What would you do on a non park day at Christmas time?

[delgrec]

I wasn't sure where to post this so I apologize if this isn't the right forum. It didn't seem to fit any of them!

So we are going on a cruise (Carnival) from December 20th - 27th. We are then planning to check into AofA the evening of the 27th. We are only planning on going to MK on the 29th because that is both my 5 year old and DH's birthday. Since it is christmas time, it doesn't feel worth it to do a park for two days. We are leaving on the 30th. How would you spend December 28th? Would love to hear how you would plan your day.

Thanks!

 

[krayzmelmel]

We love hotel hopping and looking at the gorgeous decorations! Our fav is ft wilderness campgrounds because some people go all out!

 

[GrumpyBa*D]

I would tour at least the deluxe resorts.... They are decorated so nice. Mi know YC, BW, gF, and Contemporary have gingerbread creations.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

Resort hopping for sure. I loved all the decorations at grand Floridian, Contemporary, and the Epcot hotels too. Oh and the ginormous tree at Wilderness Lodge....so pretty! They even have "sleigh" rides through the campgrounds at Ft wilderness. They pit some jingle bells on a horse carriage. It was really kind of neat. I believe one cost for the whole carriage which will seat 4-5 people.

 

[mom2rtk]

We were in Florida last summer and wanted to visit Disney but not spend a lot of time in the parks, as I don't do well in the summer heat. We did one evening in the MK then spent the next day on non-park stuff. We ate breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, something we always shy away from because it takes away from park time. We took the monorail around the MK loop and the Epcot loop a couple times. We shopped in Downtown Disney. We watched Wishes from the beach at the Polynesian. It was fun to do things we usually shy away from when we do a park-centric trip.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Go to Gaylord Palms Ice display if your kids are old enough for the evening.

 

[disney1990]

Visit the resorts for free entertainment. Especially, Boardwalk, Grand Floridian, Yacht and Beach Clubs. And visit Downtown Disney and see Santa while there.

 

[Hoopfamily]

Go to a park.

 

[mom2rtk]

Over Christmas week they sometimes have characters in holiday attire in the resorts. Check at the resort concierge desk in each deluxe resort and see if they are on the schedule.

 

[Karlzmom]

We did a non-park day for Christmas last year. We grabbed a resort brunch, rented a pedal bike and took a spin around Crescent Lake, played two rounds of minigolf, toured a couple resorts for decorations and had an awesome resort dinner.

 

[GotLabradors]

If you like looking at the Christmas decorations, I would say go for a non park day. My mom and I spent an entire day going to the different resorts to see all the decorations when we did our Christmas trip. We are also the crazy people who will spend hours at Christmas time driving around random neighborhoods looking at everyone's decorations/lights.

 

[MouseOfGold]

On non-park days we usually book a character meal, go swimming if it's warm enough, visit other resorts and look at the Christmas decor, go shopping in DD or head over to the Boardwalk.

 

[moriaw76]

Like everyone else said, resort hop. Hoop-de-doo musical revue at fort wilderness is a great place to get a dining reservation and then you can look at the campground decorations and/or do the campfire sing a long. There is so much to do outside of the parks.

 

[dsneprincess]

ICE at Gaylord Palms then resort hop.

 

[wdwfan22]

I guess I'm not sure why it doesn't feel worth it to do another park day. Is it financial? If its not, yea going around to the resorts to look at Christmas decorations is pretty. But it seems to me for kids, another park day would be way more fun for them.

 

[indimom]

ICE at Gaylord Palms is very "cool" ha ha, but will add a cost and isn't a long exhibit. We loved it. Our kids were 8 and 10 when we went, but we saw much younger children enjoying the experience.
We also had dinner at one of the Monorail resorts, resort hopped, and finished the night viewing the MK fireworks from the balcony at the Contemporary.
The Ft. has lots of kid-friendly activities (some added cost, some not), you could attend the campfire singalong (free if you bring your own smores fixins, added cost if you buy their smores kits). You can also see the electric water pageant from the beach and the MK fireworks from the beach (imo, a better view than the contemporary). They have carriage rides and many of the campers decorate their sites for the holidays (who doesn't love taking a drive to see Christmas lights?)

Have a great trip!

 

[delgrec]

Thanks everyone for the ideas! I love the sleigh ride idea. I figured I would get some "go to a park" responses and we still haven't totally ruled that out. We were just there last august for 8 days so I am just not convinced we need to deal with the crowds for both days. If we do we will go to Epcot.

Edited to add: I missed some of the responses when I wrote the above. It is 450 (roughly) more to add the extra park day. It isn't that it is financially a problem necessarily but I am just not sure we want to bother spending all that to deal with the crowds and everything. The purpose of this trip add on to the cruise was really just to get my daughter in MK on her birthday, not necessarily to fully do disney.

I have never heard of ICE at Gaylord palms. Will check it out!

 

[McKelly]

I agree with the others that said visit the resorts to see all the decorations. But to expand on that...........a cupcake crawl. Try all of the seasonal cupcakes! Our Xmas trip will also be to celebrate my DD's Sweet Sixteen Birthday. I figured this would put the "Sweet" part into it!

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2013/12/22/food-challenge-the-2013-dfb-holiday-cupcake-crawl/

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Go to Gaylord Palms Ice display if your kids are old enough for the evening.

+1







There's even an "ice slide" (and yes, you can slide down it!):



Long coats are provided, so you just need to be sure you have on long pants and closed-toe shoes:



There is also free holiday entertainment in the indoor atrium:



And you can decorate cookies with Gingy the Gingerbread Man inside a life-sized gingerbread house:







You can even round out your visit with the Shrek Feast, a character breakfast featuring Fiona, Shrek and Puss In Boots:



Their Christmas events are AWESOME!

 

[EagleFlyer]

We did a resort tour on a non-park day at christmas a couple of years ago. We took the boat to the Wilderness Lodge and took the resort loop to visit the monorail resorts. Then we took the epcot monorail just for fun and to get a peek at Epcot. Our then 5 and 2 year olds loved it, checking out the christmas trees and decorations, seeing the gingerbread houses, and riding the boat and monorails.