Christmas Trip planning and Budget help!

[Raya]

Watching the parade yesterday was a big hit, so while we *always* go at Halloween, now I'm hearing about how magical it would be to go at Christmas.

Can anyone help me out with a vague budget for Christmas? I'd need to save for 2 Disney adults, no character meals, and one of the closer hotels (doesn't have to be monorail, but I prefer not to spend an hour on the bus each way). I'm sure the cost differences between September and Christmas week are serious.

Also would it make a difference if we arrived just before Christmas and left after wards or if Christmas was our last day in the part? So Christmas Eve to before New Year's vs. the week ending in Christmas.

 

[vdoucet78]

You can input your dates for next Christmas in on the Disney World site and get a quote. Booking is open now thru the end of 2015. If you can possibly not go the week of Christmas tho I'd recommend that. I know it's not possible for some with kids or jobs in the school system, but the 3 weeks prior to Christmas are preferable and you can see everything that's there the week of Christmas if you do the MVMCP. The parade they show on TV is not the actual Christmas Day parade, it's taped in early Dec. the week prior to Thanksgiving is excellent in terms of crowd level and the only thing missing from the Christmas festivities is the Candlelight Processional. We've gone the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd week of Dec the past 3 years. We went 12-21st twice and once the 1st-11th. And got Free Dining each time.

 

[Leigha]

Plan for a value trip but HOPE for free dining which has had dates for around Thanksgiving/Christmas for our past two trips, this year and two years ago! It's great!

 

[Mesh]

We just got back from our Dec 20-25th trip. We had free dining and found crowd levels very manageable until Christmas Day but we had to leave around lunch to fly home anyway. We did utilize morning EMH and that definitely helped. We stayed at Pop and busses were pretty quick except Christmas morning but it is a bit of a ride to MK from there.

 

[Aurora0427]

Do you have to go the week of Christmas? We went this year and stayed from 12/11-12/17. It was great. The first two weeks of December have lower pricing than the rest of December. Also, I believe holiday dining pricing begins around December 12, so food is more expensive, although I'm not sure if it's all food or just buffets. Easywdw.com has a great breakdown on traveling by month.

 

[pmaurer74]

we have stayed the week before Christmas the past two years and had a great time. We stay at the WL which is beautifully decorated for Christmas and close to MK.