We were lucky enough to spend the Christmas holiday in WDW for the first time, from December 20 through December 30. Our travel group was the sameme, DH, DD19 and home from college for the holidays, and DS16. We are also lucky enough to have been DVC members for many years, owning at BCV which is where we stayed. What was new? In addition to our first Christmas visit, it was our first visit with FastPass Plus and Magic Bands, the first time with the new restaurant cancellation policy, and our first time using Touring Plans, and we took advantage of our extended stay to try some new restaurants and visit resorts we hadnt seen before to check out their decorations.
Since our trips to WDW have usually been over the kids spring break, which often overlaps with Easter, we have learned to manage the Easter crowds and thought that Christmas would just be a little worse. Well, we were wrong. The Christmas crowds are like Easter on steroids. At Easter, lines would shorten in the MK in particular after about 10pm. At Christmas, things were still going strong at 11 and later. Notwithstanding the crowds, arriving at rope drop still allowed for efficient touring with minimal waiting. However, the parks opened very earlyMK rope drop for hotel guests was 7am every morning we were there, and within a few days of our arrival AK and DHS were opening at 8 and Epcot I believe at 8 or 8:30. Early wake-ups and teenagers are not a good mix so I planned for us to have a few rope drop days and several days where we wouldnt even go into the parks until mid afternoon. I also planned a heavy touring day for each of MK, DHS and Epcot within our first few days of arrival, knowing that crowds were predicted to continue to increase during our stay and that crowds would be lightest our first few days.
Thinking that it would help us better prepare for a busy period, I used the Touring Plans website for the first time. I had bought a 2015 Unofficial Guide so with the discount the subscription wasnt terribly expensive, and I definitely had a lot of fun using it to play around with plans. It also gave me information about show and parade schedules and the special holiday offerings and their times. However, I dont think that it really helped me. I did not end up sticking to most of the plans, partly because of changes in schedule/family preferences and partly because I think it you are accustomed to the basics of successful touring at the more crowded times of year, I dont know that it really mattered that much, and some of the suggestions were strange. We also had a huge Touring Plans fail our first day trying to use one of the plans, which certainly led me to have less faith in them. It might be helpful for someone going at Christmas who had only been before during a very low crowd time of year when touring planning isnt necessary, but otherwise I dont think I would use the site again.
We were at DHS for 9am rope drop in December 21 and MK for 7am rope drop on December 22. We stayed at DHS straight through until about 8pm, our only full park day. We went straight to TSM and rode standby, and then had our Touring Plans failthe plan had us going to RNR Coaster and waiting about 20 minutes, but the wait was already well over an hour. After a few minutes of me cursing the plan we regrouped and moved on. We actually ended up doing much more than I had planned/expected that day, using Fastpasses for another TSM and TOT. We had Fastpasses for Star Tours but no one wanted to ride, we swapped them for something that we probably didnt need them for but it was our first time using the swap feature on my phone and I had a lot of trouble with the app, I went to one of the onsite FastPass Plus locations and they helped show me how to use it and after that it was fairly easy for the rest of the trip.
On December 22 after the pain of the 5am wakeup the morning went perfectly. We had FastPasses for Seven Dwarfs, which definitely seemed to be the biggest rope drop draw, so we didnt need to worry about it. We started at Peter Pan, then hitting Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid, snack stop at Gastons Tavern, Small World, Jungle Cruise (changed to the Jingle Cruise for the holidays), Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Splash Mountain (line was so short we ended up swapping those FastPasses for BTM at night), and Space Mountain (with FastPasses) and were ready to head out to nap and rest around 10:30. It was a great morning with no meaningful waits anywhere.
On December 23 we canned our plans for an early start in Epcot and instead arrived for our 11am Test Track FastPasses, we also used Nemo FastPasses and rode Ellens Energy Adventure as expected with no wait then headed to the countries before leaving the park, returning for Illuminations at night. Christmas Day we were at AK for 8am rope drop and this was the one day we found the crowds to be no different than our spring break trips. We went straight to EE and rode with no wait (riding again later in the day with FastPasses), and with little to no wait were able to do pretty much everything else in AK that we wanted (including the trail walks but no ITTBAB, my kids have refused ever since the sting terrified them when they were kids, and we still have never taken the train to planet water), including lunch at Yak and Yeti, and were ready to leave around 4. We did rope drop one other day at DHS and rode RNR Coaster twice with no wait first and knocked off the rest of our list prior to lunch, returning at night for the Osborne Family Lights and Fantasmic, having done most everything in the park between our two visits.
So, even at Christmas with rope drop you can hit at least one big headliner without a significant wait and then hit some smaller attractions between using FastPasses. On our afternoon arrival days we knew we wouldnt be able to hit significant attractions without FastPasses so we planned for the less popular or large capacity attractions and shows (Carousel of Progress, Tomorrowland Transit, Hall of Presidents, Monsters). We actually had a blast with a lot of these things. Another benefit of having the lines so long meant that we werent running from attraction to attraction and had more time to just enjoy the scenery, look in shops, etc. I think we spent close to an hour at the Osborne Family Lights, looking, sharing some egg nog, taking pictures and dancing to the music, it was great and unpressured.
About FastPass Plus. On the one hand, I really dont like the way that everything needs to be planned out so far in advancerestaurants up to 6 months out, FastPasses up to 60 days out, it really takes all of the spontaneity out of everything, especially since at a busy time of year you effectively lose the option of changing the park you plan to visit if you want FastPasses for any headliner rides. We also dont pay for the park hopper option to save a little money although with FastPass plus that may be worth revisiting In the futureyou could do rope drop at one park and get FastPass Plus for the afternoon or evening for a different park. Returning to the same park made more sense when FastPasses were manual and you could pull some on your way out of the park to use later that day. However, the FastPass Plus did allow us to sleep in and go to the parks in the afternoon while still knowing that we would be able to ride a few significant attractions without a big wait, which did prove to be a big benefit given the late rising travel group.
We did spend a good amount of time outside of the parks. We love hanging at BCV and had extra time, and we had a 2BR unit which gave us plenty of space to relax and allow some people to nap or catch up on work while others were watching TV or doing other things. We were also very fortunate with the weather, it was in the low 80s many of the days we were there and we went to the pool four times for several hours each. December is so iffy in Florida we figured we would be lucky to have one pool day, and we have been spoiled by the April weather, so this was just good luck since we love Stormalong Bay. We did hit downtown Disney and saw a movie on Christmas Eve, and may have returned more if we didnt have the good weather to break things up.
We really enjoyed all of the decorations, things were very festive and people in very good spirits generally. There were special foods, like a gingerbread cupcake, and a number of stands in Epcot and DHS around the lights serving special holiday beverages and treats. We didnt take advantage of them as often as I had thought we would but they added to the experience. In terms of the special offerings in the parks, we didnt do as much as I had hoped. My kids werent interested in the Christmas parade and shows or the Epcot storytellers, so we ended up not doing them. Some of the twists on existing attractions and shows, like the addition of the holiday ending to the Wishes fireworks, the Jingle Cruise, and the holiday ending to Illuminations, were nice because they made something that we had otherwise done or seen several times a bit more exciting. As noted above we all loved the Osborne lights as well. We watched some of the Candlelight Processional from outside the theater, it was beautiful but we are not Christian and my kids lost interest as it was more religious than they expected so we did not stay the whole time. I think for those who celebrate Christmas it would be very lovely and meaningful.
We had never been to Animal Kingdom Lodge (having only visited the Kidani Village building and Sanaa before) , Wilderness Lodge or the Grand Floridian, so we tried for the first time Boma and Whispering Canyon, and DS and I went to tea. We loved all of these experiences, and the resorts were all gorgeous, the decorations only adding to the beautiful settings. Since the parks were so crowded, we werent worried about eating more often out of the parks since we werent missing anything. We also visited old favorites Kona (allowing us to see the Polynesian), Sanaa (Kidani Village decorated), Flying Fish (a celebration dinner for a work promotion for me and somewhere DH and I had only been to once almost 10 years ago and the kids never), Crystal Palace, Biergarten, Mama Melrose, Beaches and Cream and San Angel Inn. Despite the crowds they did a great job, the only one I would avoid for dinner at a busy time in the future is Biergarten. We had a great time, with the decorations and band and nice table mates but waited a long time for our reservation and the buffet was very congested and food often needed to be replenished. We have been once before over Easter but an earlier reservation for lunch, that seems to be the better way to go at a busy time for some reason the buffet lines just didnt seem to work well.
In terms of the restaurant cancellation policy, I found it to be a bit punitive, especially at such a busy time of year when restaurants were constantly turning people away without ADRs. The second night of our trip I had a 9:30 reservation for Beaches and Cream which would just have been for dessert and the kids were exhausted and just didnt want to go. I called at around 4 to try to cancel and was told I would be charged $10 per person, way more than we would have spent. The CM said that we could reschedule the reservation and avoid the fee, I did so for later in the trip and ended up canceling since we already had a lunch ADR for another day. I was able to cancel that rescheduled reservation several days ahead and was not charged, so I guess this is a good loophole to know about if you have gaps in your schedule. On Christmas Eve my DH wasnt well so he stayed back while the kids and I went to DTD. We had a reservation at Raglan Road, and for just the 3 of us really would have preferred to do a simpler CS but went anyway because I didnt want to be charged (they did not charge us for my DH not coming, there was no issue with that). I understand that no shows are not acceptable, as would be last minute cancellations, but it seems that you should be able to cancel a dinner reservation several hours in advance without a penalty if your group is tired or under the weather or the day just doesnt go as planned, particularly when there was so much demand for tables and someone else would gladly have taken the spot. By contrast, it was impossible to cancel a FastPasswe were told you just dont show up. That doesnt seem efficient.
Magic Bands, I have to admit, freaked me out more than a little. I was worried that they wouldnt work and that we would find ourselves trying to get into a park without our admission showing as valid, or that our FastPasses wouldnt come through, but they worked like a charm, we didnt have one problem. What was weird was the fact that when they were scanned the people scanning them seemed to have a lot of information about you. When my Magic Band was scanned to get into Stormalong Bay, the CM said Oh, Flying Fish for dinner. It was weird, and I almost felt embarrassed because it is a more expensive restaurant. Also, we took cabs to our Boma and Sanaa dinner reservations and had to hand over a Magic Band to get past the guard house to enter the resorts. Not sure what they do if no one has one. It wasnt like there was super personal information on the Bands but it was a little unsettling to me for some reason. And with all of the scanning and information, I was surprised that there werent scanners in restaurants for ADRs. It contributed to my feeling of being a little overly planned and overly programmed.
My overall conclusions about our trip? I am really glad that we did Christmas once but I wouldnt do it again with teenagers. I could see us going back someday with younger grandchildren on a big family trip, since with young kids getting to the parks early may not be as much of a struggle and they would be open to more of the holiday offerings. Otherwise I think that as much as we enjoyed the experience the crowds and knowledge that we probably wouldnt be so lucky again with the weather would hold us back. Having visited Disney every few years since our DD was 2, I also am sorry to see the loss of flexibility and hate the feeling that Disney wants to know where you are going to be every minute. We learned a lot about how to make the most of a trip to Disney the hard way, since for our first trips we didnt do research or read books ahead of time it took us a while to realize the benefits of arriving for park opening , how to best use FastPasses, and how having a game plan avoids everyone trying to figure out what to do next and ending up frustrated. But the downside is that we end up so pre-planned that it can make everyone a little wound up. Our laid back afternoons were a good antidote for this, but I think can see that all the advance planning options come with a price.
So, hopefully these thoughts have been of some help to anyone wondering about the reality of a Christmas trip to WDW in the era of Magic Bands and FastPass Plus. Happy to answer any questions!
Since our trips to WDW have usually been over the kids spring break, which often overlaps with Easter, we have learned to manage the Easter crowds and thought that Christmas would just be a little worse. Well, we were wrong. The Christmas crowds are like Easter on steroids. At Easter, lines would shorten in the MK in particular after about 10pm. At Christmas, things were still going strong at 11 and later. Notwithstanding the crowds, arriving at rope drop still allowed for efficient touring with minimal waiting. However, the parks opened very earlyMK rope drop for hotel guests was 7am every morning we were there, and within a few days of our arrival AK and DHS were opening at 8 and Epcot I believe at 8 or 8:30. Early wake-ups and teenagers are not a good mix so I planned for us to have a few rope drop days and several days where we wouldnt even go into the parks until mid afternoon. I also planned a heavy touring day for each of MK, DHS and Epcot within our first few days of arrival, knowing that crowds were predicted to continue to increase during our stay and that crowds would be lightest our first few days.
Thinking that it would help us better prepare for a busy period, I used the Touring Plans website for the first time. I had bought a 2015 Unofficial Guide so with the discount the subscription wasnt terribly expensive, and I definitely had a lot of fun using it to play around with plans. It also gave me information about show and parade schedules and the special holiday offerings and their times. However, I dont think that it really helped me. I did not end up sticking to most of the plans, partly because of changes in schedule/family preferences and partly because I think it you are accustomed to the basics of successful touring at the more crowded times of year, I dont know that it really mattered that much, and some of the suggestions were strange. We also had a huge Touring Plans fail our first day trying to use one of the plans, which certainly led me to have less faith in them. It might be helpful for someone going at Christmas who had only been before during a very low crowd time of year when touring planning isnt necessary, but otherwise I dont think I would use the site again.
We were at DHS for 9am rope drop in December 21 and MK for 7am rope drop on December 22. We stayed at DHS straight through until about 8pm, our only full park day. We went straight to TSM and rode standby, and then had our Touring Plans failthe plan had us going to RNR Coaster and waiting about 20 minutes, but the wait was already well over an hour. After a few minutes of me cursing the plan we regrouped and moved on. We actually ended up doing much more than I had planned/expected that day, using Fastpasses for another TSM and TOT. We had Fastpasses for Star Tours but no one wanted to ride, we swapped them for something that we probably didnt need them for but it was our first time using the swap feature on my phone and I had a lot of trouble with the app, I went to one of the onsite FastPass Plus locations and they helped show me how to use it and after that it was fairly easy for the rest of the trip.
On December 22 after the pain of the 5am wakeup the morning went perfectly. We had FastPasses for Seven Dwarfs, which definitely seemed to be the biggest rope drop draw, so we didnt need to worry about it. We started at Peter Pan, then hitting Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid, snack stop at Gastons Tavern, Small World, Jungle Cruise (changed to the Jingle Cruise for the holidays), Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Splash Mountain (line was so short we ended up swapping those FastPasses for BTM at night), and Space Mountain (with FastPasses) and were ready to head out to nap and rest around 10:30. It was a great morning with no meaningful waits anywhere.
On December 23 we canned our plans for an early start in Epcot and instead arrived for our 11am Test Track FastPasses, we also used Nemo FastPasses and rode Ellens Energy Adventure as expected with no wait then headed to the countries before leaving the park, returning for Illuminations at night. Christmas Day we were at AK for 8am rope drop and this was the one day we found the crowds to be no different than our spring break trips. We went straight to EE and rode with no wait (riding again later in the day with FastPasses), and with little to no wait were able to do pretty much everything else in AK that we wanted (including the trail walks but no ITTBAB, my kids have refused ever since the sting terrified them when they were kids, and we still have never taken the train to planet water), including lunch at Yak and Yeti, and were ready to leave around 4. We did rope drop one other day at DHS and rode RNR Coaster twice with no wait first and knocked off the rest of our list prior to lunch, returning at night for the Osborne Family Lights and Fantasmic, having done most everything in the park between our two visits.
So, even at Christmas with rope drop you can hit at least one big headliner without a significant wait and then hit some smaller attractions between using FastPasses. On our afternoon arrival days we knew we wouldnt be able to hit significant attractions without FastPasses so we planned for the less popular or large capacity attractions and shows (Carousel of Progress, Tomorrowland Transit, Hall of Presidents, Monsters). We actually had a blast with a lot of these things. Another benefit of having the lines so long meant that we werent running from attraction to attraction and had more time to just enjoy the scenery, look in shops, etc. I think we spent close to an hour at the Osborne Family Lights, looking, sharing some egg nog, taking pictures and dancing to the music, it was great and unpressured.
About FastPass Plus. On the one hand, I really dont like the way that everything needs to be planned out so far in advancerestaurants up to 6 months out, FastPasses up to 60 days out, it really takes all of the spontaneity out of everything, especially since at a busy time of year you effectively lose the option of changing the park you plan to visit if you want FastPasses for any headliner rides. We also dont pay for the park hopper option to save a little money although with FastPass plus that may be worth revisiting In the futureyou could do rope drop at one park and get FastPass Plus for the afternoon or evening for a different park. Returning to the same park made more sense when FastPasses were manual and you could pull some on your way out of the park to use later that day. However, the FastPass Plus did allow us to sleep in and go to the parks in the afternoon while still knowing that we would be able to ride a few significant attractions without a big wait, which did prove to be a big benefit given the late rising travel group.
We did spend a good amount of time outside of the parks. We love hanging at BCV and had extra time, and we had a 2BR unit which gave us plenty of space to relax and allow some people to nap or catch up on work while others were watching TV or doing other things. We were also very fortunate with the weather, it was in the low 80s many of the days we were there and we went to the pool four times for several hours each. December is so iffy in Florida we figured we would be lucky to have one pool day, and we have been spoiled by the April weather, so this was just good luck since we love Stormalong Bay. We did hit downtown Disney and saw a movie on Christmas Eve, and may have returned more if we didnt have the good weather to break things up.
We really enjoyed all of the decorations, things were very festive and people in very good spirits generally. There were special foods, like a gingerbread cupcake, and a number of stands in Epcot and DHS around the lights serving special holiday beverages and treats. We didnt take advantage of them as often as I had thought we would but they added to the experience. In terms of the special offerings in the parks, we didnt do as much as I had hoped. My kids werent interested in the Christmas parade and shows or the Epcot storytellers, so we ended up not doing them. Some of the twists on existing attractions and shows, like the addition of the holiday ending to the Wishes fireworks, the Jingle Cruise, and the holiday ending to Illuminations, were nice because they made something that we had otherwise done or seen several times a bit more exciting. As noted above we all loved the Osborne lights as well. We watched some of the Candlelight Processional from outside the theater, it was beautiful but we are not Christian and my kids lost interest as it was more religious than they expected so we did not stay the whole time. I think for those who celebrate Christmas it would be very lovely and meaningful.
We had never been to Animal Kingdom Lodge (having only visited the Kidani Village building and Sanaa before) , Wilderness Lodge or the Grand Floridian, so we tried for the first time Boma and Whispering Canyon, and DS and I went to tea. We loved all of these experiences, and the resorts were all gorgeous, the decorations only adding to the beautiful settings. Since the parks were so crowded, we werent worried about eating more often out of the parks since we werent missing anything. We also visited old favorites Kona (allowing us to see the Polynesian), Sanaa (Kidani Village decorated), Flying Fish (a celebration dinner for a work promotion for me and somewhere DH and I had only been to once almost 10 years ago and the kids never), Crystal Palace, Biergarten, Mama Melrose, Beaches and Cream and San Angel Inn. Despite the crowds they did a great job, the only one I would avoid for dinner at a busy time in the future is Biergarten. We had a great time, with the decorations and band and nice table mates but waited a long time for our reservation and the buffet was very congested and food often needed to be replenished. We have been once before over Easter but an earlier reservation for lunch, that seems to be the better way to go at a busy time for some reason the buffet lines just didnt seem to work well.
In terms of the restaurant cancellation policy, I found it to be a bit punitive, especially at such a busy time of year when restaurants were constantly turning people away without ADRs. The second night of our trip I had a 9:30 reservation for Beaches and Cream which would just have been for dessert and the kids were exhausted and just didnt want to go. I called at around 4 to try to cancel and was told I would be charged $10 per person, way more than we would have spent. The CM said that we could reschedule the reservation and avoid the fee, I did so for later in the trip and ended up canceling since we already had a lunch ADR for another day. I was able to cancel that rescheduled reservation several days ahead and was not charged, so I guess this is a good loophole to know about if you have gaps in your schedule. On Christmas Eve my DH wasnt well so he stayed back while the kids and I went to DTD. We had a reservation at Raglan Road, and for just the 3 of us really would have preferred to do a simpler CS but went anyway because I didnt want to be charged (they did not charge us for my DH not coming, there was no issue with that). I understand that no shows are not acceptable, as would be last minute cancellations, but it seems that you should be able to cancel a dinner reservation several hours in advance without a penalty if your group is tired or under the weather or the day just doesnt go as planned, particularly when there was so much demand for tables and someone else would gladly have taken the spot. By contrast, it was impossible to cancel a FastPasswe were told you just dont show up. That doesnt seem efficient.
Magic Bands, I have to admit, freaked me out more than a little. I was worried that they wouldnt work and that we would find ourselves trying to get into a park without our admission showing as valid, or that our FastPasses wouldnt come through, but they worked like a charm, we didnt have one problem. What was weird was the fact that when they were scanned the people scanning them seemed to have a lot of information about you. When my Magic Band was scanned to get into Stormalong Bay, the CM said Oh, Flying Fish for dinner. It was weird, and I almost felt embarrassed because it is a more expensive restaurant. Also, we took cabs to our Boma and Sanaa dinner reservations and had to hand over a Magic Band to get past the guard house to enter the resorts. Not sure what they do if no one has one. It wasnt like there was super personal information on the Bands but it was a little unsettling to me for some reason. And with all of the scanning and information, I was surprised that there werent scanners in restaurants for ADRs. It contributed to my feeling of being a little overly planned and overly programmed.
My overall conclusions about our trip? I am really glad that we did Christmas once but I wouldnt do it again with teenagers. I could see us going back someday with younger grandchildren on a big family trip, since with young kids getting to the parks early may not be as much of a struggle and they would be open to more of the holiday offerings. Otherwise I think that as much as we enjoyed the experience the crowds and knowledge that we probably wouldnt be so lucky again with the weather would hold us back. Having visited Disney every few years since our DD was 2, I also am sorry to see the loss of flexibility and hate the feeling that Disney wants to know where you are going to be every minute. We learned a lot about how to make the most of a trip to Disney the hard way, since for our first trips we didnt do research or read books ahead of time it took us a while to realize the benefits of arriving for park opening , how to best use FastPasses, and how having a game plan avoids everyone trying to figure out what to do next and ending up frustrated. But the downside is that we end up so pre-planned that it can make everyone a little wound up. Our laid back afternoons were a good antidote for this, but I think can see that all the advance planning options come with a price.
So, hopefully these thoughts have been of some help to anyone wondering about the reality of a Christmas trip to WDW in the era of Magic Bands and FastPass Plus. Happy to answer any questions!
