We've been to Disney World twice before - both trips were in winter, non-peak periods. We are also planning to go again this Feb. We are contemplating spending 5 days there next year over Christmas break, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day itself. I know it gets super-crowded, with the some of biggest crowds, if not THE biggest, of the year. DH is thinking we may not be able to do as many of the rides, but we would love to just be there to see it all decorated and decked out for Christmas. Has anyone on here been there at Christmastime before? Was it really that bad crowd-wise or was it managable? Any advice anyone can give? TIA?
I went in 2000 with my parents and siblings over Christmas and again in 2009 with my kids and husband over Christmas. It's amazing there. It is SUPER crowded. You have to go early and use Fast Pass when possible.
We still had an AMAZING time and I want to go again. They start decorating at Thanksgiving for Christmas and it stays up for a week or two after if you don't want to be there over the actual holiday.
LOVE it at Christmas!! We've been 3-4 times over Christmas, the most recent was just last year, December 22-26, 2011.
Magic Kingdom is usually the one that's crazy on Christmas. So many people they 'close' it and don't allow anyone else in. So on Christmas Day last year we spent the day at Animal Kingdom and it wasn't bad at all. Pretty much could ride/do whatever we wanted.
Depending on how old your kids are, the Christmas Processional and scripture reading is very moving. And one of our favorites, are the fireworks and other night events as Epcot.
We surprised the kids with a Disney trip (got there Dec 27th) and it was like Christmas every day. My daughter was eight at the time and still says it was the best trip ever and best Christmas present ever.
Fastpass everything you can and be prepared for crowds, but totally worth it!!!
Go the first week in December. You have everything you would have Christmas Day without our chaos. Actually this is a low attendance weeks My husband and I always go early December for Christmas! No lines.
Nothing like Diney at Christmas season.
I would check on the tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party . . . they scoot everyone out of Magic Kingdom by the evening, and then only the special ticket holders can stay (similar to the Halloween party). Magic Kingdom is not empty by any stretch, but it's a bit more manageable.
We went one year to see the "snow" (fun for Florida kids). I think it's something that's worth doing at least once. If I remember correctly we went in early December.
As I understand it the week of Christmas is the busiest week of the year except maybe the 4th of July. But at least you're not dealing with severe heat.
If you go have a great time!
I would also check the crowd calendar at www.touringplans.com.
I just went the week before thanksgiving. From what I had heard from others, it wasn't supposed to be that busy of a time, but I can tell you, it was still kind of busy. Wait times weren't too bad. Averaging 10-20 minutes. Still better than going at peak times. And it was decorated for Christmas. But, they were still bringing stuff out. I heard the decorations are not fully complete until Thanksgiving weekend.
We were there for New Years, it was crazy! Have never seen a place so extremely crowded, I do not know if it is the same for Christmas, but as you do a lot of people love to be there for the same reasons as you do, decorations and the magic.
There were a lot of people getting frustrated, impossible to get fast passes, they were all gone by 10:00am, lines would take literally hours, I mean 6 hours, the non popular rides were ok. Since I noticed a lot of people fighting and tempers blown, we decided to just be there, and do what was possible but not to get upset or try to do the popular ones, we can always go back at another day... then we were able to enjoy it.
Plan in advance your restaurant reservations, if you can find any, I think is a little late, but even if its not your first restaurant choice try to get reservations so you avoid long lines even for food.
Good luck, I would loooove to go for Christmas! But after our New Years experience, there is no way I will ever convince my husband!!!
I live 15 minutes away from the park and the week of Christmas we visit up north because EVERYTHING is filled to capacity. My development is mostly short term vacation homes and getting in and out of here that week is the biggest pain in the butt.
I would recommend going the week after Thanksgiving or within the first two weeks of December. The holiday decorations are already up and it is not busy at all. I wouldn’t go to any of the park for Christmas you can’t even walk around because they ALL close when they fill up (including the surrounding parks like Universal and SeaWorld).
Christmas time here is way busier than the summer months. I just read an article that Disney/Orlando was the number one vacation spot in the US for the holiday’s.
