Christmas week WDW. Crazy? We know it! :)

[EPCOTcoffeegirl]

My family and I have always tried to go to the World at -least- once every other year. My dad passed away, very suddenly in 2008.

We went back to WDW in 2009, a very difficult trip to take without our number one Disney-fan leading the team, but it helped us heal a little, and remember all of the good times with him a LOT!

This has been weird year for the rest of the family, and so we (Mom, myself, two brothers) want to do something absolutely crazy!

We are going to be at the World Dec 23-27!
We're staying at ASMo, three day, single park tickets (we're not really hopping people), and we already have a few ADRS.

The plan for now is to spend Christmas Eve at MK and Christmas Day in EPCOT. We have the dining/candlelight package set up with an ADR for Rose and Crown (YAY, Christmas Dinner in "England"!)

I know the responses I could possibly get are "huge crowds," "park closures", and "not worth its", but we are def. aware of some of these broader truths.

MY questions go to those of you who go at this time, or who have been at this time, and how we can make the best of it :)

The main reason we are going is to have a nifty Christmas Day in our favorite place in the world, without much concern about "riding all of the e tickets a billion times" like when we go during off-peak.

-How early should we start moving on the 24th and 25th?
-Should we catch breakfast at resort food court, or will the crowds at the food court (even at say, 6am or so) be bad too?
-If we start early, will the buses be our best bet, or should we drive to the TTC?
-We usually watch the nighttime parade from the top of the Depot, but as it's MSEP on Christmas Eve, I imagine this spot will be staked out WAY early. Secondary "awesome spot" for night parade suggestions?

Any other advice VERY welcome! We want to be aware of the crowds and the situations, but we don't want them to be the reason we don't have a good time! :mickey:

Thanks in advance for any help!

[AgentP]

Hi,
I'm not going to be too much help, but I just wanted to say that I think going to WDW for Christmas, a special place where you have wonderful memories of your Dad, is a beautiful idea. You will have a great family trip!

As for your breakfast question, I would consider eating in the room. When we go, we always order some breakfast staples from Garden Grocer, or bring it with us. This saves $ and time in the morning.

[EPCOTcoffeegirl]

aw, thanks! We remember Da every day of course, and our trip last year was a :good: trip. But we were so anxious before and on that visit, because we didn't want to be sad, but we didn't want to pretend he wasn't there...hard to describe.

We literally decided on this in the past 24 hours and keep saying things like "We''ll bring the portable dvd player to watch a Christmas Carol in the room, but we'll be eating Christmas Dinner in 'England!'" or "Well, we won't be able to watch the Disney Christmas Parade this year...because we'll be in Future World that morning!"

I figured eating in room would probably be best option....

[BigRedDad]

I know what you are going through. My dad fell ill on a cruise across the Atlantic around Thanksgiving 2008, diagnosed with cancer on Dec 16 and passed on Dec 31.

I do not know what the crowds are like other than busy. You have a perfect plan to have ADRs. Enjoy the smaller things that WDW offers besides the big rides. The shows, parades, the Barber Shop Quartet, etc. The small things will make it very enjoyable and may be less of a crowd.

The only thing I am truly thankful for was taking my daughter when she was 2 years old and my dad was on the trip. There are so many memories I have from that trip and the joy of seeing him with her.

[cetacean01]

First....I am very sorry for your loss......what a great way to hold on to happy memories.


Now....I was there the week of the MILLENIUM.......this was historiucally the busiest week EVER in WDW history.....And I got the entire "world" done to my satisfaction. Yes it is busy....but absolutely worth it. So much so that I will be taking my 9 and 5 year olds for christmas this year. You will have a blast....you will wait in lines....but you will LOVE it during the holidays....it is like a different "world" then.

[EPCOTcoffeegirl]

I was a CP at EPCOT--AA, QSFB Hostess, in 2002 and worked DURING the Holiday!

However, I was working 50+ hours a week between Thanksgiving and New Years, so I only "saw" a tiny area--

I worked the carts in front of AmGuard during Food and Wine and Blast II performances that summer, but I worked at Liberty Inn for the -entire- Candlelight Processional run! :(

I am SO EXCITED to experience EPCOT on Christmas Day as a -guest-! :D

And, as a huge fan of BSG (and having recently converted my mom to loving the show) having EJO as narrator has me :cloud9:!

[EllieMae]

We were there on Christmas Eve and Day last year and it was crowded, but not unmanageable. Plus its Christmas so we were happy no matter what. Rose and Crowne sounds like the perfect Christmas meal! I am not sure what your plan is for your third park, but I would suggest DHS so that your family can see the Osborne Family Lights. I think that they are truly magical :cloud9:

[Jared]

Do not fear the dreaded Christmas week! My families heard all the horror stories and decided to visit last year. Great decision. The parks felt crowded, sure, but certainly not overrun. The tales of massive gridlock and hour-long waits at every attraction seemed grossly exaggerated.

As Disney fans and frequent visitors, we know the best touring strategies. Use your knowledge, craft a plan and arrive at the parks early. Even during the busiest time of the entire year, the parks remain manageable until nearly 11 a.m.

We enjoyed our trip last year so much that we booked a vacation to Disneyland over Christmas this year!

[tinksmom02]

We've never been during the holidays, but I don't think anyone else has addressed your question about transportation. I *think* that if the park you're heading to is in danger of closing (Phase 1, 2, whatever), that you would have a better chance getting in if you were on a resort bus.

Although, sounds like you're planning on being up and out early enough that it shouldn't be a problem.

Again, just going by what I remember reading here. Best of luck planning, and enjoy the trip!

[LittleRoosMommy]

We were at WDW last year from 12/18-12/26. I will tell you upfront that the crowds are definitely there. We found that the Saturday before Christmas (12/19) was far more crowded than Christmas Eve or Christmas Day!

We stayed off-property this time, so we were quite afraid of park closing, so we planned to be at MK very early Christmas morning! I have 2 DDs, ages 4 & 6, so that's where we planned to be for Christmas Day. I made reservations at BBB for DDs at 8:30am. This got us into the park and secured our plan!

I will tell you that we had absolutely NO CROWDS until early afternoon!!!! :cloud9: We did all of FL, saw the Princesses AND the Fairies, rode BTMR, SpMtn, and SM, all before our Christmas dinner (really lunch) at LTT!!!

Transportation was going very early. We drove to TTC and caught the Monorail over to MK. No issues! I don't know what the food courts were like, but I agree w/ the above poster about eating in your room.

The afternoon did get more crowded, but it was managable. We watched the parade near the Castle. This is a favorite spot for me, as DH proposed here on NYE's 2002! We definitely had to get our spot a little earlier than usual, but it was okay, as we had been in the park all day.

I really hope you have a wonderful trip! I'm sure that you'll feel especially close to your Dad!! I'm really sorry for your loss! Enjoy!!!

[EPCOTcoffeegirl]

:mickey: Thank you all so much for your encouraging works :)

We're -REALLY- getting revved up for this trip and it's still 3 months and 6 days away! (but who counts the days til a Disney Vacation, right? ;) )

Thank you for the transporation info, tinksmom02! We'll probably end up all being awake early anyway...I mean, the youngest person on this trip is my brother and he's 25, with it being Christmas time AND at Disney World we'll all be acting like 5 year olds :D

The only thing I know I've got to keep in mind is that our favorite night-parade watching spot in MK, (on top of the depot, since I was a little-one of 2!) will likely be impossible to stake out unless we hopped up there HOURS before MSEP.

Any good night-parade watching spots to suggest, other than the Depot of course? :)