How long do you go for at Christmas?

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

My first time going at Christmas, but have been to WDW many times. I am going to see the decorations and special holiday performers at Epcot, not to ride the rides. I have 9 night booked, but want to cut 2 nights off that.
I think 7 nights/6 days should be enough time to "do" Christmas at WDW. I won't make it to all the resorts to see their decorations, though I would like to, as I won't have a car, and Disney buses take too long.
So how long do you usually go for your Christmas visit? One week? Longer?

 

[disneygolfer1985]

I have been many times and usually stay anywhere from 6-8 nights. I prefer to go for the shorter time as it gets crowded and is hard to do everything. When are you exactly going? That may help with the decision. If you can get more days in before Christmas that would be best. Usually, when I go I try to leave on the 26th and no later than the 27th. This usually works because crowds really start picking up around the 24th or sooner depending on when Christmas falls.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

I am planning to visit the Yacht/Beach & Boardwalk, monorail resorts, Wilderness Lodge and AKL. I do not plan to go to OKW, SSR, CBR, or Swan/Dolphin. The rest I would like to see, but the time involved on the buses. Are there any "happenings" at the resorts, other than decorations? I would love to tour the Ft Wilderness campsites, as I have read the campers do special things. But I don't know how that could be done without a car and a lot of time, and knowing your way around (I get lost quite easily).
So how long do you other DVCers stay in Dec?

 

[com_op_2000]

Been every year since '93 for two nights. So that makes a total of 42 nights including this year.
You can "Do":
BWV, BC, YC, Swan and Dolphin all in one afternoon stroll around the lake.
the monorail tour of resorts in about 2 hours if you do not linger, but at GF they have a band playing in the lobby that is a lot of fun to set and listen too.
At FWC, they have evening horse/buggy rides that give you a tour of the campsites.

 

[bltpoppins]

We leave the property Xmas Eve. It is just too crowded and chaotic. We arrive the Friday before so the trip can be up to 6 nights.
Last year we did stay thru Xmas day and all decided it was not fun. It took 1.5 hours to get from OKW to Mass at CR and that was via monorail as the bus never showed for the MK. People got ugly.
We have found four days to be perfect but it is nice to have an extra for hanging out at the pool.

 

[MinnieGi]

We have done two Christmas week trips usually in the 8 to 9 day range. In that time we see a majority of the resorts, see the holiday shows and attractions, and ride all the rides!

Easy to take the monorail around to check our all of their resorts and entertainment and then easy walk around Boardwalk area too, lots of fun.

I think our Christmas stays might be some of our most favorite. It was very special being there over that time frame.

Crowds are easier before Christmas day!

 

[bwvBound]

Our Dec trip is generally a 3-night weekend -- either the first or second weekend of the month.

 

[bobbiwoz]

One thing we like to do in our annual 3-7 night pre Christmas trip is rent bikes and ride around the Campground. I think Disney placed some restrictions last year, because the displays were not as great as they once were, but still worthwhile to do.

We then have done a Post Christmas trip to see the NYE fireworks. Wish we already lived in FL so we did not have to make 2 trips so close to each other.

 

[Kidanifan08]

We are coming up on our third trip to WDW in December. Our first was 7 nights in 2010, followed by 8 nights in 2012 and our upcoming stay is 9 nights. We have to fly, so given the expense of flights, we like to maximize our time at WDW. We like to take our time and enjoy all of the sights and sounds of the holidays, but we also have to do a lot of rides, since we will have our DS8 with us.

We're hoping for the nice warm weather that we had in 2012 -- swimming every day! 7 nights/6 days should give you enough time to see most of what you are hoping for. Enjoy!!

 

[disfanforlife]

This will be our first December. However, we are going 12/13-12/20 so I don't think it will be as crowded as Christmas week. But, we will be able to enjoy seeing all of the decorations! We almost always stay the same amount of time 7 night and usually only go once a year. Last year we did our first add on and had a second trip. This year we don't have any extra points but may go again because our daughter is starting her DCP.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I week at Christmastime every year. Usually the week after Thanksgiving. Leave the day of or day before the parade taping. Perfect.

 

[horselover]

This year will be our 4th Christmas trip. Ideally I would prefer to go earlier in Dec. to avoid the crowds & save points but we're still working around a high school schedule so that's not an option. We always go for at least a week & this will be our 2nd time doing a 10 day trip. The 10 day trip we took 2 years ago was so relaxing (amazing I know!) & fabulous that we wanted to do it again so we planned our points accordingly. We do pull the kids out for 2 or max 3 days before their Christmas break starts to avoid some of the crowds. We never stay through New Years. We usually fly home on the 27th or 28th. This year we're staying until the 29th. It works for us because we've been so many times we don't do the parks like we used to. There are so many other things to do. We only plan to hit the parks 5 out of the 10 days. We try to get a good amount of park time in before Christmas day. We always do A.M. EMH & are out of the parks by lunch time. We do go to MK for one P.M. EMH. We avoid MK like the plague on Christmas Day. We normally don't do a park at all on Christmas but last year we did do Epcot because we flew home late that day & needed something to do for the day. It was pretty crowded but not at the level MK gets to. We've been fortunate with weather twice & were able to do a water park on Christmas. Highly recommend! We practically had the place to ourselves. I hope we get lucky again this year with the weather.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

This is our first Christmas trip.

We will be there for 5 nights. That gives us 4 park days.

 

[heynowirv]

This will be our 5th December trip,generally the first or second week.4-5 night stay and it's my favorite time of the year at WDW.