Welcome to the Disney Parks Moms Panel, Shannon! I am ecstatic to help you plan your vacation to The Most Magical Place on Earth during the most wonderful time of the year. There is truly nothing more magical than Walt Disney World during the holidays and I am so excited for you to be visiting during this special time for your very first Walt Disney World vacation.
I think a great place to start is with
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. This is an excellent, ticketed after-hours celebration that takes place in Magic Kingdom Park with typically shorter wait times for attractions, exclusive entertainment, and complimentary holiday snacks and beverages. Another great option is the
EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays – Candlelight Processional with celebrity narrators bringing the story of Christmas to life, accompanied by gorgeous choral pieces and an orchestra.
There are so many excellent attractions throughout Walt Disney World that there is truly something for everyone. I highly recommend that you check out the attraction lists for
Magic Kingdom Park,
Disney’s Hollywood Studios,
EPCOT, and
Disney’s Animal Kingdom to see which attractions best suit your party’s thrill levels and interests. I’ll list a few of my favorites for each park to get you started. In Magic Kingdom Park I absolutely love the classic rides like Space Mountain, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Pirates of the Caribbean. At Disney’s Hollywood Studios you absolutely must check out the newest attraction, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, a zany adventure that is suitable for everyone. My other recommendations include Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Dog Dash, Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster Starring Aerosmith, and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, you won’t want to miss the chance to fly on the back of a banshee in Avatar Flight of Passage or the time traveling adventure of DINOSAUR. I also recommend that you check out Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris while there. In EPCOT some of my favorites include Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, Soarin’ Around the World, Test Track, and Frozen Ever After.
There are far too many extraordinary dining options throughout Walt Disney World for me to list them all, but here are a few of my favorites. ‘Ohana is my family's favorite and we make a dining reservation here each time we visit Walt Disney World. Cinderella’s Royal Table adds extra magic to the dining experience with beautiful food and a dining experience that is truly fit for royalty. Be Our Guest Restaurant not only offers a beautiful prix fixe dinner menu, but really fantastic quick-service breakfast and lunch options as well. A few of my other favorite restaurants include The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge, Boma – Flavors of Africa, Via Napoli, Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo, Morimoto Asia, Topolino’s Terrace, and Storybook Dining at Artist Point with Snow White.
I hope that this information gets you off to a good start planning your first Walt Disney World vacation! Please stop back by any time we can help answer more of your vacation questions.
-Angie C.