Halloween & Christmas in One Trip

[Tom P.]

Anyone ever timed a trip so that you could experience the Halloween and Christmas parties (and possibly Jollywood Nights) in one single trip?

We are in the early stages of planning a 2026 trip and are considering it. We've never been to Disney for any of the Christmas festivities and have considered it for years. However, we are such fans of the Halloween party, that we always end up going back to that. Thinking about trying to do a "best of both worlds" trip.

Thoughts?

 

[nickys]

Anyone ever timed a trip so that you could experience the Halloween and Christmas parties (and possibly Jollywood Nights) in one single trip?

We are in the early stages of planning a 2026 trip and are considering it. We've never been to Disney for any of the Christmas festivities and have considered it for years. However, we are such fans of the Halloween party, that we always end up going back to that. Thinking about trying to do a "best of both worlds" trip.

Thoughts?

I haven’t done it! But a few thoughts.

You would need to be there for over a week to get both parties. And you’d need to book as soon as you can to get a ticket to one of the last Halloween parties. Not sure when they sell out but those with an onsite stay booked get first dibs.

The rest of the Christmas festivities, like at Epcot don’t start until late November. The resorts get decorated starting early November, but you won’t know when booking whether your resort will be done early. So you’ll only get the party experience, not the resort-wide Christmas celebrations.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Ohhh you lucky dog if you can make it happen. We've been to both events but never both in the same trip. You can go online and see what dates booked up and when they were sold out in past years to get an idea of which event dates are booked out early. We love Christmas time because of the decorated parks and resort areas. IMHO MVMCP is fun but we enjoy MNSSHP better. As nickys recommended, book your dates as soon as you can. Watch for when Dis posts tickets are available and make your calls.
Various Dis sites also post pics and let people know as Dis dresses up resorts and park areas.

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

As @nickys said, you won't get the full Christmas experience if you go at the beginning of November. The resort gingerbread creations and decorations are worth seeing and they might not have all of those done by the beginning of November. Epcot won't switch over Thanksgiving time. It's worth doing a trip to see all the Christmas stuff at least once.

 

[Tom P.]

The rest of the Christmas festivities, like at Epcot don’t start until late November. The resorts get decorated starting early November, but you won’t know when booking whether your resort will be done early. So you’ll only get the party experience, not the resort-wide Christmas celebrations.

As @nickys said, you won't get the full Christmas experience if you go at the beginning of November. The resort gingerbread creations and decorations are worth seeing and they might not have all of those done by the beginning of November. Epcot won't switch over Thanksgiving time. It's worth doing a trip to see all the Christmas stuff at least once.

I appreciate what both of you are saying and I understand that in early November, you won't get the full Christmas experience. My understanding, from the research that I've done, is that both Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios will be fully decorated by that time due to their respective parties, with the possible lone exception of the large Christmas tree in Magic Kingdom which depends on the Christmas parade filming date. I also understand that Animal Kingdom does less Christmas-oriented decorating, but also generally does it early so there's a good chance it would be there during our time frame too. It seems like the things you would miss out on are Epcot's Christmas offerings, because the Food and Wine Festival would still be ongoing, and the Christmas decorations at the various resorts. Is that correct?

I understand these tradeoffs. However, we are only able to go every couple of years, and we are such fans of the Halloween experience that it is difficult for us to commit to skipping that and just going for Christmas. I think we would rather trade out not seeing the resort decorations, for example, in order to be able to attend the Halloween party on the same trip. But, as I mentioned, this is something we are still kicking around, and that's why I'm looking for everyone's thoughts. We haven't booked or committed to anything yet.

 

[SteveAZee]

Anyone ever timed a trip so that you could experience the Halloween and Christmas parties (and possibly Jollywood Nights) in one single trip?

We are in the early stages of planning a 2026 trip and are considering it. We've never been to Disney for any of the Christmas festivities and have considered it for years. However, we are such fans of the Halloween party, that we always end up going back to that. Thinking about trying to do a "best of both worlds" trip.

Thoughts?

You've inspired me to look into this as well... probably a 2027 trip. It looks feasible to do it in a 10 days and catch all three parties (assuming they land on the days I think they will based on history) as well as all the festivities. I'll be really interested to see how things go with your trip.

 

[kenpsu]

I appreciate what both of you are saying and I understand that in early November, you won't get the full Christmas experience. My understanding, from the research that I've done, is that both Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios will be fully decorated by that time due to their respective parties, with the possible lone exception of the large Christmas tree in Magic Kingdom which depends on the Christmas parade filming date. I also understand that Animal Kingdom does less Christmas-oriented decorating, but also generally does it early so there's a good chance it would be there during our time frame too. It seems like the things you would miss out on are Epcot's Christmas offerings, because the Food and Wine Festival would still be ongoing, and the Christmas decorations at the various resorts. Is that correct?

Right. The pavilions in World Showcase will slowly start getting decorated in mid-November. You will see things here and there in Epcot. The entertainment and overlay in the Land won't start until after Thanksgiving. The resorts will be decorated pretty much overnight. The schedule is pretty random and no one seems to know the order. Disney goal is to have everything, parks and resorts, 100% done by Thanksgiving.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Again... as Disney gets things decorated there are enough various Dis sites online that report the progress and they post pictures to show it miraculously appearing. So it's easy to know what is and is not decorated over time.

 

[MickeyCB]

We didn't go to both parties but we did go to the MNSSHP on Oct. 31st (in 2015) and then the next day back to magic kindgom and one of the most fun things was the entrance area decorations switch out.

These photos are roughly 24 hours apart.
I remember being shocked the next day how everything Halloween was just gone! Not even a Halloween scratch and dent room of sale stuff in the Emporium!

 

[JIMINYCR]

We didn't go to both parties but we did go to the MNSSHP on Oct. 31st (in 2015) and then the next day back to magic kindgom and one of the most fun things was the entrance area decorations switch out.

These photos are roughly 24 hours apart.
I remember being shocked the next day how everything Halloween was just gone! Not even a Halloween scratch and dent room of sale stuff in the Emporium!
View attachment 882220

View attachment 882221

We did a tour once and it was explained to us just how organized Disney is and how they can transform most everything overnight. Everything is numbered, categorized and mapped out. Its utterly amazing how it's accomplished.

 

[Tom P.]

We didn't go to both parties but we did go to the MNSSHP on Oct. 31st (in 2015) and then the next day back to magic kindgom and one of the most fun things was the entrance area decorations switch out.

These photos are roughly 24 hours apart.
I remember being shocked the next day how everything Halloween was just gone! Not even a Halloween scratch and dent room of sale stuff in the Emporium!
View attachment 882220

View attachment 882221

That really is quite amazing and quite a testament to how efficient Disney can be when they want to be. I assume the entire park is transformed like that overnight?