Disney at Christmastime

[DisneyChristmas06]

We are planning a trip to Disney Dec. 25 - 31. We are staying at the Coronado, have 4 day park hopper passes and the dining plan. My question is, I am a little nervous that the Christmas themed stuff will take over the real disney character activities. We are planning to attend a Cinderella meal at the castle, will they all be in their Christmas gowns, not their original attire? Are the parades all Christmas, no Cinderella in a carriage?

Anything else I should know about Christmas at Disney?

Also, what are your recommendations for character breakfasts (or other meals) We have a daughter who is 4 and into princesses, and a son who is 2 and mainly loves Buzz and Woody.

Thanks for any info you can give me!
Beth

 

[DisneyChristmas06]

anyone have Chritmas info?

 

[Mom to Jordan]

WDW does a great job of balancing the Christmas magic with the Disney magic. There are lots of Christmas activities but many of them you have to seek out. The only meal that we did that had characters dressed for Christmas was Liberty Tree Tavern. It was one of the best we have done.
If you are looking for Christmas activities, the MVMCP & CP are of course very much Christmas. Otherwise, other than the decorations, the parks are pretty much the same. The only other CM we did during our Christmas trip was Cheif Mickey and it was not themed for Christmas.
You will want to make any ADR do so ASAP because it will be VERY crowded during your stay. If you can get it, I would go for a princess meal for DD (there are quite a few choices) and Donalds at the AK for DS. It is dinosaur themed and has Donald Duck.AT two however he will love the princess as much as your DD. Wish there was a woody meal. He was my DH's favorite when he was little.

Good luck and have a blast.

 

[petrymom]

I have no advise for you, but wanted to tell you that our trips will overlap a little. We are going 12-19 to 12-26-06 and staying at the Coronado.

Have a great time!!!

 

[DisneyChristmas06]

Thanks so much for the info! I was getting lost down there at the bottom of the page! 180 days from the day we want to go to the castle for breakfast is June 30. I plan on calling today to make sure. I have already called once and they told me 180 days. I beleive we are also going to do the Storybook breakfast at Epcot Norway. My son loves Buzz and Woody, but that's about it. He will recognize the princesses (he loves Cinderella!) because of his sister.

I'm nervous about the crowds and getting to do everything we think the kids will love. I wish we could go at a different time!

Thanks again!
Beth

 

[3dog2kidmom]

anyone have Chritmas info?

Hi Beth. We surpised our kids last Christmas and were there 12/25-29. It was completely magical and the "Christmas" stuff didn't overpower the "disney" stuff at all -- it only added to it. I did love the Christmas music being piped into the parks, and there were lots of beautiful decorations. Do be prepared for crowds, make plenty of ADRs so you can eat/rest, and don't try to fit everything in and you will all enjoy it. Here are the ADRs we had last year on the DDP...

Christmas dinner @ Chef Mickey's
Everyone loved this. What an awesome first Disney dinner experience!! The kids couldn't quit smiling and saying "this is the best Christmas ever!" Excellent character interaction, good food, good service.

Breakfast @ CRT
This was DDs favorite meal. The food was good, the character interaction was wonderful. Service wasn't as quick as it could have been but they WERE very busy. Also there was a mixup w/DD's photo so that resulted in wasted time after the meal.

Dinner @ Tony's Town Square
Wonderful food, not too busy (first dinner ADR), excellent service. We all enjoyed this.

Lunch @ Le Cellier
Excellent food, not too busy (had first lunch ADR), great service with a touch of pixie dust -- DS had lost his "Goofy Santa" hat and the server gave him a certificate to replace it. DH's favorite.

Dinner @ Garden Grill
Kids really enjoyed this, but it wasn't my favorite. Food okay, characters great, service good.

Dinner @ Spoodles
Good food, okay service -- long waits to get seated, get waited on, and get served plus longer wait for the bill. We thought this was a very loud place, and had trouble visiting with BIL/SIL who drove in from Tampa to have dinner with us.

Lunch @ Sci Fi
Great atmosphere, service ok, food ok (dh's burger raw inside) -- but they took it off the bill and brought a round of hot fudge sundaes for free. The kids LOVED this place.

Hope this helps!

 

[WAHMto5]

We went last Christmas and it was by far the most magical trip to WDW we have ever had!! We were planning on going again this Christmas, but when the free dining came up we couldn't pass it up

The week of Christmas we did eat at CRT and they were all in their normal attire. All the shows were also in the normal attire. The parades were geared in the Christmas theme and were by far the BEST!

The only thing I did have to say was the Christmas Day was horrible! We went there in the morning and it was jammed! I have never seen soo many people. It took us at least 30 minutes just to get down main street, so we just turned back around and went back to the resort. The rest of the week was fine though.

You will just love it there for Christmas!!

 

[WAHMto5]

I also wanted to mention that I don't know where you are from but the weather was to die for! Every day was just great, we only had one day that it rained for about 2 hours. The rest of the time is was sunny and wonderful

 

[DisneyChristmas06]

Thanks so much everyone! SUCH terrific info!

We will not actually be at any of the parks on Christmas day. We are flying in and arriving that evening. We may go straight to bed, depending on the time? Our flights are not booked yet, Southwest won't book until 3 months in advance.

Keep the info coming, it's giving me such terrific ideas!

 

[3dog2kidmom]

Thanks so much everyone! SUCH terrific info!

We will not actually be at any of the parks on Christmas day. We are flying in and arriving that evening.

If you get in early enough and want to do a park, MGM wasn't bad. We got decent seats for Fantasmic, wandered around Osborne Lights after and had them nearly to ourselves!, walked on to Star Tours just before park closing, and got a bus right away back to our resort.

I also want to mention that the next morning, 12/26, MK was not too bad either. We had 9 a.m. reservations at CRT, and since it was EMH we had Fantasyland pretty much to ourselves before breakfast. We got coffee at the Main Street Bakery, did a little shopping, visited Tink in her store, took some photos, got into Philharmagic with no wait at all, had a t min wait for Dumbo, and no wait for Cinderella's carousel.