Christmas week park and dining plans

[newtandkaren]

Hi! I am a seasoned Disney parks visitor but have never visited during Christmas week (mostly I have done summer). The park hours for Christmas week are slowly being posted day by day, and my question is how much can I anticipate the hours changing as we get closer to December? I have to book my dining next week and worry that EMH will be changed/added and all of my planning will go awry. I have limited flexibility because I am only doing one park per day (4 parks in 4 days, although I have 7 days to work with) and need to choose my days carefully. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[Skylarr29]

They will definitely change. Expect MK to switch to 7 or 8 a.m. openings that week and for hours to be added and extended. I would just avoid making pre park opening reservations because more than likely, the hours will change and they won't be PPO.

 

[constanze]

I'm also going the week of christmas. I've researched the last couple years, and decided to not plan on any pre-park ADR's. If this year is the same as recent years, it looks like it would mess up any of those plans

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

They will definitely change. Expect MK to switch to 7 or 8 a.m. openings that week and for hours to be added and extended. I would just avoid making pre park opening reservations because more than likely, the hours will change and they won't be PPO.

sorry to butt in, would this be same for Friday January 5th? the weekend of the marathon but the weekend after New Years and Christmas etc.

 

[pooh4evr]

I am going that week too for the first time. I hope to be able to make maybe 3 ADRs, (maybe a lunch BOG, something in World Showcase, and maybe 1 more) the only day I am really worried about is Ds birthday the 27th. After reading the trouble people have been having getting many, for the weeks/ days leading up to Christmas I am nor optimistic! I wish they would release more days at a time or a week or so. I miss the easywdw crowd calendars, I have used them on our last 3 trips! I am hoping that with free dining ending before we show up, that it might help with availability a little.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

As PP noted, I would not make any PPO or morning ADR's. Morning hours will most likely change. When we went in 2015, I remember MK opening at 7 am and morning hours will be prime touring time to beat the crowds. If you are eating in the park, I would recommend doing lunch and/or dinner ADR's. If you plan on spending full days in each park, you may want to make both lunch AND dinner ADR's as QS are insanely crowded that week. We went to MK on Dec. 29 that year and the line for Cosmic Ray's was out the door. We hadn't made an ADR (and we could barely move through the park because it was so crowded), so we left the park around 1 pm and had QS back at our resort. ADR's will also give you a little assurance of re-entering the parks if there are any phased closures.

If you plan on eating TS at AK, I would recommend getting the Landry's Select Card which will give you priority seating at Y&Y and Rainforest Cafe without an ADR. It gives you a little flexibility during your day and you aren't beholden to the WDW ADR system for those restaurants.

 

[newtandkaren]

Thanks for the tips. When choosing park days, would you recommend going with the evening EMH or going against? In the past, I have always gone away from the park with EMH to avoid the crowds, but since I have only one day in each park, I am wondering if I should try to use the EMH this time. Thoughts?

 

[WeLuvDaMouse]

I was wondering too - since now Disney offers extra magic hours that you pay for......There don't seem to be any LATE nights the week of Dec 17-23rd like there normally are.

 

[disneymagic2016]

Hello, any suggestions for breakfast dining on New Years Day either in any of the parks or resorts at WDW? Any suggestions for New Years Eve dinner dining? Thanks a lot in advance!