Spending every Christmas at Disney World?

[Reepicheep]

I've been staying at Pop Century for 6 days now, the first year I've spent Christmas at Disney World, although around 15 years ago I did spend the Christmas season at Disneyland.

I've noticed that many of the rooms at Pop have Christmas decorations (stickers on the windows, Disney ornaments, stuffies, and other Disney doodads on the inner window sill, and even elaborate decorations on external room doors. There are five rooms in my wing that have been decorated since I arrived, and I suspect those visitors will perhaps be here until January 1st.

Anyway, I'm curious to know if any Canadians here have a family tradition of spending Christmas at Disney World. I'm certainly impressed by some of the elaborate displays (for example, gingerbread houses and the like at the Deluxe resorts), but for the most part the park attractions aren't that different (the only two major exceptions I have encountered thus far are Jingle Cruise and Living With the Land, although there are other small touches such as Figment wearing a Christmas sweater).

I think, for me, spending Christmas at Disney World is a one and done experience. Although, I certainly prefer the Orlando temperature of 25c, to the Edmonton temperature of -25c. And the turkey dinner being offered at Pop Century is excellent.

 

[scrappinginontario]

It is common for guests at Pop to decorate their windows and doors all year-round. While they’re Christmas focused right now, many will decorate in coming days with celebrations, general Disney themes and other holidays. It’s one of the many, many reasons why Pop is our home-away-from-home!

 

[Disneylover99]

Anyway, I'm curious to know if any Canadians here have a family tradition of spending Christmas at Disney World.

While it’s not an annual tradition, we’ve done it several times, and it’s my favourite place to be at Christmas.

 

[tgropp]

We have spent 10 Christmas Day stays (first in 1994) at WDW and another 10 stays in the week before Christmas. As an extended family of 6 adults and three grandchildren it’s tough to do over the holidays on a regular basis but I would go every year if it was possible. We always stay at the Wilderness Lodge . We always have a tree in the villa by the living room window

 

[Reepicheep]

It is common for guests at Pop to decorate their windows and doors all year-round. While they’re Christmas focused right now, many will decorate in coming days with celebrations, general Disney themes and other holidays. It’s one of the many, many reasons why Pop is our home-away-from-home!

I've now stayed at all of the value resorts, and three of the moderate/deluxe resorts. Pop Century certainly feels different than the other resorts I have stayed at, but I assumed this was because it is Christmas time. But perhaps it is Pop Century itself that is different, and it has nothing to do with it being the Christmas season..

 

[deedubb]

My favourite place to be at Christmas, even though it is insanely busy. There is nothing more magical than walking down Main St. on Christmas day, and the fireworks on NYE are just amazing, as is the overall energy level of the crowd and vibe of the park. We have been 3 times at Christmas/NYE and planning another one soon.

 

[Reepicheep]

Since I was the one who started this thread, I figured I should give my thoughts on how our Christmas trip went (we arrived on Dec 18th and left on Jan 1st).

CROWDS

Since my older daughter is working at the Canadian EPCOT pavilion, she was able to get us free park admission, subject to blackout days and park capacity. We were only able to get into Magic Kingdom on two days. On both of those days, the park closed early for a Christmas event. Crowds were very small at MK those two days, I assume because guests were reluctant to purchase tickets when the park closed early. We had no trouble doing everything we wanted to do at MK.

As I recall, up to and including December 24th the crowds at the remaining three parks were large, but we could always find rides with reasonable wait times. As per usual, I caught a cold at some point, so I stayed at the resort on Christmas Day, and don't know how the crowds were. Between Dec 26 and Dec 30, we had two days (one in Hollywood Studios and the other at Animal Kingdom) where the wait times were so horrendous that we skipped all rides and only went to shows.

On days we went to EPCOT, it was always possible to find some rides and attractions with reasonable wait times.

On December 31, our daughter worked a 12 hour shift, so was only able to get us into a park (Hollywood Studios) at 9pm. The lineups were actually reasonable. Because I was still sick, I only did a couple of rides (Star Tours and Runaway Train) and returned to the hotel. I was OK with that, since at age 67 I've turned into a curmudgeon and didn't care for the loud party atmosphere. My wife and daughters stayed until park close.

POP CENTURY

This was my first stay at this resort, and it was wonderful. The overall Christmas atmosphere was great, with things like free cookies and apple cider being handed out on Christmas Day and a party by the pool on Dec 31 with free hats and other trinkets. I had assumed that the overall vibe at the resort was due to it being the Christmas season, but according to @scrappinginontario Pop Century always has a nice vibe.

To illustrate the Christmas vibe: a guest in a room five doors down from us had put 9 suction cups with hooks on their outer door. Each morning, they placed nine handmade Christmas tree ornaments on the door for other guests to take (at least that was our assumption; perhaps they were annoyed that people kept stealing their decorations). My wife and daughter each took a decoration (they were a type of handcrafted decoration that, after you prepare it, you put it into an oven to harden; I'm sure the cost per decoration was pretty low)

In August 2025 we stayed at Art of Animation, and in my trip report I concluded that All-Star Sports was the best of the Value Resorts. My analysis was severely flawed, however, because at that point I had not yet stayed at Pop Century. The Skyliner is certainly a game-changer for us, especially on this trip since we typically met our oldest daughter at the International Gateway 30 minutes before her shift started, and she would let us into the park before reporting to work (the free admission tickets are park hoppers, so we didn't need to stay inside EPCOT).

While my daughter is working at EPCOT, it certainly makes sense for us to stay at Pop Century, although I am hopeful that during our next visit in either May or August of this year she can get us a discounted room at one or more of Yacht, Beach, or Boardwalk. Perhaps, even a discounted Club Level room.

On trips after that where we have no hotel discount available (although while That Man is in the Whitehouse it seems unlikely that there will be any additional trips anytime during the next few years), I'd certainly be willing to pay more to stay at Pop Century rather than All-Star Sports. I've checked numerous random days in 2026, and the extra cost of staying at Pop Century was as low as $5/day, although paying an extra $25/day or $50/day was much more common. I think it is a no-brainer that I would pay an extra $25/day for the convenience of staying at Pop Century. At an extra $50/day, I think I'd stay at one of the All-Stars.

CHRISTMAS SEASON

It was nice having the four of us together at Christmas time, but I really missed going to church at my home congregation on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and making a turkey on Christmas Day. Under normal circumstances, considering how large the crowds are over the Christmas season, I don't think I would book another Christmas trip. Maybe a stay earlier in December, but not late December. I think my preference would be to take a yearly early December trip to Disneyland rather than Disney World.