Never been to DVC for Christmas...thinking of 2008...is it really worth the crowds?

[Granny]

Funny you say that, was it last year? This is 4PM XMAS day 2006, just after we arrived-no waits at all because everyone had left.

Jade1...we were in MK at that exact same time! We had an ADR for Liberty Tree Tavern at 5:30, but walked in at 5:00 and were seated right away due to low crowds.

I highly recommend LTT for anyone looking for a very nice, traditional Christmas meal!

 

[drag n' fly]

As soon to be members we are going to attempt...yes attempt to book over Christmas at WDW in 08 at our home resort. I will need more than pixie dust to pull this off...probably Santa himself will need some input on this ressie! I believe with good planning one should be able to go at any time of year....oh ya TGM really helps too!

 

[Granny]

By the way, here's what Sunset Blvd at MGM looked like on December 29 last year. The whole park pretty much looked like this!

 

[jade1]

Jade1...we were in MK at that exact same time! We had an ADR for Liberty Tree Tavern at 5:30, but walked in at 5:00 and were seated right away due to low crowds.

I highly recommend LTT for anyone looking for a very nice, traditional Christmas meal!

You know what, we did not have an ADR but walked in to LTT that exact same time-it only took about 10 minutes to get a table and it was very good food. We sat against a window as far to the left (as you enter) as you could get, I would say the P Pan side? Would have said hello for sure.

 

[jade1]

By the way, here's what Sunset Blvd at MGM looked like on December 29 last year. The whole park pretty much looked like this!

Did you attend Illuminations that week-we went 3 times the ending was so good. Once after Fantasmic there was an express boat and we made it in plenty of time, then we took the monorail to MK for the rest of the night since we were at VWL. It was a great time.

 

[medalla74]

As noted, it is extremely busy on Christmas week and if you wish to enjoy the festivities without the crowds, it is better to go in early December. Whether it is worth going during Christmas week is a personal decision but I have found that it gets so crowded that I didn't enjoy myself at the Magic Kingdom - I ended up going back to the resort. I did like the parades and watching people with small children but I have gone in early to mid-December and seen the same. Having said all that, I will be in Orlando again during Christmas week staying offsite and staying at the BWV the week before so that my visits to the theme parks during Christmas week will be more casual than the week before where I will be staying at BMV and spend time at the theme parks. I must add, the year before that I went during Christmas week it rained during Christmas day and standing in the rain waiting for the parade was miserable so I'll admit that it skewed my view about Christmas day a little bit but I definitely remember it being crowded.

Well, I'm glad you brought up last year. I was reading all of the positive feedback that I didn't know how to mention my experience last Christmas. It was so cold, rainy and super packed that we too went back to our studio at the BWV to sulk. It took us forever to even get out of the park after the terrble rain storm. It wasn't exactly the best Disney experience but, we hope to go back for Christmas when the kids are a little older. We love Disney. We will be there for Thanksgiving in a few weeks and we cannot wait!!!

 

[OurDogCisco]

We went last Christmas and stayed at VWL while we had a great time it was crowded. We went for Dec 26 through January 2nd. We were so glad that we did stay onsite so, we could take advantage of early entry. For example, we did early entry at MK. We were able to ride Peter Pan's Flight, Winnie the Pooh (2 times), Dumbo, Snow White's Scary Adventures & Mad Tea Party. Then, we walked over to Frontierland/Liberty Square to ride the Haunted Mansion & Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (2 times). We did all this before 9 am. We were meeting our family who were staying off site. It took them forever to get into the park. Finally, they got in and we did Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again. Then, their kid wanted to go on Space Mountain so, against my wishes we walked all the way across the park. Stood in line at Space Mountain for over 45 minutes at that point. After that ride the park was crowded. It was too crowded to move so, we left. It was 11 am at that point. It is harder to travel in groups too. So, the smaller your group the easier it is to get things done. This was on December 27th.

We can only travel during school holidays. But if I had the opportunity to go during a non-holiday week over a holiday week, I'd definitely would pick a non-holiday week. I know that I cannot travel during non-peak times so, we usually, make the best of it. We don't go to the parks everyday. We also do other things in Orlando. Basically, we just try and spend quality time together as a family. I love going to the hotels and looking at decorations. My kids love swimming in December somthing that would never happen at home.

I made all my ADRs in advance. Lines for the C/S places were very long. Oh, I remember one day we drove to AK (we had a car). The line to get on the tram was unbelieveable. We had slept in that day and arrived with the masses. So, we left and went miniature golfing. We learned to be flexible especially after making the mistake of sleeping in. Although, we needed it.

Good luck with your decision.