Going to Walt Disney World during the holidays is like touring the parks on expert mode. It’s not really a great time for first time visitors to the Vacation Kingdom to plan their trips – crowds are high, the famous background music is replaced with holiday tunes, and quality reservations for Fastpass+ and restaurants can be hard to come by.
Honestly, it can even be a challenge for Walt Disney World veterans – particularly when they fall into a few common traps set by the parks during the holiday season.
Let’s take a look at a few of those common mistakes and, more importantly, strategies for how to avoid them.
1. Underplanning
Conventional wisdom states that the cardinal sin of any Walt Disney World trip is underplanning. This is true whether you’re visiting on December 25 or October 2 – blithely walking into the parks without any idea of what’s going on is probably not going to lead to a productive trip.
However, proper Disney planning can take on many forms. For some, it’s getting dining and Fastpass reservations months in advance and following something like the Unofficial Guide’s Touring Plans to the T. For others, it’s seeing which reservations are available the night before and molding their day around that. Both ways work for a certain kind of vacationer, but the fact is that you really must do one or the other – particularly around the holiday season – if you want to have a solid, well-fleshed-out day at the parks.
Whether this means picking a few “must-dos” to start your day at the parks or getting Fastpass+ reservations 60 days in advance, you have to do some planning to ensure a complete day.
2. Late arrival
While a lack of planning is a WDW vacation’s cardinal sin, its Golden Rule is as follows: Show up at the parks when they open. Arriving late is, possibly, the single biggest mistake a touring guest can make during times of peak attendance. You would be amazed how many people fail to follow this simple edict, even when touring the parks on Christmas Day.
The temptation to show up late is obviously very strong – it is supposed to be a vacation, after all – but doing so means arriving when the lines for Disney’s signature attractions are at their longest.
Ultimately, if there is one attraction or experience you absolutely must have, showing up when the park opens is one of the simplest ways to achieve it – especially if you cannot get a Fastpass+ reservation.
Some people suggest showing up anywhere from 30-45 minutes before the parks open, but it all depends on how willing you are to wait for things – keep in mind the later you show up, the longer the wait. But arriving at park opening (or for morning Extra Magic Hours) can be enough to ensure a nominal wait.
3.Overplanning
Just as underplanning can lead to an unproductive day at the park, overplanning can dramatically increase stress. The biggest reason for this is that, of course, no plan ever goes off without a hitch.
Here’s an example:
I was in the parks over the week of Christmas and, along with my family, secured Fastpass+ reservations for Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. Unfortunately, our day at the Magic Kingdom encountered some unforeseen difficulties when we were evacuated off both Space Mountain and Splash Mountain as both rides broke down. According to some cast members we spoke to, this is not entirely uncommon at the end of the year as rides near the end of their refurbishment cycles.
Disney’s way of dealing with this is to give guests makeup Fastpasses good for any of the park’s E-Ticket rides at any time, which for our purposes worked great. But, for individuals with a strict plan – full of dining reservations, pre-planned breaks, parades and such – this could spell the end of what, to that point, was a productive day.
The solution to this issue is not to forego any sort of planning, of course, but to build some time into your day for the things that inevitably go wrong. And, even more than that, overplanning can lead to yet another mistake …
4. Possessing a do-or-die attitude
For many, a trip to Walt Disney World is a one-time experience. The cost of a vacation has skyrocketed and, unfortunately, that has made repeat visits difficult for a lot of people. Under those circumstances, it’s not surprising that guests visiting Walt Disney World want to see everything – they may not return, and everything is so amazing and, frankly, worth seeing.
Unfortunately, that’s not realistic, and it’s certainly not realistic during the holidays. Expecting to do and see everything in four or five days will likely lead to a lot of stress and a lot of disappointment which, in turn, leads to frustration and possible intrafamily turmoil.
The best attitude for a busy time of year is one of added value – meaning, decide for yourself one or two things that you absolutely must do, and make sure to do those things. Everything else should feel like icing on the proverbial cake. If you go into your trip expecting to see a handful of things, and wind up touring most of the park successfully, you’ll be thrilled. If you go into your trip expecting to see everything and only experience a few attractions, you’ll feel disappointed.
Mental preparation is, really, as important as anything else with a Disney trip.
5. Wrong expectations
And that brings us to the ultimate mistake some people make when visiting the parks over the holidays – they come into it with the wrong expectations.
Here’s some tough love: if you want to ride Test Track at three o’clock in the afternoon without a Fastpass on Christmas Day, you will likely have to wait upwards of two hours (on the day I was at Epcot, it was more than three). This is true of most major attractions at the four parks, but the key to managing expectations for a holiday trip to Disney World is asking yourself why that’s the case. Why are there so many people filling these parks during the holiday season?
The answer is multifaceted, but the overarching reason is this:
It is absolutely magical.
Every resort hotel is decorated in a beautiful holiday theme. The Grand Floridian has a stunning Gingerbread House. The Polynesian has a gorgeous tree. They all look at their finest.
Each park is dressed up with a winter-time flavor and given a makeover that would delight everyone from kids to adults. Epcot’s World Showcase teaches guests how to celebrate the holidays in other countries. Disney’s Hollywood Studios shows off their impressive collection of Christmas lights.
People flood Walt Disney World in late December because it is Disney at its most beautiful. A successful trip during the holidays cannot be measured in the same way you would measure one in the offseason. What’s important isn’t necessarily riding all of the rides or seeing all of the shows, but spending the holidays somewhere magical with people you truly care about. Is that idea cheesy? Probably – but what do you expect from a kingdom whose mayor is a mouse?
