Christmas at the parks - suggestions... ?

[Beejayjay]

My better half and I are bringing her two boys, 10 and 12, over to Disney for their first visit this Boxing day. We have to come then to fit into their school holidays, plus we thought it'd be cool to be there around Christmas.

Not too surprisingly, I have read here that the week from Christmas to New Year is about as busy as it gets at the parks. Now, as this is the kids first trip, we will be trying to do just about everything in our 16 days there.

What I'm wondering is does the real heavy rush affects all the parks equally or just/mainly Disney ?? If that's the case we'll probably do things like Seaworld, Busch Gardens, Cape Canaveral (great news that there is a launch set for the 30th) and the like in our first week, and leave the Disney stuff mainly till after New years.

If, as I expect, it affects all the parks equally, well, I guess we'll just have to tough it out.

Can anyone who has visited at that time, give me any tips on how best to attack the parks ? We plan today a day on, a day off by the pool, with shopping fitted in as and when... but that is adpatable

Are their better days than others ? Would we still be better leaving all the Disney stuff till as late in the trip as possible ??

Any help would be greatly appreciated ! Thanks.

 

[Beejayjay]

A little help please guys ?

 

[sbelyo]

Hello....

I'm glad to see new faces going to disney. It's always a blast. Christmas time is definitely busy. I will be there this Dec. on the the week before Christmas. At that time the room rates are still low and attendance is normal and you still get all the decorations and festivites of the holidays. I would most likely say that the Magic Kingdom will be packed. Epcot will be busy, but not as much as the MK, then MGM would be the next busiest. As for the AK it's hard to say, I've been there twice, both in the summer and it wasn't packed beyond enjoyment. It's probably safe to assume that it would be in between the MK and Epcot only because that park is the first to close for the day and on Christmas there will be many little ones. There are sometricks to getting in the parks before regular hours, but only if you stay on Disney property. The bus, and monorail run at 7:30 am I think to take you to the MK if you have breakfast reservations. I am not certain if you can go all the way into the MK if it's before 9:00 am but at least you get past the rush at the gate. I hope you all have fun, and definitely do Space Mountain and Test Track.

 

[XStAnt]

If you mean all the parks in the central Florida area, I suspect that the week between Xmas and New Years is the busiest for every park. I would imagine even Cape Kennedy is the busiest at that time of year.

I don't have any particular advice to give you as to whether you should do the non-Disney parks first and do the Disney parks after New Years. That's a tough one. However Disney does have Fast Pass. With some careful planning you can get a fair amount done at that time. But, you'll get a lot more done at Disney after New Year's. Universal also has a similar Express Pass--works similar but not identical. However, Universal offers Front of the Line Access for on site guests. You may want to consider staying at a Universal hotel your first couple of days to take advantage of this.

The good news is after January 1 the crowds disappear. Since you'll be there for 16 days you have lots of time to do everything. If you are using PHPs at Disney or a 10 day worldpass you may want to use a couple of days during Xmas week to check things out, etc, but save most of your admission days until after January 1.

Also, if you're staying on site at Disney the resort rates drop after January 1. Disney has a somewhat quirky system where the rate in effect when you start your stay is the rate you get every night. If your stay starts in Value season at $150/night, it stays at that rate even if it becomes Peak season the next night and the rate jumps to $250/night. However, if your stay begins during Holiday season (like your stay does) at $300/night, it stays at that rate the entire time, even after it drops to value season. You should split your reservation when Value season begins to get the lower rate.

I hope this makes sense.

 

[Beejayjay]

Thanks guys.

I didn't make it clear that I myself am a WDW veteran, it's just the kids who've never visited, so we want them to see as much as possible as we have no idea when or if we'll be able to bring them back for another visit. I've been both just before and after New years, but never this close to Christmas day itself

Any other info would still be gratefully received, thanks !

 

[Beejayjay]

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