The holiday season is starting at Central Florida's theme parks. The week between Christmas and New Year's will be the busiest of the year at some of the world's most popular tourist destinations. But which one is the best one for holiday fun?
That's the question we are asking you to vote on this week. Here is what awaits theme park fans in Florida this year.
Holidays at Walt Disney World Resort starts officially on Tuesday, November 12. But the resort already has started its after-hours, hard-ticket parties, with Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom running select nights through December 20 and Disney Jollywood Nights at Disney's Hollywood Studios continuing select nights through December 21.
Elsewhere, EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays runs daily from November 29 through December 30, with holiday food kitchens and the Candlelight Processional. At Disney's Animal Kingdom, the Merry Menagerie puppets will be out and the park will offer its Tree of Life Awakenings Holiday Edition projection show. Disney's Hollywood Studios again will have its Sunset Seasons Greetings show on the Hollywood Tower Hotel, and the Magic Kingdom will offer the Jingle Cruise holiday overlay on the Jungle Cruise as well as the Frozen Holiday Surprise show at Cinderella Castle.
Holidays at Universal Orlando runs from November 22 through December 31 this year. Universal's Holiday Parade featuring Macy's returns to Universal Studios Florida, while Grinchmas is back at Universal's Islands of Adventure, including the Grinchmas Who-liday Spectacular.
Universal will celebrate Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in both parks, with The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle projection show in Hogsmeade at Islands of Adventure as well as the Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees holiday show in Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida.
SeaWorld's Christmas Celebration starts November 16 and continues on select dates through January 5, 2025. The celebration includes the park's Sea of Trees light display as well as many holiday shows, including Winter Wonderland On Ice, O Wondrous Night, An Elf's Story, Big Bird's Christmas Storytime, Elmo's Christmas Wish Show, and the Sesame Street Christmas Parade. Fans can meet Santa as well as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, ice skate at Bayside Stadium, and watch the Holiday Reflections: Fireworks Finale.
Christmas Town starts November 15 and continues through January 5, 2025. You can ride the Holly Jolly Express train around the park, meet Santa at Santa's North Pole Experience and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and friends in Rudolph's Winter Wonderland. Holiday shows include Christmas on Ice, Three Kings Journey, Storytime with Mrs. Claus, Elmo's Christmas Wish, and the Holiday in the Sky Fireworks Show.
Holidays at Legoland runs November 29-30 and December 1, 7-8, 14-15, 21-31 this year. Fans can meet Lego Santa as well as Lego Holiday Elves, Lego Gingerbread Man and Lego Reindeer Girl, with a 30-foot Lego Christmas tree towering over the park. It all wraps up with Kids' New Year's Eve, daily from December 26-31, featuring a fireworks show and kid-friendly early countdown that won't keep them up past bedtime.
Disney sails a variety of Very Merrytime Cruises from Port Canaveral to The Bahamas and the Caribbean. You can meet Santa Claus on board, as well as enjoy Mickey and Minnie's Holiday Party on the upper deck or watch the Tree Lighting Ceremony. There's even "snow" flurries on Castaway Cay, allowing you to enjoy the best of holiday weather without the freezing cold.
So which of these holiday get-away options is the favorite in your family? Tells us your reasons why, in the comments.
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WDW’s Christmas decorations are an attraction unto themselves for a lot of people. I miss the Osborne family lights at Hollywood Studios, but when it comes to Christmas WDW truly sleighs it. And that’s my cab…
I wonder how many people that voted in this poll have actually been to the events ?
My vote is SeaWorld, and it’s not even close.
I’ve been to them all listed except Legoland and Disney Cruise. Also been to Dollywood’s several times, BGW Chistmastown, Winterfest Carowinds and Winterfest Kings Island.
Yeah, I doubt the voters have been to all these events. WDW has substantially scaled back on Christmas decor over the years. SeaWorld has parkwide decor and their Christmas shows have packed houses for nearly every show. They’re really that good! But by all means, pay extra for Disney after hours events and get less for more every year.
I will get to them all this year, except the cruise, and unless something truly remarkable happens, SeaWorld will be by far the best.
Has been for years now, and i don't expect that to change.
I've always found the Christmas Party at MK to be a completely absurd cash grab. The Halloween party makes sense because you wear a costume and go trick-or-treating, but everything at the Christmas party could easily just be done during a normal operating day. The fact that they do all the Christmas Party stuff on normal operating days during Christmas-New Years week is like salt in the wound to the people who want to see the Christmas stuff but can't afford to buy a whole other ticket.
...but of course the party is a huge success and they are always selling out, which gave them the confidence to add another completely absurd upcharge Christmas party to another park, reducing the hours at another park for people who can't afford to buy extra tickets for these parties.
Its not really fair to compare WDW as a whole to other parks as if you combine the four parks and all of the hotels, it completely dwarfs anything else because of the scale.
I think Sea World/Busch Gardens have really great holiday events that fortunately are not upcharges. Those parks really come alive at night with the decorations and entertainment offerings, its pretty much the only time of year i'm ever at those parks when its dark out (on a normal day I get bored and leave way before it gets dark out lol).
UO's holiday stuff is pretty disappointing. They do some stuff but overall it doesn't compare to WDW/SWO/BGT, in my opinion.
I've always found the Christmas Party at MK to be a completely absurd cash grab. The Halloween party makes sense because you wear a costume and go trick-or-treating, but everything at the Christmas party could easily just be done during a normal operating day. The fact that they do all the Christmas Party stuff on normal operating days during Christmas-New Years week is like salt in the wound to the people who want to see the Christmas stuff but can't afford to buy a whole other ticket.
...but of course the party is a huge success and they are always selling out, which gave them the confidence to add another completely absurd upcharge Christmas party to another park, reducing the hours at another park for people who can't afford to buy extra tickets for these parties.
Its not really fair to compare WDW as a whole to other parks as if you combine the four parks and all of the hotels, it completely dwarfs anything else because of the scale.
I think Sea World/Busch Gardens have really great holiday events that fortunately are not upcharges. Those parks really come alive at night with the decorations and entertainment offerings, its pretty much the only time of year i'm ever at those parks when its dark out (on a normal day I get bored and leave way before it gets dark out lol).
UO's holiday stuff is pretty disappointing. They do some stuff but overall it lacks compared to WDW/SWO/BGT, in my opinion. Especially when you consider the big marketing push for "Grinchmas" they do every year but there isn't much to it other than a fairly "mid" stage show and some decorations in Suess Landing.
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Even if it has gone downhill a bit in recent years, I still think SeaWorld takes the cake for best holiday offering in Orlando. Disney and Universal are nice and all, but they usually focus the decorations in specific areas of their parks. At SeaWorld, the entire park gets decked out and the trees in the lagoon are great.