Christmas Week At Disney World: Tips Wanted!!

[wdwmom0f3]

We have never been for the holidays and while I know it will be packed, we have decided to go the week of Christmas this year!! If you have any advice or any tips to help my family and others plan this special week please post here! We are staying at Riverside.


Thank you!!!!

 

[Guyton dis lover]

We have never been for the holidays and while I know it will be packed, we have decided to go the week of Christmas this year!! If you have any advice or any tips to help my family and others plan this special week please post here! We are staying at Riverside.


Thank you!!!!

Resorts have allot of decorations. Christmas is everywhere. Candle light proc. is great. It will be crowded but get your fast pass and have a plan. My family will be there from the 14th of Dec. til 20th of Dec. Ft wilderness is worth the trip. The campers will have decorations. We love WDW but I must say when we go in early spring its great but it is still a bit of the let down for us in the spring. but we go allot. This time next week i will be recovering from the 24 hour ordeal in the Magic Kingdom .LOL/LOL/LOL/LOL.

 

[pigletto]

We're going the week before. I am expecting by the time we leave it will be peak crowds for us too.
I have a few plans. One is rope drop no matter what so we get the rides we want to do done in the morning. Hours should be much longer, so we'll rest in the afternoon and go back for the evening and night time.
We're going to do MVMCP (which will be over by the time you go) and the Candlelight Processional.
Have back up plans for when the parks are overwhelming. Make the focus on character meals, mini golf, seeing the storytellers in Epcot, tour the resorts to see the decorations and all the parades and shows etc.
There will still be tons of fun things to do when your favourite rides are packed.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

There are five stages to Park Closings, based on number of people in a Park. The turnstile master computer at each park keeps track of both entries and exits. When a park capacity closes (which is done in stages) there has to be a certain number of people exiting, with the total "in park" below a certain number, before they start allowing people in again.

I am low enough on the totem pole that I have no idea what these numbers are.

Stage Zero - Due to limited available parking, Guests may be directed to alternate parking areas where they will use Resort transportation to travel to the park of their choice.

Stage 1 - At this stage each Guest in a vehicle must have a valid multi-day ticket. Also Guests with a Park Hopper or re-entering the Park, by showing a currently dated Parking Receipt, will be allowed in. Also, any Guests using Disney transportation are allowed.

Stage 2 - At this stage, Theme Park admission is limited to Disney Resort Guests*, Annual and Premium Annual Passholders, Guests with Park Hopper tickets crossing over from another Park, Guests re-entering this Park today. Guests with written confirmation of reservations for Dining or Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique or The Pirates League within one hour are also admitted. Guests using Walt Disney World Resort Transportation will be admitted. Guests not meeting the above criteria are told the Theme Park has reached capacity.

Stage 3 - At this stage, Theme Park admission is limited to Disney Resort Guests*, Annual and Premium Annual Passholders. Guests with written confirmation of reservations for Dining or Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique or The Pirates League within one hour are also admitted.

Stage 4 - Nobody is allowed in.

Also, if you are staying at a Disney owned and operated Resort and have a ticket, you are guaranteed entry into A park. Not necessarily the one you want (unless you want to go into AK). And if you have entered and left a park and do not have a hopper you may not get into anything.

*Guests of WDW Swan and Dolphin Hotels and Shades of Green at the Walt Disney World Resort are considered part of this group for Stages 2 and 3. In addition, Guests from Hotel Plaza Boulevard hotels arriving by bus are included.

 

[momminnie]

Best of luck, have a great time, don't stress over small stuff,get there early,no matter what be nice. It is the happiest place on earth( I say this because sometimes it is very hard to be nice to some people especially when they are pushing to get out at night) I hope you have a Blessed and Magical Christmas week I sure wish I were going when the decorations were up again.

 

[indygirl1000]

Absolutely beautiful but very cool. Forgot jackets and had to buy sweatshirts.

 

[iloveallthingsdisney]

Get to the park you want to go to early and do not leave (park hop or leave for a nap) until you are ready to be done for the day!! You may not be able to get back in!

 

[Butterball]

I have gone four years in a row for the week of Christmas.
In fact, my first trip to WDW was for Christmas week. I have never seen WDW without Christmas decorations!
For the most part I really enjoyed the trips but there were SO MANY PEOPLE. Can't really complain because the trips were generously provided by my in-laws.

Here's what I learned:

-This kinda goes without saying but have a game plan for when you want to visit certain parks and what rides you must go on. We used easywdw's crowd calendar for the first time in 2011 and it did help us plan our days.

-The Hall of Presidents is a nice air conditioned place in which to escape the midday sweltering sun and take a 20 minute siesta. This discovery was purely accidental.

-Pack a variety of clothes. In my opinion the weather was a bit unpredictable. Also pack a light weight rain jacket because it did rain every so often.
Some nights were surprisingly cold. Keep in mind I am in the Northeast so my idea of cold/hot weather may differ from yours.

-We've never tried our luck with walking into table service restaurants without a reservation but since the parks are so crowded I will recommend that you make dinner reservations if needed

-Try to be patient and have fun. I'm a rather impatient person but I was able to grin it and bear it. Impatiently waiting in line in WDW, talk about first world problems!


If someone as impatient and cranky as me survived the crowds then I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

[casah]

We're going at Christmastime too! And we're staying at Riverside. It's our first trip during this time so we're really excited! I know it's going to be crazy packed but our plan is to map out what's most important to us and then just go with the flow after that.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Don't plan to get a lot done at the parks it will be super crowded and pack your patience.

Go and see the gingerbread houses at the different resorts.

At the 180 day mark get ready to make your dinning reservations if not you will not get a reservation for TS. So you only have a few days left to decide where you want to eat so get busy because your 180 day mark is coming up fast.

 

[Dani C]

Tour the world showcase and listen to all the holiday traditions they share. Tour the resorts for the festive atmosphere. Don't forget to taste the gingerbread.

Yes, it's packed but it is better to wait in long lines when the temperature isn't miserably hot.

 

[iluveeyore]

Pack for all seasons - we were in hoodies with scarves and mini gloves for a few days, then Christmas day we spent the morning at the pool. Also, do NOT miss the Osborne lights at Hollywood Studios - we went three nights we loved it so much. They did have extended hours a lot the week of Christmas, so we would do early mornings, go back to our resort or tour other resorts for the decorations in the afternoon, and then head back to a park for the evening. The castle lit up for Christmas is amazing, and the Christmas parade is fun too. The Candlelight processional really gives you the true Christmas spirit. We did not go to a park on Christmas day, but the teenagers (my nephews and kids) went, and had a blast. I'm pretty sure they went to Hollywood Studios later in the evening, and said it wasn't busy at all. Enjoy your trip, it's an amazing time of year to visit.

 

[Couchy]

It's beautiful at Christmas. Enjoy the magic

 

[katiee37]

Tour other resorts! Can't say that enough. Any of the monorail resorts, Wilderness Lodge, Ft. Wilderness, Beach Club, Animal Kingdom Lodge, etc. Take the time to appreciate the little things about your trip that you might not get to experience at any other time of the year. Christmas at Disney is truly the epitome of magic...providing that you have a plan of attack for those crowd levels

 

[budcollector]

i'm going back down this year for Christmas and from what I've seen and learned [I go solo] from the couple times I've gone before is to just chill, relax and go with the flow. as others have said it is a Very Crowded Place then. I don't try to do rides unless there's a Really Short line, instead I enjoy looking at the decorations, the windows on main street in MK, picking out good viewing spots for the Christmas parades, exploring world showcase in Epcot and in the evening head over to HS for the Osborne Lights.

Remember to pack a jacket and long pants, last year it was cold, morning temps were in the 30's, I saw soooooooooo many ppl with just shorts and short sleeved shirts freezing.

 

[BigDogHU75]

I'm looking forward to Disney at Christmastime. Thank you to all those who posted tips.

 

[linre]

I'm looking forward to Disney at Christmastime. Thank you to all those who posted tips.

Hi there, we have booked for christmas week 2014 25th dec- 3rd jan and just came across this thread. How did you find your xmas week break? Any new tips that you would like to share with us?!

 

[Dean1953]

We are a family of 6 that will be staying at Orange Lake for the 2 weeks. We have 10 day basic passes. Would it be that much better to upgrade to Park Hopper? My plan, on most days, was to make Rope Drop, stay until 1 and then leave until early evening. I do have a reservation at Disney campground for 1 night, so we can do Fast Pass Plus in advance and go early/stay late for 2 days.I may make dining reservations for 2 meals and eat the rest of the time offsite. With the crowds, will it be a major hassle leaving in the afternoon and coming back at night? I will check the appropriate sites for touring plans and for crowd estimations for each park for the day.

 

[texasroni75]

We went Christmas week in 2009 (arriving the 16th and leaving the 22nd to drive home by Christmas Eve). The crowds and lines/ride waits at that time were not nearly as bad as we had thought they would be, and the weather was really nice - light jacket during the day, heavier coat with hats and gloves at night but not so cold that we suffered.

We decorated DS's stroller for the holiday, and brought along our Mickey ear Santa hats to wear in the parks. The decorations, as other mentioned, are AMAZING!!

The biggest issue we had the entire trip was the MK parades and fireworks. People were the rudest I've ever seen - including some CMs (but I imagine it's hard to be "nice" when you're trying to direct masses of people who will not listen!!). It was a huge mess, and you were pretty much stuck wherever you were within 30 minutes before them and 30 minutes after. Find a spot early, or plan to be elsewhere if you don't want to watch the show and/or be stuck somewhere you don't want to be!

 

[jdf27]

Anyone ever do Dine at California Grill on Christmas? Good idea or not? Am open to other ideas as well!