Share your best tips for surviving Christmas!

[Skylarr29]

Please share your best tips for surviving Christmas week at Disney! I was one of those people who said I would never, not even if you paid me, go to Disney at Christmas. I'm not sure what has changed, but I went ahead and booked for Christmas this year. Any insight, must do's, strategies, to help make this a successful trip would be greatly appreciated.

 

[KCSherri]

My #1 tip would be to HAVE A TOURING PLAN!!!

Seriously, I would:

1. Know the best park for each day

2. Be there for Rope Drop

3. Have a touring plan in hand on what rides are a must-do

4. Make your FP+ rezzies early

5. Make ADR's early (if you plan on table service restaurants)

6. Pack your patience and sense of humor - and be prepared for crowds!

And…most important…have FUN!

 

[Aloop]

1.Use the MDE app- has the official posted wait times, you can make ADRs, and you can alter your FP+s!!
2.if you're park hopping, I'd suggest doing first park at RD and then make FP+s for 2nd park. That should help make touring fairly efficient, arriving at your second park and not having to worry about the long lines!
3.Make ADRs and FP+s selections ASAP! Lunch ADRs are great! We went over winter break and everyone thoroughly enjoyed a leisurely lunch during the hottest hours of the day, avoiding the longest lines of the day.
4. Take advantage of additional FP+s.
5. Don't expect to go go go all day every day-alternate "commando" and leisurely touring.
6. Don't spend valuable theme park time in gift shops, wait until leaving the park or shop while at Downtown Disney or at your hotel.
7. Prepare the night before a park day! Pack backpacks, lay out outfits, and get showers the night before- make your mornings quicker!
8. Plan your routes while in lines, before shows, on buses, etc. so as to keep moving from one thing to another!
9. Try to use single rider lines! That's how you avoid using a FP at TT, even if you get to Epcot at 3:00PM!
10. Don't expect to do every ride twice, but if you plan right, you CAN be very successful- on a two day trip (one MK, on park hop to every park), we did several headliner rides- all of the mountains at MK (Space twice), RnR, TOT, and TSMM at HS, EE, KS, and Dinosaur at AK, and TT at Epcot!

 

[Skylarr29]

Great tips! I'm so afraid, lol.

 

[stamot]

1. Rope drop, rope drop, rope drop. It is very important to be at the entrance 45 minutes before park open. We do this and the first three hours we are able to do so much.
2. We use easywdw for our park plans and they work great.
3. Understand it will be crowded, very crowded, there will be things you wont be able to do.
4. keep calm and relax. We love to go on Christmas but we see so many people melting down and having an awful time because they get very stressed, specially with the crowds.
5. Plan, Plan and plan some more. Christmas is really busy and it take some planning to have the magic happen.
6. It is wonderful to visit the Deluxe Resort to see the Christmas decorations. They are beautiful.
7. Take mid days break. We go at rope drop and then by 2:00pm take a resort brake and go back at night. That way you can enjoy the night hours when you are rested.
8. Take a little Christmas tree for your resort room. IT feels so festive when you have a Christmas tree in your room.
9. Enjoy! Christmas is magical at Disney

 

[1stvisit0909]

Please share your best tips for surviving Christmas week at Disney! I was one of those people who said I would never, not even if you paid me, go to Disney at Christmas. I'm not sure what has changed, but I went ahead and booked for Christmas this year. Any insight, must do's, strategies, to help make this a successful trip would be greatly appreciated.

It's amazing.

1) rope drop and late at night. Yes, that means long days, but we left every afternoon and took a nap. If you read my trip report you'll get an idea.

2) pack your patience

3) expect crowds, and look for tips to avoid the worst.

4) rope drop and late night

Did I mention rope drop? Reminder, MK opens to resort guests at 7. That means we were waiting on buses at 6 to go to MK.

We went into MK one night just before the 10 pm fireworks the night there was no late EMHs and the park closed at 1am. Walk on rides for three hours. Some we dudnt even have to get off to ride again.

 

[Skylarr29]

It's amazing.

1) rope drop and late at night. Yes, that means long days, but we left every afternoon and took a nap. If you read my trip report you'll get an idea.

2) pack your patience

3) expect crowds, and look for tips to avoid the worst.

4) rope drop and late night

Did I mention rope drop? Reminder, MK opens to resort guests at 7. That means we were waiting on buses at 6 to go to MK.

We went into MK one night just before the 10 pm fireworks the night there was no late EMHs and the park closed at 1am. Walk on rides for three hours. Some we dudnt even have to get off to ride again.

Great trip report! I remember reading it awhile back and it was one of the main things that convinced me to take the plunge!

 

[BuzzLiteyear]

Absolutely follow the advice that's been given so far.

But my #1 tip for you is to NOT listen to those who will try to scare you about the crowds. It is going to be very busy and crowded, but if you plan and are flexible there are times and places where the crowds are on the lighter side or at least very manageable.

We will be there too this Christmas. Perhaps I'll see you there

 

[1stvisit0909]

Great trip report! I remember reading it awhile back and it was one of the main things that convinced me to take the plunge!

Ha! You can do it! Just plan, plan, plan, but be willing to be flexible.

 

[Skylarr29]

Absolutely follow the advice that's been given so far.

But my #1 tip for you is to NOT listen to those who will try to scare you about the crowds. It is going to be very busy and crowded, but if you plan and are flexible there are times and places where the crowds are on the lighter side or at least very manageable.

We will be there too this Christmas. Perhaps I'll see you there

Ha! You can do it! Just plan, plan, plan, but be willing to be flexible.

I'm doing a ton of research and starting to feel optimistic! I'm hoping FP+ will actually be an advantage during a busy time like this.

 

[pad406]

Chill, relax, soak up the atmosphere. Don't worry about doing so much rides. You've been before so you know your way around. We did Christmas for our first trip and loved it, going again this year. My best tip (controversial I know) don't go to a park on Christmas day! We toured the resorts, had a fab time. Hit the park at rope drop next morning and had it practically to ourselves for hours. This year planning Christmas day seeing the resorts we didn't get to last time and maybe even a drive around Celebration.

 

[pad406]

Duplicate, sorry

 

[cocoachip]

We've gone the last couple years when visiting family in the area - sometimes we go just for the day. In that case, we have been among the first to enter the TTC to park the car between 6:30-7:00am.

When we stay in the World (max has been 2 nights) we choose a resort close to park we plan to visit. And even though we prefer counter service, I make a table service reservation for each day. Well fed family=more patience.

It's a wonderful time of the year to visit, especially coming from the Northeast.

 

[supergoofy]

My #1 tip would be to HAVE A TOURING PLAN!!!

Seriously, I would:

1. Know the best park for each day

2. Be there for Rope Drop

3. Have a touring plan in hand on what rides are a must-do

4. Make your FP+ rezzies early

5. Make ADR's early (if you plan on table service restaurants)

6. Pack your patience and sense of humor - and be prepared for crowds!

And…most important…have FUN!

Did DL at Christmas and while not as busy as the World this is sound advice.

I would expand #3 a bit further in that have a second touring plan and maybe a third. We used Ridemax and I tweaked the time we would hit the park or ride order to get another plan. The purpose of this is the whole what if we arrive late or what if we plan Space Mountain first and everybody heads there what/where to go.

 

[hunter1722]

Here is my concern. We went to WDW at Spring Break one year and we always hit rope drop on every trip we do (usually Oct or Nov). The Spring Break trip was a rude awakening. Rope drop on that trip did not mean walk on rides for 2-3 hours, it meant you could walk on one headliner and then by the time you got off the wait times were over an hour within 8 mins of the park opening. Literally within 8 mins of rope drop TSM was 120 mins, RNR was 60 mins and TOT was 45 mins. Is this what I can expect Christmas week? It was not worth hitting rope drop on that 9 crowd level trip to walk on one ride.

 

[RoosMama]

We went this past Christmas! It was amazing to be in the World for Christmas - I would actually do it every year.

1. We used EasyWDW also - go to MK the day before and/or after Christmas, not Christmas Day. We went to AK Christmas Day and it was not crowded at all until mid-afternoon. Between EasyWDW and our expectation of crowds, it actually wasn't bad at all.

2. If you want to meet Santa and the line at Epcot is too long, he was at the Contemporary Xmas Eve last year. DD had already met Santa a few times, but there was literally one person in line, so we hopped in.

3. It sounds like this is not your only time going, so just remember that you don't have to see everything! We tried to just hit the Christmas-y stuff (Osborne Lights etc) and if a ride was too crowded, we figured we would do it this year.

4. Xmas Eve in MK at night was super crowded all the way down Main Street to the Hub. I would recommend skipping MSEP if you can (we actually had to hop a fence to get out of the crowds waiting for it, the sidewalks and street were literally packed with people). Go back to Fantasyland or something and ride some rides - they were very uncrowded because it seemed like everyone in the park was in the Hub. We then walked over behind the castle near the carousel - in between those two walls that are the entrance to NF by the Beasts Castle if that makes any sense. In contrast to the front, the back of the castle was not that crowded. You miss the castle show, but the fireworks are shooting off all around you and you get both castles as the backdrop. It was great.

 

[1stvisit0909]

Here is my concern. We went to WDW at Spring Break one year and we always hit rope drop on every trip we do (usually Oct or Nov). The Spring Break trip was a rude awakening. Rope drop on that trip did not mean walk on rides for 2-3 hours, it meant you could walk on one headliner and then by the time you got off the wait times were over an hour within 8 mins of the park opening. Literally within 8 mins of rope drop TSM was 120 mins, RNR was 60 mins and TOT was 45 mins. Is this what I can expect Christmas week? It was not worth hitting rope drop on that 9 crowd level trip to walk on one ride.

We experienced an hour or two of walk on rides during Christmas week - we followed easywdw park recommendations and I think it helped.

For example, for TSM, we got there at rope drop, rode once grabbed fp and got back in the standby line (10 min wait the second ride) and then used our early fp - so we rode it 3 times in the first 30 mins.

In MK we went to tomorrowland at the 7 am emh at MK at rope drop b/c every one went to Fantasyland. we did all of tomorrowland (most things more than once) before the park opened at 8, and was able to get most of fantasyland by 9 and adding in FPs. when we left fantasy land it was about 11, so we ate lunch and then made our way to adventurelands for POC, then we left for the afternoon.

 

[diskids2]

Thank you for posting this! We are WDW veterans but have never been at Christmas and we have not had the pleasure of using FP+ either. I am wondering how this is going to alter the plans and touring styles.

We are typical RD'ers. We don't usually take breaks in the middle of the day, but we don't usually stay in the parks late either. Summer is the time we have gone, for the most part.

I am thinking of following this type of plan for our first four days, one time at each (recommended) park:
RD
Lunch
FP +
Dinner

then for the next three days
sleep later
Breakfast around 10 am
Resort hopping for decorations
FP +
Dinner
Late night shows

on NYE, I plan
RD DHS combined with FP +
Lunch out of park
rest at resort
Cirque
DTD at night

We are a family of five, youngest is 19. Staying at WL and we have deluxe dining.

Any touring thoughts?

 

[dddisrunner]

All of these suggestions are VERY helpful! My family and I will be experiencing our first Christmas week trip this year although we have been to WDW 12 times over the past 8 years, I'm very concerned how the new FP will change all of your wonderful suggestions. Our kids are now 14 &12 and we will be doing more of a late night touring type of plan. We bought park hoppers but I'm really reconsidering going, this trip is $$$$$$! What do you all suggest? Can you ease my fears? Its not necessary for us to ride things 3 times each but I'm concerned that even our previous "go to's" such as IASW and HM lines will be HUGE!

 

[diskids2]

All of these suggestions are VERY helpful! My family and I will be experiencing our first Christmas week trip this year although we have been to WDW 12 times over the past 8 years, I'm very concerned how the new FP will change all of your wonderful suggestions. Our kids are now 14 &12 and we will be doing more of a late night touring type of plan. We bought park hoppers but I'm really reconsidering going, this trip is $$$$$$! What do you all suggest? Can you ease my fears? Its not necessary for us to ride things 3 times each but I'm concerned that even our previous "go to's" such as IASW and HM lines will be HUGE!

I know exactly how you feel. And I keep adding on $$$$ for convenience. I even upgraded the free dining to Deluxe because I don't want to deal with QS lines. I don't even care if it is cost effective or not.

I am going to keep close tabs on the summer feedback. It may be close to what we might experience. When are you going? We are going Dec. 23 - Jan 1.