????? For those that go during Christmas

[edk35]

Hopefully our dd gets into the college program and will be there from mid Aug. 2011 until after the New Year's holiday Jan. 2012. So I am throwing around the idea of a Christmas trip (if not we will go Thanksgiving again). We have NEVER been the week of Christmas. We have been the week of Thanksgiving 4 times.

How do you guys celebrate Christmas eve/day at Disney?? Do you bring gifts to open there? Do you buy stuff there to open on Christmas? Do you decorate your villa?? Do you have Christmas at home when you get back or before you leave??We always stay in a 2br. so it would feel like home.

I would think the parks would be CROWDED beyond CROWDED on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Do you go and just enjoy the atmosphere knowing you won't ride anything? Do you STAY away from the parks and just enjoy being at WDW over the holidays?? I would love to hear how my fellow DVC'ers celebrate Christmas at Disney.

 

[Havana]

Hopefully our dd gets into the college program and will be there from mid Aug. 2011 until after the New Year's holiday Jan. 2012. So I am throwing around the idea of a Christmas trip (if not we will go Thanksgiving again). We have NEVER been the week of Christmas. We have been the week of Thanksgiving 4 times.

How do you guys celebrate Christmas eve/day at Disney?? Do you bring gifts to open there? Do you buy stuff there to open on Christmas? Do you decorate your villa?? Do you have Christmas at home when you get back or before you leave??We always stay in a 2br. so it would feel like home.

I would think the parks would be CROWDED beyond CROWDED on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Do you go and just enjoy the atmosphere knowing you won't ride anything? Do you STAY away from the parks and just enjoy being at WDW over the holidays?? I would love to hear how my fellow DVC'ers celebrate Christmas at Disney.

We have been going for 5 years now. To us it's going "home".
No presents, no decorations, no pressure, we just go to enjoy the atmosphere. We let disney do the decorating, and there is soo much of it to enjoy everywhere you look!
We go to MK on Christmas day and just hang out. We usually can do the older attractions like CoP, and Tikki Room without much wait. We get spots for the parade and fireworks and enjoy the day. Then we have our annual Christmas dinner at Liberty Tree

 

[vicki_c]

We took a tiny tabletop tree we bought from Target @ home. I had a chance to get into a bigger tree swap thing, but didn't feel like dealing with it.

We brought presents (although less presents than we would have if we hadn't been going to Disney) already wrapped and left them in the rooftop car carrier up until Christmas Eve. After our kids were asleep, DH went down and got them.

We didn't do any park on Christmas Day. Instead we had a nice room service breakfast, opened gifts, and just relaxed. Later in the day, we toured the Boardwalk to see the Christmas decorations, we had a photoshoot, dinner @ Flying Fish and an Illuminations Cruise (we were staying @ Beach Club).

It was great - can't wait to do it again sometime!

 

[daisyduck123]

Hey, you didn't ask me???

 

[edk35]

Hey, you didn't ask me???

Ha Ha You have enough on your plate girl!!!

 

[Alexander]

This is our first Christmas at WDW and here's what we've planned.

I have purchased all of the kids gifts, wrapped them and shipped them via UPS. We will purchase a tree and some decorations when we arrive (we'll probably just leave them). The gifts Santa is bringing to our "Florida house" are relatively small when you remove the boxes and packaging so we'll put them in our luggage on the way home. Santa is leaving the larger items at home for the kids to open when they return.

I ordered our meals from Dinner Afare and we'll have a nice prime rib Christmas Eve dinner. On Christmas day we'll drive over to my sister's house near Tampa.

Our trip is 2 weeks long 12/17 to 12/31. We are planning on visiting the parks the first week, but not the second due to expected high crowds.

On the 20th, we are having a photopass portrait session with 12 family members, then going to Epcot, having lunch at the Rose & Crown and then going to the Candlelight Processional. On the 26th we are catching a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game and on the 30th we'll catch an Orlando Magic game.

I am rambling....Sorry, we leave in 4 days and I am so excited!

 

[tgropp]

How do you guys celebrate Christmas eve/day at Disney??

One year we did the CP on Christmas eve and another time on Christmas day, but I really enjoy all the Christmas eve activities that are going on in the WL hotel lobby. Then at 9 we hop on over to the MK to soak up the Christmas magic and then watch the fireworks. On Christmas day, we usually go to AK till noon, spend the afternoon at the hotel, have Christmas dinner and then off to DHS for the Osborne lights.


Do you bring gifts to open there? Do you buy stuff there to open on Christmas?


We buy some gifts for our children and spouses but not as many as we would if we were celebrating Christmas at home. Since we always stay at WL, we like to go to the fireplace arears by the 3'rd or 4'th floor and open our gifts there.

Do you decorate your villa?? Do you have Christmas at home when you get back or before you leave??We always stay in a 2br. so it would feel like home.

We usually participate on the Dis Tree Swap


I would think the parks would be CROWDED beyond CROWDED on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Do you go and just enjoy the atmosphere knowing you won't ride anything? Do you STAY away from the parks and just enjoy being at WDW over the holidays?? I would love to hear how my fellow DVC'ers celebrate Christmas at Disney.

There is no better time to enjoy WDW than at Christmas time, no matter how crowded it is. It is SO MAGICAL.....Have fun!!!!!

 

[Vickis3js]

This will be our 3rd WDW Christmas. We love it and bought DVC to do it every year!!

We bring a small table top Christmas tree that we actually bought at WDW at Pop our first trip. We do bring gifts but the kid get a stocking filled with little things. We celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah so they are not missing out plus they have Aunts and grand parents who give them plenty of gifts before we leave. Christmas eve is a park day for us. Christmas day is not. We will go to a later breakfast and the kids get to pick where we eat dinner. But our tradition has become the kids get a special Disney experiance on Christmas. Our first trip they did BBB, second trip they did a Pirate cruise on Christmas and this year we are booked for the Fireworks cruise on Christmas.

Christmas and WDW is amazing!! Crowds or no crowds!

 

[dgaston]

We usually don't do a lot of presents. This year I am treating the family - DH, DS, and my Brother's family from CA to Hoop Dee Doo on Christmas Eve as their gift.

I bring a small table top tree pre-lit to put into the pool home. On Christmas Day we have done tours of the Deluxe resorts to rate their gingerbread houses. We usually try to use as many forms of Disney transportation as possible (monorail from Epcot to MK, ferry to MK, boat to GF or Polynesian) you get the idea. And my brother loves to take the train around MK, just to say we visited MK on the busiest day of the year. Otherwise we avoid the parks on Christmas Day.

I swear by TourGuideMike for his Best Parks recommendations, especially in this busy season. And I lower expectations for what we'll get done.

DH used to teach HS, and I think this Christmas will be the seventh we've spent at WDW.

 

[daisyduck123]

I'm not sure if I've ever told you about that trip of ours. I'll just bullet the important info.

1) The crowds were much better until Christmas Eve hit. We were in AK that morning & were like, "Whoa, where'd all these people come from"? We had lunch at Yak & Yeti and then left the park. (DH & DS actually went swimming when we got back to the room. DD & I stuck to the hot tub). That was our last park visit that trip.

2) We used a business (at that time, Feralpeg, here on the DIS, had her own) to come in, set up a small, Disney-themed tree & decorate the room a bit. They did this while we were out at a park on our first full day. She even left Christmas cookies!

3) I brought most of the gifts in a HUGE duffel bag. Set them out after the kids went to bed Xmas Eve. That was the Xmas Samantha got her MAC. DS12's stuff was mostly Lego sets & video games.

4) Christmas Day was very relaxing. Breakfast at 'Ohana. Dinner at Chef Mickey's. In-between we just hung out at our resort (AKV). That was our best Christmas ever.

 

[vicki_c]

2) We used a business (at that time, Feralpeg, here on the DIS, had her own) to come in, set up a small, Disney-themed tree & decorate the room a bit. They did this while we were out at a park on our first full day. She even left Christmas cookies!

Just wanted to say that Peg's business is happening again, from what I have read on the other boards in the last 6-9 months or so.

 

[castleri]

This was our tree in 2006 at OKW

We have done Christmas week a couple of times and loved it even with the crowds. We were at AK one Christmas Day and have pictures of areas where there were next to no people in the park. We were able to do all the things we wanted to do before we moved to the MK later in the day. We were the only people at the Dinosaur ride when we went in. We have also done MK and got a FP for one of the rides we really wanted to do and then stood in line for something else until it was time to use the fast pass or get another one. If you go with the expectation of only doing some things not all things and know that the lines will be long you can have a great time just enjoying the atmosphere and beauty of the day. We never planned a big dinner that day and just ate where ever when we got hungry and could find a place that didn't have a mile long line for food. We tried to eat at not the regular times for meals so didn't have much of a problem. We took small gifts and since the kids were older some of them were Visa gift cards so they could pick out something they wanted from Disney or save them for later at some other store. The weather is also an issue. We found some days we layered clothing and others it was warm enough to swim so be prepared for anything.

Being DVC and knowing that you will be taking another trip probably soon makes a difference also since for us there was not the need to do everything. Hope you have a wonderful trip if you decide to do it. I spoke with a CM at a restaurant register one year who was in the college program and she was really excited that her parents were going to be there later in the week to share some time with her during the holiday season.

 

[bz8bls]

Have been members since 2003 (first Xmas 2004). We have been to WDW for Xmas two other times since 2004 (recent one was last year).

We don't go to any of the parks on Christmas day. In fact, I cook the traditional dinners as if we were back at home. I order a pre-cooked turkey from Publix in advance. We play board games, go to DTD and sometimes we have taken in a movie at DTD AMC.

We don't rush to do anything since we know we will be coming back.

Last year was the first time that we drove, so we brought the gifts with us. When we fly, we don't take gifts with us...we celebrate Xmas at home with extended family before we leave for our trip.

Actually we prefer to be at Disney because being with some family members, well let's just say I am glad we have the option to skip town.

 

[edk35]

I'm not sure if I've ever told you about that trip of ours. I'll just bullet the important info.

1) The crowds were much better until Christmas Eve hit. We were in AK that morning & were like, "Whoa, where'd all these people come from"? We had lunch at Yak & Yeti and then left the park. (DH & DS actually went swimming when we got back to the room. DD & I stuck to the hot tub). That was our last park visit that trip.

2) We used a business (at that time, Feralpeg, here on the DIS, had her own) to come in, set up a small, Disney-themed tree & decorate the room a bit. They did this while we were out at a park on our first full day. She even left Christmas cookies!

3) I brought most of the gifts in a HUGE duffel bag. Set them out after the kids went to bed Xmas Eve. That was the Xmas Samantha got her MAC. DS12's stuff was mostly Lego sets & video games.

4) Christmas Day was very relaxing. Breakfast at 'Ohana. Dinner at Chef Mickey's. In-between we just hung out at our resort (AKV). That was our best Christmas ever.

SOUNDS GOOD LAURIE!!!!

 

[edk35]

This was our tree in 2006 at OKW

We have done Christmas week a couple of times and loved it even with the crowds. We were at AK one Christmas Day and have pictures of areas where there were next to no people in the park. We were able to do all the things we wanted to do before we moved to the MK later in the day. We were the only people at the Dinosaur ride when we went in. We have also done MK and got a FP for one of the rides we really wanted to do and then stood in line for something else until it was time to use the fast pass or get another one. If you go with the expectation of only doing some things not all things and know that the lines will be long you can have a great time just enjoying the atmosphere and beauty of the day. We never planned a big dinner that day and just ate where ever when we got hungry and could find a place that didn't have a mile long line for food. We tried to eat at not the regular times for meals so didn't have much of a problem. We took small gifts and since the kids were older some of them were Visa gift cards so they could pick out something they wanted from Disney or save them for later at some other store. The weather is also an issue. We found some days we layered clothing and others it was warm enough to swim so be prepared for anything.

Being DVC and knowing that you will be taking another trip probably soon makes a difference also since for us there was not the need to do everything. Hope you have a wonderful trip if you decide to do it. I spoke with a CM at a restaurant register one year who was in the college program and she was really excited that her parents were going to be there later in the week to share some time with her during the holiday season.

Cute tree!!!!!

 

[rice00]

You are right to assume that the parks will be busy. I have been a few times and always loved going to the parks on Christmas eve and Christmas day with my daughter. I liked Epcot or MK on those days.

The parks get busier and busier as it gets closer to New Years Eve. That's when its gets BUSY! The great part of the week is how festive everything is and that the parks are open late everyday.

 

[winniedapooh]

Have been members since 2003 (first Xmas 2004).

Actually we prefer to be at Disney because being with some family members, well let's just say I am glad we have the option to skip town.

This is the 3rd Christmas since 2000 that we have not gone at Christmas. I told DH last night it will be our last time not going then for this very reason, lol!!

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Well... we had to cancel our first Christmas trip (VB), we were due to be in route tomorrow, but **it happens. Still, we had been planning on nothing. Actually, sort of escaping the whole ordeal that has become something beyond what Christmas is about. Just being there with just the two of us and not caring about or worrying about anything other than ourselves. Sounds selfish, but we really deserved it.

Hope you get the opportunity to check it out next year.

We'll be doing something somewhere for sure.

 

[edk35]

Well... we had to cancel our first Christmas trip (VB), we were due to be in route tomorrow, but **it happens. Still, we had been planning on nothing. Actually, sort of escaping the whole ordeal that has become something beyond what Christmas is about. Just being there with just the two of us and not caring about or worrying about anything other than ourselves. Sounds selfish, but we really deserved it.

Hope you get the opportunity to check it out next year.

We'll be doing something somewhere for sure.

(((((((HUGS))))))))) I am sorry Rob. I hope your wife is doing okay.

Merry Christmas