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Best resort for Christmas vacation
- Thread starter Liz1599
- Start date
sxeensweet
Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
The most decorated resorts are the Deluxes like Animal Kingdom Lodge, Grand Floridian, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, The Boardwalk etc. But even if you do not stay there you can always visit them and see everything. The decorations and such are usually up at the resorts by 11/20 give or take a few days. This is our absolute fave time to go inbetween Thanksgiving and Christmas!! So beautiful and lots of events going on. 
sheriffwoody
Well-Known Member
I've heard Wilderness Lodge, but I've never stayed there. We stayed at AKL and enjoyed it!
HouCuseChickie
Well-Known Member
A tip...you are going to get a lot of people saying this one or that one are their faves. And the suggestions that are these people's faves are probably GREAT choices, but if it's in the budget, go for the resort that suits you best - with or without holiday decor. I still have regrets over our 2010 trip and choosing for the holiday decorations over the resort itself (not that it was a bad resort...just not me). Like @sxeensweet noted- you can still visit all of the resorts and check out the holiday decorations.
Gaston's gal
Well-Known Member
We have gone and stayed at AKL the week of Thanksgiving. Loved waking up and suddenly it was decorated! Then, we spent half a day going to GF, Poly, WL, etc., seeing all of the decorations. I was quite impressed on how the decorations fit with the decor of each resort. I do agree with what several people have already said--stay where you want to stay, then go tour the resorts. Have fun!
Scott10
Active Member
I agree with the idea of booking for the resort itself and not necessarily the decor.....on our Christmas trip we stayed at Coronado Springs and really had a wonderful time and seemed to enjoy some less stressful transportation on the Disney bus system due to the fact, that as many people state about Coronado, many of the people there are working at a convention and not hitting the parks as much. We enjoyed the decorations at our resort and put up our own little "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree in our room and let our daughter decorate it for Santa to leave some of her presents under! We then visited all the resorts that we wished to see and our daughter got to make a Christmas ornament at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
DisDadWoz
Well-Known Member
Pick your resort based on your budget. You can visit any of the resorts to take in the decorations that each one offers. With that said we love Wilderness at Christmastime as it just gives our family the "feeling" of Christmas we love. Its also great to come back to the resort each night and view everything over and over.
We stayed at GF in December for my birthday since it was my dream resort (and we got a great PIN!) Although we loved the resort, the lobby was insane during the day from all the people visiting the decorations. I hope to stay there again some day, just not at Christmas! We did see a few other resorts. I thought the tree at WL was beautiful. Hard for my family of five to fit in a room though.
Missymoe4
Well-Known Member
That is wise advice. Go with this thought in mind. Also, when I was there Nov. 20 - 30 not all resorts had the decorations up. Contemporary had their decorations up on Nov. 20 (I have some pictures if you want). The Poly's were in the process of going up beginning Nov. 20. Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Club decorations were not up until Thanksgiving. (Again, I have pictures if you're interested). I'm not sure when you are booked to go to WDW, but definitely don't book based on the prettiest decorations. You will see PLENTY of decorations throughout your stay.
I'm going to include some holiday decor we experienced at POFQ (just to toss another hotel into the arena). Oh, and they played Jazz Christmas music throughout the hotel. It was nice.
Matt_Black
Well-Known Member
I stayed at Art of Animation at Christmas time, and I thought that was very pleasant.
bethymouse
Well-Known Member
WDW is decorated so nicely at Christmas. Any resort is great because you may go visit any of the other resort displays such as the gingerbread house at the GF.
Blairnicol
Well-Known Member
We were there in early December and stayed at POR for budget reasons. We visited several resorts to view the décor during our trip. If I had a more robust budget at the time I would have gone with Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom. So wonderfully festive. GF is great too (with it's huge tree and gingerbread house) but WL and ALK just seemed more "Christmas" to me. And I really love the boat ride over from WL to MK, all the fire places, along with the cider and cookies I spied being offered in the lobby during the holidays. The pools at both resorts are also great and WL has a beach as well.
Buzz2001
Well-Known Member
Christmas Photos of CSR
http://coronado.forumotion.com/t40-christmas-at-nado
http://coronado.forumotion.com/t40-christmas-at-nado
blueboxdoctor
Well-Known Member
Definitely Wilderness Lodge for me. The log cabin feel really captures the mood and the decorations and main tree really hit the feeling of Christmas (all the natural, warm colors lend a lot to it as well). Of course it is all a matter of opinion, but to me it's the top choice for Christmas time.
That said, many of the other ones are very good as well, and in no way to I think they're bad (Grand Floridian is nice but I can't get into the fancy feel of it and the Polynesian takes the great tropical charm, which to me is the most vacation-y resort there, and gives it a nice Christmas charm, plus the music they play there is really cool tropical/Christmas music).
That said, many of the other ones are very good as well, and in no way to I think they're bad (Grand Floridian is nice but I can't get into the fancy feel of it and the Polynesian takes the great tropical charm, which to me is the most vacation-y resort there, and gives it a nice Christmas charm, plus the music they play there is really cool tropical/Christmas music).