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[Lindsk]

Has anyone flown on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
We usually go end Nov (went in 2021) but have decided to try to get away at this time instead for a change.
Would love to know about flying out on either of these days, also what the parks, outlet malls etc are like in the fortnight after Christmas Day.

[Beth_Disney]

Originally Posted by Lindsk

Has anyone flown on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
We usually go end Nov (went in 2021) but have decided to try to get away at this time instead for a change.
Would love to know about flying out on either of these days, also what the parks, outlet malls etc are like in the fortnight after Christmas Day.

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We flew on Boxing Day and stayed at Premier Inn Bath Road on Christmas night. The flight was full and was when we flew on a similar date in 2019.

We have to travel during school holidays so we're used to busy. We went to Hollywood Studios and that was busy but that would be expected. I naively hadn't planned for how busy everywhere else would be though; traffic, esp. on the I-4 and the area around Championsgate was awful, there were queues to get into shops at the outlets (45 mins for Levi's), we didn't bother queueing for the sports shops as queues and heat weren't enjoyable and the queue for Avis car hire pick up meant we arrived at the villa 90 mins after I thought we would.

Would I go again at that time of year? In a heartbeat! Just be prepared for the crowds and add extra time for every journey. A villa suited our family group but an on site stay would be my preference for if it was just the 2 of us.

[Lindsk]

Originally Posted by Beth_Disney

We flew on Boxing Day and stayed at Premier Inn Bath Road on Christmas night. The flight was full and was when we flew on a similar date in 2019.

We have to travel during school holidays so we're used to busy. We went to Hollywood Studios and that was busy but that would be expected. I naively hadn't planned for how busy everywhere else would be though; traffic, esp. on the I-4 and the area around Championsgate was awful, there were queues to get into shops at the outlets (45 mins for Levi's), we didn't bother queueing for the sports shops as queues and heat weren't enjoyable and the queue for Avis car hire pick up meant we arrived at the villa 90 mins after I thought we would.

Would I go again at that time of year? In a heartbeat! Just be prepared for the crowds and add extra time for every journey. A villa suited our family group but an on site stay would be my preference for if it was just the 2 of us.

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Thanks, I hadn’t thought about the queues for the outlet shops, that’s a good point. And as for the traffic, yep had absolutely not thought about that either. I’m glad I asked here.
We’d just go to the universal parks and maybe only the 2nd week. We’ve got annual passes with no block outs if we decided to go the first week. And I think we’d stay at the Marriott vacation club as we love the property
I’m thinking Christmas Eve flights will be busy but when they open up, I’ll check out the prices for the 24/25 and see if either are ok.
Good to know you’d do that time of year again. We’re spoiled going end Nov as the crowds are ok, but happy to try once and see if we like Christmas there. we’ve thought about it for years now

[JessBlu]

So pleased you had a good time !

[teallach]

Originally Posted by Lindsk

Thanks, I hadn’t thought about the queues for the outlet shops, that’s a good point. And as for the traffic, yep had absolutely not thought about that either. I’m glad I asked here.

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Bear in mind that the queues at the moment are Covid related. Some of the big shops were only letting in 8 people at a time and it doesn’t help that lots of families shop together! Hopefully that will ease in the coming months

[Lindsk]

Originally Posted by teallach

Bear in mind that the queues at the moment are Covid related. Some of the big shops were only letting in 8 people at a time and it doesn’t help that lots of families shop together! Hopefully that will ease in the coming months

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Ah, I took Beth_Disney’s post to mean queues were bad in 2019 but rereading it, I see it wasn’t

Yes we had to queue in some shops in our Nov 2021 trip due to COVID restrictions.

So in a ‘normal’ year, I’d assume the outlets are busy but not 45min queues then? I don’t mind that at all. I know there could well be restrictions Dec 2022 but it would be good to know what things are like in other years.