We Were at Disney World On Christmas Day. Here’s What It Was Like!

One of the most magical places to spend Christmas Day is at Walt Disney World! Some people do not even realize that both Disneyland and Walt Disney World are open on the holidays including Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.

As someone who has spent every major holiday at either Disneyland or Walt Disney World, I can speak to experience what it is like being in the parks on this most notable occasions.

One of our most memorable trips is the time we took a vacation to Walt Disney World to spend both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the parks, here is what that was like!

How I Picked Our Hotel for Christmas

The first part of my decision on spending Christmas at Walt Disney World was what hotel we wanted to be at. I'm normally a solid value category hotel girl with one of my favorite hotels on property being the Pop Century Resort.

However, for our Christmas trip I decided I wanted to splurge so I went with the Animal Kingdom Lodge deluxe hotel with a savannah view of the room. This was such a great choice especially since our trip ended up having some colder than average Florida days which meant we spent more time in the room.

Waking up to seeing animals like giraffes and zebras on Christmas morning was such a magical way to start the day and it's something my son thought was truly special.

I Decorated Our Hotel Room for Christmas

My son and I had fun going to the Dollar Store ahead of our trip to purchase cheap holiday decorations for the room and door. We bought a tiny mini tree with lights, window clings, garland, and decorated the inside of the hotel room. Since we rented a DVC points to save money on our hotel room costs, we were in the JVC area of the lodge and we noticed nearly everyone on our floor decorated their doors for the holiday.

This is also how I still incorporated our traditions around the Christmas tree on Christmas morning with placing some of his smaller presents underneath the tree. Since we were at the parks, one of his presents was a Disney gift card which was easy enough to travel with. I also had bought candy in advance and hid it in my suitcase to put under the tree as well. It was definitely a fun touch.

When you decide to take kids to Disney for Christmas, one of the decisions you might want to make is how you will do presents if you celebrate that tradition. We decided to do presents before the trip and then I saved smaller items (like the Disney gift card) to give during the trip. This way my son still had presents to wake up to on Christmas Day, I even brought a small stocking with to help carry over that normalcy. This does help quite a bit with making the holiday still special for them as regardless of how cool it is being at Disney for a holiday, it's still an adjustment from their usual routine.

Which Disney World Park to Spend Christmas?

I put a lot of thought into which parks we would spend both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in along with our dining choices.

For Christmas Eve, I chose to make our plans in EPCOT to celebrate the Festival of the Holidays. I booked a Candlelight Processional Dining Package at Biergarten Restaurant which is one of our favorite restaurants in EPCOT. It is decorated like a Christmas German village during the holiday season which made the ambiance even better. Plus, seeing the Candlelight Processional on Christmas Eve which such a special way to honor the holiday at Walt Disney World.

On Christmas Day, I went for the obvious choice of Magic Kingdom and we planned on having brunch at Crystal Palace. Enjoying a morning character dining with some of our favorite Winnie the Pooh characters was a great way to start the day. We also debated doing a Be Our Guest reservation for the evening but ended up canceling that to just spend the day focusing on eating quick service holiday snacks and treats that appear every season.

Is Disney World Crowded on Christmas Day?

READ MORE – Disney World’s Cheapest Hotel is Affordable and Surprisingly Good For the Price

Historically, YES Walt Disney World is very crowded on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This holiday week is often rated as one of the most crowded weeks on most crowd calendars including our own. You can expect larger than normal crowds and long waits for all attractions.

This is the most common experience even over at Disneyland where I have spent Thanksgiving Day at and experienced larger than life crowd levels. If you plan on spending a holiday at Disney, especially these popular ones, you can expect crowds to match. This can catch some folks off guard because they assume that most people stay on home on these holidays but that's not consistently true when it comes to the parks. The only exception that can really shake up these high crowd predictions is something like inclement or unexpected weather.

Our Freezing Cold Disney World Christmas

When my family spent Christmas at Walt Disney World it ended up being one of the coldest holidays on record for Orlando! An unusual cold front hit the area towards the tail end of our trip right on Christmas and it dramatically improved crowd levels as many guests decided to stay inside and skip the parks altogether.

Can you imagine Walt Disney World with 30 degree temperatures? It was the craziest Christmas weather you could expect and luckily for us, being from Colorado, we were prepared to handle that type of cold. But never thought I'd see the day when I had pictures from Walt Disney World that include us wearing sweaters, Columbia ski jackets, scarves, and multiple layers of pants!

This just goes to show you should always check the weather ahead of our visit and consult our Walt Disney World packing list to make sure you arrived prepared. We brought our winter coats with us once we heard about this weather change and so we were some of the most prepared in the park!

Should You Spend Christmas at Disney World?

This is a personal decision but as someone who has done this with a few major holidays, I can give some advice to help you decide. The biggest deciding factor is how this might shake up your own holiday traditions and if that's something you're willing to do. You want to make sure that everyone in your family is on board with this idea especially if you do not commonly travel during the holidays. Some kids might not want to at a hotel on Christmas nor enjoy the idea of doing presents before or after a trip if you decide it's too hard to bring them along with.

On the other side of that, if you have older kids a lot of those potential worries might seem much easier to manage as teens might love the idea of traveling for a big holiday. I particularly enjoyed having a holiday where I just relaxed and didn't have to worry about cooking, baking, or cleaning. That was something that really hit home for me throughout the day when I realized how many hours I spend preparing the house and food for the holidays. Parents getting a break from that preparation is great and allows you to be in the moment with your kids.

If you have a smaller family or do not have a family to spend the holidays with then traveling for a holiday is a great way to spend the day if you usually do not have big plans anyways. And what better place to spend it than Walt Disney World? The Christmas we spent at Walt Disney World was the first one since my mom passed away and so for my family, it was a great way to navigate that grief at the Most Magical Place on Earth.

Plan Your Disney Vacation Today!

For the best resource and helpful information for planning your Disney trip, make sure to subscribe to our FREE Deals newsletter​. We’ll provide you with helpful planning information, exclusive Disney deals, and access to the lowest-priced Disney tickets anywhere.