26/01/2025
LONG POST ALERT- Walt Disney World at Christmas/ NYE Reviewđ
It has long been my dream to spend đChristmas and New Yearâs at Walt Disney World and I finally did it! I went into my vacation knowing that this is the busiest week of the year at the parks. I was prepared for long waits for rides, transportation, food and entertainment. I thought that the magical feel of the parks at the holidays was worth braving the crowds. đ
We arrived by lunchtime on Christmas Eve and spent the day touring our resort and then headed to Disney Springs to wander around. We had our Christmas Eve supper at The Polite Pig (soooo delicious if you are BBQ lovers like we are). We were back in our room early-ish to get ready for Santa to visit and to get ready for early entry at Hollywood Studios on Christmas Day!
Christmas Day at Walt Disney World đ⌠Santa found us at the Art of Animation! He left Lachlanâs gift there but left his stocking at home in Canada, just as Lachlan had asked him to do in the letter that he sent weeks earlier. After Lachlan opened his present, we got ready for the day and we were at the Skyliner well before it opened. We were close to the front of the line and made it to Hollywood Studios before they even began letting people into the park. Our plan of attack was simple: Rise of the Resistance. And it worked beautifully. We walked right on and it was amazing, just as we had remembered from Disneyland. Itâs a family favorite! We rode ride after ride with no Lightning Lanes on Christmas Day. Hollywood Studios did not seem overly crowded and we had done every ride we wanted to do by lunch time (we hadnât done Slinky Dog Dash because we were waiting to ride that one with family when they arrived a few days later so that we could all experience a âfirstâ together)! We did the Fantasmic! dining package at 50âs Prime Time CafĂŠ for lunch so that we could have reserved seating for the show that evening. The food, ambiance and cast members were great at this restaurant!
Boxing Day was spent at Magic Kingdom and it was magical! It was busier than Hollywood Studios had been the day before but not unmanageable. Wait times for rides were definitely longer and the crowds for parades and fireworks were bigger but we still felt the holiday magic! Once again, we were able to ride *most* of the rides that we were hoping for. Crowds kept picking up throughout the day. I had the forethought 60 days beforehand to book the Fireworks Dessert Party so we had a reserved place to watch the fireworks from. I am glad that I did this for such a busy day in the parks, but Iâm not sure that on a normal day I would book it again. I thought we would be much closer than we were. It was hard to see the characters at the castle during the show before the fireworks began but during the actual fireworks, that spot was awesome!
The next day we had a rest day and we also switched resorts. We headed to Animal Kingdom Lodge. When I first walked through the doors, I knew why everyone spoke so highly of this deluxe resort⌠the smell, the views, the Christmas tree! It was all next-level! I had booked a resort view room and got VERY lucky because our resort view room definitely had partial savanna views! We did some swimming at the resort and then got ready to do dinner at Oâhana. We took the bus to Magic Kingdom and then hopped on the monorail to the Polynesian (where Oâhana restaurant is located). We asked nicely and crossed our fingers that we would get a table near the windows so we could see the fireworks and it happened! What a great day!
The next day was Epcot. The special event that we had booked that day was character dining at Garden Grille with the Candlelight Processional tickets. This would give us reserved seating at the story of Christmas retold by a celebrity narrator (Jodi Benson- ARIEL!) and a choir and orchestra. My husband and son werenât as excited about this event as I was so my plan was to give two of my tickets to a mom and daughter in the standby line (where people line up hours early) so that they wouldnât have to wait so long to see the show and they could spend some extra time in the park doing things they wanted, instead of waiting in line. I couldnât find a mom and daughter in line when I went to check but I found a mom and her adult son who were very appreciative of the tickets. I gave them to them and we went on our way. About an hour later the skies opened up and we had a real Disney downpour. I managed to get a poncho before it started but my feet got 100% drenched and it was not too fun. Coincidentally I ended up under an awning with the mom and son that I had gifted the tickets to. I found out that their names were Allison and Jordan. We headed to the Candlelight Processional and Allison asked and scored us front row seats! The day was looking up. A few minutes later there was an announcement that the show was going to be cancelled. The rain wasnât letting up and me and my family were not appreciating being cold and wet. We left and I didnât get to see the show but Allison and Jordan went to the later showing and still got to sit in the front row, so yay! My brother and his family arrived at Pop Century so we went to meet up with them and make some plans for the next day- Dec. 30th at Magic Kingdom with NYE fireworks IF we could make it that late!
Magic Kingdom was our first day of lightning lanes and it was helpful! I loved that we got to ride Tianaâs twice and got to secure some of our favorite rides beforehand so we knew we would get to ride them. We got good, early times for our lightning lanes when we pre-booked them 7 days in advance and we were able to book more lightning lanes later in the day for the rides that we were hoping for. By early afternoon though, the lightning lanes were gone for anything that we wanted to use them for. That was true for all the rest of the days that we had lightning lanes for (we had them for the 30th at MK, 1st at HS and 3rd at Epcot). We had an amazing day with my brother and his family on their first Disney trip (and hopefully not only trip). We dug deep and even though everyone was tired, we stayed for the NYE fireworks which MK puts off on the 30th and the 31st. We found a spot at the far end of Main Street so we could peace out once they were done and everyone oohed and ahhed and we really felt the magic!
We opted to stay out of the parks on NYE and did another rest day. We had breakfast at Oâhana with Stitch and friends and then went back to Animal Kingdom to check out everything at our resort. We were exhausted from so many long, busy days and my family was all asleep before 9:00 pm on New Yearâs Eve! Oooops!
New Yearâs Day was spent at Animal Kingdom. This day was Deluxe resort extended hours so we would get to stay later after the park officially closed. We did most of the major attractions and saw The Festival of the Lion King (oh my gosh, it is amazing!). We never made it to Flight of Passage as the ride time was soooo long all day. Near the end of the day, we hopped in line for Navi River Journey, which also had a long line, knowing that we could get in line for Flight of Passage after and ride it even if the park closed while we were in line. But after waiting so long in line for Navi River Journey, the kiddos were not up for another long wait! We decided that we were done for the day and did not even use our extended hours.
The next day, we headed back to Hollywood Studios. This park is a favorite of my family. In hindsight, we should have gone 3 days, not just 2! This day was probably the busiest of any of the days that we were there. We had lightning lanes (thankfully) so we managed to get on most of the rides we wanted without too much of a wait. Because we were with first-timers, we waited in some lines longer than I normally would have if it was just me and my family. We waited a LONG time for Rise of the Resistance (which we would have done anyway as it is my husbandâs most favorite ride) and more than I would have liked for Midway Mania. On the opposite side of the coin, after we used our lightning lane for Smugglerâs Run, we were able to hop right back in the standby lane with next to no wait after learning that all of our group loved the ride!
On our last day, we headed back to Epcot. It was my Elsa-loving nieceâs 8th birthday so we were excited to spend the day with her in that park! Of course we did Frozen Ever After and went to meet Elsa and Anna. We also managed to do Mission Space (both green and orange), Remyâs Ratatouille Adventure, Livinâ with the Land, Journey of Water- Inspired by Moana, Nemo and Friends, visit the aquarium, and have lunch at Coral Reef. We got all this done before we had to leave at 4:00 pm.
As you can see, we packed a lot into our Christmas/New Yearâs Eve trip. Was it worth fighting the crowds? ABSOLUTELY! Would I do it again? IN A HEARTBEAT! Would I change anything? Yes. I would do lightning lanes all of my park days. I would stay at the same resort as my family members. I would make sure to stay for the show/fireworks at Epcot. What would I keep the same? I would get the Disney Dining Plan again. I would plan for the same days- Christmas Eve to a few days after New Yearâs Eve. I would do reserved seating for Fantasmic! and fireworks at MK again.
Have questions about Walt Disney World during the holidays? Iâd love to talk to you about it! Want to book for 2025 or 2026 at Disney (World or land)? I can help you with that too⌠letâs do it!
