Christmas in Disney?

[princess stich]

Hi! I posted this on another forum, but no bites yet, so I thought I would try here.

Has anyone been at WDW over Christmas? We are thinking about going Christmas break 2007 (12/22-12/29). DK's would be 7 and 4.

Any tips, suggestions, comments are greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[MinnieFan]

Would this be the first Disney trip for your children? If so, I would strongly recommend that you try to schedule your trip for another week. The crowds are unbelievable during the holidays, and it would be very frustrating for small children to want to see and do things that they can't get to because the lines are too long. Christmas time at WDW is wonderful, though, so if you want to experience the holiday atmosphere you could try a trip earlier in December, when all the decorations are up, the atmosphere is festive, and the crowds are not unmanageable. Hope that helps!

 

[princess stich]

No, this wouldn't be their first trip. We are going in less than a month YAY! This is will 2nd trip for DS 2/12 and third trip for DD 5 1/2.

I wanted to go when my dad was on Christmas break so we would not have to go with them in the summer. I thought this might be worth it. We have been there over New Year's Eve twice (before kids). I would love to see it at CHristmas time all decorated sometime!

 

[Tiffer]

We are going DEc 19th-Jan 2nd. We did it in 2004 as well and LOVED it. I was going through a separation and this is the only thing that made my holidays. It is REALLY packed. last time, by 10 am MK was cloased and at capacity. I would avoid MK on C-mas day. I love it though.

 

[Pamomof3]

We went the first week in December and we had a blast, beleive it or not it was not that busy but we had the pleasure to see all the beautiful decorations. I hope this helps.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We were at WDW from Dec. 21-27 last year and had such a great time that we will be returning Dec. 20-27 this year. If you search for Christmas posts from around this time frame last year, you will discover that the parks did not get crowded until Christmas Eve. We spent part of Christmas Eve, Christmas morning, and Christmas night in MK and only Christmas Eve was even slightly busy. We had 11 am ressies for brunch at Chef Mickey's, then took the monorail to Epcot. We knew that MK would be incredibly busy Christmas afternoon and early evening, so we planned to go another direction. While Epcot was busy, it's so big that we didn't mind. Also, we spent most of our time listening to the holiday storytellers rather than waiting in lines to visit attractions. After Christmas dinner at WL, the kids returned to our rooms; and dh took the boat to MK around 11 pm. We expected huge crowds since it was Christmas Day and MK was open super late (or should I say early?), but the place was EMPTY!!! We waited in NO lines. Sadly, we were exhausted from getting up at the crack of dawn with the kids and just couldn't stay awake. The day after Christmas, everyone working at our resort warned us to avoid MK. This was fine by us, since we'd already gotten our fill. We went to MGM instead and found crowds way smaller than during our fall break! Of our many WDW trips over the past couple of years, dh and I agree that our visit last Christmas was by far the best. Since all of our trips have been great, this is really saying something!!!

 

[Kahana-ri]

We went last year form December 21-26th. It was crowded, but we were still able to go on everything we wanted. There is such a magic to be at WDW during Christmas. The POP even played Christmas music the whole time we were there instead of the usual music.

For tips, go early and take advantage of the extended hours. This way you will be able to see more.
Always take advantage of having your survivors delivered to the room. What a great service!
Tip Mouse Keeping well and you will find towel animals, extra towels and a very clean room.
Make ADR's early enough. We were still able to make a few extra ADR's once we were there too.
The best tips were found right here on the DIS board!

 

[house_of_princesses]

Once my dd's got into the toddler years, they wanted to be at home for Christmas. I reassured them Santa will find them no matter where they are. No dice. They didn't even want to go to Grammy and Papa's!! They want to spend Christmas at home. So, we were going first week in December for a while. (We were homeschooling, easy to travel.) Now our lives have changed and this is their first year in school. We're going 12/30 - 1/5. We even had to wait for the youngests' birthday (12/28). Something to consider.

 

[disneypharm]

Last year, we went to WDW from Dec 15th to 23rd. The first few days was great. No lines for any rides. We could walk into any rides without even waiting for 5 minutes. The last 2 days of our trip we found out that Florida school kids were out for Christmas and it seemed that they were all in WDW, mainly MK. Even Epcot got really bad on the 23rd. The wait for Soarin was more than 2 hours. They even closed the fastpass machines. We finally realized why some people don't like to visit WDW more than once. My family love to go to WDW, but we mainly visit there during the low season.
By the way, we don't need to pull DD8 and DD6 out of school. They attend year-around school and they get the month of December off.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

Here are some pictures taken around 10 am in Fantasyland on Christmas Day last year.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

This was taken at MGM on the Thursday before Christmas -- late afternoon.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

This was taken on Dec. 23rd, as EMH was ending. My exhausted family wouldn't get out of bed, so I ventured out alone. Within 45 minutes, I had ridden pretty much all that was open in MK and was heading out of the park. Very few people were entering, so I was able to get a great shot of the castle. From MK, I took the monorail to GF for some great photos -- also virtually free of guests.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

The beginning of EMH one night at Epcot. It's not a great photo, but you can see that there's no one around. Of course, it was very cold that night!

 

[SqueakyMouse]

MGM opening on Dec. 22 -- no long lines to be seen.

 

[princess stich]

Thanks for all of the pictures Squeaky Mouse! ANd thanks for evreyone's input. I am going to get a price quote before we decide, but DIsney has not realeased rooms for BWV or OKW for Dec 2007. My TA at Small WOrld Travel said they usually do that about 10 months before. I guess we'll see when we get price info if we can afford it and are up for the Christmas crowds, and are willing to be away from home at Christmas with our then DD 7 and DS 4.

Thanks!

 

[eeyoregon]

We went the first week in December and we had a blast, beleive it or not it was not that busy but we had the pleasure to see all the beautiful decorations. I hope this helps.

Yes the 1st and 2nd weeks of December are actually considered "off or low season" and have VERY LIGHT CROWDS. Christmas week and the week after are "Peak or High Season" and are the busiest time in the parks of the entire year. If possible I would go druing "Off season" the 1st week or two of December and save $$$$ and avoid crowds but still get to see everything decorated for the holidays.

 

[princess stich]

Unfortunately we won't be able to go before Christmas break due to my dad's work schedule. I would LOVE to go in early December and beat the crowds but still see the decorations! We went the last week of January in 2205, and the weather and crowds were absolutely perfect! I am imagine earley December is the same way!