Restaurants during Christmas planning

[Cynner]

We're staying over Christmas week and I have a number of ADRs for in park restaurants to ensure we can sit down and rest and not wait in line 2 hrs for counter service. I was in WDW during New years eve/day one year and I just remember the huge lines for counter service and people standing in the paths eating their food off plates because there was no place to sit down. (it also hit 90s in Jan, so extra yucky).
Because I do not want that to happen to us, I'm considering various options.
We'll be Annual Pass holders, so can switch parks, if we leave the park and don't go back, it's no stress. We don't have to 'do everything' on this trip, we'll have other chances at much slower times of the year.
So some other ideas/thoughts/questions I'm having -
What about the strategy of leaving the park for lunch and eating at a resort instead? How are the lines/reservations at Resort restaurants over Christmas week?
I wanted to eat at the Holiday Festival booths in Epcot one day (12/23), and literally have no reservations - is that a horrible idea?
How bad is the traffic from resort to park and back if you're driving? (we'll have our car, so not reliant on bus) If I want to go to a resort for lunch, how much time for travel should I add in?

 

[kiford]

I wanted to eat at the Holiday Festival booths in Epcot one day (12/23), and literally have no reservations - is that a horrible idea?

How bad is the traffic from resort to park and back if you're driving? (we'll have our car, so not reliant on bus) If I want to go to a resort for lunch, how much time for travel should I add in?

We did that a couple of times on our trip over Christmas last year. We liked it. Gave us the chance to have some small bites here and there with a lot of variety while making our way through some of the shops in the World Showcase. The rest of the time we had ADRs at various places in both parks and resorts.

We only had access to a car for two days (friends who were staying there), and the rest of the time we took the buses. Parking at Disney Springs was horrible; we had to drive around and around but did finally get spots. At that time, the third parking garage wasn't opened yet so it might be a little bit better now.

I always figure on at least 1 hour from here to there. Sometimes we'd get there really early and we'd just try to check in. Sometimes we did get in early. Morimoto Asia (on Christmas Day) first told us that we'd have to come back in 30 minutes as we were really early but then stopped us before we got out the door and told us that they had a table for us. Most other places we got in pretty much on time. Our friend insisted we try to get into Crystal Palace for breakfast (no ADR) and went up as soon as it opened to ask if they had any walk-ins. I figured she was crazy but but they gave us a beeper and told us it would be about 30 minutes. I sat down and it went off almost immediately.

MK was crazy by the time we left on Christmas Day about 11-ish. The line up to get into the parking lot was miles down the road so I'd be thinking about potentially taking the bus or Disney transportation on some days. We had arrived at the TTC parking lot about 5:30 am and it was nearly empty. We were so close it was about a 1 minute walk to the security line. After we left, we went to AK and there was no problem getting into the parking lot. Everyone wanted to get into MK so the other parks were good. On the 24th, we parked at Epcot and took the monorail to MK to watch the mid-morning parade. Security at Epcot was really slow but we figured the TTC lot would be worse (which several people told us was the case).

We had heard so many horror stories about being there over the holidays so we had very low expectations and it actually turned out to be much better than I thought although you do have to plan a bit - ADRs, travel time, FPs, avoid MK later in the day and arrive there early, where to park. I wouldn't suggest it for first-timers since you don't really get onto too many attractions but we loved it. This year we're going in early December, partly because of family commitments and partly because DH wants to go to MVMCP again and they stop running it just before Christmas. But I think we might do it again next year. It really was a lot of fun. And so cool to get pictures in front of the castle all lit up in the dark at 6 am with much fewer people around than at night.

 

[TwinkleKS]

We go every year during that week. Traffic and crowds get progressively worse until NYE. I personally don't like leaving the parks during that time because of potential traffic (usually only really terribly on the 30th & 31st ...but heavy other days) and waiting to get through security. You should be fine eating at the festival booths on the 23rd.

 

[NYCgrrl]

We heard the warnings about the crowds on Christmas and NYE so we took extra care to be away from them as much as possible.

First holiday trip

Christmas Eve dinner: Kona Cafe was a nice and nearby dinner meal for us. This was before the menu changes that caused such a brouhaha.

Christmas Day: HBD. A bit of a horror caused by mgmt's decision to overbook. Thank goodness they did not repeat their error the following year.

NYE: Canceled our meal scheduled at M. Paul due to illness. Ordered room service and watched all the parks' firework displays from the man's brother's room which was upgraded to the Grand Suite (woo hoo!). Memorable night what with snatching defeat from the jaws and all.

Second holiday trip

Christmas Eve: Ordered Flying Fish appetizers via room service (you can do this at BWI), added our own caviar and champagne with help from various goodies from the CL. Ate on our terrace for a laid back night.

Christmas Day: Snacked at HBD lounge in the afternoon where I noted the restaurant was nowhere near as overcrowded as the year before. A late night meal at bluezoo that was marred by intensely bad service. Going to try this eatery again probably for Christmas Eve (oysters!) assured we don't get the same server.

New Year's Eve: WBG at Disney Springs. We ate here on purpose to get away from the crowds in the park. A worthy meal and fun locale. Saw fireworks from our table on the 2nd floor.

We tried some of the snacks at the Holiday Market. Be careful of the Christmas cookies. As DGD noted after consuming 4 of them:"How come they all taste the same?". I think the Hanukkah booth had chocolate egg creams but I passed when nobody could tell me if they were using Fox U-Bet chocolate syrup or not. Yep, I'm picky like that, LOL.

I doubt driving is going to save you any time since you'll be driving on the same congested roads as the buses. I definitely wouldn't drive into MK since you'll still need to park faraway and take public transport.

Have fun on your trip.

 

[Cynner]

We heard the warnings about the crowds on Christmas and NYE so we took extra care to be away from them as much as possible.
......

I doubt driving is going to save you any time since you'll be driving on the same congested roads as the buses. I definitely wouldn't drive into MK since you'll still need to park faraway and take public transport.

Have fun on your trip.

We're staying at the Polynesian over Christmas, so at least the need to drive into MK is alleviated.
Thanks for the info!

 

[NYCgrrl]

We're staying at the Polynesian over Christmas, so at least the need to drive into MK is alleviated.
Thanks for the info!

Poly is our 2nd favorite hotel to spend the holidays at! It was our first love until we discovered BWI. Something about the scent of the lobby and the Hawaiian theme just makes you know you are on vacation .

 

[Cynner]

Poly is our 2nd favorite hotel to spend the holidays at! It was our first love until we discovered BWI. Something about the scent of the lobby and the Hawaiian theme just makes you know you are on vacation .

BWI is Boardwalk Inn? Sorry, don't know all my acronyms. (I live in the DC area, so BWI is 'Baltimore-Washington International Airport to me I'll be at Boardwalk in Feb for Valentine's day - but have stayed there before - it's one of the cheapest DVC rentals and I love being able to walk out of Epcot when I'm a bit tipsy.

 

[shawnh199]

We're staying at the Polynesian over Christmas, so at least the need to drive into MK is alleviated.
Thanks for the info!

We did this last year. We got up early and were at MK at 6am when it opened. It was the most amazing experience. We had a 10:30am ADR at Chef Mickeys (my teenage girls choice) and had dinner at Ohana. It was a Christmas I will never forget. And we never had to deal with traffic since we never left the monorail resort area.