PlutoTheDog89
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2011
I responded to a few questions from @monica9 the other day. In the comments, @mbvisitor asked if I’d lay out how my family plans and attacks the parks the week of Christmas.
Rather than simply reply and take over that thread, I thought it’d benefit those who asked the question, as well as the rest of the DIS community to type it all out in one post.
Why is it important: Christmas week is the most crowded time at Walt Disney World. Many parks will see phased closures, attractions will see astronomical wait times and even quick services and bathrooms could see long lines! However, with the right plan, many can enjoy their Walt Disney World Christmas vacation!
Sounds Terrible: It is! Kidding… It’s not for everyone. The board seems to be pretty split on the topic. Some say “never again!!” Others, like me, love every second of it. Is it very crowded? Yes. I work in NYC and I’d be lying if I said there weren’t moments that I felt a bit uneasy and claustrophobic. It’s gonna happen. But i recommend that everyone experience it once. It’s truly an amazing, memorable experience.
Who am I? My family has spent the past 7-out-of-8 Christmas weeks at Disney. We normally go from 12/24-1/1, so we’ve experienced it all: Christmas Day crowds at Magic Kingdom; New Year’s Eve crowds at EPCOT; long waits; stress-filled crowds; hot weather; cold weather; moderate and deluxe resorts.
Caveat: Do note that my family is older. I’m 28, my sister is 33, and my parents are in their 60s. My sister and I are both single, so it’s a nice little family getaway (when we get significant others they’ll just have to deal…) Our plan will most likely differ from someone with a young family… our plan may differ from someone the same age! Ultimately—do what works for you. Feel free to employ some tactics and strategies, but don’t live by this plan.
Without further ado, here’s how I plan my days at the parks during the most crowded time of the year.
What came first: the chicken or the FP+?
Ah, the age-old question. Our planning starts long before FP+s and ADRs. In fact, we start talking about our next trip during our current one. Usually around 12/30 we grow very melancholy and start planning our next trip.
During the year, it’s efficient and worthwhile to make plans within close proximity. You don’t wanna schedule an ADR for Teppan Edo (EPCOT) on a day you’re in Magic Kingdom. This is especially important during Christmas, when getting around the ‘World is even more difficult.
Things we know going in:
Okay, we’re starting to get somewhere now. I open up an excel spreadsheet and fill in the flights and travel time.
We love Narcoossee’s for Christmas dinner, which works because we spend Christmas at Magic Kingdom.
We wanna do breakfast one morning; We haven’t been to Cape May in a while so we’ll go there. Well, we’re traveling on 12/24 and we’ll be up early on 12/25, so we’ll wanna sleep in on 12/26. How about 12/27? Okay… Cape May is close to EPCOT and DHS, so 12/27 will be reserved for one of those parks.
Making sense?
It’s hard to tell what comes first: the chicken (ADR) or the park. I will say, a park has never gotten in the way of our meals. We go back to the hotel and change/relax before Narcoossee’s anyway—and if we wanna do another dinner at Animal Kingdom, then we’re doing a dinner at Animal Kingdom.
Since we’re past the ADR window, I won’t harp too much on that, though. I just wanted to give you a taste (no pun) of how we schedule our days.
Planning out the days:
Going off what I mentioned above, we have:
12/25: Magic Kingdom
12/26: Wake up later; OPEN
12/27: Breakfast at Cape May; DHS/EPCOT
12/28: OPEN
12/29: OPEN
12/30: OPEN during day; MK at Night
12/31: Stay out of parks; OPEN
Now, we have the full day at MK on 12/25 and the evening on 12/30 (I’ll get into 12/30 later). We usually like to squeeze in one more afternoon there to finish up anything we missed. We’ll also need a day for Animal Kingdom (with Pandora, etc.); some time at Disney Springs; and a day for DHS or EPCOT.
To build the most efficient day possible, we really like to take advantage of our FP+’s. Like I mentioned earlier, the wait times for popular attractions can and will skyrocket during Christmas week. Expect 7 Dwarfs Mine Train to see a 2-3 hour wait; Toy Story Midway Mania will get up to 220+ minutes; and as for Pandora… well, I predict we’ll see lines that rival its opening weekend.
You can certainly go to Hollywood Studios with a FastPass+ for Tower of Terror, Toy Story Midway Mania, and the Star Wars ride, wait 120 minutes for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, then leave. We personally like to do it a bit differently:
We know that we’ll want at least one half-day to explore EPCOT and snack around the world. We’ll usually leave this for a day that we don’t have a set dining reservation (since we’ll be stuffing our faces. Here’s where DHS comes in—we always combine the two.
Staying at Beach Club, EPCOT is easily accessible and DHS is a short ride on the boat or bus, or walk away. Because EPCOT is so easily accessible, it’d be easy to wake up a bit later then go. Let’s pencil in EPCOT for 12/26. We’ll head there around lunch, eat around the world, then head back to the room to relax and shower. In the evening, we’ll head to DHS and do Toy Story Midway Mania, Star Tours, Tower of Terror, the new Christmas show, and watch Fantasmic!
By the end of 12/26, we’ve done Magic Kingdom (and its premier attractions), eaten around the world at EPCOT, and most of Hollywood Studios.
Onto 12/27. We initially had 12/27 penciled in for DHS/EPCOT. Rather than do the parks twice in one day, we’ll leave this day for Animal Kingdom. We’d like to head back to Boma, so we’ll set an ADR for that day as well. Animal Kingdom is an interesting...animal…this year. In past years, it has never been or felt too crowded, but newness will always take precedent at Disney. We’ll shoot for Flights of Passage, Expedition Everest and the Kilimanjaro Safari. We’ll either have to accept not going on both Pandora rides or get there extra early and go on after rope drop.
No matter how much I try and what Disney does, my family will just never be an “Animal Kingdon” family. Majority rules, so we’ll do Cape May breakfast this day, then relax by the pool and head to Animal Kingdom in the afternoon. We’ll aim to get there around 1-2pm, do our FP+ for Flights, Expedition Everest and the safari. Then we’ll go to Animal Kingdom Lodge for Boma and to enjoy the decorations around 5-6pm. After dinner, we’ll head back to Animal Kingdom for Pandora at night and Rivers of Light.
On the 28th we’ll reverse EPCOT and DHS. We’ll do Hollywood Studios in the morning: a FP+ for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror and the Frozen Musical. We’ll head back to the resort in the afternoon. We’ll go to EPCOT that evening and watch Illuminations.
So by the 29th, we’ve finished off DHS and Animal Kingdom, we’ve been around the world and seen Illuminations at EPCOT; and have been on most big attractions at Magic Kingdom.
Now we analyze:
The 29th-1st is usually pretty open. We have our plans for 12/30 and 12/31, so we try and see what we have and haven’t done yet.
We’ll probably spend the morning and early afternoon of 12/29 at Disney Springs. We’ll grab breakfast at Wolfgang Puck Express then hop in and out of the stores. We’ll spend the afternoon at Magic Kingdom where we’ll do a few more FP+’s and catch up on rides, attractions and shows we haven’t experienced yet.
We’ll sleep in on the 30th. We’ll head to EPCOT in the afternoon for Frozen FP+, Character Meet & Greet FP+ and Spaceship Earth FP+. We have ‘Ohana planned for dinner that night. Following ‘Ohana we’ll go to Magic Kingdom for the night. We’ll usually reserve things like People Mover, Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor, Mickey’s Philarmagic for before the fireworks. At 10-10:30pm, we’ll find a spot for the fireworks (11:50pm). We’ll send runners to grab popcorn and/or Starbucks. Following the fireworks, Magic Kingdom will have EMHs: either 12am-2am or 1-3am. We’ll always stay late, working in family rides like Small World, the Goofy Coaster, Pooh, Peter Pan, etc.
We’ll once again sleep in late on 12/31. Usually we reserve this day for the pool. We did head over to EPCOT last year for a little while, but it was crazy crowded. As a rule of thumb, we usually stay out of the parks—and now that we stay at Beach Club, we just celebrate in the room.
A few things we always work in:
Tips and Recommendations
Rather than simply reply and take over that thread, I thought it’d benefit those who asked the question, as well as the rest of the DIS community to type it all out in one post.
Why is it important: Christmas week is the most crowded time at Walt Disney World. Many parks will see phased closures, attractions will see astronomical wait times and even quick services and bathrooms could see long lines! However, with the right plan, many can enjoy their Walt Disney World Christmas vacation!
Sounds Terrible: It is! Kidding… It’s not for everyone. The board seems to be pretty split on the topic. Some say “never again!!” Others, like me, love every second of it. Is it very crowded? Yes. I work in NYC and I’d be lying if I said there weren’t moments that I felt a bit uneasy and claustrophobic. It’s gonna happen. But i recommend that everyone experience it once. It’s truly an amazing, memorable experience.
Who am I? My family has spent the past 7-out-of-8 Christmas weeks at Disney. We normally go from 12/24-1/1, so we’ve experienced it all: Christmas Day crowds at Magic Kingdom; New Year’s Eve crowds at EPCOT; long waits; stress-filled crowds; hot weather; cold weather; moderate and deluxe resorts.
Caveat: Do note that my family is older. I’m 28, my sister is 33, and my parents are in their 60s. My sister and I are both single, so it’s a nice little family getaway (when we get significant others they’ll just have to deal…) Our plan will most likely differ from someone with a young family… our plan may differ from someone the same age! Ultimately—do what works for you. Feel free to employ some tactics and strategies, but don’t live by this plan.
Without further ado, here’s how I plan my days at the parks during the most crowded time of the year.
What came first: the chicken or the FP+?
Ah, the age-old question. Our planning starts long before FP+s and ADRs. In fact, we start talking about our next trip during our current one. Usually around 12/30 we grow very melancholy and start planning our next trip.
During the year, it’s efficient and worthwhile to make plans within close proximity. You don’t wanna schedule an ADR for Teppan Edo (EPCOT) on a day you’re in Magic Kingdom. This is especially important during Christmas, when getting around the ‘World is even more difficult.
Things we know going in:
- We always spend Christmas Day at Magic Kingdom
- We always have a nice dinner for Christmas
- We always do at least one breakfast ADR
- We’ll need a day for Animal Kingdom
- We’re staying away from the parks on NYE (in past years we’d go to EPCOT, but we’re over it.)
Okay, we’re starting to get somewhere now. I open up an excel spreadsheet and fill in the flights and travel time.
We love Narcoossee’s for Christmas dinner, which works because we spend Christmas at Magic Kingdom.
We wanna do breakfast one morning; We haven’t been to Cape May in a while so we’ll go there. Well, we’re traveling on 12/24 and we’ll be up early on 12/25, so we’ll wanna sleep in on 12/26. How about 12/27? Okay… Cape May is close to EPCOT and DHS, so 12/27 will be reserved for one of those parks.
Making sense?
It’s hard to tell what comes first: the chicken (ADR) or the park. I will say, a park has never gotten in the way of our meals. We go back to the hotel and change/relax before Narcoossee’s anyway—and if we wanna do another dinner at Animal Kingdom, then we’re doing a dinner at Animal Kingdom.
Since we’re past the ADR window, I won’t harp too much on that, though. I just wanted to give you a taste (no pun) of how we schedule our days.
Planning out the days:
Going off what I mentioned above, we have:
12/25: Magic Kingdom
12/26: Wake up later; OPEN
12/27: Breakfast at Cape May; DHS/EPCOT
12/28: OPEN
12/29: OPEN
12/30: OPEN during day; MK at Night
12/31: Stay out of parks; OPEN
Now, we have the full day at MK on 12/25 and the evening on 12/30 (I’ll get into 12/30 later). We usually like to squeeze in one more afternoon there to finish up anything we missed. We’ll also need a day for Animal Kingdom (with Pandora, etc.); some time at Disney Springs; and a day for DHS or EPCOT.
To build the most efficient day possible, we really like to take advantage of our FP+’s. Like I mentioned earlier, the wait times for popular attractions can and will skyrocket during Christmas week. Expect 7 Dwarfs Mine Train to see a 2-3 hour wait; Toy Story Midway Mania will get up to 220+ minutes; and as for Pandora… well, I predict we’ll see lines that rival its opening weekend.
You can certainly go to Hollywood Studios with a FastPass+ for Tower of Terror, Toy Story Midway Mania, and the Star Wars ride, wait 120 minutes for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, then leave. We personally like to do it a bit differently:
We know that we’ll want at least one half-day to explore EPCOT and snack around the world. We’ll usually leave this for a day that we don’t have a set dining reservation (since we’ll be stuffing our faces. Here’s where DHS comes in—we always combine the two.
Staying at Beach Club, EPCOT is easily accessible and DHS is a short ride on the boat or bus, or walk away. Because EPCOT is so easily accessible, it’d be easy to wake up a bit later then go. Let’s pencil in EPCOT for 12/26. We’ll head there around lunch, eat around the world, then head back to the room to relax and shower. In the evening, we’ll head to DHS and do Toy Story Midway Mania, Star Tours, Tower of Terror, the new Christmas show, and watch Fantasmic!
By the end of 12/26, we’ve done Magic Kingdom (and its premier attractions), eaten around the world at EPCOT, and most of Hollywood Studios.
Onto 12/27. We initially had 12/27 penciled in for DHS/EPCOT. Rather than do the parks twice in one day, we’ll leave this day for Animal Kingdom. We’d like to head back to Boma, so we’ll set an ADR for that day as well. Animal Kingdom is an interesting...animal…this year. In past years, it has never been or felt too crowded, but newness will always take precedent at Disney. We’ll shoot for Flights of Passage, Expedition Everest and the Kilimanjaro Safari. We’ll either have to accept not going on both Pandora rides or get there extra early and go on after rope drop.
No matter how much I try and what Disney does, my family will just never be an “Animal Kingdon” family. Majority rules, so we’ll do Cape May breakfast this day, then relax by the pool and head to Animal Kingdom in the afternoon. We’ll aim to get there around 1-2pm, do our FP+ for Flights, Expedition Everest and the safari. Then we’ll go to Animal Kingdom Lodge for Boma and to enjoy the decorations around 5-6pm. After dinner, we’ll head back to Animal Kingdom for Pandora at night and Rivers of Light.
On the 28th we’ll reverse EPCOT and DHS. We’ll do Hollywood Studios in the morning: a FP+ for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror and the Frozen Musical. We’ll head back to the resort in the afternoon. We’ll go to EPCOT that evening and watch Illuminations.
So by the 29th, we’ve finished off DHS and Animal Kingdom, we’ve been around the world and seen Illuminations at EPCOT; and have been on most big attractions at Magic Kingdom.
Now we analyze:
- We’ll be going to Magic Kingdom the evening of 12/30. They always have a New Year’s Eve show on 12/30. It’s the same as the one on 12/31, so it’s a nice opportunity to see it with a much lower crowd and to change things up on NYE.
- MK usually has EMH on 12/30, as well. We save the popular family rides for the EMH, as rides like Peter Pan, Pooh, etc. are all long waits.
- Seeing as 12/30 will be a long night—most likely Magic Kingdom will have late-night EMHs, we’ll sleep a bit later. We’ll wanna stay around the resort, so let’s leave a quick stop to EPCOT for the main FP+’s that day.
The 29th-1st is usually pretty open. We have our plans for 12/30 and 12/31, so we try and see what we have and haven’t done yet.
We’ll probably spend the morning and early afternoon of 12/29 at Disney Springs. We’ll grab breakfast at Wolfgang Puck Express then hop in and out of the stores. We’ll spend the afternoon at Magic Kingdom where we’ll do a few more FP+’s and catch up on rides, attractions and shows we haven’t experienced yet.
We’ll sleep in on the 30th. We’ll head to EPCOT in the afternoon for Frozen FP+, Character Meet & Greet FP+ and Spaceship Earth FP+. We have ‘Ohana planned for dinner that night. Following ‘Ohana we’ll go to Magic Kingdom for the night. We’ll usually reserve things like People Mover, Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor, Mickey’s Philarmagic for before the fireworks. At 10-10:30pm, we’ll find a spot for the fireworks (11:50pm). We’ll send runners to grab popcorn and/or Starbucks. Following the fireworks, Magic Kingdom will have EMHs: either 12am-2am or 1-3am. We’ll always stay late, working in family rides like Small World, the Goofy Coaster, Pooh, Peter Pan, etc.
We’ll once again sleep in late on 12/31. Usually we reserve this day for the pool. We did head over to EPCOT last year for a little while, but it was crazy crowded. As a rule of thumb, we usually stay out of the parks—and now that we stay at Beach Club, we just celebrate in the room.
A few things we always work in:
- We always make time to see the resort decorations at the Deluxes. We stay at Beach Club, so the EPCOT area is pretty accessible. It makes a nice change-of-pace from the parks. Leave EPCOT and go to Boardwalk, Beach and Yacht Club, Swan and Dolphin. Leave MK and go to the monorail resorts. I highly recommend Wilderness Lodge as well, and going to Fort Wilderness and doing the carriage ride around the campsites.
- We always go to Disney Springs. They had the Christmas tree trail last year, but it was underwhelming. It’s just a nice break from the parks. I do recommend going during the weekdays, though, as it does get packed.
- People love the Candlelight Processional
- There’s a new show at DHS, as well as Jingle Bell Jingle Bam
- Last year we went to ICE at Gaylord Palms. Again—a nice break from the parks and something different.
Tips and Recommendations
- Take breaks. Even as an older family we need to take breaks. It gets chaotic in the parks. The crowds are part of the reason why we finally upgraded to a Deluxe resort. We love staying right near EPCOT and being able to come and go as we please. Having a pool that’s comparable to a water park doesn’t hurt, either. However, moderates are just as good! It depends on what you are looking for.
- Check the weather and pack for every season. We’ve been there when it’s been in the 30s at night, and when it’s been in the 90s during the day. Last year it stayed around the 80s-90s most days, then dipped into the high 50s on 12/30 (I believe). Our first year a huge cold front came in and it went into the 30s. We now always pack everything from bathing suits and tank tops to hats, gloves and heavy jackets. We haven’t needed them recently, but I know the one year we skip it’ll get cold!
- Get a lot of photos. Main Street is gorgeously decorated and most of the Deluxe resorts have really nice decorations.
- Opt for Uber or the Minnie vans to get between resorts. It once took close to two hours with Disney transportation to get from our resort to a reservation at another resort.
- Opt for Uber or the Minnie vans to get between resorts. It once took close to two hours with Disney transportation to get from our resort to a reservation at another resort.
- Don’t forget Swan and Dolphin. The palm trees lining the path are illuminated and “dance” to popular Christmas songs. The giant poinsettia tree is beautiful.
