Right, so let’s get to the oft-asked question straightaway: Is Disney World busy at Christmas?
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *Gasp, wheeze, struggle for breath* Is Disney World busy at Christmas?!
So yeah, this would be the part of the answer where I lob back a number of saucy replies involving the business that bears do in the woods or the activities of a one-legged man at an ass-kicking competition.
In other (less sarcastic ) words, YES, Disney World is busy at Christmas. All four parks were busier than I have ever seen them over 11 visits and 40 years of existence. And on Christmas Day in particular when the Magic Kingdom hit capacity for just the second time in Disney history, the kind of busy that regrettably pulls you right out of the magic as you question the efficacy of any emergency procedure that will involve the evacuation of 70,000 people.
However! Mr. Finger Candy and I – particularly in light of our back-to-back trips in 2017 – kind of consider ourselves pros at this whole Disney business, and we viewed our adventure as a challenge or a task or a mission to be completed, and completed well! So we were organized and motivated and driven. Also willing to adapt, modify our plans as needed and just go with the flow, bro.
“Park or Perish!” may seem like a pretty lousy rallying call for a vacation, but I assure you, we had a fantabulous time, in large part because we were up for just about anything. Which led to all sorts of fun shenanigans that I will share with you in more exhaustive detail a little later, such as this awesome meet-and-greet with Buzz Lightyear in which he congratulated us on our top scores on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.
Or this incredible retro meal we enjoyed (so much!) at the 50s Prime Time Cafe at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Or hugs from this hairy dude.
For that matter, hugs from this hairy dude as well, who graciously received us in his study after our late (10 pm!) Christmas Day dinner at Be Our Guest.
Or this amazing moment, which I have already decided is going to be next year’s Christmas card. “Merry Christmas, Force-choke a husband!”
We had a blast, crowd levels notwithstanding (in fact, in some cases we had an amazing time not in spite of the crowds, but because of them.) And I like to think that was our “reward” for our laid back, yet organized, approach to Disneying through the holidays – an actual good time to be had at the Happiest Place on Earth. Revolutionary, I know! But it can be done, and I’m looking forward to sharing all the fun with you over the coming days. Please do stop by for a visit; there’s plenty more Star Wars and meet-and-greets and deeply unattractive on-ride photos to come!
Finger Candy 
We were just there in October for the Food and Wine Festival. It was so much fun and so many delicious foods!!!
I caught the tail end of Food and Wine too many years ago, and it was fabulous – really must go for a longer, yummier period of time next time!
I’ve heard it’s insane during Christmas time at Disney! Why wouldn’t it be… warm weather, kids are off school, special decorations. Oh speaking of which, I watched the tv special this year showing how Disney gets ready for Christmas, it was a neat behind the scenes look!
I love that picture of your husband floating – perfect for a Christmas card! 😀
Thanks for sharing these – glad you had a fabulous time! ❤
Holy smokes, there were a few hours there on Christmas Day at the Magic Kingdom where it was just unbearably, can’t-walk-faster-than-a-shoulder-to-shoulder-shuffle busy and it was really unpleasant. But otherwise, it was enjoyably busy, you know? Nothing that couldn’t – and wasn’t – worked around. 🙂
Aw, you guys look so great! The more mature I get, the more I adopt the laid-back, go with the flow vacation style; not easy for my personality, but with Disney, it’s all there laid out for you to enjoy, you really can’t go wrong.
Yikes, those crowd sizes though! There was one weekday afternoon in Midtown Manhattan, we were crossing the street and got swept up in a swarm of people and had to make our way through the crowd, it was effing daunting. I love the pulse of lots of people, just not the physics of it.
So, whatcha got in that glowing purple drink up there…margaritas? I’m hoping for a post-mucho margaritas photo! Are those new Sally ears? They are awesome, you know how to Disney in style!
Thanks, Jay, we had such an awesome time. And it sounds kind of antithetical to “go with the flow,” but the reason our Disney vacations go as well as they do is because we’re hella prepared and organized. And we just know the parks really well, how they’re laid out, how most of the attractions behave, so our experience always tends to be a rather smooth one. Can’t say that held true for everyone – was witness to some SUPER insane behaviour (like, family-on-family felonies, for real.) Disney also makes it way easy – whether they’re picking your luggage up at the airport and delivering it to your room while you take a shuttle bus off to the parks or some other random act of amazing guest service, they’ve just got their act together – it’s all there for you, and you just have to enjoy it (oh yeah, and pay for it. Let’s not kid ourselves here that Disney ain’t all about the Benjamins.)
THAT purple drink (I say that like I drank multiples; multiple drinks, maybe, but not multiples of that one) was called a Magical Star Cocktail. There’s a battery-powered glow cube down in the bottom that flashes through all the colours of the rainbow. This was at the 50s place, so it was very retro – blue curacao, pineapple, vodka…pretty decent! Not margarita decent, but then again, what is? 😉
Okay, so the crowd sizes during mostly the afternoons were kind of bonkers (mostly at these bottleneck areas where you’d just crawl) but having gone through bag check and security with all of those people, I at least had the illusion of security as I was being herded along. I mean, a stampede gets set off and we’re all in trouble, but I wasn’t worrying about weapons. Maybe I should have been. But your experience in New York – I would not have been cool with that. Genuine cause for panic, that. It sounds like you handled yourself with aplomb, though. I’d probably just be panic-sweating.
And yes, they are new Sally ears. 🙂 And I saw the other day that Katy Perry was at the Magic Kingdom wearing the other set of glittery ears I bought. I did it first, Katy, pffft!
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Oh my gosh! Looks like you had a blast! That’s awesome! Happy New Year! 🙂
Thank you, we really did have a stupendous time. 🙂 And happiest of new years (some weeks ever so late!) to you, too.