My Christmas Week Plan

[themerebear6453]

My husband and I have been to Disney several times, and this year we decided to go during Christmas. We know it will be extremely crowded and our plans and expectations need to match this. We know there's no way we can do all of the rides like we normally do, and we're absolutely OK with this! We're really looking forward to seeing the decorations and enjoying the festivities more than anything.

Here's our tentative plan, and I would love some advice editing it and making it better.

We arrive on the 22nd and are staying off property for the first day. We are arriving early afternoon, will clean up, then get dinner at 5 at Whispering Canyon Cafe. We wanted to see some of the resorts decorations, and I read that both Wilderness Lodge and Grand Floridian were the two best, so after dinner we'll look at some of the decorations before heading over to Grand Floridian to see their decorations as well. We're planning on calling it a night early so that we're well rested for our first day in the park.

Our first day will begin by waking up very early and heading to Port Orleans French Quarter and checking into the hotel. We plan to leave our car there and take the bus over to E.P.C.O.T. for Festival of the Holidays. We'll hit up as many countries as we can and maybe do the cookie stroll. Mostly just enjoy the decorations and food. At 12:30, we will leave through International Gateway and walk over to Beach Club where we will take the bus to Animal Kingdom for the rest of the day. I booked a 'VIP' tour for the evening (something I would never consider in a less crowded time of the year), so we'll at least get to ride everything at Animal Kingdom one time, then at 6:30 when the tour ends, hopefully we'll have Fastpasses for FoP, Expedition Everest, and Kali River or Dinosaur before ending our first night. Really looking forward to seeing some of the decorations for Christmas this night too since they're all new and look great from the previews!

Our second day is Hollywood Studios all day. My hope is to get a Fastpass for Slinky Dog and do Toy Story Land early in the morning. See some shows, hit ToT and RnRc before our scheduled lunch at 3 at Prime Time Cafe. After Prime Time, we'll head over to Galaxies Edge for the first time and see what the waits are for the two rides. This will be where we likely spend the rest of the night. I'm a huge Star Wars fan, so I'm really excited about seeing everything there. We have reservations at Oga's at 6:40, and we are opting out of Savi's until a later date (too expensive this trip). This day is probably my difficult one to schedule in my head. There are a lot of rides I have never been on yet, and my husband hasn't even been on Midway Mania yet since it was closed everytime we went (bad luck). Should we switch around our day and start at Galaxies Edge and end at Toy Story Land? If this wasn't literally Christmas Eve, I'm sure I could be more flexible, but I'm afraid the crowds will be wall-to-wall, and I want to have the best plan.

Our last day is wake up very, very early on Christmas Day and spend the entire day at Magic Kingdom. Our ride goals for the day are: Space Mountain (using FP), Big Thunder Mountain (FP), Jingle Cruise (FP) Pirates, and Haunted Mansion. Everything else is bonus. Our actual goals are: drink hot chocolate, see the Dapper Dans, watch the parade, and see the fireworks. We know this day will be chaotic in a sense. There will be thousands of people, and lines should be crazy. We've promised to be relaxed and just enjoy the atmosphere.

We drive back home the next day, so we'll probably enjoy our resort a little in the morning before driving home.

Is there anything you think I should change? Would you change the order of any of my days? Christmas Day at Magic Kingdom is a must for us. Animal Kingdom is our favorite park, but we've also been there the most (we went twice last year only to that park) so we're OK being there a half day, and while I love E.P.C.O.T., it's not my husband's favorite so eating there in the morning should be enough for us.

Thanks for looking at these plans and helping me make the most of the most crowded time of the year!

 

[RememberWhen]

You seem to have the right idea. As long as you know there are crowds and lines will be long you should be fine. Do any of the parks have morning extra magic hours? We were there last year at Christmas and did more in the morning extra magic hour time in MK than we did the rest of the day there. I would highly recommend getting to parks early. Rope drop is your friend.

When you go through Beach Club be sure to check out their gingerbread decoration!

Relax, take in the sights and sounds and enjoy!

 

[Lg78eg]

We have gone at Christmas time the last 4 years. Though it is very crowded, the atmosphere and decorations are amazing. I think your plan sounds good. Definitely take advantage of morning EMH. Magic kingdom usually has them every morning the week around Christmas from what I remember. You will get more done early in the morning than the rest of the day. You can usually keep getting fast passes for a good while after you use your pre booked ones. Have fun!!

 

[SteveV]

I have done 7 Christmases at Wdw and your philosophy is spot on in my view. However, there are a couple of things that may also help you.

1) everything is busy! What I mean by this is it’s not just ride lines but also the buses etc. In particular we found getting food without reservations in almost any location to be very time consuming and not particularly pleasant. Lines were long and people reserving tables without eating or just being sat around on the floor, taking up space especially in the magic kingdom just meant there was no downtime away from the crowds. I would try to reserve some food options or try to eat at very different times to everyone else!

2) the weather. It can get very cold in the evenings, at least by comparison to daytime temperatures and so you will probably need to carry more around the parks eg jackets than you would in the warmer months. I think the temperature change also contributes to people who aren’t prepared just hanging out in some of the indoor seating to stay warm!

3) breakfast in magic kingdom on Christmas Day is great and easy. We always went to the electric umbrella. If you get in early, the first few hours can be some of the best of the year but later on the park is slammed and you cannot leave and hope to get back in.

4) we always found the week before Christmas to be less busy than the week between Christmas and new year so you’re going at the right time from that point of view

5) some of the hotels had Christmas snacks for all visitors whether you were staying there or not. This has possibly changed now but we were actively encouraged on the monorail loop to stop at various hotels at particular times to get their holiday treats. Cms would tell us things like there’s drink and gingerbread at the poly from 1700, don’t miss out.

6) the gingerbread constructions are amazing. Boardwalk, grand Floridian were well worth a look in my opinion. The decorations were always great and there certainly is a different and more magical feel to being in the world at Christmas in my view.

Have a great time!

 

[nickys]

World Showcase won’t open until 11am, even if they add an earlier opening time for Epcot. You may get to see a couple of the story-telling events but not many. I once made a touring plan to see if it was possible try and watch each event, all in one day without zig-zagging all over the place and it took from 11am to dinner time. Suffice to say, we didn’t actually follow that plan!

You might want to pick a couple of the shows/events and target them. My favourites were Norway, Italy and the
Voices of Liberty.

Strolling around and watching any that happen to coincide with your stroll will still be fun. But depending what time you were planning to arrive, you may also have time to do a couple of rides before WS opens if you want.

I don’t think your chances are good for getting an FP for Flight of Passage. Even for just two people, 60+3 is pretty much standard for the earliest chance. You may get lucky and if you keep checking, especially on the actual day you could get one.

MK on Christmas Day will likely be a 7am EMH, 8am park opening. Those hours may be changed pretty close to Christmas week. We even got a flyer under our door one evening between Christmas and New Years, telling us of a 2 hour extension to MK hours for the following day.

As others have said, expect crazy crowds and adjust expectations. That way you should be set to enjoy the experience. We all loved it, and can’t wait to come back next year at the same time.