Ask anyone.
If you ask many people when a good time is to visit Walt Disney World,
they’ll say, “Anytime!” There are those WDW veterans, however,
who claim that nothing compares to a Yuletime visit to Orlando.
In this session, let’s look at what WDW has to offer during the Christmas
holiday, and perhaps entice you into visiting Mickey and friends during
the month of December.
Fewer crowds, lower mercury
Before you even get to the special holiday activities WDW holds for December
guests, consider these three important factors, which serve as a draw
for that time of year:
Price
The first three weeks of December can offer guests some of the lowest
on-site room rates of the year. When you combine these attractive rates
with relatively low airline fares, a WDW vacation may not seem so pricey.
An economical vacation is a big draw to everyone, and December certainly
offers such an opportunity. However, beware that once you get to Christmas
Week itself, those rates do an about-face.
Weather
Not everyone cares for hot and sticky weather. Some people avoid Orlando
during the summer to avoid sizzling temperatures and the torrential afternoon
downpours. The weather in December, on the other hand, can be warm without
being overbearing. In fact, Orlando weather in December is pretty inviting
for many people who travel from cold weather areas. During early December,
Orlando enjoys average temperatures in the mid-70s during the day and
mid-50s at night. Of course, there will always be that occasional cold
day. For the most part, however, December temperatures and dry weather
is very appealing to those who look for comfortable vacation weather.
Crowds
Historically, WDW experiences low attendance during the first three weeks
in December. This means shorter queues for attractions and greater availability
for restaurants. Guests can thus squeeze more into their day than they
would with bigger crowds. This is quite a draw for those who value their
time.
These three factors are part of the formula that draws some WDW veterans
to Orlando in December. However, the formula also includes the WDW approach
to the Christmas holidays.
The Magic (Christmas) Kingdom
The Magic Kingdom undergoes a magical transformation during the Christmas
season. Upon entering the Magic Kingdom, guests find a huge Christmas
tree in the Town Square and garland and other decorations strewn about
Main Street, U.S.A.
Country Bear Jamboree in Frontierland also goes through a transformation,
entertaining guests with its annual Christmas show. Those singing bears
get all decked out in their holiday trimmings, while a certain someone
on the right side wall does his own impersonation of Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer.
Of course, the best that the Magic Kingdom has to offer during the Christmas
season is Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
This extremely popular special event is held on specific evenings, traditionally
from just after Thanksgiving through just before Christmas. This is a
separately ticketed event held usually from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., and includes
the following special activities:
- Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parade – This special Christmas
parade marches down Main Street USA twice nightly.
- Mickey’s ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas – This show
can be seen at five different times at the Galaxy Palace Theater in
Tomorrowland.
- Celebrate the Season – This festive holiday show takes
place three times in the Castle Forecourt Stage.
- Goofy’s Country Dancin’ Jamboree – This show replaces
Minnie’s Country Christmas and offers three performances at the Diamond
Horseshoe Saloon in Liberty Square.
- Snowflake Special Storytelling – This event is new for
2003 and takes place at the Fairytale Garden in Fantasyland. There are
five performances nightly.
- Belle’s Enchanted Christmas Story Telling – Belle entertains
with some Christmas tales five times nightly at the Fantasyland Pavilion.
- Lake Howell Holiday Brass – This outfit performs three
shows at the Tomorrowland Stage.
- Wishes – This latest Magic Kingdom nighttime spectacular
is also shown on Mickey Very Merry Christmas Party evenings. It is usually
shown after the first performance of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parade.
But there’s more. Besides these shows and events, guests can get their
complimentary photos of the evening, taken at the old queue area for Alien
Encounter, the queue area at “it’s a small world,” the Hall
of Presidents in Liberty Square, and just to the side of Aloha Isle in
Adventureland.
Guests are also treated to hot cocoa and cookies, offered at or near
the Plaza Pavilion, Aloha Isle, and Columbia Harbor House.
Needless to say, guests are treated to a bounty of festive holiday happenings
during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
If you are fortunate enough to attend, don’t forget to look for Scrooge
McDuck, toy soldiers, reindeer, gingerbread men, and dancing Christmas
trees—they make special appearances during the event.
Epcot
Epcot’s World Showcase offers an international celebration of the holiday
spirit that they affectionately call “Holidays Around the World.”
As you go from country to country, you are welcomed with the holiday greeting
that is traditional with each country.
Epcot has its holiday Christmas storytellers, such as China’s The Money
King, the United Kingdom’s Father Christmas, and Italy’s La Befana. Each
storyteller delivers an enchanted holiday tale for guests.
At the Showcase Plaza, there are daily Christmas shows with Mickey and
friends, including a couple of talented reindeer.
But by far the most popular holiday attraction at Epcot is the Candlelight
Processional, held three times nightly, from just after Thanksgiving through
late December. This presentation includes the telling of the Christmas
story by a celebrity guest narrator, as well as a full chorus, bell ringers,
and an orchestra. Some of this year’s narrators include Ben Vereen, David
Ogden Stiers, Sandi Patti, and Robby Benson.
Guests can sign up for a Candlelight Processional dinner package, which
guarantees a seat for the performance. The package includes dinner at
a selected World Showcase restaurant.
Disney-MGM Studios
For many years, the Disney-MGM Studios was home to the wonderful Osborne
Spectacle of Lights, which lit up the Backlot Tour, New York Street, and
Residential Street areas with many colorful holiday lights.
Unfortunately, this popular Little Rock, Arkansas attraction is not being
offered this year. The theme park is building a new stunt show attraction
in the Residential Street area of the Backlot Tour, taking up the room
that the Osborne Lights used. Also, the New York Street portion of the
park is being revamped with what is being called Big City Street, representing
famous portions of San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
Hopefully the Osborne family lights will return in 2004.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
This theme park is decorated for the holidays, but there is nothing significantly
added for guests during December. This may be due to the nature of the
theme park and the fact that its winter operating hours are shorter than
the other three theme parks.
Christmas at the Resorts
Of course, the resorts are decorated to the hilt for the Christmas holidays.
Some of the more popular resorts to visit for holiday décor sightseeing
include the Grand Floridian Resort, Wilderness Lodge, and the Animal Kingdom
Lodge.
Decorations usually include a bigger-than-life Christmas tree in the
lobby, and in the Grand Floridian, a gingerbread house.
Speaking of gingerbread, guests at Disney’s Beach Club Resort can see
a gingerbread carousel that’s probably more fit to be consumed than ridden.
The Polynesian Resort usually displays Santa’s workshop, gingerbread
style… you can see there’s a gingerbread theme here.
For about $30, guests can also enjoy a 30-minute sleigh ride between
the Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness.
Santa, windows and window dressing
Not to be overlooked is the Disney Marketplace—Downtown Disney and
Disney West Side. Here, guests can find Santa Claus to ask for that special
gift. Guests can also visit the many animated windows that tell the story
of Mickey’s Christmas Carol.
Finally, if you really want to know all about how Walt Disney World plans
and goes about decorating for the holidays, you may want to take the Yuletide
Fantasy Tour. This three- to four-hour tour shows guests what goes into
the planning and holiday-decorating operations for the resort. Guests
are also shown the Walt Disney World ribbon-making machine, which makes
customized ribbons for the resort. When I last checked, this tour charged
about $60 per guest.
A different kind of WDW vacation
As you can see, a visit to the WDW resort in early December is very different
from a visit during any other time of the year. In many cases, the attractions
that are the big drawing cards during the year take a back seat to the
special holiday festivities awaiting guests.
If you ever get an opportunity to visit the WDW resort in December, you
may find yourself saying the same thing that most people say on their
initial holiday visit: “Why haven’t I done this before?”
Next time
As you are read this article, yours truly is “slaving away”
at Mousefest. Next time I will bring you a recap of my impressions of
this event.
Class dismissed.
