Christmas Day advice

[Alesia]

Not planning to park hop, but we are very likely to be done early in the day. We have a four year old so I doubt we will make a whole day at any park, maybe until three or so. I thinking extra magic hours in the morning, supplemented by fast pass in the early afternoon, with a mid day character meal. . . . That pattern worked well for us over Thanksgiving when we went in 2010. We'd hit our top three or so attractions for sure, between being at the park early and the fast pass system in place at the time and we loved the character meals. And for the rest of the time we were at the park, we were happy to do whatever had short waits. But maybe that strategy doesn't work for Christmas? I understand it is even more crowded.

I am not generally bothered by crowds, but there is no way I would be in MK past about 11am on Christmas day. There is just no way - especially with a small child. Christmas is sooo much more crowded than thanksgiving. By noon, nothing will have short waits, not even the bathrooms.

If I were you I would do one of 2 things:
1) be at MK at opening (keep in mind that you will need to be there 30 to 45 minutes before the park opens,) have the latest breakfast possible at Chef Mickey's, and then go to Epcot.
2) Spend the day at Epcot.

 

[scoobydooby]

We managed one Christmas day at WDW by going to Discovery Cove where you are paying for crowd control

 

[Crl1817]

Under cover tourist is showing MK as green on Christmas and Christmas Eve--the only two days of our visit that show as green for MK. My apologies, I misspoke above, it is showing Epcot as green on Christmas Day. Easy WDW doesn't have the end of December up yet.

Is there a different free or cheap crowd calendar that is better for predicting which days are best at particular parks? I'm trying to take the crowd factor into consideration, but I also know that we are going at a very busy time of year so I'm just not sure how much difference it makes. I gather from you all that Christmas day itself is significantly worse?

 

[siskaren]

Is there a different free or cheap crowd calendar that is better for predicting which days are best at particular parks?

I don't think you can do better (free or cheap) than easywdw.com. And while Josh doesn't have the day by day explanations up for late December, he does have the actual calendar up, which shows both EP and MK as red for both December 24 and 25.

 

[1stvisit0909]

I'll be there this Christmas but I was thinking EPCOT on the 25th, if we even hit a park that day.

We did EPCOT Christmas Day 2012. It was great. We got there for RD and rode until our lunch at Le Cellier for our CP package. The afternoon it was crazy crowded, and just kept getting more crowded. Wall to wall ppl in the WS after our CP show.

 

[1stvisit0909]

Under cover tourist is showing MK as green on Christmas and Christmas Eve--the only two days of our visit that show as green for MK. My apologies, I misspoke above, it is showing Epcot as green on Christmas Day. Easy WDW doesn't have the end of December up yet. Is there a different free or cheap crowd calendar that is better for predicting which days are best at particular parks? I'm trying to take the crowd factor into consideration, but I also know that we are going at a very busy time of year so I'm just not sure how much difference it makes. I gather from you all that Christmas day itself is significantly worse?

It is VERY crowded. Doable, but crowded.

 

[Crl1817]

I don't think you can do better (free or cheap) than easywdw.com. And while Josh doesn't have the day by day explanations up for late December, he does have the actual calendar up, which shows both EP and MK as red for both December 24 and 25.

Thank you! When I looked at that page before I saw the Dec 1 to 20 note at the top and didn't scroll down to see that the calendar is actually up. There is only one green day at MK during our five day stay. We are planning on four park days for all of us. One day each for AK and Epcot and two for MK. If that's the best crowd calendar, I'm not sure how to schedule two MK days. . . . It sounds like the general consensus is to avoid MK on Christmas Day regardless.

 

[Redarrow5150]

We did RD at MK on Christmas day and by 10:30am we headed for dodge. I know you have kids but I believe the best route is to hit the more popular rides and forget about any character greets. I would schedule a dinner like 1900 Park Avenue (away from the parks) and let that serve as your character greeting and it will be more relaxed and at your pace.

 

[TinkSassy]

We did an off-site breakfast one Christmas and got to the park about 9:30. We were fine with that. Keep your expectations for how much you will actually ride there that day realistic. The park is crowded! We left right after the Christmas parade for another park as we couldn't deal with the crowd level any longer. We weren't disappointed as we called it our Christmas Day so we had a nice breakfast at 1900 then watched the Christmas shows at MK caught the parade and left for Hs to be there for the lights that evening.