What Did You Do on Xmas Day?

[Julia M]

We will be in WDW over Xmas day. How did you (or do you) plan to spend Xmas? Any suggestions for us?

Julia

 

[LIFERBABE]

We spent this Christmas day at WDW and the weather was HORRIBLE! Not saying that it will be that way for you, but it is something to take into consideration when planning.

We thought about going to MK even though it would be packed, but when the rain and wind and cold never slowed up, we spent a nice leisurely morning and afternoon in our VWL studio, watched the parade on TV.

That evening we went to DQ (which was crowded due to the rain) and had pizza and dessert and played until close.

Because our day was so loosely planned, I didnt make a PS anywhere, because on holidays, most sit downs have you place a deposit with 24-48 hour cancellation. In light of it raining the way it did, Im glad I didnt, but I dont know how they handled the weather situation. Im sure alot of people did not go to the park that day like they planned.

Despite the weather, we had a great day and we have wonderful Christmas morning photos of the boys opening their gifts.

 

[NMAmy]

Like Liferbabe, the weather threw a monkeywrench into our plans.

We started out by opening presents in our room. Then we had a PS at Chef Mickey's which was a blast. It was a really nice way to start the morning. We headed back to the Dolphin and I had planned on seeing a movie at DTD because I knew all the parks would be crowded. HUGE mistake.

By the time we got to DTD, it was POURING. I mean, buckets. We got drenched and then there was a huge line for the movie theatres. We decided to just give up and have an easy day. We dashed to the Virgin Megastore because DD had gotten some money for Christmas from relatives and wanted some CD's. When we got to Virgin, I could actually wring water out of my hair!

We went back to the Dolphin, I got some microwave popcorn at Tubbi's (they'll pop it for you there) and we watched Princess Diaries 2 on pay per view and had dinner at Tubbi's later. It turned out to be a very relaxing and fun day. Not what I had planned--so I guess my big advice would be--BE FLEXIBLE!

 

[Steffy]

We were in the World Christmas Day. It rained really hard. We had made ps for Christmas dinner at 1900 Park Fare. We were staying at the Poly so we could just pop on the monorail without getting soaked. That was good.

We opened presents in the morning, had breakfast at Kona Cafe (at the Poly), relaxed in the lounge for a bit (we were staying conceirge) watched the parade in our rooms with some cappicino and hot cocco from the lounge.

My granddaughter went for a swim with her dad in the evening after the rain stopped and we go back from dinner. We watched Wishes from the lounge.

We had not planned any park for Christmas so we weren't disappointed there. I just wanted to be in Disney World for Christmas.

 

[disney4us2002]

Well looks like you got the theme of the day - rain! All I can say is the best-laid plans, lol.....

We started our Christmas morning at the Poly to the sound of our 11 yr old vomitting. This is how our luck runs on vacation. In hopes of getting the other two kids away from the sick one, I dressed and took them to the MK for the 8am opening. The three of us did get to ride lots of rides (Space Mtn 3x in a row) because it was cold and drizzling so there weren't any crowds to speak of. We monorailed to the Contemporary for our 10:45 brunch PS and met dh and sick son who was feeling a bit better. We had our pics, sat down to order drinks and ds again started feeling crummy. Dh grabbed a quick plate of food and then drove off to find the walk-in clinic for ds (turns out he had strep and 102* temp).

The two boys and I then took the transportation bus to DD to catch a movie and thought we were caught in a hurricane because the rain was coming from every direction. The crowds there were horrible, many movies were already sold out til 4pm or later. We did manage to get tickets and saw "Meet the Fockers" (boys' choice). Afterward we practically swam to the busstop to get back to the Poly. Dh and sick son were napping.

Antibiotics started and loaded up with motrin, we began the trek to Epcot for our Candlelight Processional package dinner at Les Chefs de France. It was still raining buckets. Sick son held on as long as possible but just felt too crummy to stay for CP show. Chefs was very, very good! This is a pre-paid package so he did try to eat a bit. Dh took sick son and younger son back to the Poly and the oldest and I stayed for the CP with Gary Sinese. The show was awesome and thankfully the rain had finally stopped.

A few notes just in case your luck is as good as ours:

1) If you ever need a doctor, the walk-in clinic is not too far and pretty decent. There is a drugstore as well to fill the prescriptions and apparently they even deliver to the Disney resorts. More than likely your insurance will not be accepted and neither is a check so take cash or a major cc (all total the bill was nearly $200).

2) If you tell your waiter at Chefs de France that your son is ill, "Mon fil est malade." he will pack up his dinner and dessert "to go" for you. He no doubt took pity on my poor accent from my hs french 25 yrs ago.

3) If you plan to take in a movie in DD, take cash. They do not accept room charges at the theater (even though they do in all the shops)! Luckily my boys had some disney dollars in their pockets as I had run out of the room with only my room key and passes.

4) A Christmas visit is a weather crapshoot!! Better to just bring your entire wardrobe, lol. We has lows of 30's, highs of 72 (one day), torrential downpours, and extreme sunshine!!

5) Oh, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat!!!!!!!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Oh yes. How could I forget?
Epcot. We ended up only doing the usual tourist things as most everything special was cancelled. (no Santa's around the world.)
CP went on as scheduled. But it was raining and miserable.
Even the tree lighting ceremony was lackluster.

Friends of ours were in MK and everything was cancelled (parades, etc).

Have a back up plan in case of incliment weather.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

We went to the Animal Kingdom (our plan to avoid the crowds - ha, ha). Got there early (before it rained). By the time we did the Safari at about 10:30 it had started to rain. Ate lunch, hoping it would soon stop. Rained harder. Went to see Lion Kion show hoping it would stop. Rained harder.

Gave up and went back to the Dolphin where I spent over an hour in line to get to a dryer for the clothes that were soaked.

Had a PS for dinner at Chef Mickey's.

P.S. - if you stay at the Swan or Dolphin, they have a "tuck-in service" from Santa's elves (no - they don't actually tuck your kids in). But the elves came, gave our kids cookies and milk, plus a little gift. They then read them "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and gave them the books to keep. Our DD5 was absolutely enamored. It was so much fun!

 

[cdntourguide]

I had a Christmas Day that I will never forget: visiting my aunt in California we had a fire in the stove while cooking, nobody hurt and it was just a small fire, but lots of smoke. Spent the better part of three days cleaning up all the smoke soot. But did get a chance for a break and watch the Disney Christmas Parade on TV.
It certainly sounds worse than it was, but it was erie watching a cloud of black smoke crawling across the ceiling.
Got to go to Disneyland for three days at New Year's: and yes it rained every single day.

 

[DVC-Don]

We spent this past Christmas Day at WDW. We were staying at the YC and had a PS for the buffet at Cape May Cafe. Then we bused over to the MK for the opening and took pictures on Main Street. Then it started to rain (it poured pretty much the rest of the day) so we hopped the boat to the WL. We toured the lobby of the VWL and WL to take pictures and then sat in the WL lobby with a cup of hot cocco while I called friends and family with my cell to rub it in we were at WDW and they weren't. Then we took the launch to the CR to look at those decorations and then monorailed over to the Poly to tour there. We snagged a lunch at the Kona Cafe (without a PS too!) at 1 PM and then took the monorail to the GF for more lobby photos. From there we took the bus to MGM and hopped the AKL bus for lobby photos and then a bus to DD where we caught a YC bus back home. After a snack type meal in our room we ventured to Epcot and the rain had pretty much stopped, but it was very cool and damp out. We stayed for the fireworks, but they were awful. What happened was it was very damp and the wind just stopped. The smoke just hung over the lake and the fireworks would shoot up into the gunpowder cloud. You would hear the explosion but, just see a faint glow from inside the cloud. Then the cloud drifted toward Japan and US and you could not see 5 feet.

But! It was still a nice trip reguardless.

 

[CarolA]

I did Christmas at Disneyland Paris. While it was cold it sounds like we had much better weather. That park was beautiful.

 

[zurgswife]

We spent Christmas 2003 at WDW. We are DVC timeshare holders so, we had a normal Christmas morning of opennig presents and having breakfast at the villa. The kids played with there stuff for a couple of hours then we went to DTD....the gift cards were burning holes in the kids pockets....Afterwards we went to Epcot in the evening to watch Illuminanations.....

We really didn't hit a park...and I enjoyed missing the huge crowds....

 

[daystar]

Hi,
My family went to WDW on Christmas of 2003...We spent christmas day in MGM i think was a wise choice....The crowds were not that bad...We didn't wait in line any more than 15 minutes for anything without a fastpass....Then we had our Christmas dinner at the 50's Prime Time Cafe, which my family loved...Weather was really nice until later that night it got colder....By Mickey's hat they had some music playing and some people dancing, my kids enjoyed the music playing....Later it got the more people there was so we left i think around 7 but we were there since the park opened...It was a great day...........

 

[simba2]

We were at WDW this Christmas and went to MGM around noon. We had 1:00 pm PS at Hollywood & Vine for the lunch buffet. It was ok. I wasn't really impressed. Probably wouldn't go back. It wasn't bad food, we just didn't care for the whole experience. Maybe it was the atmosphere which was kind of like an old 50's diner -- lots of chrome, etc. Maybe that didn't seem "special" enough for Christmas. Don't know. Can't put my finger on it but we weren't wild about it. Of course being soaked from the rain put a damper on it, too. After lunch we did many of the attractions in the pouring rain. Went back to hotel in midafternoon to change out of wet sneakers. Rain stopped by early evening and we went to MK and watched Wishes and visited many attractions with low crowds. I always wanted to spend Christmas at the World and finally did it. The weather wasn't the greatest, but we were at Disney and it was fantastic!

 

[charlottebetty]

We went to discovery cove on Christmas day. It was freezing there was sooo much cold rain we needed the wet suits just to walk around. What's that saying about best laid plans. we did have a good time despite the weather but it wasn't the tropical paradise we expected. We had to buy swim shoes because the concrete was so cold to walk on. Still not many people can say they swam with dolphins on Christmas day.

 

[ValDisney]

It looks like we had the same plans with Disneyeveryyear.
We also went to AK in the AM. Got there when it opened. We did the safari first and then went to DOnald's breakfast. We went to tarzen and when we got out it was pouring. The kids were meserable. We started to leave but then saw Lion KIng. We left after that. We went to the hotel, took warm baths and rested. Dinner at Chef Mickey's was great.
I'm glad we planned on AK instead of another park.