wait!

 

[digman6]

I am thinking if the safe is a reasonable size to put the things inside there. then you can quietly pull it out and load the stocking up.

I am in the same predicament sort of. ds 11 knows the real story so he will help pull it off

 

[debbiet1]

the safe isnt really that big, not to put a lot of stuff in really. Your purse, depending on the size, wallet, jewellry. What you could do is leave the stockings in your suitcase and then use the small locks and keep it locked until christmas eve.

 

[Kid in Me]

Hello everyone! My family will be spending Christmas at Disney World this year. It will be our first trip during the holiday season and also our first time away from home Christmas Day. I have 2 children, ages 11 and 6 who still really look forward to Santa bringing gifts for Christmas morning. For all of you that have been to Disney at Christmas or are planning to go, how did you handle the Santa situation? Did you have Santa bring his presents early or were they waiting for you when you got home? Or did he find you at Disney and leave them in your hotel room? I would love to hear your experiences or opinions!

I brought their stockings and wrapped lots of fun stuff inside. I brought one present and the rest were home under the tree. We stayed at OKW and when we were in lobby having cocoa and cookies, "santa's elves" left bags on our doors for the kids. They were filled with chocolates. It is too much to take stuff there and back. You can always just shop when you get there and have it all delivered. Good luck!