Am I crazy about going to WDW at Christmas?

[Dolby1000]

Like everything else, it is about managing expectations. If your daughter (and I hope she is well on the road to recovery) is upset she missed certain rides, be sure to use FP+ so that wait time for them is limited.

Yes be ready for it being more crowded, but it is certainly doable. We live near Disney and without ANY planning, we hit Epcot on Saturday the 22nd. I got last minute FP+ for Illuminations and Mission Space. It was the last minute Illuminations FP+ that made it all worthwhile, what a great viewing area. We got to the park around 4PM, watched Candlelight Processional from just beyond the ropes, ate at the walkup Fish and Chips, just looked at all the decorations and used our FP+. Was it crowded, yes, but the wait for the walk up dinnerw as like 1 party ahead of us, we really didn't even need the FP+ for Mission Space. We had a wonderful evening. (For the record, the last time we used the walkup Fish and Chips they had switched from Cod to Tilapia and now we won't go there anymore, you can see a thread for that in the Dining forum).
Then, once it was confirmed that Fantasy in the Sky was running at the MK on Dec 30th & the 31st, we planned for the 30th. On the 30th (a Sunday if memory serves) we had no wait for parking, no security lines, the park did not get full, we saw the Christmas Parade, the night before we snagged dessert party tickets for the 6:50PM show of Fantasy, I also get FP+ for Splash and BTMR both less than a week out. The park was crowded yes, but very manageable. The Firework were awesome. Now, we avoided the BIG days, the eves and the holidays (on 12/31 there was a 3 mile backup just to get into the MK and the park did restrict entry for a while). We also did Epcot and Studios in early December.
We got Premier Passes because I had always wanted to see Disney at Christmas. It did not disappoint. The holidays can be a great time, yes, if you have to stay, it will be more expensive and those decisions are up to you, but if you set expectations, use FP+, make all critical dinning reservations, especially for those 4 big days, in advance, you can go at the holidays and have a merry time.

OWD

 

[SmallWorld71]

One other thing, we noticed a huge change in crowds after Christmas compared to before. Not sure if more people have the time off then or if less people are willing to be away from home on Christmas itself. But, we arrived December 23rd and found the crowds through the 26th to be pretty manageable as long as we had a plan; more similar to President's day crowds. The 27th and on was crazy crowded.

 

[DisFanDad]

Like everything else, it is about managing expectations. If your daughter (and I hope she is well on the road to recovery) is upset she missed certain rides, be sure to use FP+ so that wait time for them is limited.

Yes be ready for it being more crowded, but it is certainly doable. We live near Disney and without ANY planning, we hit Epcot on Saturday the 22nd. I got last minute FP+ for Illuminations and Mission Space. It was the last minute Illuminations FP+ that made it all worthwhile, what a great viewing area. We got to the park around 4PM, watched Candlelight Processional from just beyond the ropes, ate at the walkup Fish and Chips, just looked at all the decorations and used our FP+. Was it crowded, yes, but the wait for the walk up dinnerw as like 1 party ahead of us, we really didn't even need the FP+ for Mission Space. We had a wonderful evening. (For the record, the last time we used the walkup Fish and Chips they had switched from Cod to Tilapia and now we won't go there anymore, you can see a thread for that in the Dining forum).
Then, once it was confirmed that Fantasy in the Sky was running at the MK on Dec 30th & the 31st, we planned for the 30th. On the 30th (a Sunday if memory serves) we had no wait for parking, no security lines, the park did not get full, we saw the Christmas Parade, the night before we snagged dessert party tickets for the 6:50PM show of Fantasy, I also get FP+ for Splash and BTMR both less than a week out. The park was crowded yes, but very manageable. The Firework were awesome. Now, we avoided the BIG days, the eves and the holidays (on 12/31 there was a 3 mile backup just to get into the MK and the park did restrict entry for a while). We also did Epcot and Studios in early December.
We got Premier Passes because I had always wanted to see Disney at Christmas. It did not disappoint. The holidays can be a great time, yes, if you have to stay, it will be more expensive and those decisions are up to you, but if you set expectations, use FP+, make all critical dinning reservations, especially for those 4 big days, in advance, you can go at the holidays and have a merry time.

OWD

I just think this for me really shows the difference between "locals" and "travellers", that EPCOT day sounds absolutely terrible to me. Terrible. I am not paying thousands of dollars for a trip, hundreds for flights for each of my family members, to get to a park at 4 with FPs for Illuminations (which you can see well just about anywhere) and Mission Space.

This isn't a shot at the poster at all, I mean, if I lived near Disney I am sure that would be awesome, really. To just pop in and grab a couple things like that. But, when you invest the time, money, planning, vacation time from work, etc, to get there, my expectations are much higher, otherwise its not worth it.

Its something the members of the Dis Pod Cast are careful to make note of, though they often don't seem to totally get it either: Their assessments / experiences aren't actually useful for many (most) guests at WDW. They are local, they can just pop in, they are there for work often. Its totally different for someone travelling a distance to get to WDW.

For the record I think you are totally right in your overall advice, Holidays can be great, set expectations, book FP and Dining, etc.

But I think it would be more accurate to say: Be prepared to lower your expectations, get much less done, enjoy the atmosphere more, TRY to get FP and Dining, but be prepared to settle for second or third choices there as well.

This really was just supposed to be a note that I think its funny how different the perspective of locals vs travellers can be ...