Resort Hopping for Christmas Decoration Tour

[Zombie]

Any thoughts or routes (and the amount of time) for a Christmas decor tour would be appreciated.

We are scheduled to be there from Nov. 27-Dec. 7. The only resort decor we've seen in the past is the carousel in Beach Club. But we were wowed enough that we're considering dedicating a morning or afternoon to a 2-3 hour resort hopping tour.

I've looked at some plans and suggested tour routes and I'm not sure it'd be realistic for my family to do the MK Monorail resorts, WL, and the Boardwalk hotels all in one day. (We will most definitely do DS on a separate day).

But I'm not sure we'll have the time to do two separate days for resort hopping this trip.

Any thoughts on best resorts to hit up and/or route planning (and time needed) would be appreciated.

I am sure we almost definitely will end up at GF to see the Gingerbread house either way. There is interest in seeing (WL -- we've never been). But there's also been some interest in going back to Boardwalk to see this year's carousel (and the Swan tree of poinsettias looks really impressive in pictures too).

I don't think there would be an easy, timely way to do all of that.

I should mention we aren't staying on property so we'd have to either make a lunch reservation somewhere and park at that resort (and I think I've heard you're only allowed to have the car on property 3 hours then?). Or we'd likely park at one of the parks or the TTC and then take Disney transit. Though, another party member seems to think we can just drive between resorts and park at the hotels, but I'm not sure that would be the case (or would ultimately save us too much time).

I'm considering either booking lunch (or the Afternoon Tea) at GF or lunch at WCC as a potential base -- as those are both locations and/or restaurants we'd be interested in.

Anyone who's done the tour and has thoughts, feedback would be appreciated.

 

[buzznina]

GF, WL, BW and AKL are our favorite Christmas decorated resorts.

 

[Marionnette]

Any thoughts or routes (and the amount of time) for a Christmas decor tour would be appreciated.

We are scheduled to be there from Nov. 27-Dec. 7. The only resort decor we've seen in the past is the carousel in Beach Club. But we were wowed enough that we're considering dedicating a morning or afternoon to a 2-3 hour resort hopping tour.

I've looked at some plans and suggested tour routes and I'm not sure it'd be realistic for my family to do the MK Monorail resorts, WL, and the Boardwalk hotels all in one day. (We will most definitely do DS on a separate day).

But I'm not sure we'll have the time to do two separate days for resort hopping this trip.

Any thoughts on best resorts to hit up and/or route planning (and time needed) would be appreciated.

I am sure we almost definitely will end up at GF to see the Gingerbread house either way. There is interest in seeing (WL -- we've never been). But there's also been some interest in going back to Boardwalk to see this year's carousel (and the Swan tree of poinsettias looks really impressive in pictures too).

I don't think there would be an easy, timely way to do all of that.

I should mention we aren't staying on property so we'd have to either make a lunch reservation somewhere and park at that resort (and I think I've heard you're only allowed to have the car on property 3 hours then?). Or we'd likely park at one of the parks or the TTC and then take Disney transit. Though, another party member seems to think we can just drive between resorts and park at the hotels, but I'm not sure that would be the case (or would ultimately save us too much time).

I'm considering either booking lunch (or the Afternoon Tea) at GF or lunch at WCC as a potential base -- as those are both locations and/or restaurants we'd be interested in.

Anyone who's done the tour and has thoughts, feedback would be appreciated.

I would not count on being able to park at a resort without an ADR. Yes, it might be allowed, but reports are hit or miss (more miss than hit at the monorail resorts).

And if you have an ADR, it will consume at least 60-90 minutes out of your 3-hour parking time. My advice: Make another plan.

Park at the TTC. Walk over to the Poly, take the monorail or walk to GF and then monorail to CR. Then take the boat over to WL. Take a bus from there to HS and then a boat or walk to the Epcot resorts. When done, take a bus to the MK from the final resort and then either boat or monorail to TTC where you car awaits.

Your only OOP cost will be for parking at the TTC.

 

[TJA]

Are you going to any parks? If so, while at Epcot, you could just walk through the International Gateway and walk around the loop and see BC, YC, BWI and Swan/Dolphin if so inclined. Then just walk back into Epcot afterward, of if you have a hopper pass you could walk to HS.

If you don't go to Epcot, I'd make an ADR at one of those resorts (maybe even just at Beaches & Cream?) so you could park there and walk the loop to see all of the resorts. IMO they are worth the visit. We loved all 3 last year (BC, YC, and BWI), didn't stop in at Swan or Dolphin.

The only monorail resort that we thought was absolutely amazing was the GF. I'm glad we stopped in the Poly and CR lobbies, but we weren't in awe of either one.

If you are at the GF for an ADR, you could always hop on monorail to MK and then boat over to WL. Both GF and WL are worthy of a visit, imo.

AKL is also nice, but not as convenient to fit into a resort-hop adventure to see decorations.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would pick whichever ADR interests you most and go from there. You can easily tour GF/CR/WL/Poly from either WL or GF. If eating at WL, simply park there. After lunch, boat to CR and take the monorail loop around to Poly and GF. Head back to CR and boat back to WL. Or, make your ADR at GF, monorail to CR, boat to WL, boat back to CR and monorail to Poly, then back to GF. After touring the MK area, drive over to the Boardwalk area. Swan/Dolphin would probably let you valet park your car. Worst case scenario, pay to park at DHS and boat over to the EP resorts. I don't think you could fit all of this in in 3 hours, however. As a PP suggested, if you are doing a park day at either DHS or EP, you could simply go to the EP resorts and tour them then. That would make transportation easier as well as you would have already parked your car at one of the theme parks.

 

[disneynutz]

A night time tour is best for the lighting. WL, GF, YC, BC, BWI and AKL have the best decorations IMO.

Bill

 

[Sue M]

What we’ve done using WDW transportation:
On MK day for mid day - lunch break. Take boat to visit Poly, walk or take monorail to GF maybe grab a bite to eat at their quick service, hop on monorail to visit CR, then walk to back of CR past pools to dock to take boat to WL.
Return to MK by boat or bus from WL.

Epcot day, leave by World Showcase gate and walk to BC, YC, then walk over bridge to BWI. Walk back to Epcot.

On AK day bus over to AKL.

You will run into difficulty trying to park at MK or Epcot resorts without dining ADR, during this time of year. And it’s easy enough to just work it into park days using WDW transportation.

 

[Ladyandthepuppies]

We have a late Ohana breakfast reservation, then we're doing a monorail resort tour and adding in WL via the boat. Then MVMCP starts letting ticket holders in at 4. I can't wait!!! But we are staying onsite so we don't have parking to worry about.

OP I obviously think it's nice to have an ADR since that's our plan haha. But also then you can get the free parking. I think 2 hours (+1 for your meal) should be enough time to do the monorail resorts. Seeing the decor is awesome but 15 mins per hotel is plenty of time for us.

 

[loves to dive]

My son and I have gone to WDW the past two years the week before Christmas and have done the deluxe resort tours both times. We stay at the Dolphin so just do the Swan/Dolphin, YC/BC while walking to Epcot and hit BW walking back to Dolphin. I'm guessing it didn't take more than 45 min. extra for that. We did the monorail resorts on a day we were at MK. We just rode the boat over to WL and walked through there then boated over to CR and did the monorail around the loop stopping at each resort then back to MK. WL and GF are the longest stops for that - Poly and CR don't really have that much to see. We probably spent at least 1/2 at GF just looking at everything there so I'm guessing the entire loop was probably 1 1/2. The day we went to AK we just hopped on a bus to AKL and looked around there then back to AK. We just considered those part of our park days and it worked well to just have them inserted in as breaks.

 

[hertamaniac]

Definitely rent a golf cart and ride through Fort Wilderness; the site decorations are amazing.