Halloween or Christmas at WDW?

[dsinclair]

I'm currently planning on booking a trip with my family the week after Thanksgiving (Sunday - Thursday) or the week before Halloween (Sunday-Thursday) 2022. We last went with our then 2.5 year old daughter in 2019 for Halloween, our daughter had a blast at MNSSHP, and my wife and I really enjoyed the food and wine fest at Epcot.

Since then we have added a son who will be 2.5 next fall, so since we all had a such blast for halloween our automatic was to rebook for the same period and reexperience the fun with our new addition. But we also had the thought that it would be fun to have a new experience at WDW and see what it is like during the holidays. How has the christmas party compared to the halloween one in the past (of course, who knows if it comes back full, but I'm assuming it does)? And there will be no food and wine fest, but how is the festival of holidays? It seems like there is special food to try, but may be heavy on the desserts?

So which time of year do you think is the most fun to go to WDW during: The Halloween "season" or in the lead up to Christmas?

 

[JIMINYCR]

Weve been to both and I enjoyed the MNSSHP events more than MVMCP. Disney highlighting of the villains is rare so that added to the pleasure. We do love the Christmas time trips because of the wonderful decorations and feel of the season at Disney. The Halloween decorations are great too but it just isnt as festive as the feel of Christmas. I would say because youve been to WDW at Halloween then you should book a Christmas trip to get another seasonal experience. Theres always special treats that appear for the holidays to make the snack sales go up. Disneys already announced that the Christmas time events will be different than in the past. I would not turn down a trip at either time but would be more likely to book a Christmas time trip.

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

The Halloween Party is better than the Christmas Party, but the overall Christmas decorations are WAY better than the Halloween ones. The only park that really decorates for Halloween is MK whereas all the parks plus the resorts and Disney Springs decorate for Christmas.

 

[bigorangeandy]

I would do the Christmas time trip. You mentioned that the Food and Wine will have ended, but at Epcot they have different events in most countries, such as Father Christmas in the UK, Sigrid in Norway and many others. The parks will all be decorated for Christmas along with the all the resorts, which really gets you in the mood for Christmas.

 

[MorphinePrince]

I'll echo that the Not So Scary is a better overall experience than Very Merry but the feel of Christmas at Disney is vastly superior than Halloween time. Since you've already been at Halloween, I'd definitely try and go at Christmas.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I'm currently planning on booking a trip with my family the week after Thanksgiving (Sunday - Thursday) or the week before Halloween (Sunday-Thursday) 2022. We last went with our then 2.5 year old daughter in 2019 for Halloween, our daughter had a blast at MNSSHP, and my wife and I really enjoyed the food and wine fest at Epcot.

Since then we have added a son who will be 2.5 next fall, so since we all had a such blast for halloween our automatic was to rebook for the same period and reexperience the fun with our new addition. But we also had the thought that it would be fun to have a new experience at WDW and see what it is like during the holidays. How has the christmas party compared to the halloween one in the past (of course, who knows if it comes back full, but I'm assuming it does)? And there will be no food and wine fest, but how is the festival of holidays? It seems like there is special food to try, but may be heavy on the desserts?

So which time of year do you think is the most fun to go to WDW during: The Halloween "season" or in the lead up to Christmas?

IF WDW were to include all of the pre pandemic offerings in 2022, then I would pick Christmas. The big problem is we have no idea what Christmas or Halloween will look like in WDW in 2022.

If I were to guess, we will never see either Christmas or Halloween offerings like we saw pre pandemic in this new post pandemic WDW. Cutbacks were made in the name of COVID that will never return.

To answer the OP, the future is unknown but I can assure you, the Christmas and Halloween offerings will be LESS in 2022 then what we remember from 2019.

 

[dsinclair]

Thank you for the input, everyone! We ended up booking for Christmas, being able to have a different experience was definitely a big pull, and everyone seemed to be in agreement that it's a better experience as well. Again, thanks for helping us break the tie on this one.

 

[aliceismad]

Thank you for the input, everyone! We ended up booking for Christmas, being able to have a different experience was definitely a big pull, and everyone seemed to be in agreement that it's a better experience as well. Again, thanks for helping us break the tie on this one.

I hope you have a wonderful time! We're debating the Halloween/Christmas thing for next year. My husband hates traveling during the Christmas season because he feels like it took away from the holiday, but I think he might feel differently about Disney.

 

[Ghostdog]

It’s beautiful at Christmas time, you’ll have a great trip.

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

Personally I love Christmas because all the parks, resorts, and DS are beautifully decorated. For Halloween it’s just MK.

 

[Plowboy]

Christmas in early December. You couldn't pay me enough to fight the crowd between Christmas and New Year.

 

[dsinclair]

Christmas in early December. You couldn't pay me enough to fight the crowd between Christmas and New Year.

Is it really that much worse? I've heard that the week following Thanksgiving is a bit of a lull before Christmas travel really ramps up. Also, isn't it true that there really is much of a dead time anymore, its just always busy?

 

[KaliSplash]

Definitely Christmas unless you are a villian fan.

 

[Plowboy]

Is it really that much worse? I've heard that the week following Thanksgiving is a bit of a lull before Christmas travel really ramps up. Also, isn't it true that there really is much of a dead time anymore, its just always busy?

We've done "Christmas" at Disney World twice during the first 10 days of December. There's always a crowd, but it wasn't really that bad. We did Christmas once at Disneyland between the 25th & 31st years ago and it was shoulder to shoulder from opening to closing. I think we did 6 rides all day. Never again.

As to there not being much dead time anymore, it seems to be heading that way. We're from the west coast and usually go somewhere between late September and mid November. That time of year used to be considered "slow" but I've seen a gradual increase in the crowds since we've been going.