Guide to Christmas in Disney

[joefire]

Make sure you visit Fort Wilderness at night. The Christmas displays are awesome!

 

[lilyandlizasmom]

So helpful! Thanks!

 

[lblume91]

So much great info!

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

All,

I wrote a book! It includes a lot of great info about Christmas at Disney and surviving the crowds. It's called "Disney Christmas Survival Guide" and it's free!

Give it a download and read at survivedisxmas.com!

 

[wendyt_ca]

I know this is probably in here somewhere but I am having difficulty finding anything. I was hoping to get a fastpass+ reservation for the parade. I was wondering how early you would need to find a spot for the 12pm parade on Christmas day and any tips for this? It will be just my husband and myself but I am pretty short so I would really like to be able to get a decent viewing location. Thanks

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

I know this is probably in here somewhere but I am having difficulty finding anything. I was hoping to get a fastpass+ reservation for the parade. I was wondering how early you would need to find a spot for the 12pm parade on Christmas day and any tips for this? It will be just my husband and myself but I am pretty short so I would really like to be able to get a decent viewing location. Thanks

Hey Wendy! This is a tough call.. As I mentioned in my book, some days Magic Kingdom has two parades. I'd recommend going to the second parade. It will be far-less crowded. I'd say lining up around 30-minutes early should get you a good spot! Stay away from the congested areas. Obviously, Main Street will be very crowded. I'm a big fan of the Frontierland area - you're the first to see the parade and can quickly head elsewhere and avoid the crowds!

 

[wendyt_ca]

thanks for the quick reply! I can't do the second parade as we have reservations at 2:50 so we would miss it. I was thinking about 45mins-1hr but I wanted to make sure that was a good amount of time. We don't mind waiting seeing as it will just give us a chance to sit anyway

 

[tallgirl]

We are going over Christmas. I realize it can get cold. Am I crazy to even attempt to go to the water parks during this week?
Has anyone else done it and did you love it or reget it?

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

We are going over Christmas. I realize it can get cold. Am I crazy to even attempt to go to the water parks during this week?
Has anyone else done it and did you love it or reget it?

It does get cold.. Normally, no one really goes to the water parks. Typhoon Lagoon is closed and Blizzard Beach is a ghost town. People do go in the pools. It's different from the water parks, though. You can easily hop out of the pool and run to your hotel room.

It really depends on people's tastes. Like I said in my book, you could be from Alaska and love the 50-degree weather or be from NY and not really see the difference from home..

 

[Cluelyss]

It does get cold.. Normally, no one really goes to the water parks. Typhoon Lagoon is closed and Blizzard Beach is a ghost town. People do go in the pools. It's different from the water parks, though. You can easily hop out of the pool and run to your hotel room. It really depends on people's tastes. Like I said in my book, you could be from Alaska and love the 50-degree weather or be from NY and not really see the difference from home..

Can we expect the same weather at the beginning of December (barring any meteorological anomaly)? We were really hoping to do a morning at BB, but after reading this, I'm thinking I may need a back up plan!

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

Can we expect the same weather at the beginning of December (barring any meteorological anomaly)? We were really hoping to do a morning at BB, but after reading this, I'm thinking I may need a back up plan!

Usually, yes. It's weather roulette down there! Very similar to the weather they've been having. One day it's 50 degrees. The next it's 80. Let's hope we get more temps in the 70s or 80s this year! THe past two years have been very good to us!

 

[purpleknightjc]

do you know when they will put out the 2014 times for epcot holidays around the world?

 

[CanadianPaco]

do you know when they will put out the 2014 times for epcot holidays around the world?

I've been looking for this as well!

 

[Cluelyss]

do you know when they will put out the 2014 times for epcot holidays around the world?

Disney Parks Blog released some info on the storytellers today, so would imagine times will follow shortly.

 

[GrumpyVader]

We are going over Christmas. I realize it can get cold. Am I crazy to even attempt to go to the water parks during this week? Has anyone else done it and did you love it or reget it?

I went in Jan a couple of years ago, and our family went to a water park. It was great. Everything was walk on, including the chair lift. The water was heated so it wasn't too bad. The one piece of advice I can give is be flexible on what day you go. I had scheduled to go one day but looking at the 7 day forecast it was going to be warmer a couple of days later. Talking to a staff member they said that the park had been closed the previous two days, so we couldn't have gone anyway.

A couple of problems with the park being so empty.
1) some rides have minimum people. There were two of us, so we had to wait awhile before a single rider turned up to ride with us for one line.
2) with no lines, if you have to carry an inner tube they get very heavy very fast, as you have to carry them the entire line. Normally when you get to the end of the line, you can just roll them the rest of the way, but with no line, there is no rest on the way to the top.
3) not a problem as such, but we went to the park that had only just opened after its annual refresh. Some of the rides were really fast, as all the grime had been cleaned off and the wax was a little thicker to last the rest of the year.
4) getting home at the end of the day took longer as with so few people at the park, there weren't many buses. We had to wait and the transportation captain was about to give us a Flynn Rider bus as we had waited so long when one going to our hotel finally turned up.

Nothing to make the day unenjoyable, just different. If in the 7 day forecast there is going to be a warm day, go for it, as the empty park makes for a great day.