Disney World Christmas in 2 Days

[Neon Cactus]

I used to go to Disneyland or Disney World around the holidays nearly every year and always loved the decorations and the atmosphere around the parks, but it's been a long time time, nearly 10 years, since I've been during that time. I live in Dallas and bought an annual pass this year since I was planning to separate trips, so I've been looking for cheap airfare at other times and was able to get a good deal, but also taking account of vacation time, I knew I'd have limited time, but to me, any time in the Disney parks during the holidays is time well spent. In addition, I've done the Disney World Marathon twice and am doing the Dopey Challenge next month, so this weekend turned out to be a good opportunity for training. My weekend started with the Dallas Marathon Weekend Series. I did the Dallas 10k on Saturday, the Half Marathon on Sunday and knew that I'd most likely walk more than half marathon distance on both days at Disney World.

I had a very ambitious plan to see as much of the holiday decorations as possible. I wanted to see all four theme parks and at least most of the Deluxe resorts plus Disney Springs, but in only two plus days. Fortunately, Spirit Airlines had a flight that timed perfectly, so I finished the half marathon, made it home in time to shower and change, grab my bag and get to the airport. I don't usually fly them and was hoping we wouldn't be delayed and in fact, quite the opposite, the flight left early. We were supposed to land at 7:30 and instead arrived closer to 7. Since I was only staying three nights, I was able to just use a backpack, so instead of wasting time going to my hotel, I was setting up the Lyft request right as I exited the monorail to the main terminal at the Orlando airport and had them take me directly to EPCOT. I had hoped to be there by 8, but got there at 7:45, so it was already starting off well. Especially seeing a sight that I never tire of.



I had a Fastpass for Spaceship Earth and rode that first and then walked back to World Showcase and saw their tree.



The tree is beautiful. I remember years ago that they used to have a canopy of lights that synchronized to music and it was pretty amazing. EPCOT really didn't have a lot in terms of nighttime holiday decorations. Now that I've seen the course maps for Marathon Weekend, I was looking at the routes and can definitely see why we're not doing much running in Future World next month. I had a Fastpass for Frozen next and rode that and then just walked around World Showcase and waited to see EPCOT Forever, which I'd only seen on the live stream. I realized that the only thing I'd eaten all day was a granola bar at about 6 AM before the half marathon, along with a donut and Oreo on the course, but when I passed one of the food kiosks, my stomach was more than happy to remind me. So I got food at the kiosk in China and then wandered around and watched EPCOT Forever from Japan. The show was ok. I liked it but didn't love it. I've always been a big fan of Disney parks music, especially EPCOT, and maybe I just wish they'd used the original music from the rides instead of other singers, but it was still fun. I felt like I lucked out because the show was at 9:30 instead of 9, so I got a little more park time.

But the night was far from over. Part of my reason for going to EPCOT the first night was easy access to the monorail resorts and to go see holiday decorations, plus the Christmas Party event was going on at the Magic Kingdom that night, so I knew the transportation would be running until late. So I took the monorail over to the TTC and then walked over to the Polynesian.



They have some nice decorations in the lobby. Then I took the monorail over to the Grand Floridian. I had to go through security with my backpack at every hotel, but it was a small price to pay. And the Grand Floridian did not disappoint with the holiday decorations.






There are decorations all over the lobby and it's simply incredible. I could have spent much longer there. I also went into the new Enchanted Rose bar there. I didn't stop for a drink this time, though it looks pretty nice there. Then I took the monorail over to the Contemporary. They have a gingerbread castle with a Cinderella theme on the main concourse.



After the Grand Floridian, it kind of paled in comparison. But it is amazing at what they do with these gingerbread houses. On this trip, the goal was to do it as cheaply as possible because I was doing a Candlelight Processional lunch package and the Christmas Party, so I walked over to the Magic Kingdom and took a bus to Coronado Springs. I was able to find a hotel through Hotwire at the Towneplace Suites at Flamingo Crossing at a really good rate. I didn't even know they had hotels on that side of Disney World and it was only 3 miles from Coronado Springs. So I took the bus there and set up a Lyft driver from there and while I was waiting, went in to look at the Gran Destino Tower, which I hadn't seen before. I didn't get a chance to go to the top level, but the lobby was beautiful in itself.





I got to my hotel just after midnight, happy to be home at Disney World and feeling like I'd already had a pretty good time and with an early wake up call looming.

NEXT: JOIN THE RESISTANCE

 

[Neon Cactus]

DAY 1: RESISTANCE AND CANDLELIGHT

Probably the single biggest reason I made this trip was the Candlelight Processional. Several months ago, @rteetz posted about the Marathon Weekend magic bands. I decided to order one so I went to buy it and right below it was a pop up ad for Disney World with information about the Candlelight Processional dining packages now available. Which started me thinking about how long it had been and then by that evening, I'd booked everything for the trip and had my Processional dining package. At the time, there had been no announcements about the opening dates for Rise of the Resistance, so my plans changed several times for that Monday. Before I knew about ROTR, my plan was to start the day at EPCOT, do the lunch and Processional and then head to the Studios. Once they announced when ROTR would open, I changed that to starting the day at the Studios, then heading to EPCOT for the lunch and Processional and then going back to the Studios. Once I saw information about Sunset Seasons Greetings and Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam, I knew I wanted the chance to see those. So when the announcement of ROTR's opening, I naively thought I'd just get there before opening and ride it first thing and whatever else I could get on. Then the whole situation with Boarding Groups started, so that changed things a little.

So I woke up about 5 AM, got ready and had a Lyft driver take me to the Studios. He said this was the most popular route in the past week at that time of day, not surprisingly. I got to the Studios just after 6 AM and there were just a few other people outside the gates.



The official park opening time was at 7 AM, but they opened the park gates at about 6:20 and the mass crowd had to be directed through the areas to tap into the park. It took me close to half an hour to actually get into the park where I could get a boarding group. I have to say that while it seemed at times chaotic, I thought that the cast members handled it very well, as did the crowd. There weren't a lot of people trying to push their way forward (contrast to opening at Pandora) and everybody, at least around me, seemed to keep in good humor about the situation. I got into Group 66. I just enjoyed being in the Studios that early in the morning. I always like seeing the Chinese Theater without a stage or Sorceror Hat in front of it.



I was here with friends in September when they were opening the Studios at 6 AM because Galaxy's Edge had just opened. The advantage of that was that a lot of people chose not to wake up at 6 AM and there weren't boarding groups, so when we went, the park was largely uncrowded, and we'd been on all of the major rides, some twice, before the official park opening at 9. With the boarding groups requiring everybody to be in the park, this was completely the opposite. Once people got the boarding groups, most went to either Smuggler's Run or Slinky Dog, both of which already showed wait times over an hour. So I went to the Tower of Terror and got right on. Rock N Roller Coaster had a smaller line at that point too, but they have the single rider option, so I went quickly to Toy Story Mania. It was about a 25 minute wait. Then I went to Smuggler's Run to the single rider line, but it was very long, so I just decided to skip it for this trip. I went back and rode Rock N Roller Coaster and by that point, all of the major rides had waits of 45 minutes or more and it was just past 9. I knew someone who had a boarding group in the 50s the day before and got called around noon, so I figured I had some time, so I decided to head over towards EPCOT.

So I got on the Skyliner for the first time and took it from DHS to Caribbean Beach. I loved the view and I could easily entertain myself for a while riding this. At Caribbean Beach, I switched over to the EPCOT line, which stops at the Riviera first. I remembered that today was the official opening of the Riviera and that the live stream was scheduled to start around that time. So I exited at the Riviera and could see where the opening ceremony was, so I walked over and stood towards the back. Afterwards, I walked around the resort to look at some of the public areas. I went to Bar Riva first, the bar area next to the pool. It was pretty busy and so I didn't order a drink but looked at the menu and they seem to have a pretty decent menu and it's a nice relaxed atmosphere. Instead, I went into their new quick service location, Primo Piatto, to get a Coke. It's very bright in there, and there were some cool pictures of Walt Disney in there, but otherwise, it didn't really seem to have a lot of personality. They also have the Coke Freestyle machines and, personal preference, I don't like them. I am a big fan of Cherry Coke from a regular fountain or bottle, but from the freestyle machines, it tastes to me like they put in Triaminic cherry medicine. Orange Vanilla wasn't any better. I went up to Topolino's Terrace to check it out. We were considering having dinner here during the marathon weekend. The menu is ok, but I think they overpriced it to justify it as a Signature dining location. I can see the advantage of dining here during the fireworks shows at EPCOT and DHS, because it's at the top of a tower, but at the same time, I don't really like the trend of building high rise hotels, as they stand out on the landscape. I haven't been to the top of Gran Destino tower at Coronado Springs, but I thought the lobby area was more beautiful than Riviera. The grounds are beautiful and I wouldn't complain about staying here, but it other than being on the skyliner, it doesn't have an outstanding location and really it doesn't stand out. It's nice, but it's not like somewhere like the Wilderness Lodge or Polynesian, where I feel I've got to stay here. But it does have a great view from Topolino's Terrace.



After exploring Riviera, it was back onto the Skyliner to EPCOT. Had a good view of the top of the Chinese Theater and Galaxy's Edge from there.



I again walked around World Showcase and went to see the Three Caballeros in Mexico.



Then I went to the preview of what is coming to EPCOT. It's kind of an interesting presentation on everything that will be coming to EPCOT, very similar to a Circlevision experience. I walked by Test Track and the single rider line had over a half hour wait, so I passed on that. I went to outside the gift shop and got my passholder magnets.



They have a lot of Chip N Dale themed merchandise. I had seen a post about Chip N Dale cookie jars that looked nice and I was going to buy them but they were sold out, and thanks to that and not really liking any of the other merchandise that I saw, I managed to make it through a Disney World trip without buying any souvenirs. I did buy a poncho the next night, but that was because I was an idiot, as I'll get to on the next day. But after I got the magnets, I checked the app and saw that the boarding groups were up to 59. I knew based on the time I got it that I might end up having to pass on riding ROTR because I was going to see Candlelight Processional and I'd already paid for the lunch. My reservation time was about an hour away, but I went to Via Napoli and asked them if they would seat me an hour early because they were close to calling my boarding group and they did. The lunch package included an appetizer, entree and dessert and non alcoholic drink. The food was really good, and very rich, so it looked like I didn't even make a dent in the pasta. I ended up taking my tiramisu dessert to go. I was eating my entree when my boarding group was called. I had two hours to get to the ride, so I finished up my lunch and then headed towards the Studios. The boat was still waiting right outside EPCOT so I took that over to the Studios.

I headed for ROTR and got in line and it took about 20 minutes to get to the briefing area. I'm not going to go into any details on the ride because I was very impressed and I think the less known, the better the experience. We got part of the way through...and then the ride broke down. So they came and got our group and led us out, with strict instructions not to take pictures backstage, and gave us a Fastpass to come back when the ride was operating. So I got to go on part of it. At that point, I wanted to see more resorts so I decided to walk back to EPCOT, passing a couple of chipmunks along the way.



NEXT: EPCOT RESORTS AND CANDLELIGHT PROCESSIONAL

 

[Neon Cactus]

DAY 1, CONTINUED

I always enjoy the walk from DHS to the Boardwalk and other EPCOT resorts. The weather was excellent and it was a nice walk, even though my legs weren't too happy after the 10k and half marathon, then a day of walking around the theme parks. I decided to stop and look at the holiday decorations at the resorts on the way to EPCOT. I stopped first at the Swan. They had a cute little display.



Then I walked over to the Dolphin. They had a tree in the lobby but not a lot of other decorations. Next up was the Yacht Club, which was much better.





They had a nice tree in the lobby, plus the train display and a lot of decorations outside. I continued to the Beach Club, which always had one of my favorite displays. They still have the carousel, this year with a Peter Pan theme.



And then on to EPCOT. When I got there, they had started seating for the 5 PM Processional. I got my seat and was right next to an usher who insisted I look like Michael Keaton. Back when I was much thinner, I looked a lot like Anthony Edwards, and I don't really see the Michael Keaton resemblance, but I will gladly take it.

I grew up an hour away from Disneyland. They used to do the Candlelight Processional on one weekend in December. They never really promoted it and one year, we just happened to be there when they were doing it and we never missed it after that while I lived there. We used to have to call Disneyland to ask which weekend it was done. They had one celebrity narrator do both nights each year. James Earl Jones was great! It's done on the stairs of the Main Street Railroad Station and the herald trumpeters stand on top of the train station and it's truly magical. The choirs would march down Main Street singing and then take their places on the stairs. I've heard now since the popularity at Disney World, that they charge for the better seats there. But it's still something I love seeing and it's been years. I did see the live stream with Neil Patrick Harris, but there's nothing like seeing it live. Pat Sajak was our narrator and it's still incredible.





After the Processional, Fastpass in hand, it was time to make one more trip to the Studios. I had one more hotel stop I wanted to make that night, so I decided to walk back and stop at the Boardwalk. This is another of my holiday favorites and it did not disappoint. I love the gingerbread recreation of the Boardwalk Resort.









NEXT: THE RESISTANCE AND THE CHRISTMAS TREE TRAIL

 

[Neon Cactus]

DAY 1, EVENING

I got back to DHS at about 6:45 PM. I was hoping Rise of the Resistance would be back up, so I went back with my Fastpass and they directed me to a line that took us right to the pre-show area, so we got right back onto the ride with no extra wait. This time everything worked great and I was able to experience it. There's no point posting pictures that have probably been posted over and over by others and I don't want to say anything about it that would impact someone else's experience. I'm one of those people that have limits on how long I will wait for an attraction and all I will say is that I would wait a long time for this ride. After that, I went to enjoy the Christmas decorations.



After that, I had a Fastpass for the Tower of Terror. So I went back there, and it must have just been a bad time to be on that ride. I was in the Fastpass line in the lobby and in the standby line, there was a woman just laying into her husband, saying he should have gotten them Fastpasses and what a total waste of time this waiting has been. It had been about 40 minutes, which isn't even all that bad for it, but she was laying into him, and giving me flashbacks. They sent us into the waiting area right then, or there were several people in our group who were talking about it and were about to say something to her. And then there was a group who were extremely loud in the library and wouldn't quiet down, even when the cast member told them to. I even tried to go into the longer line, hoping they'd go in the shorter line and away from me, but they ended up in the same elevator and I've never been more happy to have that ride over. There was a dad with his kids who told one of the kids that if their friend cursed in front of his kids, he'd take care of things after they got off the ride, so I wasn't the only one, and I know they had security talking to them after the ride. After that, I went in the single rider line for Rock N Roller Coaster again. I watched the Sunset Seasons Greetings there, which was ok, but not really all that special. They projected animation onto the Tower of Terror. I like how they do it with Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom, but I don't really like it on the Tower for some reason. Then I got a very good spot to watch both the Wonderful World of Animation and Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam. I hadn't seen either show, and really enjoyed both of them. There was a lot going on with Wonderful World of Animation, but they were very inclusive of all of the animated films, both Disney and Pixar, and even had already updated it to include Frozen 2 and Toy Story 4. It was a lot of fun. My original plan had been to go back to the EPCOT resorts after the shows, but since I'd seen them already, I took a bus to Disney Springs. I can't remember if they'd had this before, but they had the Christmas Tree Trail, with trees decorated for different animated films or themes. The detail was great and they had it "snowing", along with concessions and merchandise. I stopped first at Dockside Margaritas and had dinner at Earl of Sandwich.



There were so many trees and each one was really interesting to look at the details.







I walked through the Christmas shop, always one of my favorites. After that, I used Lyft to go back to my hotel and called it an early night at only 11 pm!

NEXT DAY: THE KINGDOMS

 

[Neon Cactus]

DAY 2: ANIMAL AND MAGIC KINGDOMS

Being the second (and final) day of the trip, I let myself sleep in -- until 6:15. I wasn't able to get a Fastpass for Flight of Passage, so I knew I'd need to get there early. I took Lyft early and had them drop me off at Animal Kingdom Lodge to see their holiday decorations.



The decorations are beautiful all over the lobby. If I'd had a Fastpass for FoP, I probably would have stayed and had breakfast at Boma, as it's one of my favorite restaurants, but I needed to get to the park. Great timing too, as the bus to Animal Kingdom was at the bus stop and left a few seconds after I got there. I was at Animal Kingdom at about 8:10. The park officially opened at 9, but they let us in at 8:20. So everybody who was all crammed together in front of the turnstiles soon became all crammed together again...



...at the entrance to Pandora. It was still a smaller crowd than the day before at Disney Studios, but there were no virtual queues, and unlike at the Studios where people were generally order, there were several incidents of people shoving and trying to squeeze their way to the front. They let us into Pandora just after 8:30 and we were herded into the line. By the time the line was actually formed, I was pretty far out of the main entrance of the ride, but it moved quickly and I was to the pre-show area in about 20 minutes. Well worth it and the wait was showing 135 minutes by the time I exited. We got on the ride and there was a moment where it wasn't working and, after the breakdown of ROTR the day before, I was thinking I broke another ride. But it got working within a few minutes and we were off on our banshees. It was close to 9:30 when I left the ride and Navi River Journey's wait was already at 55 minutes, so I passed on that. I went to Primeval Whirl and had about a 5 minute wait, then went to Dinosaur and walked on that. I had a Fastpass for Lion King at 10:30 and debated trying to single rider Everest, but the line was long enough, I wasn't sure I could make it in time. So I walked over to Africa and listened to the band there and then saw the Festival of the Lion King. Then I went to the Gorilla Falls Trail. I always like walking that and the Maharajah Jungle Trek.



I had a Fastpass for the safari. There was a pretty long line, even with Fastpass, but it was nice. The day was overcast and cooler than it had been, and the animals were pretty active. Most of the hippos were swimming and there was a smaller pool with two hippos and a tour group above them and they were getting fed. Just about every animal except the lions and crocodiles were actively moving.



I then had a fastpass for Everest. Like the Safaris, there was a pretty big line even with the Fastpass. It's one of my favorite rides and hopefully I'll be able to ride it during the marathon. At that point, I'd done the major rides, so I decided to head over to the Magic Kingdom. First, I had to take my obligatory Tree of Life picture.



Instead of heading directly to the Magic Kingdom, I decided to stop at Wilderness Lodge and see their decorations. I love that hotel and even though we waited over 25 minutes for a bus, it turned out to be worth it.







I loved the gingerbread log cabin. I had lunch at Roaring Forks there, which I hadn't been to before. Then I took the boat over to the Magic Kingdom.

NEXT: MAGIC KINGDOM

 

[Neon Cactus]

DAY 2, Continued

By the time I used my Everest Fastpass at Magic Kingdom at 12:30, the only rides available at Magic Kingdom for Fastpass were Pirates and It's a Small World. I went with the Pirates and by the time I got to the park, I had about 10 minutes to use it. So I went there first. It was also on the boat ride that I realized I was an idiot. I was smart and bought a really cheap poncho at Walmart before I left and put it in my backpack. The forecast that day was for rain starting at around 1 PM. And my poncho was back at the room, still in my backpack. Oh, well. After Pirates, I got a fastpass for It's a Small World. The sky was cloudy, but the sun was still out and thus started a very strange weather policy in the Magic Kingdom. I went to the Jungle Cruise, changed to the Jingle Cruise for the holidays, and several cast members were standing there and said that it was closed because there was lightning "in the area". That's happened before, so I went walking over by Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain and both of those attractions were running. So apparently the lightning wasn't going to affect Frontierland. There was no line for Thunder Mountain and then I headed back over to the Jingle Cruise and it was open again by that time and the standby line was only about half an hour. It was kind of fun with the holiday decorations on it.







From the Jungle Cruise, I went over to use my Small World fastpass and saw a Peter Pan with only a couple of people in line.



I rode It's a Small World and then got dinner at Columbia Harbour House. I had a ticket for the Very Merry Christmas Party. While I was eating, they close the park to regular guests and when I finished eating, the Haunted Mansion had gone from a 40 minute wait to a 5 minute wait. I went on that and then it didn't mention that Country Bear Jamboree would be open, so when I walked past it and there was a show a few minutes from starting, I saw that and then over to Splash Mountain, which I walked on. It was a little past 7:00 and I headed over to Tomorrowland and that's when the rain started. Slowly at first and then picking up. I ducked into Mickey's PhilHarmagic to see that and when it was over, it was pouring rain. So I ended up buying a poncho after all, then headed out to Tomorrowland. The ground was already pretty flooded and my shoes were soaked pretty much instantly. I went over to Tomorrowland and Space Mountain had a huge line because it was indoors. There was also quite a bit of lightning. The Peoplemover was still running, so I headed over there. The area where you got on the escalator was dry, but there was no way to get to it without getting your shoes soaked. Mine were already wet, so I went through it and rode the Peoplemover and it was kind of interesting to see the progress on the Tron lightcycles. I found out later they had lightcycles you could get your picture with in Tomorrowland. The lines for Buzz Lightyear and Monsters Inc were crowded, even the Carousel of Progress had a line to get in because it was indoors. So I headed over to Pinocchio's in Fantasyland to get some of the snacks for the party. And this was where I found the other curious thing about the weather policy. They'd closed the Jingle Cruise because there was lightning in the area. As I passed into Fantasyland, it was raining pretty hard and there was visible lightning. And both the Speedway and Seven Dwarfs were operating. They kept saying the rides could close at any time, but they were going and Seven Dwarfs had a 45 minute wait. I passed on that, but went on Winnie the Pooh and then went to Pinocchios. They had cookies, hot chocolate and Fanta all included. There were some interesting specialty desserts at other places that we could buy, but I never got to any of those. So there were several shows that got cancelled including Elsa freezing the castle and the first parade of the night and it became pretty obvious that they weren't going to have the fireworks show either. It was about 9:30 and I decided to leave.





At the exit, they were handing out cards that because of all of the parade and show cancellations, I could exchange my event ticket for either a 1 day 1 park ticket within the next year or a future event ticket within the same calendar year. Considering it wasn't Disney's fault about the weather, I thought it was a pretty nice offer. I missed the parades but still had a pretty nice time and got on a lot of rides, so definitely no complaints from me.

So I took the monorail to the Contemporary. I got off the monorail and there was a family about to go in the gift shop. I asked the dad if he wanted a slightly used poncho and gave it to them, since I was going home and wasn't going to take it anyhow. Then took Lyft back to the hotel and got much more sleep than I was expecting. I woke up this morning and flew home in time to go to work. So two days (plus a couple of hours) I saw holiday decorations in 4 theme parks and 12 resorts, plus got to help christen a new Disney hotel and ride Rise of the Resistance. And definitely feeling more in the Christmas Spirit! And I'll be back in 20 days for marathon weekend!