Touring before Christmas...

[dcsend]

Someone said that I could/should tour the resorts to experience the "magic" of Disney, as we will be in Florida and may NOT go to a park, Dec. 11 - 15

Can we do that? Even if we're not staying at a resort?
If so, can we go at ANY time??
WHICH resort(s)?
Is it something I should take time to do?
If I bring my fam (ages 16, 18 daughter, 21, 24, 48 husband) would they be bored???

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Derrrit]

Anyone can go enjoy the Disney World Resorts without being a Disney Guest.

I would recommend Touring all the monorail/MK resort area hotels (The Grand Floridian, The Polynesian, and The Contemporary) in the evening on either Dec 12th, Dec 14th, or Dec 15th because these are the dates that Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party occur, during which there are special firework launch points used in the Christmas Firework Show. This way you can catch The Electrical Water Pageant (On Seven Seas Lagoon) and Magic Kingdom's Christmas Fireworks on The Polynesian Beach all for free, if you would like to splurge I would suggests making a Dinner reservation at either of these resorts.

I would also suggest going to The Animal Kingdom Lodge to see the Safari Animals for free, Which also has beautiful Christmas Decorations.

You could also do a Resort guided tour which there are multiple, Such as the Behind the scenes tour of The Animal Kingdom lodge, The Night safari Tour at Animal Kingdom lodge, Horse back Riding at Wilderness Lodge, Firework boat tour either on Seven sea lagoon (Magic kingdom fireworks) or Illumination firework boat tour, Fishing on Seven seas lagoon, and Watercraft rental on Seven sea lagoon,.

 

[dcsend]

Derrit,
Yay! Thank you!
This is a spontaneous trip we just planned, as 3 of our 4 kids are coming home for the holidays. Since we haven't been together in 9 mos., and in Jan, two are leaving again for N.Mexico/Africa...so I didn't want to fill our 3 days with too much.
BUT, how can we go to Fl (we're from NY) w/o going to Disney, right?...(which we haven't been in 11 yrs)
So anyway, here's a thought.
Could/Should we go to MK for the day (on a MVMCP day) and leave at 6pm for dinner at one of the resorts - tour the resorts AND see fireworks?
If you could only choose 1 or 2, which resorts and/or which restaurants?

thanks for your expertise!!!

 

[nursejackie]

At busy times the monorail resorts, and even the Boardwalk resorts restrict parking to their own guest's use, unless you valet park IME. We visit over Christmas and have been turned away unless we had an ADR booked at that particular resort.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

So anyway, here's a thought.
Could/Should we go to MK for the day (on a MVMCP day) and leave at 6pm for dinner at one of the resorts - tour the resorts AND see fireworks?
If you could only choose 1 or 2, which resorts and/or which restaurants?

That would be a pretty common plan and easily doable. Many recommend going to MK on a party day as, in theory, it's a less desirable park for many people given the shorter hours and no nighttime fireworks for non-party guests. I do tend to agree with this theory.

One small problem with wanting to see the fireworks from any of the monorail resorts is that Holiday Wishes (the fireworks show run during MVMCP) is not until 10PM.... so you have a decent amount of time to kill between 6pm and then...even when you consider dinner and touring the resorts.

But CR, Poly, and GF are all easily accessible via monorail hopping. GF has the best decorations and most to see (large tree, beautiful atrium, giant gingerbread house). CR has pretty basic decorations but a Frozen gingerbread display. Poly has pretty weak decoations relatively speaking - but plenty of other things to do... stroll the grounds, grab a drink, etc.

WL is an easy boat ride over from both the MK or CR and has arguably the 'best' lobby tree and decorations of any resort.

Hope that helps!

 

[Hopefully]

Anyone can go enjoy the Disney World Resorts without being a Disney Guest.

I would recommend Touring all the monorail/MK resort area hotels (The Grand Floridian, The Polynesian, and The Contemporary) in the evening on either Dec 12th, Dec 14th, or Dec 15th because these are the dates that Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party occur, during which there are special firework launch points used in the Christmas Firework Show. This way you can catch The Electrical Water Pageant (On Seven Seas Lagoon) and Magic Kingdom's Christmas Fireworks on The Polynesian Beach all for free, if you would like to splurge I would suggests making a Dinner reservation at either of these resorts.

I would also suggest going to The Animal Kingdom Lodge to see the Safari Animals for free, Which also has beautiful Christmas Decorations.

You could also do a Resort guided tour which there are multiple, Such as the Behind the scenes tour of The Animal Kingdom lodge, The Night safari Tour at Animal Kingdom lodge, Horse back Riding at Wilderness Lodge, Firework boat tour either on Seven sea lagoon (Magic kingdom fireworks) or Illumination firework boat tour, Fishing on Seven seas lagoon, and Watercraft rental on Seven sea lagoon,.

There is not horse back riding at the Wilderness Lodge. There is a guided trail ride that is very tame at Fort Wilderness which is the campground and a totally different resort. Many of the things that Derrit recommended also cost extra, some like the Illuminations Cruise and other fireworks cruises are hundreds of dollars to do. If these interest you you should call and see if you can book them.
I think going to the Christmas party as many recommended on your other thread is a better idea. Yes I think older teens would be bored by the resort tour.
Good Luck

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Derrit,
Yay! Thank you!
This is a spontaneous trip we just planned, as 3 of our 4 kids are coming home for the holidays. Since we haven't been together in 9 mos., and in Jan, two are leaving again for N.Mexico/Africa...so I didn't want to fill our 3 days with too much.
BUT, how can we go to Fl (we're from NY) w/o going to Disney, right?...(which we haven't been in 11 yrs)
So anyway, here's a thought.
Could/Should we go to MK for the day (on a MVMCP day) and leave at 6pm for dinner at one of the resorts - tour the resorts AND see fireworks?
If you could only choose 1 or 2, which resorts and/or which restaurants?

thanks for your expertise!!!

You could do that, but it will cost more than doing the reverse of touring some resorts and then going to MVMCP. If you want to go to MK during the day, yes, I would leave at 6 pm. You then have 4 hours to kill until the fireworks (they start at 10pm). You could monorail to CR, take the boat to Ft. W and WL, boat back to CR, monorail to Poly and GF (you can see the fireworks from the GF boat dock or marina). There are great restaurants at all of those resorts. If you want TS, I would consider the Wave, WCC, Trail's End, Kona or GF Cafe. If you want QS, I would do Contempo Cafe or Geyser Point.

 

[dcsend]

You could do that, but it will cost more than doing the reverse of touring some resorts and then going to MVMCP. If you want to go to MK during the day, yes, I would leave at 6 pm. You then have 4 hours to kill until the fireworks (they start at 10pm). You could monorail to CR, take the boat to Ft. W and WL, boat back to CR, monorail to Poly and GF (you can see the fireworks from the GF boat dock or marina). There are great restaurants at all of those resorts. If you want TS, I would consider the Wave, WCC, Trail's End, Kona or GF Cafe. If you want QS, I would do Contempo Cafe or Geyser Point.

You could do that, but it will cost more than doing the reverse of touring some resorts and then going to MVMCP. If you want to go to MK during the day, yes, I would leave at 6 pm. You then have 4 hours to kill until the fireworks (they start at 10pm). You could monorail to CR, take the boat to Ft. W and WL, boat back to CR, monorail to Poly and GF (you can see the fireworks from the GF boat dock or marina). There are great restaurants at all of those resorts. If you want TS, I would consider the Wave, WCC, Trail's End, Kona or GF Cafe. If you want QS, I would do Contempo Cafe or Geyser Point.

Sorry...what is QS & TS

 

[dcsend]

At busy times the monorail resorts, and even the Boardwalk resorts restrict parking to their own guest's use, unless you valet park IME. We visit over Christmas and have been turned away unless we had an ADR booked at that particular resort.

So if we go to MK and park, can we keep our car there during MVMCP while we take the boat to the Wilderness Lodge?

 

[Derrrit]

Sorry...what is QS & TS

Quick Service restaurants and Table Service Restaurants.

 

[dcsend]

Wow...lots to think about. Here's another question then...
MK during the day OR night?
I don't think my clan is going to want to wait until 10pm for fireworks at a resort if they've been there since rope drop. So with DisneyWishes14's suggestion...just going to the MVMCP MAY be the way to go (cheaper!)..but that's IF the park is "better" at night. Although I don't think my kids are interested in all of the extra party stuff/shows...will many of the rides be open during the Party?

And I find that curious...that many more 1,000s of people go to the Party as opposed to spending the day at MK. Is it because it's cheaper?

 

[dcsend]

ANOTHER question! So can we park at WLodge to see the decor, take the boat to MK - to take the monorail to GF, then back to MK for the party...

 

[nursejackie]

So if we go to MK and park, can we keep our car there during MVMCP while we take the boat to the Wilderness Lodge?

I have never been to the party so i can't answer for sure. It would mean paying though if you are off site guests.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

ANOTHER question! So can we park at WLodge to see the decor, take the boat to MK - to take the monorail to GF, then back to MK for the party...

No, you can’t leave your car at WL. You can park at WL for 3 Hours with a dining reservation, but you’re not supposed to leave your car there while you go to other places.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

ANOTHER question! So can we park at WLodge to see the decor, take the boat to MK - to take the monorail to GF, then back to MK for the party...

You would need to park at the Ticket and Transportation Center. You could then take the resort monorail, tour Poly, GF and CR then take the boat to WL from there, or, if you just want to see WL, the quickest way is express monorail to MK and boat to WL. Or you could park at WL temporarily to see the resort, but you would then need to move your car to TTC to go to MVMCP. I suppose you could ask at WL if you could valet park for the day/night as well and then go to MVMCP from there.