How can I make our Florida Christmas trip a bit more magical?

[I love walmart]

My boys aren't babies (they're 12 and 15!) but they are worried that we wont have a proper christmas. And they are getting really worried that they wont have presents for some strange reason.
We are staying in a Dibb villa, which will be decorated with a tree. We aren't doing Disney but are doing Universal and Busch Gardens.
Any suggestions for some really Christmassy things to visit or do? And what is the likelihood of me getting some presents wrapped, labelled and placed under the tree BEFORE we all arrive. Can I pay for things from the UK on American websites? Would the companies do gift wrapping? Do you think a villa management company would even be prepared to take delivery of the goods and drop them off at the villa?

[duchy]

Why not arrange for one of the Orlando personal shoppers to deliver gifts once you are there. It'd be a bit more reliable and you could get them out of the villa on a pretext (like going out to breakfast)
In all honesty though presents appearing under your tree overnight would be magical enough for most teens thinking they are getting a holiday rather than presents... just have a dedicatedsuitcase and have TSA locks on it ... (tokeep them out and avoid any issues with airport checks) or use a personal shopper who does gift wrap.

Amazon US do gift wrapping and you could get them delivered to your personal shopper. Why not contact one of them and see what they can do for you (but do it soon as they could get very booked up for Christmas)

[ianc]

Why not do your normal UK Christmas just before you go - tree, decorations, presents, turkey, the full works. Then you don't miss out and you can have a second, but different, Christmas when there.
As far as management companies are concerned, you need to speak with the specific Dibb owner - it is what that particular MC does that is relevant, not what others might do.
Delivery arrangements will depend on whether your community is gated or not.
Shopping web sites will vary in their policies - you need to check each. Some will take orders from the UK, others might not. One issue can be that the delivery address is not the same as your card address - which can be problem in the UK too.

[Carolynmf]

For Christmas things to do, have a look at Celebration town centre, they do nightly snow(bubbles) and carol singing, Gaylord Palms, Ice show, Disney Springs or the Disney hotels.
I will be looking for you there

[captain-codeye]

I suppose our kids no know different! We have never had a Christmas at home!

We have our England Christmas around the end of November and do presents with all the extended family and have a full turkey dinner.

When we get to Florida or Trinidad (it’s always alone or the other) the
Tree goes up and we decorate the house, we then go to dollar tree or a Chinese shop in Trinidad and get about 20 presents each from Santa to leave under the tree.

We have a full turkey dinner in the house on Christmas Day, just take the paxo and bisto with you as it’s hard to find the same abroad, everything else is available (including crackers in target) and the turkeys are cheap as chips!

To be honest there not that bothered by the presents, back in the pool within an hour, we then chuck the presents before we leave as they have the main presents back in England.

It will be great I assure you! Christmas in England is damp and cold and the sunshine and a pool wins every time!

Celebration is good for a few hours in the evening, the snow is mushy though! Ice and snow at Gaylord palms is also worth a visit, I don’t rate the Christmas buffet though.

[DonnaD]

My girls have never had Christmas at home either. We always did a low key dinner before we left and opened most of the presents then. We then had stockings and a few other gifts on the day. My 11 year old is actually disappointed that our move here means she won't get to open them early this year! It is very Christmassy in the parks, at Disney Springs and in Celebration. Ice at Gaylord Palms is pretty impressive but expensive IMO, the extra charge for parking really annoyed us as it was more than Disney charge for a full day.

[Cazzius]

Contact the amazing Beth at Fairytale Personal Shopper

She put together fantastic gift baskets for us when we went.

You could tell her what your boys like and she can put baskets together with goodies related to their interests and deliver it to your villa. Could do goodies for their trip - lanyards for their Universal passes, Christmas hats, water bottles, candy or just some little presents to kick the trip off.

You can buy the stuff online and have it shipped to her, or she can shop for you.

Cannot recommend her enough!

[maznorm]

Originally Posted by DonnaD

Ice at Gaylord Palms is pretty impressive but expensive IMO, the extra charge for parking really annoyed us as it was more than Disney charge for a full day.

See more...

How much was parking at Gaylord Palms? I hadn't thought of that.

[DonnaD]

Originally Posted by maznorm

How much was parking at Gaylord Palms? I hadn't thought of that.

See more...

It was a few years ago so I can't remember exactly but some thing like $22. The tickets for ICE are pretty expensive and we were only there a couple of hours so definitely felt excessive. We had been to one of the restaurants before and not had to pay so were a bit surprised.

[loopyloo33]

We have done a big walmart order on click and collect and picked up on our first day. Walmart sells most types of presents we needed. Ive then locked myself away on the presence of needing a nap and wrapped everything!