Complete Guide To Visiting Disney At Christmas

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Planning on visiting Disney at Christmas? Here is all the info you need to plan a trip to Disney including cost, activities and decorations!

Disney is magical any time of year, but I feel like it’s especially magical at Christmas. With special shows, decorations, food and a Christmas Party where it snows on Main Street USA, it is pretty fun! Without proper planning you’ll be stuck in lines, and wondering what to do next! Here I’m going to break down all the Christmas shows, attractions and advice on when to go so you can make plans for your magical Christmas vacation!

When To Go

Christmas kicks off right after Halloween. In fact Christmas decorations and merchandise start popping up at some parks before Halloween!

We visited from December 7-14th 2019 and the crowds were not too bad. It was quite busy on the weekends but then slower during the week, however the closer you get to Christmas the busier it will be.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Magic Kingdom will be the busiest. The park can reach capacity early in the day and may not let any more guests enter, depending on the stage of closure. A dining reservation could help you enter the park. WDW Prep School has a helpful article about it! 

Planning Ahead

Making Park reservations and dining reservations in advance is important for any Disney vacation, but especially at this time of year. The parks are busier and it will be difficult to get last minute dinner reservations.

You’ll need to choose which parks you’ll visit on which days by making a Park Pass reservation. This is done on your My Disney Experience account, and it grants you entry to the park on that day.

Characters

**Character meet and greets are currently not happening. You will be able to see some of your favourite characters during the random Cavalcades in each park! It seems they will be using the floats from the Christmas parade for these cavalcades! Including the Toy Soldiers!

Meeting characters is fun, especially around the holidays. Some characters dress up, but some don’t, so don’t expect everyone to be in different outfits! Here are some places you can meet festive characters:

Animal Kingdom:

• Mickey & Minnie at Adventurers Outpost 
• Scrooge McDuck, Launchpad McQuack, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy and Chip & Dale in DinoLand U.S.A
• Russell and Dug on Discovery Island

Epcot:

• Belle in the France Pavilion
• Santa Claus at the American Adventure

Hollywood Studios:

• Woody, Bo Peep, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story Land
• Chip & Dale on Hollywood Boulevard
• Santa Claus on Sunset Boulevard
• Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy at Hollywood & Vine (dining reservations required)

Magic Kingdom (regular park hours):

• Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theatre
• Santa Claus at Town Square Courtyard

Decorations

Disney goes all out for decorations! Would you expect anything less? All the parks have a giant Christmas tree with themed ornaments and you can usually find a photopass photographer nearby to take your picture.

Animal Kingdom:

For the first time Animal Kingdom has decorated for the holidays! First on Discovery Island puppets from arctic animals come out to play. Africa is beautifully decorated with ornaments that look handmade. Asia is decorated for Diwali – the festival of lights. Even Pandora gets in on the fun with decorations made with items indigious to Pandora.

Epcot:

Each country in Epcot is decorated according to their traditions. France and Germany are especially beautiful so spend some time in each countries nooks and crannies! There are sporadic decorations through the rest of the park.

Hollywood Studios:

Tinseltown really comes to life at Hollywood Studios. The park is beautifully decorated in vintage inspired decor throughout most of the park. Make sure to check out the window displays on Hollywood Boulevard. Toy Story Land gets some cute Christmas decor – my fav is the Hamm cookie! Sadly they don’t celebrate Christmas on Batuu so no decorations in Galaxy’s Edge.

Magic Kingdom:

I might have saved the best for last. Magic Kingdom at Christmas is iconic! First you’ll want a photo in front of the train station before you even enter the park! Then you’ll see the giant Christmas Tree after you enter the park. As you walk along Main Street USA, make sure to check out the window displays! The Jungle Cruise gets Christmas decor and becomes the Jingle cruise – complete with holiday jokes. There are some sporadic decorations throughout the rest of the park.

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

**Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is changed to Disney Merriest After Hours Event!

2021: The Disney Merriest After Hours Event will take place from 9pm to 1am on select nights in November and December 2021. It will be similar to the Very Merry Christmas Party featuring:

• Character sightings
• Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks Show
• After-hours access to Magic Kingdom park and less time waiting in line for popular attractions
• Holiday-themed attraction overlays and Cinderella Castle projections
• Snowfall on Main Street, U.S.A.
• Holiday treats, ice cream, popcorn and bottled beverages—all included with the cost of admission
• Themed food and beverages available for purchase
• Holiday-themed Disney PhotoPass photo opportunities (photos available for purchase)
• Special lighting, music and more!

Going at Halloween? Learn about Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party!

Festival Of The Holidays

Over at Epcot you’ll find the Festival Of The Holidays in the World Showcase from November 26th to December 30th 2021.

Similar to the Food & Wine Festival you’ll find different food booths called Holiday Kitchens with traditional food and drinks from regions around the world. In each country you can learn about their holiday traditions through storytellers at certain times throughout the day. Don’t forget to grab your Festival Of The Holidays passport so you don’t miss any of the fun!

Candlelight Processional

**Candlelight Processional MAY BE cancelled for 2021: no announcement yet!

Technically the Candlelight Processional is part of the Festival Of The Holidays at Epcot. Every night at 5:00, 6:45 and 8:15 a celebrity narrator will tell the biblical Christmas story with a choir and 50 piece orchestra. It is a beautiful show. Some of the nights will be more popular than others depending on the celebrity that is narrating. You can get guaranteed seats by booking a dining package at table service restaurants in Epcot. The dining package is priced depending on the restaurant and includes an appetizer, entree and dessert and one non-alcoholic beverage or one full buffet, and you’ll get a ticket for a certain show that evening.

Special Shows

** Shows have not yet been announced for 2021

Who doesn’t love some nighttime fireworks? At Hollywood Studios they play Jingle Bell Jingle BAM! every night from November 8th to January 5th on the Chinese Theatre. Also at Hollywood Studios Sunset Season’s Greetings projection show plays on the Tower of Terror on Sunset Boulevard throughout the evening. 

Over at Animal Kingdom the Tree of Life Awakening gets a winter theme, which plays continuously through the evening. 

At Magic Kingdom Else lights up the castle every night with 200,000 lights during a Frozen Holiday Wish around 6pm (check your times guide at the parks). Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmastime Parade is usually only during the Christmas Party but a week before Christmas it comes out during the day for regular guests. 

Outside Of The Parks

** Nothing has been announced for 2021 yet! Stay tuned!

There is always lots to do outside the parks, and Christmastime is no exception. Of course you can shop at Disney Springs, but they also have a Christmas Tree Trail, with trees themed to different Disney movies along the way. It even “snows” along the trail and you can meet Santa! 

One of my favorite things to do outside of the parks is to check out the deluxe resorts. They are all beautifully decorated for Christmas. The Grand Floridian has been building a giant gingerbread house for 20 years in the lobby. You can also find a gingerbread carousel at the Beach Club, and a gingerbread replica of the boardwalk at The Boardwalk Inn! I loved the tree at the Wilderness Lodge, don’t miss checking it out. 

Each resort will likely have holiday themed activities as well. Check out each resort’s activity guides for details.

Learn more about what to do with a no park day!

Cost

All of these below are 2019 prices

Disney prices their park tickets based on the time of year, so Christmas time will cost you a little bit more. November will be a little cheaper than December. For example a standard one-day ticket for the week of December 22nd will cost $139-$159 . In November a one-day ticket ranges from $128-$139 (the higher price is over Thanksgiving).

We booked a Magic Your Way package which included 7 nights at All Star Sports and a 7 day Park Hopper ticket for 4 adults: $4203.28

We had booked a bounce back offer on our previous trip so we got the Quick Service Dining Plan included, but we paid to upgrade to the regular Disney Dining Plan. It would have cost us $2113.72 to buy the Disney Dining Plan without the promotion. 

We opted to buy the Memory Maker and I couldn’t be happier with the photos: $169

We spent about $160USD on tips and some appetizers not included on our meal plan.

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is a specially ticketed event, and not included in regular park admission. For the date we picked we paid $464.36 for 4 adult tickets.

All in all our week long Disney trip for 4 adults cost about $4997.00USD

Final Thoughts

I loved visiting Disney World at Christmas! Seeing my favorite place all dressed up for the holidays was such an amazing way to kick off the holiday season. In general it was busier than when we’ve visited at other times of the year, but not enough to ruin our experience. 

Have you been to Disney at Christmas? Let me know what you thought!