Christmas resort help needed

[FutureMrsF]

Hi

I really need some help as I'm driving myself insane.

We are coming over from the UK next Christmas and doing a Disney cruise and adding on 2 nights at a Disney resort for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, however I am so confused with where to stay.

We are a family of 4 and are currently booked into the wilderness lodge but the construction concerns me, especially for the price.

I've looked at a couple of other deluxe resorts such as the contemporary and beach club and there isn't a huge difference in price so I'm thinking of swapping.

However whilst looking I realised we could stay at Art of animation and save $700 which is huge over 2 days but will it be magical over Christmas?

I want it to be special for us waking up on Christmas morning but that money could definitely be used elsewhere.

Our plans are Epcot Christmas Eve and Magic Kingdom plus resort touring Christmas day, if the weather is good we will spend the afternoon in the pool.

Please can you all give me your kind thoughts and advice.

Thank you

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

We stayed at CR during Christmas a few years ago and LOVED it. The giant tree out front and decorations are amazing. Our favourite hotel and short 5 minute walk to MK if you want to avoid monorail crowd. We highly recommend. My DB and his family just came back and loved it as well.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

One thing to factor in is that Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are two of the busiest days of the year, and moving through campus even on Disney transportation is slow going. The advantage you'd have at CR is that you would be walking distance to the wall-to-wall peoplefest that is Magic Kingdom on Christmas. Beach Club lets you walk to Epcot.

I'd also suggest that you have low expectations for how much you get "done" either day in Epcot and MK. But since those are your plans, I would say CR, because you can monorail to Epcot and walk to MK.

 

[disneyktee]

I would save the money and spend it on other experiences while you're there. Having been at Disney for Christmas eve & day, what I'll say is that if you want to enjoy your morning at MK on Christmas Day the best way to do that is to be there really early. It gets crowded very quickly Christmas Day. We had an 8:00 breakfast at Cinderella's Castle (which was super magical!) but after we got out (around 9) it was getting crowded and by 10 it was just absolutely packed. So my advice would be to wake up really early (like, 6:00 AM) and get to the park for rope drop at 7 and have a magical morning in MK. If you did that I don't think where you stayed would matter that much because it's more about the magic of where you're going that morning than the magic of where you're waking up. Plus with that money you could do something like the exorbitantly priced Cinderella's Castle or another great Christmas experience.
Also if you're only in Disney for the two days after the cruise you probably won't be spending a lot of time around the hotel. We stayed at the Beach Club Villas which was great for the people in our party that wanted to swim a lot but since you're there for a short time and just coming off the cruise I would think you'd be more about park time than hotel time (and I've heard great things about AoA anyway).

 

[FutureMrsF]

Those are all really fantastic points to consider.

It looking pretty convincing for CR or BC until the last post and now I'm thinking perhaps we should look to save the money for elsewhere.

Our plans (if they workout with ADR's etc) are to go to Epcot Christmas Eve and enjoy the storytellers and atmidpgrre and hopefully get in to candlelight processional with a dinner package and then watch illuminations.

Christmas day we would like to have breakfast at chef Mickey, look around some resorts and then head into the magic kingdom for late afternoon early evening for wishes, any fast pass we can get and soak in the atmosphere.

Thank you for thoughts so far

 

[Aurora0427]

Hi

I really need some help as I'm driving myself insane.

We are coming over from the UK next Christmas and doing a Disney cruise and adding on 2 nights at a Disney resort for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, however I am so confused with where to stay.

We are a family of 4 and are currently booked into the wilderness lodge but the construction concerns me, especially for the price.

I've looked at a couple of other deluxe resorts such as the contemporary and beach club and there isn't a huge difference in price so I'm thinking of swapping.

However whilst looking I realised we could stay at Art of animation and save $700 which is huge over 2 days but will it be magical over Christmas?

I want it to be special for us waking up on Christmas morning but that money could definitely be used elsewhere.

Our plans are Epcot Christmas Eve and Magic Kingdom plus resort touring Christmas day, if the weather is good we will spend the afternoon in the pool.

Please can you all give me your kind thoughts and advice.

Thank you

CR and BC will both be beautiful at Christmas, and the location for magic kingdom on Christmas Day if you stay at the CR can't be beat. The park will open at 7am that day for EMH, and you'll be an easy walk to MK. Plus you can hop on the monorail and go check out the decorations at the GF, which is hands down the most beautiful resort at Christmas. You'll also have a relatively easy hop over to Epcot for Christmas Eve.

I'd avoid AoA at Christmas for transportation issues alone. We stayed there for two nights in October and the front and back of a 7 day GF stay, and the busses took forever. I can't imagine what they're like at Christmas. Plus there's just no comparing a value to a deluxe resort.

I wouldn't waste prime early morning park time at breakfast, unless you guys just want to sleep in and relax! 7-10am is the best window of low crowds on the busiest day of the year. You should take advantage of that. I'd do a special Christmas lunch when the crowds get horrible. Then go back in the evening for wishes!