tell me about wdw at Christmas ...

[gembeans]

So, my family have decided that in 2016 we are going to visit WDW for Christmas. It's my mum's 60th birthday trip. We have previously been for easter and at various other times of year but not Christmas.

We didn't fine Easter as horrendously busy as we had been led to believe and we always make use of early & late magic hours and use the busy part of the day to relax at the resort.

We would obviously like to have Christmas dinner somewhere, possibly ohana or raglan road (possibly only visit the MK very early Xmas morning).

What are your thoughts on going for Christmas? We are tied by school hols as I'm a teacher & 1 of the kids will be at school by then.

Tell me about your Christmas Disney holiday

 

[Tinkerbell1989]

We love going at Christmas, we've been in 2006 and 2010, and we're also going again in 4 days!

I have a TR for 2010 which is in my signature, and I will have a TR at some point in the new year for 2013.

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to PM me

Steffi xx

 

[queendisney]

we haven't been over Christmas but came back last week. All the decorations were up and it was very very pretty.It is def our most fav time to go. But even though we went to the Candlelight Procession and MVMCP and there was Christmas music everywhere, we decided that we could never go over Christmas as it just didn't feel like Christmas for us.

 

[Lisash]

We leave for our 5th Christmas in WDW next week. The decorations are beautiful and it makes me feel much more Christmassy than at home. As our kids have gotten older we have also found it better than being at home where they are holed up in their rooms all day on video games.
The weather is generally good, jeans and t shirts by day with fleeces for early morning and night time although having said that 2010 was freezing with frosts and ice so be warned it can on rare occasions get really cold.
Crowds in early to mid December are very light. Christmas and New Year is ridiculously busy. Parks can reach capacity by mid morning and gates are then closed so you have to be there early, not good if you don't like crowds but atmosphere is hard to beat

 

[mackay_j]

love it at xmas been about 5 times over the last 14 years at that time of year. The only thing is you have to be prepared for it to cold - and I mean very cold near zero with freezing wind chill. It has been cold for a few days on 4 out of the 5 trips we have done - the worst was a year when the temp diped for a whole week (but about 5 days is of cool with 1 or 2 of them at freezing is the normal). We feel sorry for some tourists who have not brough warm clothes including hats and gloves if you plan to be out late.

Even if a cold spell dosn't hit it is still quite cool early in the morning and late at night - many layers works best at that time of year.

That being said we love it

 

[gembeans]

Thanks everyone for your replies! Cold weather wouldn't bother me as I think I'd find it odd to be in the hot weather on Xmas day!! Do you think our strategy of early magic hours & back to the resort about lunch would work?

Do the the parks empty out a bit later in the day or once capacity is reached is that it for the day?

So many questions!!

 

[Lisash]

Parks open early generally at Xmas so you would have to be up really early to catch morning EMH. If parks hit capacity they tend to stay that way if weather is good. Magic kingdom on NYE has to be seen to be believed. Last time we did it Main Street was so rammed with people waiting to see in new year you couldn't walk down there so they opened up service road at back of shops and everyone was guided down there to exits.

 

[Chilly]

The NYE fireworks are worth the trip alone, can't wait to go back

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

We love going at Christmas time and even honeymooned there 17 years ago

We love all the decorations, music and Christmas shows both at WDW and Seaworld. We have been to SW on Christmas Day, AK and MK. We even got nice weather to go to a water park, or crazy golf followed by an ice cream is a different way to celebrate! The parks are really busy, but if you can get in early you may manage a few rides.

We normally book to eat in one of the hotel restaurants such as O'Hanas or California Grille on Christmas Day so we don't have to go into one of the parks and if we have a lazy morning opening presents we aren't disappointed if the parks get yo capacity. A few Christmas Eves we have been in MK and stayed until close, so technically we get a bit of Christmas Day as well also the crowds tend to go after the fireworks and you can get on a lot of the rides (if you can stay awake).

Other things we enjoy are the nightly snow falls at Celebration and looking at all the house decorations or looking at the decorations at FW. The hotel gingerbread houses and decorations are worth going to. There is just so much!!

Hope you have a great time, you could book one of the firework cruises for your mum's birthday, that would be fun

 

[tinkerpea]

We're also thinking about going for Xmas In 2015!
We have been many times over September/ October and love it!! But went this yr into November and got a taste of Xmas, now i want more lol!
The crowds terrify me though, so I'm thinking of doing 2/3 wks so we have quite time either after new yr of before Xmas I also hate the cold!!! But I'm thinking it would be worth it just once..

 

[PJB71]

Were here ATM

This is our 13th Christmas here & wouldn't want to go at any other time of year as I feel we would be missing out on soooooo much

The weather has been in the 90s

 

[Tinkerbell1989]

Were here ATM

This is our 13th Christmas here & wouldn't want to go at any other time of year as I feel we would be missing out on soooooo much

The weather has been in the 90s

Apparently its the hottest December they've had for 6 years! X

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

We normally fly out around the 11th December and the crowds don't ramp up until just before Christmas and then it's manic!