Christmas Day At Disney?

[NewbieMouse]

I asked in another thread about Dec 27-28 at DL or DCA, which sounds like it will be a madhouse. Is the same true for Christmas Day? We always travel at Christmas and are doing a SFO/Las Vegas/San Diego/LA loop this year and I was thinking I might try to fit one day at DL in there. Would Christmas Day (or maybe even Christmas Eve) be a better choice?

 

[Flitterific]

I asked in another thread about Dec 27-28 at DL or DCA, which sounds like it will be a madhouse. Is the same true for Christmas Day? We always travel at Christmas and are doing a SFO/Las Vegas/San Diego/LA loop this year and I was thinking I might try to fit one day at DL in there. Would Christmas Day (or maybe even Christmas Eve) be a better choice?

Hi NewbieMouse! I had replied to your other thread as well and like I had mentioned, I was there Dec 24-27. Christmas Eve and Day was slightly better. I thought the crowds were the worst on the 27th. The parks were already packed by 11am and it took forever to get from one land to another. Do keep in mind that the 26th and 27th were Sat & Sun so perhaps people started their vacation after spending time at home with family? But don't worry too much about it, I'm sure you'll still have a lot of fun if you get to the parks early and use FPs

 

[NewbieMouse]

Flitterific, thanks for sharing your experience from last time! Christmas Day is a Saturday this year, but I guess I would be banking on the idea that most people stay home to celebrate that day which would make it less crowded. But I guess there's not much else open, so maybe that negates that effect. Oh, what to do.....

 

[Sherry E]

I would always expect any days pre-Christmas (or even on Christmas Day) to be better crowd-wise than the dates after it. As I've always said, as soon as Christmas ends, people have gift money to spend, time off of work and school that they may not have had before Christmas, not to mention they are suddenly free from family obligations, and they flock to DLR en masse. If you can swing it, I would go for the day prior to Christmas - or even on Christmas Day - rather than after. How magical to be in DLR on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve! I would love to do that, just to see if it's extra magical on the actual holiday (and it's hard to top the magic that's all over for the rest of the season)! But if it ends up being after Christmas, it will still be a wonderful day!

At least a few of the people over in our Disney at Christmas thread are planning to be at DLR over the actual holiday, and we've been trying to find out if there are any special meals served at any of the restaurants just for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We have a lot of views of that thread, so I'm guessing someone out there lurking must have the answer!

 

[NewbieMouse]

What if you concentrated on DCA? Do you think DCA would be more manageable on Christmas Day?

 

[Sherry E]

What if you concentrated on DCA? Do you think DCA would be more manageable on Christmas Day?

More than likely, yes. But keep in mind that if you are going to DLR for that one day because you want to soak in the holiday atmosphere, DCA as a sole entity is inferior to DL in terms of atmosphere and decorations, etc. DCA works as a good complement to DL during the season, or as part of a whole holiday package, but as a separate park to soak in holiday magic, not so much. It would be better to focus on DL if it's overall atmosphere and decorations you want. Also, this year we really have no idea what will happen in DCA in terms of decorations. Disney may scale back on the Halloween and Christmas decorations in DCA this year if they are still trying to draw more attention to World of Color. It seems like they are very WoC-oriented at the moment, and if that continues through 2010, there may not be too much holiday focus in DCA.

I honestly don't think DL will be all that bad on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I think too many people will be at home with their families. Of course, I have no way of knowing for sure, but it's just a guess. Maybe when the season officially starts in November, we will begin to hear reports of crowd patterns and if they are any different this year than they were last year.

 

[Flitterific]

I would always expect any days pre-Christmas (or even on Christmas Day) to be better crowd-wise than the dates after it. As I've always said, as soon as Christmas ends, people have gift money to spend, time off of work and school that they may not have had before Christmas, not to mention they are suddenly free from family obligations, and they flock to DLR en masse. If you can swing it, I would go for the day prior to Christmas - or even on Christmas Day - rather than after. How magical to be in DLR on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve! I would love to do that, just to see if it's extra magical on the actual holiday (and it's hard to top the magic that's all over for the rest of the season)! But if it ends up being after Christmas, it will still be a wonderful day!

At least a few of the people over in our Disney at Christmas thread are planning to be at DLR over the actual holiday, and we've been trying to find out if there are any special meals served at any of the restaurants just for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We have a lot of views of that thread, so I'm guessing someone out there lurking must have the answer!

Yup...listen to Sherry as she is the DLR Christmas expert As I had mentioned, the crowds were a little better on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Also, I know Napa Rose has a special pre-fixe menu on Christmas Day...they take out the regular menu so everyone has to order off the special one. DBF and I were there last year. The food was good but I thought the quality wasn't as good as when you can order off the regular menu. I would recommend Napa Rose except during the major special holidays (i.e. Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Years Eve/Day) when they only offer the pre-fixe menu.

 

[NewbieMouse]

OK, so I've been taking into account your stories and think I've got it down now to Wednesday, December 22nd. I've picked a couple of days before Christmas, non MM day as we won't be staying on-site this time, and if dh feels energetic we can also do the 23rd as well . Do IASW Holiday and HMH first. No Napa Rose; hopefully something else will come up. We'll stay at HOJO. No entertainment rates yet, but maybe they'll come up.

What do you think, Christmas vets? Am I ensuring as reasonable a crowd situation as possible at that time of year? That's the earliest I can place it in the trip.

 

[Disney Dreams]

Christmas is an interesting day. Generally, it's slow in the morning. Moreso than other days. Then, it starts to fill up and get pretty crowded. By evening, B-U-S-Y!

- Dreams