Christmas Day recommendations

[Kampta80]

We (myself, husband and 2 kids) are going to be in Orlando for nearly 3 weeks in December this year and returning to the UK on 26th December. We will therefore be there for Christmas Day.

We have ruled out going to any of the parks on that day due to the crowds (and will have done our fair share of parks in the 2.5 weeks leading up to Xmas day)!

We were going to go to the Gaylord Palms for the Christmas Buffet Lunch and then go to the ICE Exhibition on site there, but have read extremely varying reviews (from "highly recommended" to "no better than Sizzlers")!!!

Has anyone ever eaten at the buffet there (whether for Christmas or a regular lunch) and/or visited ICE?

Or any other recommendations for Christmas Day. Want a good traditional (ish) lunch.

Thank you for any advice you can offer us.

 

[disneyholic family]

We (myself, husband and 2 kids) are going to be in Orlando for nearly 3 weeks in December this year and returning to the UK on 26th December. We will therefore be there for Christmas Day.

We have ruled out going to any of the parks on that day due to the crowds (and will have done our fair share of parks in the 2.5 weeks leading up to Xmas day)!

We were going to go to the Gaylord Palms for the Christmas Buffet Lunch and then go to the ICE Exhibition on site there, but have read extremely varying reviews (from "highly recommended" to "no better than Sizzlers")!!!

Has anyone ever eaten at the buffet there (whether for Christmas or a regular lunch) and/or visited ICE?

Or any other recommendations for Christmas Day. Want a good traditional (ish) lunch.

Thank you for any advice you can offer us.

the Marketstreet Cafe in Celebration - nice christmas lunch and then you can walk around celebration afterwards...

as for ICE, i've never been but have good friends whose opinions i value who say that ICE is great - they don't' know about the lunch, but they really enjoyed the ICE exhibition....

 

[disneyholic family]

another place that might be nice, though i don't know...
but it also might be very expensive....the bull and bear in the Waldorf....
it's a wonderful restaurant, so i would think it would be exceptionally nice for Christmas...
but i don't know if they're open for lunch...

 

[mackay_j]

copied from a post I made last week

I would vote for ICE at gaylordpalms- Very Christmasy. The have a whole lot of other things going on there too. We booked lunch at the boat restaurant and then did ICE and while waiting in queue for ICE they had Carol singers on a stage. After that you can wonder about looking at the crocs (they have childrens treasure hunts and other stuff gong on) etc before they have a larger concert in the evening - Even had drummer and keyboard players suspended from the glass roof. Great show - sort of a rock/pop carol/xmas theme. with lazers etc. You can eat a three different restaurants on site - Boat one (cheapest and also the only one left when we booked in oct). Buffet type spanish one - main xmas themed one which looked very good and there is also an Australian themed expensive steakhouse. As well as the activities I mentioned they usually also have outdoor ice skating- but it looks quite small.

Over Xmas hols we would also usually go down into celebration and watch the 'snow' have a drink and take a horse and cart ride.

Tour the resorts looking for all the special xmas stuff - gingerbread house/ choc carousel etc

Then New Year on the Polly Beach- a must for us!

 

[Kampta80]

Thank you Beth Really appreciate your comments/suggestions.

Will look up the Waldolf and the Marketstreet Café.

What about anyone else - has anyone been to the Gaylord Palms buffet? Was really keen to go there as it is the last day of our holiday and we thought that we could walk around the complex and also visit ICE to fill up the day (as we are steering clear of the parks on that day). Rather than just going somewhere for Christmas lunch and then having nothing else in particular to do.

It will be depressing enough being the last day of the trip!! ;-)

 

[Kampta80]

copied from a post I made last week

I would vote for ICE at gaylordpalms- Very Christmasy. The have a whole lot of other things going on there too. We booked lunch at the boat restaurant and then did ICE and while waiting in queue for ICE they had Carol singers on a stage. After that you can wonder about looking at the crocs (they have childrens treasure hunts and other stuff gong on) etc before they have a larger concert in the evening - Even had drummer and keyboard players suspended from the glass roof. Great show - sort of a rock/pop carol/xmas theme. with lazers etc. You can eat a three different restaurants on site - Boat one (cheapest and also the only one left when we booked in oct). Buffet type spanish one - main xmas themed one which looked very good and there is also an Australian themed expensive steakhouse. As well as the activities I mentioned they usually also have outdoor ice skating- but it looks quite small.

Over Xmas hols we would also usually go down into celebration and watch the 'snow' have a drink and take a horse and cart ride.

Tour the resorts looking for all the special xmas stuff - gingerbread house/ choc carousel etc

Then New Year on the Polly Beach- a must for us!

Thank you so much

Our posts crossed I think!

I think we're going to stick with the Gaylord Palms. Sounds like it will be a great day.

Is the buffet one you mentioned called the Ville de Flora?

Thank you again - brilliant info.

 

[disneyholic family]

i've been to gaylord palms, but not on christmas....it is a nice place to visit, so i would think it would be nice on Christmas as well...
i spent several hours there on my own on two different occasions, while i waited for DD (who was in the very nice spa there)...

just walking around was nice - and that was on a regular day - not during the holidays..

so i would think it would be nice to be there..

i know that DD and i ate at a buffet there, but it wasn't on christmas...
i know we enjoyed it, but i can't remember what it was....i think it was lunch...but i don't remember anything about it...

it is a lovely resort...definitely a destination all on its own...
as is ICE....you should check about reservations for ICE (and for the buffet)..
it's quite possible that reservations are required - especially on christmas day..

 

[mackay_j]

Yes that was the buffet one. We are not buffet fans at all (in fact we are hopeless at it - we watch everyone else get there stuff and sit down - but we seen to be like mearcats always needing to get something we forgot )
However, this seemed quite relaxed when we looked in on it, not like usual buffet meals- we tried chef mickey once on xmas eve- mad house !! - but it along with a limo ride from devenport! was a free virgin perk so still enjoyed it
The buffet at gaylordpalms had musicians going about playing music and the dessert trolley looked fab.
We spent all afternoon at the gaylordpalms and had a great day. The meal we had at the boat restaurant was OK (as I said it was a last minute decisions to fly out before xmas so we took was was left at the end of oct) but the setting was great, I would say the buffet restaurant looked nicer and was more decorated for xmas than both the boat and steakhouse ones.

 

[Kampta80]

.

 

[Kampta80]

Yes that was the buffet one. We are not buffet fans at all (in fact we are hopeless at it - we watch everyone else get there stuff and sit down - but we seen to be like mearcats always needing to get something we forgot )
However, this seemed quite relaxed when we looked in on it, not like usual buffet meals- we tried chef mickey once on xmas eve- mad house !! - but it along with a limo ride from devenport! was a free virgin perk so still enjoyed it
The buffet at gaylordpalms had musicians going about playing music and the dessert trolley looked fab.
We spent all afternoon at the gaylordpalms and had a great day. The meal we had at the boat restaurant was OK (as I said it was a last minute decisions to fly out before xmas so we took was was left at the end of oct) but the setting was great, I would say the buffet restaurant looked nicer and was more decorated for xmas than both the boat and steakhouse ones.

Thank you again - great to get some first hand knowledge

Thank you Beth too

I wonder how early we can book for the Ville de Flora and ICE?

 

[mackay_j]

I phoned gaylordplams to book the restaurant and I booked ICE on line

 

[Kampta80]

I phoned gaylordplams to book the restaurant and I booked ICE on line

Do you know when it is possible to do this. At the moment the only reservations available online for ICE are for 2012!

I might call the hotel this month to see if we can book the meal.

 

[mackay_j]

I think we bought them at www.gaylordpalmstickets.com

 

[Kampta80]

I think we bought them at ...

Thank you for the link.

Looks like it is a bit early to book as when I select a date/time and continue it says 'Number of seats requested is too large! Please try your search again' - even if I try to book one ticket.

Thank you though - I will keep trying (and also send an email to the hotel to check when reservations start for this).

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that you can book the buffet and ICE 45 days beforehand?...

 

[PJB71]

Hi

We have eaten at GLP and done Ice and enjoyed both.

Only other suggestion for you to consider is maybe a character meal at one of the resort hotels or maybe a visit to celebrations for there nightly snowing

 

[Kampta80]

Hi

We have eaten at GLP and done Ice and enjoyed both.

Only other suggestion for you to consider is maybe a character meal at one of the resort hotels or maybe a visit to celebrations for there nightly snowing

Thank you PJB71 - We are going to stick with our original plan of the buffet at the GLP and ICE on Christmas Day.

I hadn't heard about the 'snow' at Celebration, so I'll be adding that to my list of evening things to do during the time we are there. Do they do this in the weeks leading up to Christmas too?

I'm not sure why - but the character meals have never appealed to us.

I've received this email today...

"We have contacted the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center hotel on your behalf, and have been provided with the following information:

We have been advised that, they do not have any information on prices for the Christmas buffet at this time. You will not be able to make a reservation until the end of October for the Ville de Flora Christmas Buffet.

We have also been advised that, you can start making reservations for the ICE Exhibition around mid July. Unfortunately, they do not have any information on cost at this time".

So even though there is a link which mackay_j kindly posted, that explains why I wasn't actually able to book.

 

[Kampta80]

ICE and Christmas Buffet all booked now for Christmas Day

Not long until our trip now

 

[disney2014plan]

Are you staying in a hotel or a suite/villa?

I only ask because we have made 3-4 trips over Xmas and always stayed in villas and a lot of the big supermarkets do what we refer to as "Xmas dinner in a box" - pre-prepared turkey, a bucket of mashed potatoes etc, that just needs cooking/reheating and was very lazy, but took a lot of the work out of Xmas dinner.

 

[pampat]

The snow starts at Celebration on Friday 29th November (I know this because it is the day we arrive and we stay at the Celebration hotel!). It will be busy there, but it's lovely, it snows at weekend two or three times a night. Last year there was a street market, an artificial ice rink and various schools putting on dance exhibitions most nights and certainly over every weekend. There are horse drawn carriage rides around the town and a miniature train. Father and Mrs Christmas are there in the evenings and it is a really fun, family atmosphere.

Pam

 

[Mummycat]

The snow starts at Celebration on Friday 29th November (I know this because it is the day we arrive and we stay at the Celebration hotel!). It will be busy there, but it's lovely, it snows at weekend two or three times a night. Last year there was a street market, an artificial ice rink and various schools putting on dance exhibitions most nights and certainly over every weekend. There are horse drawn carriage rides around the town and a miniature train. Father and Mrs Christmas are there in the evenings and it is a really fun, family atmosphere.

Pam

Wow sounds amazing, I bet it's just like a Christmas card. We visited celebration for the first time this year and thought it was lovely. We also met the 2 resident alligators which was enough to convince me I never want to go on an airboat ride!