Christmas Week Best Parks?

[amomma23]

Our "old reliable" Josh hasn't made park recommendations, yet. We'll be there 12/21-12/28 and I make ADR next week.
Who else have you had good luck with? I'm not a fan of touring plans at all. Has anyone used Kenny the Pirate's picks? Someone else?
We've been many times (but not over Christmas). I think we can make our own educated guesses, but it would be nice to get some confirmation from an "expert". Thanks!

 

[Alesia]

Our "old reliable" Josh hasn't made park recommendations, yet. We'll be there 12/21-12/28 and I make ADR next week.
Who else have you had good luck with? I'm not a fan of touring plans at all. Has anyone used Kenny the Pirate's picks? Someone else?
We've been many times (but not over Christmas). I think we can make our own educated guesses, but it would be nice to get some confirmation from an "expert". Thanks!

A good general rule of thumb is to choose a park that will have had EMH the day before. So you can start that way, but be aware that the EMH schedule is probably going to change (which is probably why Josh hasn't made recommendations yet.)

 

[tink9702]

You could try Undercover Tourist as an option. or just rule of thumb that MK & Epcot are always busier on the weekend might work for you?

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

I wrote a free guide about Christmas. You can find it at survivedisxmas.com

You can pretty much expect all the parks to be crowded during Christmas week. There's no real escaping the crowds.

While my family usually heads down on Christmas Eve, I've heard that the crowd "dies down" a bit between the last day of MVMCP and Christmas Day. December 21st through the 23rd should give you a few days of lower crowd levels - although that may change due to the free dining. You'll see the crowds pick up on December 23rd and 24th as many will arrive for Christmas.

This year will be interesting. I'm trying to remember how bad the crowds were for our first trip. That was the last time Christmas fell on a weekend. I think locals may be more inclined to stay a night if they have off the next day. This could lead to more crowds, higher demand for ADRs and less availability at the resorts - but again, that's just my opinion. I think you'll see the crowds really pick up on December 25th and 26th, and die down on the 27th and 28th when people return to work.

Most people visit WDW for Christmas OR NYE. We stay the full 10 days. We usually see people checking out by the 27th. It's not too bad on the 28th and 29th, and then it gets chaotic again starting on the 30th.

We usually do Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day. We're crazy, right? Not as crazy as you'd think. Magic Kingdom should open to the public at 8am on Christmas Day, with a morning EMH at 7am. We always try and get to MK for the morning EMH, but usually only get there for the last half hour. When we arrive, Space Mountain is about a 20-minute wait. I know this because that's usually where we head to first. After, we grab breakfast (a cinnamon roll in past years, but this year we plan on changing it up) and then head to a popular ride with a low wait time. Usually the Jingle Cruise. You'll see the crowds pick up at 8am, but it's nothing crazy. It does get crazy around 10am. My theory is that most people spend the morning eating breakfast, opening gifts and most locals wait to find a parking spot. By 11am, you will see a phased closure.

Animal Kingdom is probably your best bet for Christmas Day and usually sees the lowest crowds - comparatively speaking.

It's tough to say until EMHs come out. Magic Kingdom usually does late-night EMH the Friday after Christmas. Well, this year Christmas falls ON a Friday. I can't see Magic Kingdom doing late-night EMH on Christmas. They'll probably close by 12am or 1am, honestly. You may see the late night EMH on Sunday, December 27th.

We travel on December 24th and wake up early on Christmas. We usually rest a bit on December 26th and head to the parks a little later - like 3pm. We'll usually do EPCOT which works well for us. Yes, the rides have high wait times by the time we get there, but we schedule out FP+s accordingly, so we never have a problem. EPCOT is a nice change of pace. We go from Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day - where we need to "ride and see everything" while fighting the crowds, so EPCOT - where the crowds are more spaced out, there's only two or three rides to go on, and you can move at a much slower pace. EPCOT is so much more relaxing for us - nothing beats touring the countries and eating and drinking.

Another thing my family does is take breaks in the afternoon. The parks are very crowded by 1pm. We usually call it a day by 1 or 2pm and head back to the resort. I'll go for a jog, take a nap, or just relax by the pool. We'll shower and head to dinner around 5pm, and then back to the parks to end the day. We find that this is a nice break. We'll head back to MK for the last parade or last showing of Wishes. Many of the locals and young families head home or back to the resort after the first parade/fireworks show. By taking a break in the afternoon and heading back after some of the crowd has left, we have a much less stressful day.

Make sure you get the Park Hopper option. It's a small cost in the scheme of things (your free meal plan is a solid trade off.) If a park is way too crowded, it gives you the freedom to leave and go to another park.

I'll be posting blogs as more info becomes available - and of course, I'll be posting here.

My family is celebrating our 6th Christmas in 7 years this year - so I consider myself a bit of a veteran!

 

[lovndisney12]

Ditto on the afternoon break suggestion. This will be our third trip during the Christmas crowds. We too are waiting for Josh's crowd calendar but assume it will not be out by the time we make our ADRs next week. Looking at past calendars and those that are currently out help but the key is avoiding the most crowded time of the day which will be the afternoon. We had very good luck at EMH rope drops on the 24th, 25th, and 26th. We have been at other times of years and were able to do as much - if not more - during these early morning hours. With FP+ you can still be at a crowded park and know that you will have at least three rides of your choice with minimal wait. So combine an early morning with late morning / early afternoon FP+ and then head out of the park for a break.

We do avoid MK on Christmas Day - but as OP stated - it is doable if that is where you want to be - but best to avoid the afternoon. We had a very good experience at AK last time we were there on Christmas Day and will probably opt for that again this year.

 

[amomma23]

Thanks all! It's good to hear others echoing what we were planning ourselves. Like I said, not our first trip. (Can't imagine a first trip that week, yikes!) We've been going annually for some time, just never been there on Christmas.

I think we might also go crazy and brave MK on the 25th. We have no problem touring before sunrise. We're hoping to do Wispering Canyon for Christmas lunch and thinking it will be much easier to hightail it out of MK by lunch than to try and get there in the afternoon from our resort. We always duck out of the parks in the afternoon, anyway so we should be good there. We also have hoppers so we can change plans on the fly if needed.

This is our bucket list trip. We all wanted to do Christmas at least once to say we did. It will be a surprise (little early) Christmas gift. We usually go in September so our kids don't know what crowds are. It should be an awesome adventure and DH and I are really looking forward to it.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

Thanks all! It's good to hear others echoing what we were planning ourselves. Like I said, not our first trip. (Can't imagine a first trip that week, yikes!) We've been going annually for some time, just never been there on Christmas.

I think we might also go crazy and brave MK on the 25th. We have no problem touring before sunrise. We're hoping to do Wispering Canyon for Christmas lunch and thinking it will be much easier to hightail it out of MK by lunch than to try and get there in the afternoon from our resort. We always duck out of the parks in the afternoon, anyway so we should be good there. We also have hoppers so we can change plans on the fly if needed.

This is our bucket list trip. We all wanted to do Christmas at least once to say we did. It will be a surprise (little early) Christmas gift. We usually go in September so our kids don't know what crowds are. It should be an awesome adventure and DH and I are really looking forward to it.

It really is a blast. We went after my dad won his battle with cancer. We went in celebration. We thought for sure that we'd miss decorating and being around family and all. Sure, we missed our family, but we've gone 6 times in the past 7 years and haven't looked back yet. I love how after Christmas, we don't go back to our normal "everyday life." Instead, we're together again - in the decorated parks with Christmas music. It prolongs our holiday a bit.

Take time to enjoy the resorts a bit too. They really are beautifully decorated and present a nice break from the crowds. You've probably been on Thunder Mountain so much already. We always try and go on as much as possible; but having been to the parks so many times, we don't mind taking a break and doing the unconventional things like touring the parks or spending the day at DTD.

I THINK we're doing Artist Point this year for Christmas dinner - but I'm not sure yet. If you're gonna head to Whispering Canyon, go out and explore the resort a bit, too. I LOVE Disney's Wilderness Lodge - especially during Christmas. It feels like a ski lodge. Grab a chair near the towering fireplace and digest for a while. I love feel like I'm at a ski lodge, knowing that I can walk outside into (usually) gorgeous weather. If you manage to stay a while, head over to the campgrounds. They offer a horse-drawn carriage ride to tour the area. Many of the campers decorate their campsites with tons of decorations, inflatables and lights.

Last year, we left MK around 2pm and did lunch at Capt. Cooks. We scheduled dinner at Narcoossee's for 9pm, so it was a nice meal before out "fast" for dinner. After a small break back at the resort, we ventured back to the MK area and took the family who was with us to each resort. They were first timers (well, they hadn't been in over a decade.) Without us, they would have been lost.. but we kept them in tow. We showed them the Contemporary and toured the Grand Floridian before heading to dinner.

We had remarkable weather the past two years. The two years we went was miserably cold. Last year was in the 80s! If you're from the North, take some time to enjoy the nice weather. It's December - so anything in the 60s, 70s or 80s (even 50s...) is a nice change. Lay by the pool for a while or even rent a boat from the Contemporary!

 

[Luke1423]

Hello Everyone. This will also be my family's first time at Disney for Christmas. We are staying at the Grand Which is my wife's dream. She thinks we are staying at POP. I wanted to know if anyone knows if the monorail will drop us off for rope drop? Also I hear mix things about taking a break mid day, I would like to but then I read we may not be able to get back in the parks. We will be there from 12/21 to 21/27. Any advise would help thanks!

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[ofcabbagesandkings]

Ooh, I hadn't factored park closures in at all. Do other parks besides MK get closed by midday? Is it just on the 25th or does it happen the rest of the week too?