christmas at disney

so gonna take the wife and 5year old to disney at x mas time.. hows the weather. anyone ever been to the parade on main street usa on xmas day? is it worth it blah blah blah and so on.

thanks chris

Land or World?

sorry my bad.. disney world.

It is one of the crowdest weeks ever. Be prepared.

Can you go the first week into the new year? That is when it is empty.

It is a very cool time to go, but it is crowded.

They have lots of little extra vingnettes of characters and carolers going on so you get some extra holiday cheer over normal times of the year.

There's crowded and then there's crowded. For some reason Christmas crowded has never felt to me to be as crowded as other times of the year. Maybe it's that the weather is nicer.

Whatever you do definitely stay away from New Year's Eve! That's unbearably crowded.

Weather is nice. You might need a sweater at night but you'll be in short sleeves during the day. Occassionally it will get hot at that time of the year.

And don't cheap out and stay off the property. Stay on the property and stay close. You get a number of perks like getting in early or staying late that people who don't stay on the property have. Also travel times cut into your enjoyment time so you'll get more time at the parks by staying onsite.

If you are a foodie get the all inclusive package that includes 2 meals a day. It feels expensive when you are booking it, but you'll find it is cheap once you are there. A hot dog counts as a meal but a seven course dinner in Cinderella's Castle also counts as a meal. You will waddle around the park, but you'll love it.

we usually go in the spring but wanna do something different. and we have been staying at disney resorts been to all star sports and all star movies.. but never been at christmas.. thought it would be fun to do something a lil different.

We spent Christmas there the year my little sister was interning there. Absolute zoo. The weather varies a bit in December, but when I was there last long shirt sleeves were appropriate with a light jacket in the evening.

The parade they televise is usually filmed several weeks earlier. There will be a parade that day, but you won't be on TV. The Magic Kingdom will be the absolute worst park.

I second the advice to go some other time. This time of year is actually perfect--short sleeves and no lines.

I've taken my kids to Disney a couple of times during the Xmas season. The time that we were there on Christmas day the park was so crowded that they stopped admitting people. This past January we were there as well, and it wasn't a lot better. You would probably have better luck in February, I think. The park is a lot more fun when you don't have to wait in long lines.

carguy123 wrote: And don't cheap out and stay off the property. Stay on the property and stay close. You get a number of perks like getting in early or staying late that people who don't stay on the property have. Also travel times cut into your enjoyment time so you'll get more time at the parks by staying onsite. If you are a foodie get the all inclusive package that includes 2 meals a day. It feels expensive when you are booking it, but you'll find it is cheap once you are there. A hot dog counts as a meal but a seven course dinner in Cinderella's Castle also counts as a meal. You will waddle around the park, but you'll love it.

I have stayed at the All-Star Resorts several times, and I don't think you can find anything cheaper anyway. When you factor in parking and transportation, they are one of the best options around. And all of them are very kid-friendly and fun.

The meal deal actually includes one sit down meal and one counter service meal per day, plus a snack and a drink. It is SO worth it especially if you stay on property. Read the list of restaurants too...we ate at Wolfgang Pucks in Downtown Disney as our sitdown meal and that one meal would have cost more than the entire meal plan for 2 days! One tip: make reservations! We walked right past 2-hour waits at Lunch and Dinner and always had a Character Meal or interesting restaurant like the indoor outdoor drive in movie. If you want to have the Princess Breakfast in the Castle, you have to make reservations 3 months in advance. And I mean exactly 3 months to the day you want to go, and you have to call at 7am when the phone lines open. It books up within 10 minutes every day of the year.

Go in early December. We went for my Birthday 2 years ago, like the second weekend. It was before peak Christmas season. Everything was still decorated. Buy tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and stay later with nearly NO crowd. We rode Splash Mountain in an empty boat. The longest wait time for any ride was the amount of time it took to walk from the start of the queue area to the ride loading station. During the party, the tickets are limited to like 10,000 guests. You also get free cookies and hot cocoa. It's really worth it to go just for the party.

As someone who used to work at DW, I urge you to consider the following instead of Disney at Xmas - Stay at home, take a 6" ice pick, and shove it repeatedly into your temple. It is far more enjoyable than taking a family to DW during the holiday. I grew up going to DW between Xmas and new years because my grandparents lived in Orlando like everyone else over 65 is required to do. Then I worked for them. Ouch.

It is by far the most harrowing experience you'll ever do. It is the time when there are thousands of white trash parents trying to satisfy their screaming kids by shoving sugar in their mouths because they got a coupon from the power plant to get the f**k out of their miniscule town for the one week a year they get a vacation. You will find yourselves walking around, fighting the crowd, and not riding anything because the lines are over 1hr long. You'll resign yourself to just being happy watching the fireworks at night, but then realize that everyone else had that idea as well, so you go back to your overpriced hotel room and listen to the little pops from your balcony and count it as having had the experience. When its all over, you will have spent a few grand having only experienced a few rides, resurrected a few profane words you haven't used since college, and smelled more white-trash, tank-top, back-tittied armpits than if you had just gone to WalMart on Saturday night.

One of the better times to go is anytime after new years. Typically February and March are the least populated, followed closely by June and October/early November.

But seriously... back titties in tank tops? You don't want any of that.

We've gone the week after Thanksgiving and it is dead there. It is usually the first week that the Christmas stuff is in gear so you still get all the fun, but none of the crowds.