Trip Report: Disney World on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to spend Christmas at Disney World? This is something I have always wanted to experience. We have gone during the Christmas season a couple of times in previous years and always thought the decorations were beautiful. But high up on my Disney bucket list has always been to actually experience Christmas Day in Magic Kingdom. And for Christmas 2014 we finally decided to do it! It was something we would always put off as something we will do "someday" because of the cost to go during that time and the crowds. I am not known for letting that "someday" take too long on things I would like to do because "someday "may never come. My goal has been to cross at least one thing off my bucket list each year, for 2014 this was one of the things crossed off! And I am glad that we decided to do this because Disney at Christmastime truly is…well magical!

We decided this trip since we had the extra time available we would drive to Florida. This was something we had never done before, but with flights being about four times the amount we normally pay chose to drive. It is about a 27 hour drive from New Brunswick to Orlando, which we did over two and a half days each way taking turns driving. At times, it did feel long but overall it really was not that bad and went a lot quicker than we thought it would. We weighed the pros and cons before making our final decision and there were a lot of pros. We would save about $2000 by the time you factor in the difference in what we paid for gas and hotels vs. flights and a car rental in Florida, having our car for the entire trip (which came in handy), not needing to worry about any delayed flights (like your normally see over the holidays), no luggage restrictions and we can see the country with a couple of stops along the way. The only con we came up with was the time it takes to drive. So really it was a no brainer for us. 

If you are thinking about going during Christmas week there are a lot of things to consider. Many people assume that because it is Christmas the parks will be slow…This is not the case at all! Christmas and New Year's weeks at Disney World are actually the busiest weeks of the year. Which also means it is also the most expensive time to go. If you are making a first or second trip I would recommend against going during this time because you will be very overwhelmed and may not have a great time. For us, we go at least once a year and this was our 12^th trip so if we didn't get to do something it was not a concern. For someone who has never been to Disney World the planning alone can be stressful and overwhelming even during the slow season. Planning a trip for me now is basically second nature and I already know the ins and outs so going over Christmas was easy for us. 

We stayed at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge (one of my favorite resorts) because there really is nothing like staying on site and it just adds that extra convenience. It does cost more to stay on site but Disney offers all different price ranges. Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of their deluxe resorts so it is one of the more expensive, but Disney does also offer more affordable options with their values and even moderates depending on your budget. But you cannot beat the convenience of staying onsite. The parks often reach capacity on Christmas day through a phased closure, the first being to offsite guests. We didn't want to have this worry either so it was worth paying the extra for the peace of mind. 

 On Christmas Eve we wanted to have a nice dinner out like we would at home so we had reservations at Portobello in Downtown Disney.  We had eaten there years ago and really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere; we were not disappointed this time around either. After dinner we spent the remainder of the evening at Hollywood Studios. I cannot think of a more perfect way to spend Christmas Eve!! I made fastpass+ reservations for Rock N Roller coaster and Tower of Terror (my two favorite Disney rides). We spent the remainder of the evening on the streets of America to watch the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights. We have seen these before on a couple of trips and have always loved them. There are over 5 million lights and approximately every 10 minutes the lights "dance to holiday music. I consider them a must see if you take a trip while they are up as they are phenomenal. Throughout the evening Disney makes it "snow" on the streets of America using snow machines. Christmas Eve with the Christmas lights on display, Christmas music playing and a light snow fall without the cold or snow accumulating was really amazing. 

Christmas morning we needed to get up very early. We had a small tree decorated in our room so that we could still have our Christmas morning opening presents from each other before making our way to the bus stop at Animal Kingdom Lodge to go to Magic Kingdom. After a lot of research I knew that the parks often reach capacity by 11am, so we caught the bus around 8am to make sure we were able to get into the park. The bus took a bit longer than normal as it needed to take an alternate route due to the traffic. After seeing the lineups of cars waiting to get into the Magic Kingdom parking lot I was grateful we stayed onsite!! Traffic was backed up all the way out past the Disney World gates! And the Disney World area is VERY large. We are talking about 6 miles of a 3 lane road so you can only imagine how long it would take to get into just the parking lot and leaving at the end of the night. The bus bypassed all of that and we were dropped off pretty much at the gates to the park! 

When we arrived at the park, it was actually less packed getting in than I had expected. I basically decided to have the expectations that it would be wall to wall people so that I was prepared. There were a lot of people but Disney was very efficient getting everyone through the gates (the new turnstiles/Magic Band system definitely helped). Once into the park we made our way to the Starbucks on Main Street for some breakfast; which had a line that went up Main Street a little ways. Since we had been prepared for crowds and waits this didn't bother us and we weren't in any hurry.

At this point our plan for the day was just to relax and enjoy the sights of the park with no expectation of going on any rides other than the three we booked with our fastpass+ reservations, watch the parade and see the stage shows. This was exactly how we spent our day and we had no disappointments. You will not have a good time trying to do everything on Christmas day in Magic Kingdom or rushing from place to place. This is pretty much how we did things for the entire trip. The attractions we had booked we were able to go on with little to know wait. We saw some people who were stressed or rushing, but I think what made the difference was our mindset going into the park. I wasn't going to allow myself to be bothered by any slow moving people or any crowds. I actually found there were less people than I had expected. I thought we would barely be able to move and this wasn't the case. We were able to very easily maneuver our way around the park and even find places to sit. 

Our sanctuary was the Rose Garden next to the castle; which rarely had more than a couple of people in it. So we spent a lot of our day relaxing on the pathway in there and made our way back whenever we wanted to just sit. This worked out perfect for us since the Rose Garden is also where my husband proposed to me 8 years earlier, so it holds a special place in our hearts and is my favorite place in Magic Kingdom. This gave us the opportunity to call family, take a break and just enjoy our day. 

Around noon we had fastpass+ reservations for the first Christmas parade (it goes through the park twice on Christmas day). I was glad I used one of our fastpass+ spots to ensure we had a good spot, because we ended up right at the front and had a perfect spot front of the castle. This was a huge deal for me, because growing up (as far back as I can remember); my biggest Christmas Day tradition has been (and still is) to watch the Disney Christmas Parade on TV. I can't lie I had tears in my eyes while watching the parade go by. I have seen it before at the Christmas Party in the evening but it was not the same feeling as watching it in person on Christmas Day. I remember being a kid watching it and dreaming of someday going to Disney World. I always loved seeing what new things Disney was planning for the following year! For me this was an amazing experience. The parade shown on TV is prerecorded earlier in December but it was still the same floats I remember seeing every year when it airs! 

For dinner I had booked us reservations for a home-style turkey dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern in Magic Kingdoms Liberty Square. We had never eaten here before and we were both very impressed. I am a very picky eater and even I loved the food and the atmosphere was perfect for Christmas Day. The service we received from our server was the same great service we pretty much always receive on site at Disney. It is very important to book as early as possible any dining you want during these two weeks. As soon as the 180 day window opened to be able to book dining I was online making the reservations. At any time of the year I recommend booking as early as possible since the popular places book up quickly, during the holidays this is a must. 

One of the great things about the last two weeks of December, is you will have a lot of the entertainment usually at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (a separate ticketed event) happening in the park each day. Normally the Christmas parade is only seen at the party as well as the Celebrate the Season stage show, which is shown several times each day during at the end of December. I really enjoyed the show. We were able to catch it several times on Christmas Day. Celebrate the Season is in front of the castle and includes Disney characters such as Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald and so on.  This is something both children and adults would enjoy. 

A Frozen Holiday wish took place twice in the evening. This is a newly added show on the stage in front of the castle with Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf. During this show Elsa uses her ice powers to light up the castle and turn it into a beautiful ice palace. This show was absolutely amazing!! We ended up staying for both showings because people found their spots very early so we did not have the best view at the first showing. However, at the second showing we were able to move right to the very front. This just involved some waiting. Seeing Elsa light up the castle is spectacular though so it was worth a little bit of waiting. During the holiday season Cinderella Castle is absolutely stunning lit up so I could stare at it all night. There are 200,000 lights draped over the castle to make it look as though the castle is covered in ice. If you go in November or December you will be able to see the castle lit up like this along with the castle lighting show, as it is not exclusive to Christmas week. And it looks so much more amazing in person than in a picture. In previous years the castle was lit by the Fairy Godmother, but since it looks as though it is covered in ice I personally think it makes more sense for Else to light it!

The finale for the evening is the Holiday Wishes fireworks show. I had made us reservations for the Wishes Dessert Party since I knew it would be busy on Christmas day in the Magic Kingdom. Thankfully I am a huge planner and booked as soon as our reservation window opened, because not only did it sell out quickly but the seating was assigned based on when you booked so we had a perfect table right by the railing with a view of the castle! We had done the dessert party once before and really enjoyed it and we were not disappointed this time around either. The desserts were great and it was a nice way to spend the end of our evening! 

We were able to watch Holiday Wishes without needing to worry about crowds and had a perfect view of the fireworks. This is also normally exclusive to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, but is shown nightly during the last two weeks of December. This differs from regular Wishes and is the holiday edition choreographed to Christmas music. Personally, I still think Hallowishes during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party are far better. But this still is an amazing show that was perfect for Christmas day and to get you into the Christmas spirit. Halloween fireworks somehow would not go with Christmas! Really any fireworks show at Disney is phenomenal!

 Spending Christmas at Disney was such an amazing experience and I am so grateful it is something that we were able to do. Disney over the holidays really is magical and there is nothing like it. I would never have wanted to do this as one of our early trips. Now we are more experienced with Disney so we really enjoyed ourselves and had a very laid back Christmas. I still wouldn't recommend it for an early trip but if you go with the right attitude and are prepared you will have a great time. If you have never gone just be prepared for some VERY LONG lines and long days in the parks in order to fit everything in. But make the most of your fastpass+ reservations so that you get the most out of your trip. I am not sure what it is about Disney over the holidays but it truly is amazing! 

So what is it like to spend Christmas at Disney World? Magical!!