Even though it's not quite Thanksgiving yet, the retailers and advertisers want us all to remember that the winter holiday season rapidly approaches, right around the corner. Where will you celebrate your holidays this year? This week we asked the Parenting Panel: Would you plan a Disney vacation during the crowded winter holidays? They shared their thoughts and some survival tips!
Parenting in the Parks columnist Adrienne Krock’s three boys are now 13, 10, and 7. They’ve been visiting the Disneyland Resort since they were each just weeks old and Annual Passholders since their 3rd birthdays. Adrienne writes:
Winter Holidays or not? I must be a true Disney nut because my initial instinct is: Both. With plenty of “ifs” “ands” and “buts.”
On the West Coast, I am a spoiled girl, living just around the bend from the Disneyland Resort. But traveling to the Walt Disney World Resort is a very rare treat for our family. For our first trip, we chose October. First, I wanted to go during a cooler weather period. Naturally, we experienced a few hot and humid days, but those were the vast minority. Coming from California, we cherish our dry heat!
Second, our children had been scheduled for a school break that season. Ultimately, the school district changed the calendar after we made our arrangements. I find myself conflicted over the debate of taking the kids out of school or visiting during school breaks. My children are brilliant and still young enough that missing some school has little to no effect on their grades. As a “retired” teacher, I hesitate to advocate or support the practice without caveats because I know that certain times of the school year are more critical than others. Additionally, I have seen first hand families who “abuse” the system. In our case, October was a safe time of year to miss a couple of weeks of school and with my family's solid reputation, the school administration was very supportive of our reasons for not canceling our vacation.
Third, I give you three words: Food and Wine. By visiting in October, our family enjoyed the awesomeness of the annual Food and Wine event in Epcot. I understand that not everyone has adventurous eaters like ours. After we booked our vacation, Disney announced a free Dining Plan incentive. The difference between packages was only a few hundred dollars but gained us thousands of dollars of free food. Our children loved using our snack credits around World Showcase tasting all of the wonderful food from the Food and Wine kiosks. I cannot quite imagine visiting Epcot without them. Our boys absolutely loved the experience and still talk about it two years later.
Above all, we enjoyed the parks with relatively little crowding. As a Disneyland local, I know first hand how insane the crowds in Anaheim can be during the winter holidays. If our rare experience included that level of crowding, I cannot quite imagine how much we would enjoy ourselves.
And this is where I get wishy-washy with a big BUT…
On the other hand, as the song goes in the parade, “There's a special magic, at Christmastime this year.” (Do they play that same song in the Holiday parade at Walt Disney World?) Disneyland during the holidays really is something else. Disney decorators miss no details. The parks look amazing. The merchandise tempts pocketbooks. Special menu items fill the restaurants. Disney offers special parades and meet and greet opportunities. Combine the magic of the season with the magic of Disney and wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am: A Disney theme park can be an incredible place to be, even if it seems that almost everyone else on Earth is there at the same time as you.
I cannot quite imagine my first trip to Walt Disney World happening during the winter holidays. I would much rather experience the parks with fewer crowds. The only way to make that happen would be to plop that vacation in the middle of a month and pull the kids out of school. For many, that would be a terrific plan but not so much for our family.
Having already been once, would I go in the middle of the crazy just to experience it? I can't really say but probably not. Blame the whole “I'm spoiled living so close to Disneyland” thing.
Bring back Captain Wishy-Washy…
In my world, it always comes down to cost. The cost of a family vacation to Walt Disney World would keep me from making a trip during the winter school break. BUT… if we lived driving distance and a less expensive vacation plan away from either Walt Disney World or Disneyland, a Christmas visit to the parks, even during the crazy crowded days, might just be too much temptation to pass up.
Chris, also known as GusMan, is always planning his next family trip to the Walt Disney World Resort and loves to help others plan their trips, as well sharing his experiences. Chris adds some tips for traveling at peak season:
One of the most common questions asked by those planning a Disney vacation is related to when to go. Several of our first trips revolved some of the slowest times of the year and to be honest—it spoiled us. Imagine our surprise on how different it was when we took our first August trip. We wondered if we would ever go again during a peak time.
Here are some of our favorite tips for planning a Disney trip during a busy time:
- Book your room early! I know that some people like to hold out and wait for discounts and incentives to help reduce costs. However, you need to book as soon as you know your travel dates so you at least have a room at the resort of your choice. You can always add applicable discounts later and consider the savings extra pixie dust!
- Mentally prepare for the crowds. This may seem odd, but if you know its going to be crowded beforehand, you will actually enjoy yourself much more. Prepare your children by letting them know that it will be very busy but you will still have a magical time.
- Possibly have some small handheld games to play with during long wait times. I know that might take away from some of the magical queues that Disney has to offer, but sometimes a round of Angry Birds on an iPhone can really make the time go by.
- Consider the time of year that you are going. For summer months, the heat and humidity combined with the crowds may make for some real physically uncomfortable days. Think about splitting up your day into morning, mid-day, and evening activities. This will help you beat the heat while doing a lot of different things Disney has to offer. Crowded times during the cooler months tend to be more tolerable, but you also may not be able to do some of the same activities such as swimming or water parks unless it is a nice sunny day. After all, it may be Florida, and it may be warm, but it may not be warm enough for water activities.
- Think about dining ahead of time. This is where we really ran into trouble during our first summer trip. The heat has the ability to really change your appetite. Even though we had free dining, we cancelled several of our ADR’s because we just did not want to eat anymore. If you think this will be an issue for you and your family, consider limiting your ADR’s and trying many of the great counter service eateries. Also consider possibly eating during off-peak times to avoid crowds.
- Use Extra Magic Hours (EMH) as a part of your plan. From my experience, it may not be fun to get up early on vacation, but if you can use morning EMH’s. you can get a lot done without having to deal with the crowds. Consider park hopping later in the day once the park you are in gets too crowded for your taste or consider some other non-park activity.
- FastPasses will be your friend. Get them and use them as best as you can. It will make your life much easier knowing that you can do something else, such as a minor attraction, while you are waiting for your FastPasses. Believe it or not, if it was not for that strategy, we would not have ever enjoyed attractions such as Tom Sawyer's Island or even found out about the purple dinosaur named Figment.
Ever since that first muggy, hot summer trip, we have returned over and over again to the same Summer weather. And to be honest, we adapted quite well. It almost makes us wonder what’s wrong when we return during the non-peak hours.
It's your turn—keep the discussion flowing!
Visit the Parenting in the Parks forum on our MousePad discussion board, and share your opinions about this topic or many others, or send your suggestions via e-mail. Reader-submitted tips might be used in a future article, and you might be selected to participate in an upcoming panel discussion!
