Christmas Vacation Thoughts

[whoopnshoot]

Has anyone went to WDW for Christmas? Let me know what you thought about it...specifically crowds, weather and Christmas decor! We just booked it but I'm nervous because it says on some boards that it is the busiest time of the year. :0)

 

[all4fun]

The first two weeks of December everything is decorated for Christmas but the crowds are much lower. The last two weeks of December are one of the busiest times of year. Are you going to be there on Christmas day? We've never done this, but we have really enjoyed our Christmas trips. The decorations are just incredible. Definitely take the time to visit a few different resorts if you can...it's fun to see all the different styles of decor and the huge gingerbread displays.

 

[whoopnshoot]

Sorry forgot to post the dates... We will be there from Dec 22 through Dec 30

We will be packing 5 kids ages 17, 14, 14, 4, and 2...

 

[Tink215]

well I hate to say it but for as much as I LOVE DISNEY!!! I wont take a trip during Xmas ever again.......I am a Fl Resident.......So I take advantage of going when its not so crowded........Everyone on here warned me..Its the busiest time to go.....I said to my DH it wont be so bad.......We stayed at the Pop Century from Dec.25-30.......and OMG the crowds were SOOO bad.....The Levels of crowds were so bad that they closed the magic Kingdom for a while cause they were at Full Capacity...they were not allowing anyone in...I do know they reopend a few hours later but WOW....I see it like this.....I understand that sometimes especially when you have kids in school or due to scheduling from work that there is no choice but to take Vacation during the Holidays......Make sure you have high crowds expectations and plan your days real early.......Be at the parks when they open and use the EMH......The busiest I found at the parks were for the parades and Fireworks.....and stay clear of the magic Kingdom on Xmas Day...its not even worth it, we did a special Character dinning at 1900 Park Fare with Cinderella instead andBe ready to deal with people with high stress levels, i found this alot.....The level of rudeness was pretty high with everyone......I was shoved several times by a lady trying to stick her kid in front of my DD4 during the parade, Her child was about 9 or 10....I left after that incident, it was noon and i didnt go back.......Make sure you go to the different resorts and chek out the Decorations especially the Grand Floridian......I think if you know what to expect and stick to an early morning plan then you will be ok......Good Luck.......

 

[tinkerbellsaratoga]

We stayed during the Christmas Break in 2005 at Wilderness Lodge. The parks are decorated beautifully. The temperatures were cold at night and springlike during the day. We are from New Jersey, so we were looking to swim. The only negative part was the crowds. If you decide to go, just prepare yourself to leave very early to arrive at the parks when they just open! Take in as many rides and go back to your resort to relax. One more thing, it was worth it. We really had a great time and nothing beats the feeling of being in WDW during the holidays!

 

[ksloane]

I originally had almost this same reservation for this year. A friend told me that if you book to get there before value season ends, you get the value rate for the entire trip! So I backed up our arrival date to the 19th and saved enough money to pay for our airfare and add one more day to our trip!! Going to require that I take off a couple days of work and pull my daughter from school but I find the last days before christmas vacation are unproductive days anyway.

Plus the crowds are supposed to be worse after Christmas and this gives us a few days to accomplish our "musts" before the crowds get there.

Thought I'd pass on this advice in case you could pull it off.

 

[pookybean]

we are going to be there dec 19-30. we did like the other poster said and added a couple more days for the value season prices.

we are just trying to plan accordingly and take all the crowd advice. trying to get all our adr's done right at that 180 day mark and probably stay out of mk on christmas day. there are 10 of us going so its hard to get a plan together, but we have time. i think its gonna be a great time to go.

megan

 

[goofymomof3]

We are also going for Christmas 07. We are a family of 5, all in school except DH. I am a teacher so...... there goes the taking off early thing. I could but don't feel it would be the best for our family. However, everyone is making me nervous also. I have been twice in June. Do the crowds everyone is talking about compare at all?? Or was that a piece of cake compared to Dec. WE are going to be there the week after Christmas. It is a surprise present to my children. DS, 14 and twin girls 11. We are also thinking of Universal. We have never done this before. Is the crowd just as bad there??? I love coming here to read and get everyones opinion. See ya there

 

[blessedby3]

We went Dec. 16-23 in 2006 and I thought that was crazy I cant imagine actually being there from Christmas Eve through the end of the year. It was just too crowded for us and we wont go at that time of year again. We went the week after Thanksgiving in 2005 and it was great. No one was there and the Christmas decorations were up and we got to do the MVMCP too. It was the best time to go im my opinion and we will shoot for that time frame for our next trip. We just pull the kids out of school and enjoy the low crowds. I have a hard time enjoying myself when it is as crowded as we experienced in Dec.

 

[Princess Erin]

we have been that time 3 or 4 times and this year for some reason was horribly crowded and kind of got to me.