Christmas Week Hours???

[MamaBear12]

I just booked my FP+ reservations today and I'm stressed that they haven't yet released what their extended hours will be for the week between Christmas and New Years! I've made our FP+ reservations and touring plan assuming a 7AM EMH at Magic Kingdom on Dec. 27th (based off of what it sounds like they've typically done previous years). Currently the WDW calendar still says 9AM park opening and no EMH though. Should I still assume a 7AM EMH or should I rework our touring plan and FP+ plan to reflect no EMH and 9AM park opening? Thanks!

 

[rstamm]

I’ll be there then too and I also assume a 7am opening.
Hoping they soon release the real hours.

 

[MamaBear12]

I’ll be there then too and I also assume a 7am opening.
Hoping they soon release the real hours.

Good to know I'm not the only one! I hope they release them soon! Makes me nervous that I'm going to have to completely scrap the plan I've worked out :-( Do you happen to know if Epcot hours typically change? Currently the 28th says 9AM opening with 8AM EMH, which seems reasonable to me.

 

[KEW]

Do they normally have more than 1 park with EMH on the same day? I know Animal Kingdom has a 7 a.m. EMH that day. A couple of weeks ago when November hours got extended, I noticed that AK's hours got extended (mainly the early opening time, 8, affecting the earlier EMH time, 7, affecting me. That's the park I've been watching because I'm planning to rope drop one of the EMH days at AK.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind if EMH happened on multiple parks at the same time (unlikely though) because I feel like it'll spread the crowd out more.

 

[rstamm]

Usually MK is 7am EMH everyday Christmas week not sure about the other parks.

 

[KEW]

Usually MK is 7am EMH everyday Christmas week not sure about the other parks.

You're right. Was just looking at what happened in PAST YEARS.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Good to know I'm not the only one! I hope they release them soon! Makes me nervous that I'm going to have to completely scrap the plan I've worked out :-( Do you happen to know if Epcot hours typically change? Currently the 28th says 9AM opening with 8AM EMH, which seems reasonable to me.

According to the calendars on wdwmagic, all the parks opened at 8:00am that week last year and the EMHs were at 7:00. No idea if/ when they will change for this year. When we went Christmas week a few years ago, they changed them pretty close to our trip. I will say, as tough as it was to drag ourselves out of bed in the dark, the amount of touring we got done between 7-9 was amazing.

 

[MamaBear12]

You're right. Was just looking at what happened in PAST YEARS.

Thanks for linking the calendar! Looks like that week they did have morning EMHs at more than one park some days since they had one at MK everyday and each of the other parks had 1-2 that week as well.

Looks like Epcot tends to open at 8AM that week as well with a 7AM EMH sometime that week. I guess I'll stick with the 8AM plan we have for now and tweak it if we end up with a 7am EMH.

We live in CST so I should probably start moving kiddos' bedtime earlier in preparation for a 5:30AM (CST) departure to the parks :-S

 

[MamaBear12]

According to the calendars on wdwmagic, all the parks opened at 8:00am that week last year and the EMHs were at 7:00. No idea if/ when they will change for this year. When we went Christmas week a few years ago, they changed them pretty close to our trip. I will say, as tough as it was to drag ourselves out of bed in the dark, the amount of touring we got done between 7-9 was amazing.

That's the plan! 2 hours of hardcore touring first thing the AM. Late character breakfast (10:30). Chill time (stroller nap) while wandering around the park and enjoying the ambiance (or return to hotel for a few hours), a couple FP+ in the afternoon, parade, fireworks, and done.

 

[Lynne G]

I wish too. We will be there the same time too. Christmas in Epcot is our plan. Yeah, made our fastpasses hoping earlier and longer times.

 

[SmallWorld71]

That's the plan! 2 hours of hardcore touring first thing the AM. Late character breakfast (10:30). Chill time (stroller nap) while wandering around the park and enjoying the ambiance (or return to hotel for a few hours), a couple FP+ in the afternoon, parade, fireworks, and done.

We really were amazed at the difference in crowds. At the time we went, everyone at MK was headed to either 7DMT or Anna and Elsa. My kids rode Space Mountain 3x in a row as a walk on. They've never been able to do that. And this was on a day where MK hit the first level of a closure by late morning. Afternoon crowds were insane. But by then, we had done everything we wanted, so we either went back to our own resort to chill or we checked out decorations at other resorts.

 

[MamaBear12]

We really were amazed at the difference in crowds. At the time we went, everyone at MK was headed to either 7DMT or Anna and Elsa. My kids rode Space Mountain 3x in a row as a walk on. They've never been able to do that. And this was on a day where MK hit the first level of a closure by late morning. Afternoon crowds were insane. But by then, we had done everything we wanted, so we either went back to our own resort to chill or we checked out decorations at other resorts.

Good to know! My kiddos are young (5 and 2), so we're targeting the kid-friendly attractions. I have a FP+ for 7DMT in the afternoon (we'll rider swap since 2 year old can't do it) and are hoping to do Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh first thing in the AM with no FP+. We are hoping to get through the main Fantasy Land rides in the first hour (PP, Pooh, Dumbo, Barnstormer, and Under the Sea Adventure...FP+ booked for ETWB later in the day). Second and third hour: Small World, Haunted Mansion, Pirates (my favorites), and FP+ for Jungle Cruise, then Aladin and Tree House if time. I hope I'm not being too ambitious :-S

 

[jvz82]

We were there a few days before Christmas last year and they were still changing the hours right up until the weeks right before our trip! I had to change my finely tuned plans because they added 7 am EMH one day that we were at MK. And it was really close to our trip, within weeks for sure.

MK had EMH every day at 7, if that helps at all.

It's good to have ambitious morning plans. We got a LOT done from 7-10. We usually planned our first FP for around 10 or 10:30, and had pretty much no lines from 7-10. One day we actually got so much done, we had a FP for 10:30 but we had already blown through all the things we had planned by 10 so just hung around aimlessly for like a half hour looking at stuff, lol.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Good to know! My kiddos are young (5 and 2), so we're targeting the kid-friendly attractions. I have a FP+ for 7DMT in the afternoon (we'll rider swap since 2 year old can't do it) and are hoping to do Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh first thing in the AM with no FP+. We are hoping to get through the main Fantasy Land rides in the first hour (PP, Pooh, Dumbo, Barnstormer, and Under the Sea Adventure...FP+ booked for ETWB later in the day). Second and third hour: Small World, Haunted Mansion, Pirates (my favorites), and FP+ for Jungle Cruise, then Aladin and Tree House if time. I hope I'm not being too ambitious :-S

I think it's better to have a plan so you're not standing around all confused. Just don't be afraid to toss the plan if you need to. We had one Epcot day where everything seemed to be working against us. The World Showcase holiday activities we had planned had all ended the day before without us realizing it and Future World was just insane. Nobody was having fun. We left and spent a couple hours wandering the Epcot resort area. We needed the break.

 

[MamaBear12]

I think it's better to have a plan so you're not standing around all confused. Just don't be afraid to toss the plan if you need to. We had one Epcot day where everything seemed to be working against us. The World Showcase holiday activities we had planned had all ended the day before without us realizing it and Future World was just insane. Nobody was having fun. We left and spent a couple hours wandering the Epcot resort area. We needed the break.

That sounds so frustrating!

 

[mom22boys]

That's the plan! 2 hours of hardcore touring first thing the AM. Late character breakfast (10:30). Chill time (stroller nap) while wandering around the park and enjoying the ambiance (or return to hotel for a few hours), a couple FP+ in the afternoon, parade, fireworks, and done.

We are traveling the first week of January this year. We have been one other time during a busy time of year (Easter week), but that was before the new FP+ system. On one of our days, I was debating about scheduling our 3 MK FP+ all in the afternoon/early evening with the thought of RDing, leaving late morning to rest/resort hop/swim if the weather cooperates, and then come back in the late afternoon to use our FP+s and to watch the fireworks. Is that what you did or were your FP+ your 4th and more?

OP, I am wondering if the first week of January hours will get updated too. I thought if they were going to get updated that they would be updated when the late December hours were. I am all for early mornings in the parks! I love that feeling when the park first opens!

 

[MamaBear12]

We are traveling the first week of January this year. We have been one other time during a busy time of year (Easter week), but that was before the new FP+ system. On one of our days, I was debating about scheduling our 3 MK FP+ all in the afternoon/early evening with the thought of RDing, leaving late morning to rest/resort hop/swim if the weather cooperates, and then come back in the late afternoon to use our FP+s and to watch the fireworks. Is that what you did or were your FP+ your 4th and more?

I did one AM FP+ (Jungle cruise) and the other two are at 2 and 4:30. We have only ever gone commando at the parks, staying all day (though we've never quite made rope drop, but we've always stayed off site), so I feel like we'll probably do commando this time as well (even though we're staying onsite), but with more downtime at the parks. I want to see the parade at 3:30, so I scheduled our afternoon FPs around that. A part of me is thinking/hoping that once we use our 3 I might be able to book another FP+ for the evening, but given the time of year, that's probably very unlikely.

 

[LisaDKG]

A part of me is thinking/hoping that once we use our 3 I might be able to book another FP+ for the evening, but given the time of year, that's probably very unlikely.

This is what I am hoping for too as I didn't realize that the parks would open as early as 7am - 8am at MK sure, but I didn't count on Epcot expanding it's hours too on non-EMH days. Guess I won't be using that 8am Garden Grill for Christmas day breakfast after all! BUT I did make all 7 days of my FPs for the first hours of park opening (thinking I would change them once 8am openings are announced) with the hope then of booking more as soon as I use up my three. We always take a break in the afternoon and return to the same park. Making the later FPs for our later return make more sense but I just can't bring myself to give up those perfect early morning FPs that I worked so hard on booking last week - that process of adjusting to perfect hours is not for the faint of heart!

 

[Wish Upon A Starbucks]

I did one AM FP+ (Jungle cruise) and the other two are at 2 and 4:30. We have only ever gone commando at the parks, staying all day (though we've never quite made rope drop, but we've always stayed off site), so I feel like we'll probably do commando this time as well (even though we're staying onsite), but with more downtime at the parks. I want to see the parade at 3:30, so I scheduled our afternoon FPs around that. A part of me is thinking/hoping that once we use our 3 I might be able to book another FP+ for the evening, but given the time of year, that's probably very unlikely.

Fyi I think Hiro confirmed that the parade will be at both noon and 3:30 the week between Christmas and New Years.

 

[MamaBear12]

Fyi I think Hiro confirmed that the parade will be at both noon and 3:30 the week between Christmas and New Years.

Good to know! We have an ADR at Crystal Palace at 10:35am, so unless we get seated pretty quickly, not sure if we'll have time to get a good spot for the parade at noon.