Christmas Day at MK Impressions

[yulilin3]

We are locals and tend to stay away from MK on Christmas Day. This year my DD15 and I decided to go, I don't think in any of my 18 years living in Orlando we've ever been to MK on Christmas day.
Arrived at the parking tolls around 10:00 am, no traffic getting there and we were about the 4th car in our lane when entrance stopped for about 3 minutes and I could see CM walking to all the toll stations, I knew it was a phase closure
Sure enough, as the cars started moving again you could see CM talking to the drivers and giving them pieces of paper and instructions on how to get out of the MK parking lot
As I got to the toll the CM was ready to send me out and she saw I had my AP, she placed a paper on my windshield so that security up ahead would know that I was allowed to continue to the parking lot. Went through the toll and up ahead cones were set up and about a dozen CM and security were diverting traffic.
When we arrived at the TTC we had the option of going to the monorail, ferry boat and buses. If you are ever at the TTC and there is a bus option, take it. It's way faster and more comfortable than the other 2 options.
Upon our arrival by bus at the MK we heard a marching band, it was actually about 6 Toy Soldiers at the ferry dock welcoming guests, that was pretty neat to see them there.
We had no bags so went through the no bag line and I noticed no one was being "selected" to go through the metal detectors, I'm sure Disney just wanted people to go into the MK faster. We were inside MK around 10:30am.
Not super crowded, of course there was a lot of people and the lines for some attractions snaked well past there boundaries, but not super crazy.
We had gone with 3 things to do, eat lunch at Skipper Canteen, watch Celebrate the Season show and Holiday Wishes. We also had 3 fp, Buzz, Pirates and 7 Dwarfs (which I got the day before BTW)
We walked around for a bit and then headed to Skipper Canteen around 11:30am, our wait was only 15 minutes. Had a great lunch there.
Walked in to Tiki Room , Country Bears and Hall of Presidents. Grabbed a spot for the 3:30pm parade by the Barber Shop at 2:45pm and they announced that the parade would start 15 minutes early. We love this spot cause it's shady and it's usually the last place to get full.
After that we went on Buzz and walking out we heard Voice Play (A Capella group, they are local Orlando boys that were on The Sing Off) they had a contract to sing during MVMCP but got extended and we were so happy, they are super talented.
Rode Pirates and got pretty wet sitting on the 2nd row.
This was about 6pm and my DD15 was hungry so we went to Harbor House and had dinner, up until this point it had been a very regular day for us, no real "wall to wall" crowds, no huge lines for anything, not even for dinner. But after that we went to the HUB to watch Celebrate the Season show at 7pm. It was pretty packed, we managed to snake our way to the right side, under the new turret/light booth. You get a really good view of the stage shows from there, and were by the rails so no one was in front of us. To our left s mass of humanity, unable to move, I was grateful for our little spot, we had enough room to sit down and even sway a little
Watched the show at 7pm followed by Ana and Elsa turning on the castle lights at 7:30pm, followed by Celebrate the Magic at 7:45pm and finally Holiday Wishes at 8pm. All from the same spot. The only thing that was not the best view from there were the fireworks but there was no way we could move from that spot until the fireworks were done.
After the fireworks it seemed that 75% of the people left, we were able to move to the area right in front of the castle to watch Celebrate the Season a second time and get better pics, We were in front of the castle by 8:20pm, it always surprises me how fast the Hub clears out.
After the show I went to Sleepy Hollow to get my pumpkin waffle with vanilla ice cream (dinner for me ) and we sat in the little iron benches next to the castle (walkway from Sleepy Hollow up to Fantasyland) and watched the Main Street Electrical Parade from there, it's a great spot if you don't have to be curbside, nothing better than to sit down on a bench, no one in front of you, unobstructed view of the parade as it crosses the bridge from the Hub into Liberty Square.
After the parade we left, via Ferry Boat, no wait at all and CM were giving candy canes at the dock. Back home by 11:00 pm
My final impressions: it wasn't really wall to wall until we hit the area of the Hub right before the fireworks, if we didn't want to watch the Celebrate the Season show we would've watched the fireworks from another spot.
We didn't find food lines to be horrible, we always ask for water at counter services and didn't have to wait for it, obviously plan to eat at off times.
Lines for restrooms weren't crazy
FP lines were organized and we went through them fast.
Coming into and out of MK was pain free and easy.
To my knowledge MK only hit Phase A and didn't go into any other phase. Maybe people decided to stay home/hotel because they thought it was a madhouse, but to us, it wasn't

 

[lovethattink]

That's great to hear. Sounds like all 4 parks weren't as busy as expected, from posts I've been reading. I agree the bus is the best transportation from the TTC to MK! We always use it when it's available. So cool about the toy soldiers. I'll have to try your viewing spot sometime.

 

[kaybird]

Great trip! We love spontaneous, even during crowded times. If you know what you're doing, and go with the flow, the madness can be quite entertaining!!!
BTW- we often grab FP+ the day before, and also have similar success stories!

 

[palmtreegirl]

We went, watched the parade at 3:30 and left because it was mobbed.

 

[Ninja Mom]

Thanks for taking the time to write this detailed report. Your experience will undoubtedly help someone else with their planning.

~NM

 

[sophiasapientia]

Sounds like a lovely day!

We spent Christmas Day at MK as well. We took advantage of EMH and the first few hours were golden. We did Space Mountain x2, Buzz, Little Mermaid, Dumbo & had a fun visit with Merida before a late breakfast at CRT. After breakfast, we used our 1st FP for 7DMT. By then, it was past noon and starting to feel very crowded so we grabbed a round of La Fou's brew, did a little shopping and walked back to Contemporary. I switched the rest of our Fps for later.

We rested for a few hours and grabbed a CS dinner at the hotel before heading back to MK. We saw Tink and then did the Carousel of Progress to avoid the crowds and kill a bit of time before our FP windows opened. We caught the fireworks and things still felt pretty mobbed as we headed to Haunted Mansion afterwards. Things thinned down considerably after 9 pm. DD went on Splash Mountain twice and Big Thunder Mountain once (would have been twice but the ride went down while she was in line the second time.) The wait times were as low as 10 and 20 for those by that point and as low as 5 minutes for Pirates, Jungle Cruise, etc. We could have lingered longer but we were all ready to head back to the hotel since we were flying back home today.

Very thankful for Dis and all the great advice on these forums! We had a magical Christmas day at MK and the wisdom found here definitely helped immensely with planning.