Christmas in WDW?

[signtalker]

Me and DH have always said one christmas we would love to go away at that time of the year. We were thinking of 2004(as next year we are going in may). Okay questions i would like to know, is it better to stay onsite?,what special things do disney lay on for christmas, what do you all do for christmas eve/day/boxing day?, where do you eat/what do you eat??.
Any other help appreciated,and also other places that are great to visit whilst out there.

Jules

 

[signtalker]

whoopsss mods can you move this onto Trip Planning board pleaseeeee, posted onto wrong board LOL.

Jules
(im under alot of stress bare with me please,normal service will be resumed soon)

 

[chezp]

Hi!

This year will be our second Christmas at Disney - we loved it and I'm sure you will too!

I'd say it's better to stay onsite, simply because you're guaranteed entry to the parks. OK, so you can usually get into Epcot - I understand from CM's it's only been closed to the public a couple of times in its history.

Magic Kingdom is a different story though! I went there on 27 December 2000 on my own (hubby was at Kennedy Space Centre for the day) and it was closed to all but resort guests arriving on the transportation system. I have never seen crowds like it in my life... and the queues for the attractions were beyond belief! OK, so when it's that full, it's not much fun, but if you want to go in to see the parades or even for a meal, it's nice to know you'll be able to get in.

We found Christmas at the Beach Club truly magical - the CM's were all coming up to us on Christmas Day, wishing us "Happy Holidays" and we even had a stocking left on our door from Father Christmas!!

Disney's Christmas decorations are something else...! All the resorts are decorated, but from what I've seen, the best are the Grand Floridian and the Beach Club. Disney lay on all sorts of extra things during the Christmas season, like the Christmas tree switching on ceremony at the Boardwalk and we had special visits from characters in the lobby of the Beach Club in the run up to Christmas.

As to what we did:

Christmas Eve - gorgeous, hot weather, so spent the day in Typhoon Lagoon (that was the first day that year it opened after its rehab). We had dinner at the Yacht Club Galley. Not too impressed with that, so this year, we're booked in for the Flying Fish Cafe.

Christmas Day - breakfast at Cape May Cafe with Minnie, Chip and Dale and Goofy, followed by a morning around the pool (hot weather again!). Went into Epcot early afternoon, shopped and strolled around, then saw the Candlelight Processional at 5 p.m., before dinner at Chefs de France. Fantastic and we're doing exactly the same again this year - obviously lazing round the pool will be weather permitting!

Boxing Day - we went to Sea World, big mistake - lots of crowds and a total nightmare! Won't be doing that again this year... We have the Princess Storybook breakfast booked in Norway for this year.

The only advice I would give if you're planning on going at Christmas - book your meals ahead, particularly between Christmas and New Year. It was quite quiet until 24 December and then it went mad! We tried to book a couple of meals on Boxing Day for the rest of the week and we struggled to get into places... it was really heavily booked! We've learnt our lesson again and will make sure we've got the bookings made long before then this time!

Hope this helps!

Cheryl

 

[cheryl.UK]

We went for Christams New year 1999/2000

We actually went to MK on xmas day!

We booked the earliest possible PS at Crystal Palace so that we could get in early, via the hotel monorail at TTC. we just told one of the CMs our PR no. and they let us through.

It wasn't actually that full until around midday. Most of the hotel guests had opened prezzies and then gone for breakfast at around 9 so we were able to 'do' alot of our fgavourite attractions. Everyone sang carols on the jungle cruise!

In terms of park entry - you can get round the hotel guests only scenario by 'going for breakfast at a hotle' then jumping on their transport.

Watch out for Epcot at NY eve!! For the millennium, if you weren't in the queue for the parking lot by 5.30am you didn't get in. Disney radio reported that they closed the car parks at 6. Many people had been in the parking lot at 4 and the gates reputedly opened at 4.30! We went to Mk , which of course is 'dry', and apparently they closed the gates there at 10!! MGM gates closed at around 9.