We're going to Disney for 9 nights at Christmas! And you won't believe my hotel rate!

[DisneyFansInLINY]

We went for Christmas last year and had a blast! The decorations are incredible. I can't help you about decorations but I can share with you what we did last year. I packed the kids into the car (still practically sleeping, 6 am) and ran back in and set up all the Christmas presents. I took a picture on my phone and texted it to my girlfriend. I changed her name on my phone so on Christmas morning she sent me a text from 'santa' with a picture of all their presents under the tree. It gave them something to look forward to when we got home. I got them a couple small things to open on Christmas morning but we were also in a vacation home, not a hotel room. It was incredible!

Thank you! That is a great idea!

Congrats on getting a great rate! Don't you just love it? We are going in December too and I got a great rate at Wyndham
Bonnet Creek...paying $625 for the week, including taxes, for a 2 BR condo.
It is our first time off site but I couldn't pass up that deal, especially with the
fantastic reviews everyone gives that place.

That is an amazing price! Have a great time!

Coincidentally, just today for the very first time I started thinking about
Christmas decorations. We will not be there ON Christmas, but since we have
our tree up at home during that time, I thought it would be cool to have a few
decorations. The first thing I thought of was window clings-- Disney themed
Christmas clings are usually pretty easy to find. Our condo will be pretty big,
I think 1100 sq feet so it's not like I can really deck the place out. But I was
thinking maybe I would bring a little 2 ft prelit tree and put it in my boys'
bedroom, and then they could keep it on at night as a nightlight, too. I could
just leave it there afterward and then that would free up suitcase space for
souvenirs.

That sounds like a great idea too!

We went for Christmas one year and loved it!!
Before we left my nephew took my kids for a bit so Hubby and I could put alldf the presents under the tree. They then came back to pick us up and we
went to the airport. We rented a car while in Disney and we went to Target
and bought a cheap little tree, a couple of cheap ornaments and a box or two
of candy canes to use as ornaments also. In our suitcase I packed some little
stockings for the kids and put those on the dresser knobs.
On Christmas morning the kids woke up to a few little toys and such in their stocking and one small gift for each of them under the tree. All the stuff was Disney themed. They also got a letter from Santa saying that he had left all of their other presents at home under the tree since he didn't want us to have to worry about taking all the stuff home.
The kids were thrilled!!!

That sounds great also! So many wonderful ideas! Thank you!

We decided that Christmas at Disney is going to be a bi-annual tradition for us. This is a Disney year!
I bought a 3' tree from JCPenney.com (found the best deal there) and had it delivered to the hotel. We kept it on the table between the beds and left the lights on at night for a night light. We bought a few small Disney decorations,
and we made a bunch of styrofoam ball Mickey heads. I just attached 3 balls
with toothpicks, spray painted, and stuck hangers in the top - simple!
I also picked up a flat lighted Mickey decoration to hang on the mirror (or window). On Christmas morning, Santa brought all the presents to the room! We originally talked to Santa about bringing various forms of $$$ - gift cards, cash, rolls of quarters, etc., but DD saved up so much money prior to the trip that money wasn't going to cut it. She was really into Monster High that year,
so Santa ended up bringing TONS of Monster High dolls along with our
stockings. We will do something similar this year. Santa bought at last 2
extra years by showing up in our hotel room. By the way, kids don't notice extra suitcases...and between souvenirs and presents, we filled it up on the way home, too.

You are vey creative! I think I will pack suitcases with gifts inside.

 

[DisneyFansInLINY]

we brought an artificial tree for the room (real trees against fire hazard) we purchased ornament hooks from dollar tree and bought Christmas snickers/milky way etc when we got to Florida--hot glued to hooks and decorated tree with them (2 in 1 decorations and a snack) and a couple of rolls of ribbon---on Christmas morning Santa left $5 gift cards for fast food restaurants we left tree with a note if they could please donate it

That is a delicious idea! LoL

We went last year and brought a small Disney tree I bought at Walgreens. My children are older, but still love Christmas morning. Santa pre-purchased all the gifts, wrapping paper (DON'T pre-wrap), tape, and scissors and put them under my clothes. Imagine my surprise... LOL. I wrapped while they swam, put them in a draw since teenagers don't care
about my underwear, and Santa arrived soon after they fell asleep.

What we were not expecting is while we were doing the Sunrise Safari, the
AKL Santa left gifts also. Plus they also left cookies and a plate for Santa the
night before.

Disney is a special place for Christmas. Enjoy your trip!

That sounds like a wonderful Christmas surprise! I love AKL but my husband will never agree to stay there

Congratulations on
your great rate! I LOVE the Swan and Dolphin, and the Swan is my resort of choice! If you are a AAA member, you can save 20% at several of the eateries at the resort; Picabu, The Fountain, and Fresh come to mind.
Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year at WDW!

I am indeed a AAA member! And that is awesome to know because we are getting TIW card but I don't think it works at those restaurants!

We have a 3' silver tree that we take when we stay at the Swan during the holidays; it has turquoise-colored bead ornaments that match the decor. (I didn't do that on purpose, but it looks very lovely in
those white and blue rooms.)

That sounds beautiful!

We usually use SPG points for a holiday stay at the Swan every 3 years or so; the only real drawback is that swimming is normally too cold because they do not heat their pools to the same temp that Disney properties do.

We hardly ever go swimming anyway lol. However, DD and DH did going swimming when we stayed this past May at the Dolphin for DH's conference.

I loved going on Christmas. It was really magical. I can't wait to do it with the kids, we're waitinplppktet
Nmokklo! Y be a bit older though because it's definitely a tad chaotic.

I thought about that too but just can't wait! DD is 5 but DS is only 1! What
can I say, I am a Disney nut! LOL

Christmas at Disney is awesome! I hope you have a wonderful time (you will!)

We decided last year to make Christmas at Disney a regular event and since
we only have one 10 year old at home we don't have to worry about presents very much. We bought her a few things at the Parks for Christmas morning
and called it good.

It was wonderful to opt out of the shopping, cooking, planning hoopla and we had a lovely relaxed vacation instead. I really liked it and am looking forward to this year! We drove down and I took a little 3 foot tree we had and some lights. This year I want to find a little prelit tree and some window clings.

That is a wonderful tradition! I hope my husband falls in love with the idea as well and we can do this every year! That was my childhood! We went Christmas, Easter, Winter Break and during the summer!

We are doing Disney for Christmas this year, too! We are staying in a 3 BR townhouse at Windsor Hills for $1100 for the week! I love a good Disney deal, too! Nice work on the Swan deal! We are
taking the Auto Train, so I'm planning to pack up a 3' fake tree and bring
some Disney decos for the tree and townhouse. I haven't figured out yet if Santa will bring everything to Disney or leave a few things at home, too. I'm
loving all the ideas here! We will probably take our Elf on the Shelf along to
Florida with us, too. I can't wait!

Wow a 3br townhouse sounds amazing! Thank you for reminding me about Elf on the Shelf!

OP, what a wonderful deal and I hope
you have a magical Christmas

I also love all the ideas on this thread. I would love to do a Disney Christmas one year as it seems so magical in spite of all the stories you hear about the crowds and prices. We have thought about doing a holiday trip once the kids get out of school for Christmas break and just doing Sea World, MVMCP, DTD, and visiting a few Disney deluxe resorts (WL, BWI, GF) to see the various holiday decorations.

Thank you and you as well! It is definately worth going at least once. Crowds are crowds. If you have been to Disney before and aren't there to see everything then going at Christmastime is awesome.

I'm so excited to read all of this! We are heading to Disney for our First time ever! Me, DH, DD 11, DD 5! We will be there Dec.
22 thru Dec. 29! Christmas to me can't be any better than spending it in
Disney! I am the most excited about this trip my daughters and husband think
I am obsessed! We are staying @ All Star Movies! Does anyone know if they
do anything special Christmas day @ the resort or Animal Kingdom because
that's the park we picked for Us to spend Christmas day at!

Have a wonderful time! Make sure you get your first visit pins! I have never been to AK on Christmas day so I have no idea. But I'm sure the resort will have something. The resorts are usually fully decorated and Disney is a magical place all year round!

 

[DisneyFansInLINY]

Congrats OP! You are going to have an awesome Christmas!!!

We will be staying at OKW (renting DVC points) Dec. 22 - 29. SOOO excited. I would love to bring some decorations...but we will be on the Fantasy Dec 15 - 22 and I am really freaking out about packing for a two week vacation especially since it is land/sea. Window clings might have to be it!

That sounds like an amazing trip! Have a great time!

We were at the Gaylord Opryland hotel last year for Christmas. I brought a couple of strands of those large colored LED Christmas lights and strung them over the bed and dresser. Very festive and didn't take up very much room. Santa had packed a couple of gifts in a large
cardboard box that we placed in the top of the closet and our son never
noticed. On Christmas morning, our son discovered the gifts at the hotel
doorway - Santa has to be very efficient in large hotels! My son also found a
few larger items under our tree when we returned home which was also fun.

That's another great idea! Thank you!

We will see you there! We are going for our 2nd Christmas trip and staying at the Bay Lakes Tower. You will love Christmas in the parks! So pretty especially Disney Holiday Studios-great light show. Very
crowded but if you can make rope drop as well as go back to your hotel for a
break then back to the park, you will have a blast. We have a miniature tree
and Santa brings small gifts Christmas morning. We eat at Liberty Tree
Tavern for a nice turkey dinner. I think we are switching things up this year
and doing the Rose and Crown at Epcot for a more British meal.
Have fun!
Elizabeth

Rose and Crown sounds delicious! We are going to my parents vacation house for Christmas dinner. But Christmas Eve, my mom's 60th birthday and DH's 32nd birthday, we are going to Coral Reef. That is as of now, but I change restaurant reservations a lot lol. I can't wait to see the Osbourne family lights at HS. Thanks for the tips.

Great thread!! We too are doing Disney for Christmas, Dec 22-29. Since we also have an older daughter in college who is not joining us for the trip, we are thinking of doing our Christmas day before we leave.

That sounds like a good idea. Plus you can give gifts that you can use on the trip! I made shirts for our trip to WDW this past May using the Disigners
section on here. Now my family is already asking for Christmas sweatshirts lol.

 

[swilshire]

We "changed the day" one year and DS was none the wiser. We declared Christmas Eve Christmas and made sure the whole family was on board.

Another year we had a Winnie the Pooh tree from Lowes and Pointsettias for decoration.

One year we took one of those lighted spiral trees that are in a flat box at the store.

We also used the method described above one year where Christmas morning was just stockings and small gifts with everything else waiting when we got home.

This year it looks like we'll be driving to Florida on Christmas Day. I would be sad except I know the traffic will probably lighter. I'll never go on the 26th again. Terrible traffic all the way down. I thought about having the family celebration on the Sunday prior, but DS and DSIL will probably both have to work. Not sure how we'll arrange it.

Sheila

 

[Sandie08]

That is a delicious idea! LoL

That sounds like a wonderful Christmas surprise! I love AKL but my husband will never agree to stay there

I am indeed a AAA member! And that is awesome to know because we are getting TIW card but I don't think it works at those restaurants!

We hardly ever go swimming anyway lol. However, DD and DH did going swimming when we stayed this past May at the Dolphin for DH's conference.

I thought about that too but just can't wait! DD is 5 but DS is only 1! What
can I say, I am a Disney nut! LOL

That is a wonderful tradition! I hope my husband falls in love with the idea as well and we can do this every year! That was my childhood! We went Christmas, Easter, Winter Break and during the summer!

Wow a 3br townhouse sounds amazing! Thank you for reminding me about Elf on the Shelf!

Thank you and you as well! It is definately worth going at least once. Crowds are crowds. If you have been to Disney before and aren't there to see everything then going at Christmastime is awesome.

Have a wonderful time! Make sure you get your first visit pins! I have never been to AK on Christmas day so I have no idea. But I'm sure the resort will have something. The resorts are usually fully decorated and Disney is a magical place all year round!

Thanks for the info about the pins! I'm so excited about this! I eat sleep and breathe only Disney now that we booked our trip

 

[disneybirds]

Congrats on the great rate. I love the idea of Christmas at Disney. Now that the girls are older, it would be a good time to think about going.

 

[itutorfortravel]

I have not read all the posts, so maybe you've said how old your kids are, but just wanted to say that we haven't gone to Disney World over Christmas, but we have gone on two Disney cruises over Christmas with our DD who was ages 7 and 8 at the time...

For the first cruise, we took a tiny table top tree and packed stockings and small gifts for the stockings that I hid until Christmas Eve night. If you don't think that was hard to pull off with DD only feet away sleeping, think again! LOL! She was thrilled with it and was excited to have more already waiting under the tree when she got home (I staged the house before we left, and we put up an artificial tree.)

For the second cruise, we used the artificial tree again. This time I got a HUGE Disney stocking at Costco and filled it with most of DD's gifts before we left...then hung it with stocking hangers on the front of our tv armoire (it was about 5 feet tall!). Peeking out of the top was a little stuffed elf we named Ernie...well, on the ship on Christmas morning, DD got a stocking just as she had on the previous cruise and Ernie was in the stocking with a note saying that Santa had delivered her gifts at our home and that he had brought a picture of them from when he was there the night before! So she thought Ernie had traveled to her house on Christmas Eve and then to the ship just to see her! It was so much fun to do and she was sooo excited...she still talks about it!

It's Disney, it's magical, so let your imagination run wild and come up with something that will WOW your kids on Christmas morning!

 

[ajlsjl]

That's an awesome rate! Congratulations!

 

[Sandie08]

So excited! My dh and I wanted so bad to go to Disney at Christmas and New years but never thought we could go the way we like to travel without breaking the bank since it's an expensive time to go. But, I called the Swan & Dolphin since my dh's work gets a discount there. But the rate I got has never been this good! I expected to pay at least $250 a night, instead we are paying $149 for the 1st night and $169 per night for the other 8 nights! Our hotel budget was $2000 and since it was so much less than we thought it was going to be, we can now go for 9 nights from 12/23-1/1. I wanted 11 nights but my DH said no way and we compromised at 9! So all in with taxes and resort fees, it's going to be less than $1800 and we are in walking distance to Epcot as well as the Boardwalk! Ahhhh can't wait! I know I had posted that we wanted to go in Feburary and rent points, but this turns out to be better! And my hubby and mom's birthday (actually her 60th) is Dec. 24! So hoping to get the whole family down here as they have a vacation home in Kissimmee. Just don't know what to do about presents for DD and DS! DH is worried about a Christmas tree.. Oh well I will have to work on making this the best Christmas ever. I always went with my parents and the last time was about 7 years ago. However, we always stayed at their vacation home which was fully decorated for Christmas. So any suggestions for keeping the Christmas feel in our hotel room?

So your rate is this low because of the discount you received from your hubby's work or you called and received a better rate than what they quite online? Just curious because we are going from Dec. 23 thru Dec. 29, 6 nights 7 day magic pass with dining package @ all star movies and our rate is $169 a night!

 

[jessica52877]

We went last year for Christmas. Got a smokin' rate at the Beach Club! I purchased a 4 foot Christmas tree from Michael's and a set of 6 ornaments from The Disney store, brought candy canes, lights, garland and a few other small ornaments we had (non breakable). It was so much fun to arrive on Christmas Eve and put up the tree and decorate the room. We had one at home too!

I also packed up all his gifts and put them in the car. We had a santa fe and there was a small hidden spot under the back where I could put a few. The rest were in a box and he knew they were in there. So happy that I have always done gifts from us and very few from Santa.

It also is DS's birthday the 27th so packed up everything to decorate along with those gifts too! I made a million trips to the car but it was well worth it.

I will say the most stressful part was Christmas Eve making sure he was asleep and walking out to get the santa gifts. They were still in the car. I was so afraid he would wake up and then see them sitting there!

 

[disneymomjcs]

Congratulations Christmas at Disney is wonderful and crazy and you will love it!

 

[Swan4Me]

Congratulations on your great rate! I LOVE the Swan and Dolphin, and the Swan is my resort of choice! If you are a AAA member, you can save 20% at several of the eateries at the resort; Picabu, The Fountain, and Fresh come to mind.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year at WDW!

Great tip-which I forgot about on my first/only trip to the Swan

These were our Faves to eat at