Is going to the Fort during Christmas school vacation worth it?

[Drew A]

Greetings everyone,

We live in Massachusetts and have been to the Fort twice and love it, but we have always gone during the summer, (August '05 and August '08). We are now considering a trip for next Christmas, 2010, and I am wondering if it is really worth going at that time of year.

The 2.5 day drive down to Florida from Mass at that time of year could prove to be difficult given uncertain weather conditions and the prices are the absolute highest for the camp sites. Also, is park attendance so high that visiting the parks is a problem?

We can't really take the kids out of school for more that 2-3 days, so a trip at another time during the winter won't work for us.

It would be really nice to see Disney all decorated for Christmas and visit when it's not so blasted hot and rainy.

Thanks,

Drew

 

[kc5grw]

Yes, it is absolutely worth it!!!!!!!! Well, at least I think so.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Yes it is definitely worth it! Yes, the parks will be very, very crowded. And, so will all of the restaurants. But, if you have never seen all of the Christmas decorations, that and the fantastic weather make a Christmas holiday visit worth it. The Fort is always magical to me, but it is truly unbelievable at Christmas time. Not only are there official decorations, and Christmas music playing everywhere, but lots of campers put up over-the-top Christmas displays that you just must see!

As long as you understand the parks will be busy, and strategically plan accordingly, you will have a great time. Way better than summer!

TCD

 

[RocklandRVers]

Yes it is definitely worth it! Yes, the parks will be very, very crowded. And, so will all of the restaurants. But, if you have never seen all of the Christmas decorations, that and the fantastic weather make a Christmas holiday visit worth it. The Fort is always magical to me, but it is truly unbelievable at Christmas time. Not only are there official decorations, and Christmas music playing everywhere, but lots of campers put up over-the-top Christmas displays that you just must see!

As long as you understand the parks will be busy, and strategically plan accordingly, you will have a great time. Way better than summer!

TCD

TCD is right. We have visited at Christmas time several years in a row (sadly not this year ) and are never disappointed. If crowds worry you, stay away from the parks. Christmas is a great time to resort hop. Each of them has its own special decorations. For example, the Grand Floridian usually has a huge gingerbread house. AKL has a monsterous and very beautiful tree adorned in an African theme with lots of animal figures. Even if you stay at the Fort its like living in a small neighborhood where many of your fellow campers will go all out to decorate their sites, golf carts, etc. It might also be a great time to really take in all the Fort itself has to offer. The segway tour, horseback riding, fishing excursions, boat rentals, renovated pools and hot tubs. Worth it? Fort fiends will all say yes and bet you will too. Come on down!!

 

[LuckyinGa]

ABSOLUTELY!!!! The weather is perfect. The Christmas decorations are incredible. Yes the crowds are much bigger but we handle that by being on a completely different schedule than most folks. We don't go to the parks until 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. The parks take turns staying open until 2:00 a.m. so we take advantage of the extra late hours. We sleep in and enjoy the fort during the day when most folks are at the parks. It's a win win for us.

The only day it doesn't work for us is Christmas morning when all of the kids wake up at 6:00 a.m. to see what Santa brought them and we just went to bed at 4:30 a.m.!! But hey, it's Christmas at Disney, it doesn't get any better than that!!

 

[ColleenFL]

Absolutley!!! Exactly what everyone has said. We have been trying to get in for this winter with no luck so far. But we are in for the following winter and next Halloween as well. Yeah!!!! Love the Fort and Love Disney!

 

[Born 2 Fish]

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of course it's not worth it.

 

[cindymouse6]

Honestly, if you love Xmas... ( I mean LUVVVVVVVV it), then it is so totally worth it!!!! The occasional WDW fan won't find it extraordinary.... I've been 4-5 times at Xmas and just can bathe in the Xmas magic.... both at the resorts and the parks.... Make it a goal to see every country's Santa equivalent (I took this as an opp to teach my kids customs of different countries), taste different foods at holidays, visited different resorts involved in the gingebread house display contests, and just had fun!!!!

Make and plan to make a plan and capture as many opp's as you can --- last year, my 3 young kids saw the actress who played Kit Kittredge do the Candlelight Processional and I swear she looked at my twins.... they were so enamered!!!! Magic abounds at Xmas..... make the most of it!!!

 

[retired and happy]

We take our kids out of school for an extra week every year, head out for WDW and spend Christmas and New Years in comfort at FW. We've done it for about 7-8 years so far and wouldn't miss it. We decorate the campsite with as much stuff as we can carry, but we also have to have the golf cart with us, so we're limited on decorations. We often spend most of the time at FW and sometimes don't go into the parks for days. When we do, we plan short days, with our special needs kids calling a lot of the shots. Cooking most evening meals at the campsite is a casual event for us. The weather should be a real treat for y'all from up north, although there may be some cool to cold days and nights occasionally. Even if you have to bundle up in the evening, the Meadows campfire will help. Some days the parks will be full, but some days not. There's lots to do especially if you don't overplan but let the crowds and the weather guide you.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

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I'm tell'n ya,,don't waste your money.

 

[Drew A]

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I'm tell'n ya,,don't waste your money.

So Frank, what makes you say that it's not worth it? Everyone else seems to think it is the best way to spend Christmas.

Thanks,

Drew

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

Frank just doesn't want his reservations to be any harder to come by

 

[Born 2 Fish]

 

[blm2003]

Is so greatful for all the good information one can find out here. We're heading to the Fort for our first Christmas trip next December (also from Mass) and can't wait to experience the Christmas Magic for ourselves!

 

[Born 2 Fish]

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apparently no one is listening to me.

 

[clkelley]

I always spend early December at the Fort and Disney, but wouldn't go at Christmas/New Years. As other folks said, if you want to spend time at the parks, the week between Christmas and New Years is Disney's absolutely, positively most crowded time.

Now, as the other posters have stated, if you have realistic expectations about that and are willing to get up at the crack of dawn and go to the parks for a couple of hours, or go to extra late night EMH, then you should be fine.

(Magic Kingdom from midnite to 3am is a beautiful thing!!)

As frequent visitors, we probably would enjoy spending time there and never visit the parks, but we honestly have so many family committments and celebrations at home, that we don't want to miss.

 

[2goofycampers]

When our DS was in school we visited 9 years during Christmas breaks. If it's the only time you can go, by all means go. But expect peak crowds everywhere, and peak prices. They even have holiday surcharges on meals during that time. The weather for most of those visits was pleasant but 2 of those visits we froze our butts off and it was rainy. Make reservations for dining if you wish to eat table service. The MK gets so full during this time I have seen it close down for entry right after opening. If you go knowing what to expect you can still have a great trip.

It is also a beautiful thing to see WDW fully decorated.

 

[Escape Artist]

If it was the only trip you were ever going to take to WDW, it wouldn't be worth it because of the crowds.

For you, I wouldn't miss it!

Here's what we did last year: FW reservations were soooo expensive over Christmas and the offsite hotels were so cheap, we left our trailer at home and stayed in an offsite hotel. We had a full kitchen in our suite and free hot breakfasts every day. Of course we came to FW to enjoy it (and it would have been more fun to actually stay there), but I was glad we stayed offsite on that trip.

As campers, staying in a hotel was a special holiday treat, staying offsite made the food a lot cheaper and we got to eat in quite a few good non-Disney restaurants we never would have gone to otherwise, plus we didn't have the cost and hassle of packing up our trailer and pulling it 2000 miles. We never intended to spend a lot of time at the parks because we knew they'd be overcrowded, so we showed up for a couple of rides every day, experienced the Disney Christmas atmosphere and saw the fireworks. Seeing the resorts decorated for Christmas was fun and the Candlelight Processional was amazing. We'd never seen the Osborne Lights, so that was a first, too. (The Osborne family was there the same night we were--that was really interesting, too!)

I ended up really glad that we went to WDW at Christmas time and that we got to see FW all decked out, but I was also glad that we didn't stay there and camp. And I never thought I'd say that!

Sue in Texas

 

[nelle]

Hey Frank! Would it help if we said we were gonna fish just about everyday?
Never been during the actual Christmas time this will be our first so we will see if we come back in one piece. We have been to the parks many times so we will probably just hang out at the fort and visit other resorts.

 

[gmflanigan]

We went once during Christmas week. The crowds were terrible. Lines everywhere. Spent more time in line than anything else. New Year's Eve they actually closed admission to the Parks because they were at the limit. We made a vow then never to go that week again. We've been back many times since for the Christmas Holiday time but neve the week of Christmas.