But what's your go-to, must-have holiday experience at a theme park? Whether you go every year or not, if you've ever had the pleasure of experiencing a theme park holiday event, you probably found something that you now consider a favorite.
For me? My favorite thing about theme parks during the holiday season has nothing to do with decorations or food. It's the weather.
I've spent most of my life and the vast majority of my theme park visits in Southern California and Orlando, where the summer temperatures can be oppressively hot. Throw in the humidity in Orlando, and summer theme park trips can be uncomfortable for anyone not acclimated to extreme weather.
When I worked at Disney, I kept the air conditioning in my room set to 82 degrees at night, as I found that helped me to cope with the heat of driving rafts to and from Tom Sawyer Island all day. The worst was when I had to go grocery shopping. I could feel the frozen food aisle at Gooding's sapping my desire to live with ever-present heat.
But in December... ahh! I could spend all day in the parks and literally not break a sweat. We also got these absolutely wonderful pea coats to wear on Tom Sawyer Island when the temperatures dropped below 65 — my single favorite Disney costume piece, along with the sweet cropped coats we got over at Pirates.
Cool weather meant the return of a bunch of great costume accessories across the resort: coats, hats, and other pieces that we didn't get to wear during the other, ludicrously hot months of the year. And because they made only limited appearances, these winter accessories tended to be in pretty good shape, as they had been worn and laundered to the breaking point, as our regular costumes sometimes were. Or maybe they just felt better it was just because we weren't sick of seeing them every day, too. (This was back in the day when Disney kept and laundered cast member costumes, so no one took them home.) Living in a hot climate means a rather limited wardrobe, as you just can't bear to wear too much.
So, for me, holidays at theme parks are all about clothes — the fun stuff that we get the chance to wear not just to celebrate the holidays but the season of cooler weather in general.
What is your favorite theme park holiday tradition?
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If somebody thinks not having alchol at Magic Kingdom is a dealbreaker, they probably shouldn't be going to the Magic Kingdom in the first place. I mean, they have THREE other parks that you can as much wine and beer as you please!
Go to EPCOT!
I have experienced 'Holiday' at SF Over Texas and SF Over Georgia and look forward to this tradition hopefully for decades to come.
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Some of my favorite things to do is to watch the fireworks and to watch the holiday shows. I love watching the pure joy of small children as Santa comes at the end of parades...now that is Christmas at it's best!