Would it be too late to plan a good trip over Christmas break?

[kupair]

We have a February vacation booked, but my daughter just won her school spelling bee and can go to districts. Naturally, it's right in the middle of our February trip. Trying to go before mid-February when our youngest 4th child turns 3 and keeps us from staying in most rooms! Ugh! I'm so torn. What would you do? Would like to take them out of the least amount of school.

 

[rebelbuddhist]

It would be challenging if you are looking for many table service ADRs or most desired FastPass + reservations. But if you are flexible and accept you can't do everything exactly when you want. Of course, Christmas time will be more expensive and much more crowded depending on your exact travel dates. We will be there from Dec 21st to Jan 1 and have been planning for months!

 

[Disneylover99]

It depends on what a good trip means to you. Christmas will be crowded, so you will need to rope drop to get lots of rides in if that's important. You will be able to get some decent fast passes and there will be some ADR's available. Eat at counter service locations during off hours.

 

[Hopefully]

Yes for us it would be too late. Popular restaurants will be booked solid and many FP+ already gone. Plus it is crazy crowded and expensive.
Good Luck

 

[Pipkin]

I was able to get 4 out of five nights stay at a popular resort for Christmas week, which will go unnamed for now; I'm working on the fifth night. We last went for a very last minute trip over Halloween weekend and we were able to get same day reservations at Boma. We could not stay at a Budget Disney Hotel however but Best Western at the hotel plaza at Disney Springs for $100 per night was fine.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I think it depends on both your expectations and what is required for "good" to you.

Christmas is going to be much much much more crowded than February. You're already in the 60-day FP+ window, and may not be able to get some headliners. Standby queues will be bananas.

While you may be able to get some ADRs as people cancel or change, some will be nigh impossible.

If you absolutely have to have a Frozen FP+, an Akershus PPO or Ohana dinner to be "good," I think you'll suffer. If you're happy to deal with crowds, take what ADRs you can find, and know that you will end up in queues, I think you can have a good trip.

 

[raddisneyfan]

I would say depends when your kids need to be back in school. To avoid crowds and probably get a good deal, I would try the week after New Years--1st week in January. May still have crowds, but not nearly like between Christmas and New Years. Just a thought. Hope your able to get the family there to enjoy before they can no longer fit into one room.

Counting down for me. I'll be there in 15 days!!! Hooraaayyyyy!!!

 

[fla4fun]

I think it depends on both your expectations and what is required for "good" to you.

Christmas is going to be much much much more crowded than February. You're already in the 60-day FP+ window, and may not be able to get some headliners. Standby queues will be bananas.

While you may be able to get some ADRs as people cancel or change, some will be nigh impossible.

If you absolutely have to have a Frozen FP+, an Akershus PPO or Ohana dinner to be "good," I think you'll suffer. If you're happy to deal with crowds, take what ADRs you can find, and know that you will end up in queues, I think you can have a good trip.

I agree with this. The few times I have traveled Christmas week have almost always been last minute (less than two months out). I was happy to get the resort I wanted at a discount (sometimes you can get discounts on third party sites) and I got most of the FP+ I wanted. I don't book a lot of table service restaurants because I want to have more flexibility for attractions and just eat counter service when it's convenient. You just have to have the right attitude and expectations going in and you can have a very good trip. It won't be the perfect trip, but sometimes the spontaneous trips are better.

 

[Bigmo]

I just planned my daughters Christmas present two weeks ago and it is a trip to WDW Dec 26th-29th. I was even able to get a ADR at Be Our Guest by being persistent and constantly checking. My Fast Passes are set and even though I know it will be crowded we are going to have a great time!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

As others have said, it depends on what you want out of the trip. If you want hard-to-get FP's and ADR's, it may be too late. It will be incredibly crowded, so I would suggest going in with the expectation that you won't get to do as much as you would during another time of year.

 

[Disneylover99]

We've been to DW over Christmas week for the last two years. I haven't found it hard to get or change fp's at all, even early in the morning, day of. I think people who have never been during this time assume it must be almost impossible to do this because of crowds, but it's surprisingly easy.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I would say depends when your kids need to be back in school. To avoid crowds and probably get a good deal, I would try the week after New Years--1st week in January. May still have crowds, but not nearly like between Christmas and New Years. Just a thought. Hope your able to get the family there to enjoy before they can no longer fit into one room.

Counting down for me. I'll be there in 15 days!!! Hooraaayyyyy!!!

The First week of January is Disney Marathon weekend.

 

[Dug720]

The First week of January is Disney Marathon weekend.

First FULL weekend of January. The 6-8.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Right, but based on many school calendars, that first week is going to stay busy. Not the boggling busy that Christmas and NYE are, but busy.

 

[AdamEfimoff]

We have a February vacation booked, but my daughter just won her school spelling bee and can go to districts. Naturally, it's right in the middle of our February trip. Trying to go before mid-February when our youngest 4th child turns 3 and keeps us from staying in most rooms! Ugh! I'm so torn. What would you do? Would like to take them out of the least amount of school.

what about for spring break?

 

[Deb & Bill]

First FULL weekend of January. The 6-8.

Actually Jan 4-8, 2017. 5K on 5th. Expo starts on the 4th. Runners will start arriving no later than Jan 4.

 

[Dug720]

Actually Jan 4-8, 2017. 5K on 5th. Expo starts on the 4th. Runners will start arriving no later than Jan 4.

True. I keep forgetting it's pretty much a week now. So glad I quit running.

 

[Nancyg56]

For my family, this woudl be too close to plan, but we like specific restaurants, know where we like to stay, and are pretty set in how we like to tour the parks. I am not spontaneous for some aspects of a Disney trip.

WHat are your expectations? You can still manage a great trip if you are not as finicky as I guess I am.

Right, but based on many school calendars, that first week is going to stay busy. Not the boggling busy that Christmas and NYE are, but busy.

Boy, did we find that out the hard way! When we planned out forst trip back since our kids were little, we planned a January 1 arrival date. Remembering how the parks (MK and FW in Epcot, back then) cleared out, we figured walk on everything. Nope. It was a blast, but the first part of the trip was crowded.

 

[Anniefrances]

For us the answer is no, definitely not too late, especially if it is a return visit - just yesterday I booked a last minute Dec. 26-31 trip since our APs expire the end of the year and I probably won't renew them. No issues at all getting FP even for the "hard to get" attractions. For dining, I'm not sure - we prefer QS during the Dec chaos so that we can maintain flexibility. Even though I didn't try to book anything, I did check on a couple of dates and there were plenty of TS options still open that week. Not Ohana nor CG (those are among our favorites) but plenty of other reasonable choices. Now, with all this said, our expectations are quite different for Dec. break trips compared to other times of the year. We don't "get as much done" and are happy if we ride only 5-6 attractions a day since just being there together and taking in the holiday ambiance is enjoyable for us.

 

[Madame]

Just yesterday I added my DH, mil & 2 boys to what was supposed to be a trip for DD & I only, Jan 1-6 (40ish days out). Booked an extra room at Pop & found reasonable flights on Spirit.

FPs were pretty easy. Only had to change times on a few. The only two impossible to change from 2-6 was Frozen (no surprise) & Epcot character spot (huh, go figure).

I had to scrap a lot of our ADRs, but picked up a 5:15 Tusker, PPO H&V, CM brunch, 8:15 pm GG, 8:00pm 1900 PF, CP lunch, & didn't even have to change our Ohana reservation. Granted I had to give up BoG dinner, lunch & bkfst & B&C, but this is our fifth trip in 3 years so not deal-breakers.

Take a look at which ADRs are available. You can pick up quite a few if flexible.