christmas time

[maryszhi]

my parents and i ( and possibly my grandma)are thinking of going to disney world for christmas because we've never been in december or during christmas holiday I have a few questions:
best place for christmas eve dinner
best place for christmas day brunch
do the hotels do anything special christmas eve or day
best park for christmas eve
and is the mass like it is during easter at the contemporary? we went easter 2008 and took the bus from the port orleans riverside to the mk and then the special bus they had.
any other thought/ suggestions appreciated!

 

[EvilQueen-T]

the week of christmas through new years is VERY busy at wdw. it's doable with patience and use of the emh. they basically keep summer hours during that time frame. christmas decorations and events start right after thanksgiving and run until the new year so if riding rides kind of thing is important to you you may want to book for a little earlier. if you're going this year remember the week after thanksgiving is already past the 180 day mark for making dining reservations so if you do the week of christmas book now or your christmas dinner will be eating a hot dog sitting on the curb on main st. some of the resorts and dining venues add christmas touches to their menues, many do not. we don't worry about eating what we consider traditional american christmas fare when we're there since after all we're not doing traditional christmas stuff. we like to pick our favorite place to eat kind of thing. basically depends on who is with us. one christmas we did a deluxe suite that had a full kitchen so we did a ham in a crock pot with a few sides but we didn't go to the parks that day. but mainly we make adr's and put up christmas decorations in our room so we can open gifts christmas morning with a little touch of home. we love doing the osborne lights at dhs, the candlelight processional at epcot, seeing all the decorations around the parks and resorts. it's a great time of year to go. we don't have a particular park we like better for any specific day but we often like to avoid mk on christmas day. it's just crazy crowded.

 

[wm49rs]

my parents and i ( and possibly my grandma)are thinking of going to disney world for christmas because we've never been in december or during christmas holiday I have a few questions:
best place for christmas eve dinner
best place for christmas day brunch
do the hotels do anything special christmas eve or day
best park for christmas eve
and is the mass like it is during easter at the contemporary? we went easter 2008 and took the bus from the port orleans riverside to the mk and then the special bus they had.
any other thought/ suggestions appreciated!

Honestly, and I'm not trying to be blithe here, considering the mass of people between 12/22 and 1/1, the answer to your first two questions is "Wherever you can make a reservation."

As for doing anything special, we enjoyed a lovely meal at 1900 Park Fare one night (not Christmas or Christmas Eve though), and then strolled around the resort, listening to the Christmas band they had playing, stopping by the gingerbread house, and having our pictures taken in front of the tree there. But as has been noted, all of the resorts are very well decorated (and quite lovely at that), so you may wish to take a tour through some of them, if nothing else to escape the masses for a little while in the parks.

As for the rest of your questions, I can't help much, because I've never been in the parks on Christmas Eve or Day. Just a cardinal rule of mine- at home for that particular holiday. But I hope you enjoy your trip! :wave:

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

We did WDW for Christmas / New Year 2008/09. As I recall some of the restaurants had a special Christmas menu while the rest stuck to their traditional menus. Decide what you want / where you want NOW and be prepared to book those reservations at 180 days to avoid disappointment

 

[RonAnnArbor]

My advice, as a frequent WDW visitor? Try to go the 2nd or third week in December, and avoid Dec 23 - January 2 completely....it's the busiest time of year, and actual Christmas eve/day will be a crowd level of about 14/10 -- where 10 out of 10 is full capacity unbearable....

Considering CHristmas Eve and Christmas day reservations open up on June 24th, you can bet that almost every single restaurant will be booked within 24 hours.

You can do dining reservations online even if you do not yet have your tickets -- and you basically HAVE to do so on the 24th....the earlier the better. And remember that there are already some premier guest who get priority over general reservations, so don't be surprised to find some restaurants are completely unavailable.

You will do better with Downtown Disney locations such as Raglan Road, etc....and even THOSE need to be booked asap.

 

[maryszhi]

thanks everyone if we end up going ill make the reservations like you said on that day i was thinking christmas eve candlelight processional and dinner in italy and then head over to mk for fireworks and the parade
for christmas day mass and then 1900 park fare

 

[EvilQueen-T]

best of luck. hope you get what you want.

 

[Minnie1976]

We have been there twice for Christmas and we have done it different times as for as dinner etc. Both trips we have been at the Magic Kingdom for the opening of the Magic Kingdom for extra hours in the morning. We were there before 7 a.m. 2009 in the rain. There is nothing better. I loved it and would do it again in the rain. I was disappointed we couldn't be there this year. Two best Christmas' I've ever had. I didn't have to worry about anything just had fun.

 

[Lexi]

We have been there twice for Christmas and we have done it different times as for as dinner etc. Both trips we have been at the Magic Kingdom for the opening of the Magic Kingdom for extra hours in the morning. We were there before 7 a.m. 2009 in the rain. There is nothing better. I loved it and would do it again in the rain. I was disappointed we couldn't be there this year. Two best Christmas' I've ever had. I didn't have to worry about anything just had fun.

The two times you were there, did you have ADV? If so what was your experience trying to book dinner/lunch on Christmas and Christmas Eve?

 

[Minnie1976]

The two times you were there, did you have ADV? If so what was your experience trying to book dinner/lunch on Christmas and Christmas Eve?

Yes, we had ADR's. My husband kept calling every day until he got what he wanted. On Christmas day, 2008, we ate at Tony's around 6:45p.m. and the Rose and Crown on Dec. 25, 2009 at around 8:45p.m. He didn't get what he wanted til about a week before we left. In 2008 I was worried about getting back into the Magic Kingdom because I had heard how it closed because of the capacity. But we had no trouble. We were there before it opened in the morning on Christmas day both years. I can't begin to explain my excitment on the 2 Christmas mornings we were there. We leftm the magic Kingdom both times around 11:30 a.m. when it started getting really crowded and then in 2008 came back for our ADR at Tony's.