Christmas is magical. Disney is magical. So if you put the two together you should end up with something extra magical, right? But on the other hand we have heard Christmas Day can be one of the busiest days of the year, where the park can hit max capacity and close. Since this was our first holiday season in Orlando we decided now was a good a time as any to find out what it is really like to visit Walt Disney World on Christmas day. Read on to hear about our experience and some lessons learned for future Christmas Day adventurers.

1. The crowds were the craziest we have ever seen.

The Magic Kingdom opened bright and early at 6:00am Christmas morning and closed at midnight. While we heard early risers saw some short ride lines we had decided to sleep in and enjoy our resort that morning. We kept watching social media and it seemed the crowds really started picking up around 10am. We ended up entering around noon and were surprised to see people leaving the park too. The entry line wasn’t bad but when we made it to Main Street it was pretty much shoulder to shoulder up the whole path. Anywhere near the hub and castle was jam packed. We had never seen so many people at once.

Throughout the rest of the day it took a lot of patience to navigate around and many cast members were posted to try to help navigate the hoards of people walking around. (We even saw jungle skippers in liberty square, which is usually way out of character). Finding a place to sit was impossible, any bench, ledge, or fence post was covered in people. We even saw people sitting at a table playing cards (we felt bad for the people running around with quick service food who couldn’t find a spot since people were just chilling.) People seemed tired and annoyed which made for some rude interactions with other guests. We felt bad for Cast Members that day too since it must be stressful.

One thought we had was if the Magic Kingdom was this busy and they hadn’t reached capacity on this particular Christmas day, what does it actually look like when it does? We had made sure to stay on property and make a dining reservation to ensure entry in case it did get to that point, but it is good to note we had no problems entering at noon. (And then again later that evening as well.) We believe that if Christmas had fell on a weekend it may have indeed reached capacity.

A cast member trying to keep the traffic moving.

2. Even Fast Passes were not that fast.

To us, attraction lines were the truest measure of how busy the Magic Kingdom was that day. Pretty much every attraction had lines longer than we had ever seen while in the park. Here are just a few examples of the wait times we say, all occurring sometime between 1:00 and 5:00.

Space Mountain: 170 Minutes

Splash Mountain: 135 Minutes

Thunder Mountain Railroad: 135 Minutes

Pirates of the Caribbean: 90 Minutes

Peter Pan’s Flight: 125 Minutes

Haunted Mansion: 110 Minutes

It’s a Small World: 90 Minutes

Jungle Cruise: 140 Minutes

Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train: 180 Minutes

(Even something like the People Mover was up to 40 minutes.)

Having made an on property reservation we were lucky enough to land three FastPasses before our trip for Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan. When we went over to the Jungle Cruise to use our Fast Pass we found out things were not like a normal park day. We arrived to find the end of the Fast Pass line out of the attraction, up the ramp, and ending at The Magic Carpets of Aladdin just about at the spitting camel. We asked the Cast Member holding the end of the line sign how long it would be and she stated “at least 40 minutes.” This was true for quite a few attractions that we passed. The FastPass line for It’s a Small World was out of the Attraction and halfway to Momento Mori’s.

3. A Table Service Dining Reservation was really worth It.

Throughout the park every food cart or quick service line was super long. We also saw people hovered on the ground trying to eat packages of food or a turkey leg. We kept saying we were so glad we would be able to enjoy a sit down meal and take a break from the crowd. When we were checking in for our reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern, the manager said to the crowd on multiple occasions that if you didn’t have a dining reservation, don’t bother asking because there was nothing available all day. (However, the day before, we did see some availability at Tony’s Town Square so there may be some availability close to the day).

One thing to keep in mind on a busy day like Christmas is your reservation most likely will not be on time. We had a 2:25 reservation and did not get sat for at least 30 minutes after that. The servers were busy and a bit slower than normal, but we still found we had great friendly service and enjoyed the time to sit together with a glass of holiday champagne. We were so glad to enjoy a special holiday meal together and couldn’t imagine just eating a park hot dog or hamburger instead. If you go for Christmas make sure you book something to make it more memorable. (Do keep in mind Christmas is a black out day for discount programs such as Tables in Wonderland).

Enjoying our Christmas dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern.

4. There are special Christmas overlays and shows to enjoy.

One cool thing about Christmas day (and the week of Christmas) is many of the special “extras” usually only seen at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party are available for regular park goers. The crowds may be heavier, but the opportunity is there for special rides, shows, and Christmas magic such as:

Ride overlays on Space Mountain, Tomorrowland Speedway, Monsters Laugh Floor, and Mad Tea Cups
Intermittent Snow on Main Street
Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade occurred twice on Christmas Day, once at 11:00 and 2:00.
(We were there for the 2:00 parade and watched it in Liberty Square as we had to make a quick dash to Liberty Tree Tavern for our 2:25 reservation. Just about every spot on the curb of Main Street for the 2:00 parade was taken by 12:30. By the time we reached Liberty Square, the crowd was about 7-10 people deep.)
Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks
(It’s good to note the hub and the top half of Main Street was completely packed by 9:00 for the show at 10:00. They tried to keep the walkways open in the hub street and other places but that the Castmembers lost that battle since there were too many people wanting to stand in those walkways.)

5. Staying at a Monorail resort was the best decision we made.

One complaint about the Magic Kingdom in general is at the end of a long day it can take forever to get out of the park and back to your car or resort. With so many people in the park this made it even worse on Christmas. Cast members were reminding people after the fireworks to stay until park closing to try to alleviate crowds. We also found it interesting they opened Market Street (located behind Main Street) to help move traffic forward.

We counted our lucky stars that we happened to be staying at Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort that night. We were able to simply walk down the path back to our hotel. It looked like everyone else had to fight long monorail and ferry boat lines to try to get out of there. For fun we even checked Lyft and Uber to see what the surge pricing would be, needless to say it was bad. The cost to go to our house from the Magic Kingdom is normally $48. On Christmas night, it would have cost us $180 for the same ride. Yikes.

Staying at Bay Lake Tower (and the Grand Floridian on Christmas eve the night before) also allowed us to have some down time at the resorts to enjoy the pool and resort decorations. We took a break from the Magic Kingdom for a few hours before the fireworks and both agree if we weren’t staying that close we probably would have skipped fireworks all together.

Final Thoughts

Even with the crowds, we are glad we were able to say that we experienced the Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day at least once. Having said that, we’re not sure we would do it again. The crowds were so intense that it was impossible to avoid them, even if you were there to just wonder around and take everything in. We had Fast Passes go unused and really didn’t even do much that day. We can’t imagine what people paying a regular park ticket that day felt like. We love Disney at Christmas but think if you can go during the season, and not the day of, it actually will be a more magical time. We are fortunate to now be locals and go other times, but even without an AP you can plan to go at other times in December, or even November to enjoy the season. We would however explore staying on Disney property during the holiday again. We had some special meals, relaxing times at the pool, and enjoyed the holiday ambiance. We look forward to future holiday seasons!