At Florida's Walt Disney World, the holidays aren't just a celebration. They're an epic production that calls for some 8.5 million lights and 15 miles of garlands.
Record crowds show up to rock around Disney World's 1,300 individually decorated Christmas trees. After all, it's the holiday season, when kids are out of school and millions of families take vacation. On at least one or two days between Christmas and New Year's, the Magic Kingdom theme park routinely gets so overstuffed with tourists that by lunchtime, guests are turned away at the gates.
How bad does it have to get for Mickey Mouse to tell you there's no room at the inn? The company won't reveal the capacity of each park, but the Magic Kingdom is widely reported to hold as many as 100,000, equivalent to the population of a small city.
Numbers this big require some special navigation strategies. To make sure you don't miss anything worthwhile in Walt Disney World during your end-of-the-year visit, we're sharing some essential Christmas travel tips.
By mid-November, when this dedicated staff is through garnishing the theme park, nothing is left unadorned--not even a Mouse. In 2014, Queen Elsa from Frozen will take the stage each evening at nightfall, wielding her wintery powers to illuminate Cinderella Castle with 200,000 icelike LED lights.
The prices are embellished too, since rack rates for Disney's hotels can be nearly twice what they cost at other times of year. Generally, the more a resort costs, the better its decorations are.
But if you stick to our tips, you'll find that despite the crush and the higher prices, there's still quite a lot of joy to the World.
--By Jason Cochran
See All of T+L's Disney Christmas Travel Tips
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On several days during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, the Magic Kingdom may reach capacity by late morning, when management will close the entry gates until conditions ease (in 2013, December 31 was the worst day, but it’s different every year). The hordes don’t usually begin to disperse until late afternoon, so get there early or you may be told to turn around and visit another park for the day. For more elbow room and a nearly zero chance of sealed gates, consider visiting the week after New Year’s instead; the impressive decorations usually remain up for the first few days of January.
Photo: DaffodilPhotography / Alamy
Lines will be long, so if there’s something you simply must ride, do it right after “rope drop” (which is what Cast Members—a.k.a. Disney employees—call the park’s opening). At the Magic Kingdom, where lines are the densest, the in-demand rides include Space Mountain, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Splash Mountain, and Peter Pan’s Flight. You can squeeze even more into the start of your day if you purchase your entry ticket weeks ahead and use it to reserve Fastpasses (timed attraction reservations) on the Disney website.
Photo: The Walt Disney Company
Restaurants are full even at quiet times of year, so if you want a family dinner at a waiter-service restaurant, booking an ADR (Advance Dining Reservation) is crucial. And there’s a side benefit: if you have a dining reservation in a theme park, you’re more likely to get inside the park even if it’s nearing capacity and other guests are being refused entry. One of the most festive places to eat is the Biergarten in Epcot’s Germany pavilion, which adds special holiday buffet items and serves cups of hot glühwein at a little Christmas market just like the ones in Europe.
Photo: The Walt Disney Corporation
Besides proximity to the parks, there’s a practical reason to stay in a Disney-run hotel (or in the Starwood-run Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin hotels). You have the option of booking your allotment of three daily Fastpasses 60 days ahead. If you’re not staying in a Disney hotel, you get half as much time and you could be crowded out of the best rides. Another perk of staying on Disney turf: as parks approach capacity, entrance is restricted to customers in stages, and if you’re staying in a Disney resort, you’ll make the cut until the final moments when the park is closed to everyone.
Photo: The Walt Disney Company
With gridlock this thick, you won’t be able to do everything you want. On Christmas Day, you also won’t see the parade that’s aired annually on ABC—that’s recorded earlier in December. Instead, make the day about enjoying the ambience, looking at decorations, and finding a spot for the epic holiday parade. People start lining up for the evening show at dinnertime; the cul-de-sac at the City Hall end of Main Street, U.S.A., is the best because you’ll see the floats from several angles.
Photo: Linda Sikes / Alamy
Crowds are worst at the Magic Kingdom, the most popular park at Disney World—and on earth, attracting an estimated 18.5 million visits in 2013. Sometimes people are elbow-to-elbow, and it can take an hour simply to travel from one end to the other. Even the heartiest holiday cheer can wither under those circumstances. Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ shortsighted design also breeds bottlenecks, but Epcot and Disney’s Animal Kingdom are more spacious, so you will feel less hemmed in there.
Photo: The Walt Disney Corporation
The descendant of celebrity nativity shows at Disneyland that once starred the likes of John Wayne is Epcot’s daily Candlelight Processional. This 800-person pageant features a changing roster of name-brand talent, guest Mass choirs, and a 50-piece orchestra presenting the Christmas story. It’s the only place at Disney you’ll hear an explicitly religious message connected to the holidays. There’s no charge for first-come, first-served seating, but people can wait two hours or more. Free up your schedule by purchasing the Dining Package; you’ll get meal vouchers for a restaurant like Rose & Crown Pub plus access to prime reserved seating at the Processional. Tickets go on sale in July, but you won’t know the full schedule of celebrity narrators until the fall. Regulars back for 2014 include Whoopi Goldberg and Neil Patrick Harris. Rock Hudson and Cary Grant were the first to do it in Florida in 1971 and 1972, in the first 14 months that Walt Disney World was open.
Photo: The Walt Disney Corporation