Disney Christmas Week

[dadschum]

I am helping a co-worker plan her trip for Christmas week. We have Mom, Dad and 5 year old son. They are driving down from Boston leaving on 12/24 with plans to arrive on 12/25. They will begin their drive home on Friday 1/2.

They are staying at CBR and have the regular dining plan and 5 day park tickets - no hoppers. They have not yet booked FP's or dining reservations. It is their first trip. (I think Dad is a teacher so they are limited in when they can go). They are also thinking of doing a day at Sea World.

Thus far my suggestions would be:

on 12/25 they want to do something Christmasy. They will be tired and probably should not plan on a park. So maybe pool and DTD, or the WL to see the tree, or FW Campground to see the campsites decorated or maybe a trip around the monorail and the GF to see the gingerbread house, or YC/BC for the decorations and a walk around boardwalk.

All other days they should plan on using EMH and doing rope drop. TP says the crowd calendars are all 8-10. Maybe table service for lunch would have better availability and they can give their son a breather without leaving the park - given they might not be able to return. And then leave the park early with a QS dinner and some pool time.

Any other suggestions for surviving this week and making the most of it? I'd also dump Sea world and just concentrate on Disney.

I'd welcome your thoughts and recommendations.
Thanks!

 

[Allison]

Avoid Emh parks. They are the most crowded.

 

[MulanMom]

With a 5 yo, it's really difficult to do rope drop, deal with the crowds and stay in the park all day. They are staying on property. If they are early morning people, the should take advantage of morning EMH, then get out of the park when it starts getting crowded. Go to the resort, take a break, nap/rest, then return to the park later in the afternoon. It will quickly become unfun if the 5 y.o., or any of them, are pushed beyond their limit.

Taking advantage of FP+ and making some ADRs would be wise.

And they need to be flexible and willing to change their plans if something isn't working out.

There have been quite a few informative threads about doing Xmas at WDW on the boards. If you do a search, you should come upon a few.

It's really sweet that you are helping a co=worker. You can always offer to tag along as their tour guide! ;-)

 

[robinb]

They are there for 7 full days, why not pay the little bit more for 7 days on their pass? For goodness sakes, it's $22 more per person which is peanuts. That's the FIRST thing I would suggest. If they do that, they can enjoy the the fireworks on Christmas day when they get there.

5-year olds generally wake early. I would take advantage of EMH and have them book FP+ for the early evenings of each park. Encourage them to take a break (its not too cold to swim for folks from MA) and then return to the park later. They need to get on the ball and make ADRs too or they will be lost. Google "Disney Dining Search Tool" for a great website that will help them book ADRs. They will need at least 2-3 character meals which can be pretty sparse only a month in advance.

Good luck! They will need it!

 

[Asnell]

I would strongly suggest that they plan on Christmas Day at Sea World. It's historically been pretty empty there on Christmas, and it has plenty of special seasonal things and decorations to feel suitably Christmassy.

They can check the recommended parks on easywdw to decide where to go each day. That site usually recommends avoiding the EMH parks. By doing a non-EMH park at rope drop, they will be able to take advantage of lower morning crowds without getting up hideously early.

The parks have long operating hours, so they can take a midday break if that suits them, but it can take quite a while to get back and forth between the parks and that eats into the rest/relaxation time. They may prefer to spend the crowded afternoon hours in the park at a TS lunch and then doing uncrowded attractions like Tom Sawyer's island, the Riverboat, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, Agent Perry's adventure, etc. Then they can take an "off" day to enjoy the resort.

Be sure to let them know that they can add days to their tickets at any time until the last day, in case they get there and decide they want more park days than they thought.

 

[themouseforme]

boy I wish they were flying

 

[Asnell]

Well, if they are driving and want to enjoy Christmas day a little more, maybe they have the flexibility to leave an extra day early and spend a night at a (cheaper) hotel over near Sea World.

 

[Alesia]

There is no way that I would go at Christmas without hoppers. It is just too busy to be tied to the same park every day. But if they really don't want hoppers, they should avoid parks with EMH like the plague. It's true that a park with morning EMH will be quiet in the morning, but by 10:00 or so, it will be much more crowded than the other parks.

As far as what park to visit on which day, I would strongly suggest following the recommendations on Easywdw.com

Also, Why only 5 day passes? I would recommend at least 7 day passes. If it were my family, I would buy 8 day passes.

 

[robinb]

FWIW, EMH is *every* morning at the MK.

 

[KCarr2000]

Wow, that Disney Dining search tool is really cool. I've been using this site to plan for months and continue to find great advice and help. Thanks so much. Absolutely no 'Ohana available for when we are going to be there, but I'll continue to use that search tool.

 

[lyndeah]

I agree about the hoppers.....This is our second year going over the holidays and a few things to consider - last year it was too cold to swim. This year it is seeming to be similar as last year so i am assuming it will be too cold as well so dont assume you will be swimming (it was mostly in the 50's, a couple of days in the lower 60's but it even reached high 30's a few mornings last season Christmas break at Disney) -- we had days when we would go back to the hotel for a couple of hours and make the kids relax and then go back to a park around dinner time for a couple of hours....sometimes you need a little breather and than you can go back for fireworks, dinner and just a couple more rides! We found at the holidays the evenings were many times when the mood was magical anyways

 

[robinb]

I agree about the hoppers.....This is our second year going over the holidays and a few things to consider - last year it was too cold to swim. This year it is seeming to be similar as last year so i am assuming it will be too cold as well so dont assume you will be swimming (it was mostly in the 50's, a couple of days in the lower 60's but it even reached high 30's a few mornings last season Christmas break at Disney) -- we had days when we would go back to the hotel for a couple of hours and make the kids relax and then go back to a park around dinner time for a couple of hours....sometimes you need a little breather and than you can go back for fireworks, dinner and just a couple more rides! We found at the holidays the evenings were many times when the mood was magical anyways

It is never too cold to swim unless they close the pool down (which has happened). These folks are from Boston and the 60's will feel balmy.