Our blog today is written by Stephanie Z, one of our personal vacation planners at DreamFinder Travel. Stephanie wanted to share ideas for Christmas at Walt Disney World. If you would like to get a vacation quote from Stephanie, you can click here.
When people
think of Christmas at Disney World most people automatically think about
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. But
there are plenty of other things to do that are included in your regular park admission. It is a family tradition for us to spend 4-5
days at Walt Disney World every December.
Since we live in Florida we usually go to the parks in early December (since it is usually less crowded) but you will find that anytime is magical. Each park,
as well as Downtown Disney, is beautifully decorated as one would expect. Downtown Disney has Santa
Claus, great decorations and live entertainment every day and night that
include choirs singing Christmas carols or dance ensembles celebrating the
holiday season.
What most people don’t realize is that every
hotel is decorated also. The Deluxe
hotels have phenomenal decorations including gingerbread houses and
moving displays. The Grand Floridian Resort's Gingerbread house is life-sized, and they also sell smaller replicas that you can take home to enjoy. One of our favorite
places to visit is the Boardwalk Area.
Here you can see the decorations at The Boardwalk Resort, The Beach
Club, and The Yacht Club. Even if you
aren’t going into Epcot that night you can see the fireworks from the Boardwalk
as well.
At Disney's Animal Kingdom there is the Jingle Jungle Parade which has the Fab 5 with some Christmas decorations but with an animal twist. In my opinion, this is the most underwhelming event at Christmastime.
The kids’ favorite is the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights
Show at Hollywood Studios. Once the sun
sets, millions of lights illuminate the night sky and it is amazing. Every 10 minutes a musical show begins and
“snow” falls on the streets. We have
enjoyed this scene many times and each time we stand there in awe of how
beautiful it is. (This year you can even "glow with the show" by purchasing special light up Mickey Ear hats.)
The Christmas
decorations in the Magic Kingdoms are incredible. Cinderella’s Castle has
millions of shimmering lights. The storefront
windows along Main Street are decorated with Christmas scenes filled with our
favorite characters. Every year we love
to stand at the beginning of Main Street and take in the view – that is, once
the kids are asleep in the stroller. If
you aren’t able to make it to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party I would
suggest you find a good spot to view the fireworks. Disney does a special fireworks show just for
the Party and it lights up the sky. The
fireworks can be viewed from the Contemporary’s balcony specifically for viewing
the fireworks (4th Floor, Concourse.) Another great viewing spot
is from the Polynesian out on the point.
Our absolute
favorite day during our holiday visit, is our visit to Epcot. I
have two very young kids and they love it as much as we do. We love to listen to the storytellers explain
how Christmas is celebrated in the different countries around the world
showcase. Each country brings its
holiday legends to life with sights and stories. In France, Pere Noel tells how the children
leave shoes out for him to fill with goodies.
In Germany you learn how the
Christmas tree came to be, and the start of the Nutcracker. La Befana comes to life to tell you how she
brings gifts to the children of Italy.
My favorite is Norway’s Julenissen, the gnome who makes everyone laugh
with holiday pranks. The pinnacle at
Epcot is the Candlelight Processional where celebrity narrators tell the
Christmas Story while a 50 piece orchestra and large choir brings the story to
life, all while the stage is illuminated with candles being held by the singers. The 45 minute show is offered 3 times a day
at 5pm, 6:45, and 8:15. You can purchase
a dinner or lunch package through Disney to get reserved seating or you can
wait in line for the limited first come first serve seating. If you can’t splurge for the meal package
then I recommend standing just outside the ropes and you can get a great view
and listen to everything without a problem. This is a VERY popular show, and sometimes there are people who have waited all day to get a seat for the show, but other than the comfort of sitting down for the show, nothing else is different if
you are standing behind the ropes. We have been lucky
enough to hear Whoopi Goldberg, Neil Patrick Harris, Neil Armstrong, and James
Denton narrate the story over the past few years.
Here is the list of the coming celebrity narrators for this coming season
•Gary Sinise
November 29 to December 1, 2013
•Neil Patrick Harris
December 2 to December 3, 2013
•Ashley Judd - NEW this year!
December 4 to December 5
•Whoopi
Goldberg
December 6 to December 7, 2013
•Sigourney
Weaver - NEW this year!
December 8 to December 10, 2013
•Dennis
Haysbert - NEW this year!
December 11 to December 13, 2013
•James
Denton
December 14 to December 16, 2013
•Edward
James Olmos
December 17 to December 19, 2013
•Trace
Adkins
December 20 to December 22, 2013
•Steven Curtis Chapman
December 23 to December 25, 2013
•Blair
Underwood
December 26 to December 28, 2013
•Amy
Grant
December 29 to December 30, 2013
The Holidays
at Disney is my favorite time of year.
Even the Grinch would walk away from here with that Christmas Spirit
shining out of him. The good news is if
you have a limited budget for your Christmas trip you don’t need more than your
park tickets to have a magical vacation.
If you would like to get a pricing quote from Stephanie for a trip to Walt Disney World, or any other destination, please click here.
