WDW for the holidays - what are the must do's?!?

[Jess G]

What are the things that I should make sure I see and do for the holiday season? I'll be traveling December 10-17. I'm currently debating an extra day for Universal (any thoughts on that?). I've decided due to pricing at $100 per ticket I will not be attending the x-mas party but I will be doing candlelight.

 

[Figgy1]

You have to check out the gingerbread house in the GF, walk down MSUSA with all the decorations and I'm sure the Christmas shops will fell extra special at that time of year.

 

[Cowboy Steve]

The parks themselves are decorated beautifully! This will be our 4th straight trip visiting the first or second full week after Thanksgiving. Traveling to some of the other resorts to see their decorations is pretty cool. LOVED AKR. And at Fort Wilderness, people decorate their campsites better than some folks decorate their homes... Christmas lights, inflatables, mock ups of the parks, animated lights.. etc. It is pretty cool! I think I have some digital pics at home (screwing off at work lol)

I too choked a little when I saw the price for MVMCP this year... egads! Just 5 short years ago it was $59...

Our last trip we did 4 days at WDW (3 days in the park, 1 day at a water park) and 3 days at Universal - if you do Universal during the week you can definitely see everything in 2 days. Some of the parades on the Thursday after Thanksgiving you could lay down on the sidewalk to watch and not touch another person... Friday was a little busier, and Saturday was crazy (as expected). I won't do a 'combo' trip like that again. For me, 3 days in WDW parks is not enough lol. I would rather take a shorter second trip to just do US than try to do both in 7 or 8 days... But I'm getting old and my body is tired... ha!

 

[Sloth_White]

I think going to US is a nice "wind down" from Disney since they are smaller parks, but there are a few things to keep in mind:

- If you want to do both of the Harry Potter lands, you need to get a "Park to Park" ticket. The price for a one day Park-to-Park ticket is currently $155 on their website (gulp)
- US doesn't include any fast pass like offer unless you add on an express pass (which brings the ticket price for one day to $220). If you stay at one of US premium hotels- Royal Pacific, Hard Rock, Portofino Bay, you do get the express pass included.

I just got back from a solely US trip and I am inclined to say that it's better to make it a different trip. There is much more to do in WDW and you would have to drive/uber to get to US.

 

[carriehpotter]

Holidays Around the World at Epcot is a must-do! Each country has storytellers that talk about holiday traditions specific to his or her country. They're a lot of fun! When I was last in WDW at Christmas in 2009, Mexico, Norway, and China had my favorite storytellers. In Mexico, it's the Three Kings, in Norway, it's a Norwegian storyteller and an elf/Santa character and China had the Monkey King (I know for a fact that China's is different now...not sure about the other two). Also, a lot of the countries have special snacks and the American Adventure has a mini Christmas shopping village...a lot of fun!

 

[Herdman]

We've gone to Universal for a couple days the last couple years. It's not hard to arrange transportation although it may not be what you would call cheap. It's very doable, but you would need two days to experience most attractions. This will be our first time during the holiday season, and we are very much looking forward to it!