Who's been at Christmas?

[act1980]

Am I crazy in even thinking about visiting during Christmas? I assume the crowds will be at their absolute worst? Would it be better to go for a couple of weeks before Christmas day and then avoid all parks after that? We will only we doing the Disney parks and staying on site.

I would love to experience it so any advice or tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Mezza1991]

Following.

We are looking to swap Halloween for Christmas next year.

[Brennanhough]

Don’t take this the wrong way- we did Christmas last year and as brilliant as it was- once and never again!

Christmas Day We were out the villa at 7am sharp- traffic was fine until we hit the queues to pay to get in the car park- 45 minutes that took! An other 25 minutes until we were in our parking space. 3 trams came and went, we got the 4th. We then got the third ferry in to MK.

We had missed our 9am chef mickey reservation so Starbucks it was- queued here for an hour (grandparents get grumpy without a coffee!) and by the time we’d done there, it had taken us 4 hours to get from the villa to the castle, which we’d done in 30 mins previously!

Nothing was under 1.5 hours all day, 7DMT was 3 hours. The park was shut around 2pm and it was pure gridlock behind the castle. You was literally shuffling along. We had a reservation for 6pm at Crystal Palace and when we got out we sat and waited for fireworks. By the time they started- heaving isn’t the word! When the finished they opened up the back areas- around the back of Main Street- to relieve some of the traffic getting out.

Like I said we all loved it it was magical, and I’m glad we’ve done it but never again. That said we’ve all said we arent looking forward to Christmas this year as it will be rubbish compared to last!

Weather wise it was beautiful the first week- late 70s early 80s. Second week was freezing. I’m talking hoodies, woolly hats weather. We had to buy a whole new wardrobe as we’d only taken summer jackets for the nights!

We did Clearwater on new year which was brilliant! Any more questions please ask

[Enchanted]

Are you able to go just before Christmas? We did the first 3wks of December and it was amazing. We had gorgeous weather, very low crowds and got to experience all the magic of Christmas 🎄

[cybermum]

We spend every other Christmas there, yes its insanely busy during the peek weeks you'd expect. However we love the atmosphere and magic, we go for several weeks so don't rush so to speak.
I'd say if intent doing parks on the big days Christmas Eve, day etc stick to Universal , we find it very good there. Disney we absolutely wide berth those days .

[*jovi_girl*]

We went Christmas 2011 and it was packed but it was the first time we’d been so didn't really have anything to compare it to.
It was lovely and it started snowing (fake snow lol).

[Pussycat Doll]

We go every Christmas but we don’t do the parks! Well maybe one park and always after 7th January when it’s quieter. The I4 is a car park, think the M25 on a very bad day! The outlets are crazy if you’re not there for opening. We wait for a table in every offsite restaurant too. We love it though and always go to Naples for part of our stay, it depends a lot on how you want to spend your trip.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by Pussycat Doll

We go every Christmas but we don’t do the parks! Well maybe one park and always after 7th January when it’s quieter. The I4 is a car park, think the M25 on a very bad day! The outlets are crazy if you’re not there for opening. We wait for a table in every offsite restaurant too. We love it though and always go to Naples for part of our stay, it depends a lot on how you want to spend your trip.

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Now that we could do! The very thought of a Park over that busy Xmas period sends shivers down my back.

However I accept that it must be awesome to experience it. Just not for us.

[eleele]

I'd go over Christmas again in a heartbeat!

I would prefer to go earlier in December but work in a school so can't.

The atmosphere is amazing, decorations are fab and I didn't think wait times were too bad but we did leave on 27th Dec so maybe we missed the worst of it.

I have a trip report link in my signature if you're interested.

[traleegirl]

Never again! It was freezing cold, we had to go and buy winter clothes and boots. Crowds everywhere, no seats in any restaurants, we seemed to spend 3/4 of the holidays queuing! Florida lost a lot of its shine for us that holiday...