Christmas Day plans...help please

[dizmom2mwjk]

We are renting DVC points for Christmas this year, and mom is coming along... we will be going to Christmas Mass, so our day will be shorter than normal, and we may choose not to do a park (but you never know with us). I am looking for suggestions for Christmas dinner...we will probably be doing the dining plan. We will have 7ppl for sure, 3 adults, kids are 14, 10, 10, and 3. We may have a couple more adults and/or children of similar ages...

Any and all suggestions/advice would be appreciated... I start making
ADR's next month!

We will be there a couple days before and after Christmas, so it is a good day to take a break from the parks, right? Or is there something special that goes on in the parks on Christmas Day that I am not aware of? Extended hours, special parades? Etc???

Thanks!

 

[Dolce27]

Just be aware that on Christmas Day the parks could close to capacity (as can the days surrounding them). Even if you have a dinner ADR for a restaurant scheduled inside one of the parks, they won't allow you inside for your dinner if they've hit stage 4 closures.

I was there on Christmas Day 2008. I spent the entire day in EPCOT. I did MS & Soarin' first thing and then a couple hours into that day it wasn't worth it any longer due to crowd levels. Most of my day was spent in the World Showcase but I had a dinner ADR at The Garden Grill (which I found the food to be gross. JMHO).

Since you're going to Christmas Mass that morning, I suggest that be a non-park day for you. By the time you'd be ready to enter a park it'd be packed with people with either late FP's (or no more FP's due to what time you arrive) and long wait times on attractions. I'd make dinner ADR's at one of the resort hotels. I don't know where you're staying but I love Flying Fish at the Boardwalk. Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club is nice for a buffet. I know that you have a 3 year old so you may not want something as upscale as FF - there's 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian with Cinderella and gang. In 2009 I went to that dinner with my (then) 4 year old cousin and had fun.

But prepare yourself for that week - there will be crowds and you can expect park closures. It varies each year for which park to which day but the MK on Christmas Day and NYE is usually a guarantee.