The Holidays in Disney

[aRiv]

My family and I are booked at Shades of Green for December 29 - Jan 4th. The trip is my Christmas gift (quiet frankly, the BEST GIFT EVER.) I have no idea what to expect during this time, so has anyone traveled/is anyone traveling during the holidays who knows what will go on in this time frame? Will it still be Christmas in Disney..what is there to do to ring in the New Year at 12am? I'm guessing something will go down in Magic Kingdom but I really have no clue. I just want some info: 1. Because I'm super excited and thinking about it gets a lot stuff off my mind and 2. I want to be prepared and not totally lost when we go
I guess it's too early to be excited butttt I don't care
Thanks ahead of time!

 

[swissamy]

I would go ahead and get excited as you are visiting at the absolute BEST time of year!!! It will be phenomenally crowded - beyond what you can expect - but everything for Christmas will still be up and going except the Christmas parade at MK and the Candlelight Processional at Epcot. Go ahead and look on YouTube at videos of WDW at Christmas and New Years . You can see the different resorts at Christmas and the famous gingerbread house at Grand Floridian! - I would suggest Epcot as the park for New Years Eve as MK is beyond capacity and you have more dining options at Epcot. Go ahead and research meals so you can reserve the second reservations open for dining! I dont think it is possible to be too excited - thinking and planning makes the days more fun!!!

 

[KTaylor]

My family and I are booked at POR for December 27-January 1st! I haven't been between Christmas and New Years, but I have been from January 1-8th before and I know that everything was still decorated when we checked in after the holidays and the Osbourne light show was still going on at DHS. The crowd levels were pretty high still on the 1st, but when we hit the parks bright and early on the 2nd there weren't nearly as many people as we were expecting. Magic Kingdom does have a New Years thing, but since we are traveling with children we are opting for either Epcot or DHS just beacuse MK will hit max capacity very quickly that day and we don't know if all of the children will be able to make a full day from rope drop to midnight in the park. I look forward to reading all of the responses you get to hopefully get answers I still need!

 

[aRiv]

I would go ahead and get excited as you are visiting at the absolute BEST time of year!!! It will be phenomenally crowded - beyond what you can expect - but everything for Christmas will still be up and going except the Christmas parade at MK and the Candlelight Processional at Epcot. Go ahead and look on YouTube at videos of WDW at Christmas and New Years . You can see the different resorts at Christmas and the famous gingerbread house at Grand Floridian! - I would suggest Epcot as the park for New Years Eve as MK is beyond capacity and you have more dining options at Epcot. Go ahead and research meals so you can reserve the second reservations open for dining! I dont think it is possible to be too excited - thinking and planning makes the days more fun!!!

Thanks so much for the info. I'm sure it'll all be beautiful sounds great. I'll make sure I let my family know about Epcot instead of MK for NYE.

My family and I are booked at POR for December 27-January 1st! I haven't been between Christmas and New Years, but I have been from January 1-8th before and I know that everything was still decorated when we checked in after the holidays and the Osbourne light show was still going on at DHS. The crowd levels were pretty high still on the 1st, but when we hit the parks bright and early on the 2nd there weren't nearly as many people as we were expecting. Magic Kingdom does have a New Years thing, but since we are traveling with children we are opting for either Epcot or DHS just beacuse MK will hit max capacity very quickly that day and we don't know if all of the children will be able to make a full day from rope drop to midnight in the park. I look forward to reading all of the responses you get to hopefully get answers I still need!

I'm so happy everything will still be up, it sounds awesome. I expect crazy crowds but we're not too worried, everyone in my trip is 21 and over so I'm sure we can handle it. I am interested in Epcot for NYE though. Feel free to add your questions or concerns on this thread too! Sounds like we're going to have a blast

 

[HollyAD]

Prob about 8 years ago I went to the parks on NYE and left because it was so crowded. However, we made a stop for dinner on the Boardwalk and there was a DJ there playing dance music. There were lots of ppl dancing and we stayed there for midnight and watched fireworks from there as well. We had a blast. Im sure this isnt as fun as being in the parks but we were too tired from all the other days we had been there to face the crowds. People were sitting in front of the castle for hours waiting to have the best fireworks view.

 

[JillC LI]

I can't help you with NYE, but our family made its first holiday-time trip to WDW this past December. Some special things not to miss were:
Osborne Family Lights at DHS
Chocolate Carousel at the Beach Club
Life size gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian
Park decorations and resort decorations
Holiday Wishes (we saw them from the Observation Deck during dinner at the Cali Grill since we did not attend MVMCP

 

[Disnee4Me]

We've done Christmas-New Years 3 years in a row. Yes the parks will be super crowded and in fact, the year we went to EPCOT on NYE, we got to the park at 11 a.m. and never got on a single ride. It was wild there as people were drunk that night. DS is the quietest of the three, yet still packed. MK was great, despite the crowds and I believe the Christmas parade still ran on the 31st. My DH prefers to be there at Christmastime because of the decorations and it being not so hot like when we used to take the DS during the summer.

 

[taz0162]

I was there Dec 20- Jan 3rd. NYE each park gets pretty crowded. Hollywood Studios has a dance party in front of the big hat with a live DJ plasting music. Magic Kingdom will play party music throughout the park. each hands out NYE plastic party hats and noise makers. HS the DJ dance music feels right. MK the party (1980-early 200's) music seems odd to hear when your in the park. MK had 2 fireworks displays and stayed open well after midnight. In Tomorrowland there was several countdown celebrations with a live DJ, performers and chip & dale. It allowed the younger kids to celebrate to even if they were not going to stay up to midnight. MK actually did 2 nights of it and the first night (Dec 30th) had much fewer people. NYE itself you wll see some people up early at the resorts dressed for the night not planning to go back to the room during the day. Keep an eye for the late closings during that time (For example Dec 30th MK was open until 3:AM with the NYE countdown a day early and less people at MK) After the 1st the crowd level does go down each day as Winter Breaks draw to a close for many people.

Have fun it's a great time to be down there.

Oh and don't forget the 180 Day dinner reservation to make sure you have those days booked.
NYE we ate at Mama Melrose for lunch and received a free appitizer for booking our meal with them. They had a sign out front indicating no walk ins were being taken only people with reservations.

And if your at MK try for Be Our Guest - We ate there on Jan 3rd - that would be a great NYE meal as well.

 

[aRiv]

Thank you everyone for the replies. All of the info is making me even more excited, if that's even possible! Sounds beautiful; packed, but beautiful.

 

[PhotoDave219]

My family and I are booked at Shades of Green for December 29 - Jan 4th. The trip is my Christmas gift (quiet frankly, the BEST GIFT EVER.) I have no idea what to expect during this time, so has anyone traveled/is anyone traveling during the holidays who knows what will go on in this time frame? Will it still be Christmas in Disney..what is there to do to ring in the New Year at 12am? I'm guessing something will go down in Magic Kingdom but I really have no clue. I just want some info: 1. Because I'm super excited and thinking about it gets a lot stuff off my mind and 2. I want to be prepared and not totally lost when we go
I guess it's too early to be excited butttt I don't care
Thanks ahead of time!

Expect some of the most insane crowds you can think of. You can ring in New Years at all 3 parks. (DAK closes)
The parks are beautiful and its still christmas.

 

[Jimdalva]

We are going Dec 21 till Jan 2. Its going take a lot of planning to deal with the crowds. As we get closer we will check the updated crowd calenders and pick the best day for each park. We are traveling Southwest from NY Long Island, but those tickets are not yet for sale. Ive learned here to make my ADR 180 days out, but that may still be to far out to know which park is best on which day. I guess I'll have to wait and see. Jim