This was our first time to be at Disney World on Christmas Day, so we created our own traditions. We brought along our stockings and each had the days leading up to Christmas to secretly buy a gift for the other two that would fit in the stocking and was ~$25. William had a $50 Disney gift card to purchase his gifts secretly. He took great pride in finding and buying on his own! In addition to a gift from each person, William received the only thing he requested for Christmas: a Nintendo Switch from Santa. He was happy to have it on the plane ride home (and every day since....)!
When I stood out on our balcony that morning to check the weather (warmer and no rain!), I saw the Santa Stop Here! inflatable at our neighbor's! There were a number of windows/balconies/patios with decorations. We saw inflatables, trees, lights and window clings.
Although we weren't there for the 6 a.m. rope drop since we wanted to do our stockings, we did get to Magic Kingdom before the crowds were too bad. It was probably 8 a.m. when we arrived. The crowds (even for the fireworks in the evening) were not as horrible as I feared. I supposed it's all in managing expectations! I didn't hear of any park closures. The longest lines were for photos and Starbucks! Of course, we're a family that wants both of those! Today's shirts were green for Christmas. That was, not surprisingly, the color of choice for many families that day! The outfits we saw on Christmas were even more over the top than the rest of the week. Again, not shocking. I even wore my Minnie Ears most days which I rarely do anymore.
Crowds picking up by late morning....luckily by then we were using our Fast Passes for rides. We picked two rides where I was expecting holiday overlays: Jungle (Jingle) Cruise and Space Mountain. For Space, they had holiday music instead of the usual space music playing, and there were red and green strobe snowflakes which lit up the ride building enough that you could see parts of the track. It's almost scarier to be able to see the tight turns and low ceiling clearance than to hurtle through dark space! Jingle Cruise was awesome. We had a very funny, punny skipper! John was almost rolling on the floor of the boat laughing!
Afterwards we were well positioned to head over to Frontierland to get a spot for the Christmastime parade - my favorite parade ever! It's better on Main Street for the holiday ambiance, but we wanted a less crowded spot.
My favorites are the toy soldiers - their boots make an awesome clacking sound as they march - and the prancing reindeer, because....well, they're prancing reindeer!
For lunch we ate at Liberty Tree Tavern. I originally made that reservation thinking they only had the traditional all-you-can eat feast platters available like they do at dinner (beef roast, pork roast, turkey and fixings) which seemed like a great Christmas comfort meal. Once we got there and realized they had an ala carte menu, we all decided to do something different! We had lobster fritters for appetizers and entrees of fish & chips, turkey pot pie, and cheeseburger. And Sam Adams beer for the adults. Oh, and how can I forget the Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake with ice cream! It was a lovely holiday feast; especially since I didn't have to cook or clean up!
As we wound our way back to the front of the park to head back to the hotel, we saw more crowds and took more photos. We rode the monorail to Epcot and walked through that park to get Starbucks (finally found a short line!) and take the back entrance to our hotel.
Zero Days Til Christmas, and he couldn't be happier!
After resting (hot tub for adults and video games for the kid) and cleaning out the leftovers from the fridge for dinner, we headed back to Magic Kingdom around 8:30 pm for the evening fireworks. We took a lot of pictures along Main Street and finally got to a spot in front of the castle around 9 p.m. when there was a castle light show. We stayed in that same spot more or less (adding more people and less personal space) until the 10 p.m. holiday fireworks. This is where Disney haters would really hate being here. It was crowded and we were standing in almost the same spot for close to 90 minutes by the time it was over. William was "over it" and sat for awhile, but to avoid him being trampled I finally had to make him stand. Also, I was annoyed by the number of people with their cameras up to video the entire thing which blocked people's view. You don't need to Facebook Live the thing! The grand finale was very grand, and we were happy to see it! But also glad to exit the viewing area to ride a few more rides and then retire for the evening!
