Disney World on Christmas Day

We went Christmas of 2007 and it was extremely crowded. Sort of made it unbearable due to the crowds. My parents and sisters had gone a few years prior and they went to the week after Christmas and it was much nicer. It wasn't as crowded. If we ever go again, that'll be the time we will go or in early January. It's really pretty and magical at Christmas time but the crowds were a bit much for us. Oh, and we did the Santa Claus at the hotel and then went to the park afterwards. So it all depends on whether you want to deal with massive crowds or not. Have fun!

My husbands family used to spend every christmas at Disney. I'm pretty sure that if you stay in a hotel on property they will set you up with a tree and everything (if you ask about it). It will be magical!

Just to prepare yourself, Christmas is VERY VERY VERY busy at Disney. The parks do have a capacity and will close to new guests when this capacity is met. This usually only happens the week of Christmas. However if one park is full, you can just go to another park. If you are doing more than one day I would suggest doing Magic Kingdom on a day that is not Saturday or Christmas day, you will probably want to do it the first day, there is the most to do for the kids there and you will probably want to make sure you get in there! So if you are going, make sure you get there at opening to ensure that you will get it. Or don't plan on going until about 4pm when people will start leaving and they will let more people in. If you stay on property there are "extra magic hours" that will let you into hte park before opening and usually allow you to stay late, take advantage of that.

I always think disney is worth it, to me there is nothing more magical, and Disney does holidays like no one else! The Osbourne Family Light Show at Hollywood Studios is awesome, complete with bubble "snow".

We haven't taken our kids to the Very Magic Christmas Party yet, but will most likely in two years. Our kids are only 2 and 4 months and the party is from 8-midnight so I don't think they would be able to enjoy it yet. I'm thinking we can make it work when they are a little older.

We are in DIsney just about every weekend, but because we are there so much we tend to avoid it over summer and duirng the week of christmas and new years. PM me if you have any more specific questions you think I would be able to help you with.

Hi Sunny,

I haven't been to Disney at Christmas but my 15 year old went last year with the family she babysits for...they have two small ones and needed extra hands and invited her to go. She said it was very magical. They did Christmas in the room even though the tree was downstairs. She said you are so immersed in the spirit of Christmas that it's a celebration the whole time you are there. If you do Santa Claus then of course Santa Claus can find you anywhere :)They waited til they got there before they bought gifts....and then sent them ahead so they didnt have to pack them on the plane when they left...

We were there two years ago. I like what Sherry said about having 1 small gift of money to spend in the park. We have the 'elf on the shelf' at home, so he brought back a note from Santa saying that he knows we won't be there for Christmas Day, but that our presents would be right there waiting for us when we got back. We gave a key to my mother who was able to come over while we were gone and put the presents under the tree.
We stayed on property, there are loads of benefits to this. They have 'extra magic hours' that are only available to people staying on property. Sometimes it's only an hour in the morning...sometimes it's several hours at night. My favorite photopass photos are of my hubby and two oldest kids at 2am eating Mickey ice cream in front of Cinderella's castle! They got to go on EVERY ride...with NO wait....at Christmas time! (I was putting the little one to bed so we missed out!)
Magic Kingdom on Christmas day is not worth it....at all. It's far too crowded....to the point I had a panic attack. I'd go to Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom instead. If you're thinking of going to Disney THIS Christmas, you need to make your reservations now. I HIGHLY recommend the dining plan...and my favorite hotel restaurant is Whispering Canyon at Wilderness Lodge. "Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party" stops the week BEFORE Christmas. (This made us mad!) We are going this year for Thanksgiving instead! Hope this helps! :)

My husband and I went to Disney World over Christmas (pre kids) for my 30th birthday (day after Christmas).
Staying there was not a problem and most days it was pretty nice, but Christmas day was insanely crowded.
Seriously - it was shoulder to shoulder crowded and the sheer density was enough to freak me out.
I'm glad we did it once, but we'd never do it again.

Ok, we have spent two Christmases at Disney! (my daughter was in the Disney College Program and then in the Internship program) It is definitely magical and beautifully decorated. And yes, it is crowded! Both years when we were there the Magic Kingdom was closed mid-morning due to the park being at capacity. The other parks were open, but crowded. The only way you could get into the Magic Kingdom was if you had confirmed, prepaid reservations at one of the restaurants. Later in the day, the crowds eased, and you could get into all the parks. We avoided the parks on Christmas Day, but we visited all the parks before and after Christmas to see the special lights and decorations and the attractions and the special events (in Epcot and Hollywood Studios, too)
We stayed off Disney property (the rates are sky high that week)- once in a hotel and once in a condo. One issue was having a nice Christmas dinner as a family--all the restaurants are packed and if you don't have reservations, you will have to eat quick service or fast food. One year we cooked dinner in the condo and another year we made reservations (6 months in advance) for dinner at one of the Disney hotels. The hotels are beautifully decorated and we visited several on the monorail line just to see them and get pictures. Our kids are grown so we didn't have the Santa Claus surprise issue, but we did have a small tree and some small presents (that we shipped to family who were driving and meeting us there. The parks are decorated until the first week in January, but some of the shows are over. Find out the timeline for making dinner reservations and get them scheduled. Be prepared for different kinds of weather. One year it was rather warm for December and the other year it was much colder than usual. Have a wonderful, memorable visit to Disney!

We have done holidays at a hotel. Once at christmas and once at easter. both times the easter bunny and santa came. but very abbreviated. the easter bunny left each kid an egg w/some money inside to spend at the park. and a chocolate bunny. santa left each kid a wrapped gift and a note that said the rest were under the tree. we did that part when we got home. kids were fine and had a blast at disney.

Ok Im going to be different. We didnt do Disney at Christmas but we did go to the Grand Canyon for Christmas several years ago. Being gone for Christmas has its own special tricks and trade offs. We told the kids, 9 and 15, this is what we are doing. They were excited, but our 9 yr old daughter said she didnt want to go and miss Christmas. We assured her, she wouldnt miss anything. We celebrated Christmas at home 2 weeks early. We had the tree, decorations,Christmas Eve stockings, gifts, big meal, special tv shows, singing, all the normal stuff. (We heard no complaints about having it early) Then a few days later, we packed up and took off in the motorhome. I had a small artificial tree and ornaments we took along. Actually tied it to the drapes on the dinnette window so it wouldnt tip over. we had lights on it everytime we stopped. I sneaked out the stockings on the real Christmas Eve. We had a couple very wonderful gifts for the kids. Cant remember what for our daughter but she didnt hurt for much. And we paid off our sons HS class ring he had been making payments on for months and gave that to him. They were thrilled! I even took along some frozen left overs from our early Christmas dinner and had that for the real Christmas. We flew over the Grand Canyon Christmas Eve. We drove that day as far as we could and stopped at a RV park, closed for the winter in Orderville, Utah. The gal who lives on site as manager was shocked to see us come driving in, and told my husband "Its Christmas, you should be home with your family!" His reply was "I am!". She let us park anyway. We watched "Dances With Wolves" for the first time on the video camera hooked to a small tv. Such great memories from a wonderful close family vacation away from home for Christmas. We took Christmas with us. You can too. Do what you can before you go. Pick a date that makes it simple, and do it ahead of time, and then take the meaningful parts with you, pared down to manageable size and make it special at Disney too.
We still watch "Dances With Wolves" on Christmas.