Episode 14
Jingle All the Way to Disney: What to Expect This Christmas
This episode of the Wands and Wishes podcast dives into the enchanting Christmas transformation of Disney parks, highlighting what guests can expect during the holiday season. Tony and Lauren discuss the remarkable speed at which the parks shift from Halloween decor to festive Christmas cheer, creating a magical atmosphere overnight. They share personal experiences of attending both Halloween and Christmas events, emphasizing the unique offerings and vibrant decorations that make each park special during this time. Listeners will also gain insights into the various holiday events, including Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and the new Jollywood Nights at Hollywood Studios. With tips on navigating the crowds, enjoying character meet-and-greets, and savoring holiday treats, this episode is a must-listen for anyone planning a Disney vacation during the holidays.
Takeaways:
- Disney parks undergo a magical transformation from Halloween to Christmas overnight, creating a festive atmosphere.
- During the Christmas season, each park has unique decorations and music, enhancing the holiday experience.
- Attending both Halloween and Christmas events in one trip provides a unique opportunity for guests.
- Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party offers unique character meet-and-greets and festive treats throughout the event.
- The Candlelight Processional at Epcot features famous narrators, adding a special touch to the holiday celebration.
- Resort hopping during the holiday season allows guests to experience the unique decorations at each Disney resort.
Transcript
It's another episode of the Wands and Wishes podcast.
Tony:Thank you for joining us as we get you prepared for your Disney vacation.
Tony:And Lauren Mallard, of all the magic travel, I have to say I think this is one of my favorite episodes.
Tony:I kind of been waiting to do this episode on the Christmas transformation of the Disney parks and what people can expect, whether they're going to one of the parties that are in the park or whether they're just going to the parks in general and experiencing the holidays.
Tony:Because it is remarkable how quickly the parks turn around from Halloween and fall to getting right into the Christmas spirit magically overnight.
Lauren:That's right.
Tony:I did see a documentary on this and it's, it's fun because I tend to think of decorating like in my house, which is like utter chaos.
Tony:Like when my wife, she's like, put that over there.
Tony:No, let's put that over here.
Tony:No, let's move this.
Tony:No, let's take that down.
Tony:No, put that back up.
Tony:And then I think and I watched this documentary about how they transfer the parks.
Tony:It's like an army of people and they know exactly what to do.
Tony:They're like, you're Susan and you're going to take down wreath 1, 2, 5, 7 and 9.
Lauren:Right.
Tony:Billy, you're going to put up this, this, this and this.
Tony:And then we're going to move over here and you're going to do this, this, this and this.
Tony:And it's just like a well orchestrated machine.
Lauren:I would love to sit on a bench in the Magic Kingdom that night and just have a coffee and just sit there all night long and just watch it happen.
Tony:Right.
Lauren:You have to think that they're counting the minutes.
Tony:Oh yeah.
Lauren:What they've got until daylight when guests are going to start arriving again.
Lauren:And it's got to be completely transformed.
Tony:Like if we're starting at this time, you better be at Station 2 at this time ready to do the second round of what we're doing.
Tony:Otherwise we, we won't make it on time.
Lauren:Yeah, there was one year I was there and they had the November 1st, not so scary Halloween party.
Lauren:And we went to that one and it was interesting because we went the Halloween party on November 1st and then we went back to Magic Kingdom on November 2nd and it really is.
Tony:That's great.
Lauren:It's Christmas the next morning.
Lauren:That's crazy great.
Tony:What is what I would totally urge people to do that experience.
Tony:If you can do it.
Tony:Super cool.
Tony:If you be there the Halloween week where you can find a way to see Both things in one stay.
Lauren:It's like the epitome of getting the most bang for your buck.
Tony:Completely.
Tony:Completely.
Tony:I will stick by what I said during our Halloween episode of the two parties.
Tony:I like the not so scary better and I think a lot of it is.
Tony:What I said in that podcast was I think Disney has the IP to pull off Halloween look.
Tony:It's cute that Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse are in Santa outfits.
Tony:Anybody with IP can do that.
Tony:Right.
Tony:But Disney has the villain aspect that can make Halloween a lot different and a lot better.
Tony:But nevertheless, their Halloween party is very, very festive.
Tony:So we're going to talk about that.
Tony:We're going to talk about Jollywood Nights that goes on at Hollywood Studios, other things that you can do around the resort without going to parks for.
Tony:For Christmas.
Tony:So the very holiday edition of the Wands and Wishes podcast.
Lauren:Yeah.
Tony:So let's start with the parks in general.
Tony:Right.
Tony:Like we talked about earlier, the transformations are going to happen very quickly.
Tony:And they're already up now as they're already in the party mode and the Halloween.
Tony:And up from Halloween into Christmas.
Tony:But it, it is one of the best things that they do in getting people prepared for the holidays is giving you that nostalgic sort of feel of the Christmas times with decorations in every single one of the parks.
Lauren:Yeah.
Lauren:And you'll notice that every one of the parks has a.
Lauren:And it has a different, even going down to the background loops of the music that you're hearing in the parks, you're going to have something at Magic Kingdom that's going to feel like Magic Kingdom.
Lauren:And then over at Hollywood Studios, you're going to have a little more retro vibe to that.
Lauren:So all the decorations in Hollywood Studios, they have that retro, bigger colored bulbs.
Lauren:And then the music is going to feel a little more retro.
Lauren:So you're going to see that change from park to park.
Lauren:So you're never getting the same thing no matter what park you're in.
Tony:And they've got some rides that have changed that will change for the holidays.
Tony:Jungle Cruise change changes.
Tony:There's a Christmas overlay at Space Mountain.
Tony:So there is some other elements other than we just stuck a tree up at the beginning and some festival lights and some festival reads.
Tony:They really are totally in integrating the holiday into almost every aspect of the park.
Lauren:Yes.
Lauren:And it really, truly is.
Lauren:It's just.
Lauren:It feels so different to be there at Christmas time because it really is so magical.
Lauren:And when you're stepping in and you're seeing all the different decorations and Even myself, who I don't even call myself a Christmas fanatic.
Lauren:But when I'm at Disney World, it immediately just becomes more festive.
Tony:Yeah.
Tony:So there's a couple of nights that the Mickey's not so not from not so Scary going into the holiday.
Tony:The, the very special Christmas party that they have.
Tony:And they're, they're, they're similar in tips and as we get into both of those, if you remember the Halloween edition, we gave you tips on what to do when you get there, what's popular, how to sort of navigate that.
Tony:Some of the tips from Mickey's not so Scary go into the Christmas party.
Lauren:Absolutely.
Lauren:Very paralleled because they have a lot of the same events at each party.
Lauren:So you're going to have a headlining fireworks show, you're going to have the parade that's not to miss at Mickey's, not, I'm sorry, a very merry Christmas party that's not to miss.
Lauren:You're going to have a stage show, you're going to have those unique character meet and greets.
Lauren:So all those tips that we gave you at Halloween are going to really work well if you're visiting the Christmas party too.
Tony:The number one tip is get there on early.
Tony:You can get there at 4 o'clock if you have just a ticket for that event.
Tony:Event.
Tony:If you're already in the theme park, that's fine, you're good.
Tony:But if you are going to just this event specifically, you can get in at 4 o'clock.
Tony:I always tell people get there at 3 and just wait in the line.
Tony:Just chill out.
Tony:You can you, you'll be, you know, just have something to do while you wait because the crowds do really get big as, as they get closer to let you into this party and they'll navigate you around the back end of Main street to sort of integrate yourself into the park while they're getting people out of the park before the party actually starts at seven.
Tony:So there's this three hour buffer where the park is going to be really loaded with people from the regular park guests to the people that are arriving for the party.
Tony:But you do get those three hours as part of your party ticket.
Lauren:Right.
Lauren:And another thing when you're mentioning crowds here is I think sometimes people have the misconception that if they have a party ticket it's going to feel empty.
Tony:Right.
Lauren:It is not going to be something like the after hours events that really do feel empty or some of those types of events that are really more of an exclusive, exclusive type of an event.
Lauren:The Christmas Party and the Halloween party used to feel more so that way.
Lauren:But now I feel that they are selling more tickets and really it's just you're paying a premium for some of the offerings that they're giving you at this party.
Tony:That's a really good point because a lot of times, and we noticed this on our last trip when we went to the not so scary Halloween party was that there, there are times where Disney is struggling just to fill the park during the day.
Tony:But they're not struggling to sell these.
Lauren:No, absolutely not.
Tony:Selling these out.
Tony:So you can go like we did where we went for four days and we can go to Animal Kingdom and feel like we had the park to ourselves or Hollywood Studios and feel like it's kind of dead.
Tony:But then we got to the party and then we know, oh, this is a sold out event.
Tony:And it's feeling like a sold out event.
Tony:So I tell people a lot of times this is not the way to experience Disney World.
Tony:This is, this is to experience what they're offering special to Disney.
Lauren:The additional offerings at that party are what's going to be most important and for the value of what you're paying for.
Lauren:For that ticket.
Tony:Right?
Tony:Exact.
Tony:And again, ride the rides.
Tony:It's great.
Tony:A lot of them will have a little bit less time than a busy, busy Saturday in the summertime.
Lauren:Sure.
Tony:But really enjoy the shows, enjoy the meet and greets, enjoy the things that you don't normally get to do.
Tony:Because that's what makes these parties and these two in particular, Halloween and Christmas, very unique and very special.
Lauren:Definitely.
Tony:And also you can get cookies, hot chocolate, cider, eggnog.
Lauren:That's right.
Tony:Different locations like you can when you do the Halloween trick or treating.
Lauren:That's right.
Lauren:So instead of trick or treating, there's a different cookie at each station that's you don't have to get all of them or you don't have to eat all of every one of them, but you can certainly try each one of them and see what you like and what you don't like and that is included, those cookies are included.
Lauren:There are additional treats like what we talked about with the Halloween party that you can pay extra for.
Lauren:So if you see something that's offered that is not one of these included cookies, you can certainly pay for that too.
Tony: behind it because we went in: Tony:So we went to.
Tony:We were hanging around the parks, and then we went over there for the party, and she started not feeling well.
Tony:And this was eight years ago.
Tony:It was actually election night, which was really wild.
Lauren:Oh, no.
Tony:Yeah, it was.
Tony:It was election night.
Tony:And, you know, when you go to Disney World, you sort of escape the real world.
Lauren:Yes.
Tony:But everyone was, like, on their phone and, like, on Twitter, and then you could hear people talking about who won Pennsylvania and what was going on.
Tony:So it was election night and she just felt miserable.
Tony:She said, I'm out.
Tony:She goes, take the kids on the rides.
Tony:I want to sit here.
Tony:I don't want to go anywhere.
Tony:She didn't want to eat any cookies.
Lauren:She was feeling miserable.
Tony:But she was a trooper in that.
Tony:Let's get the kids the experience.
Tony:I don't want to be a problem.
Tony:I don't want to leave early.
Tony:Let me just sit here.
Tony:So I remember telling her, well, you never really got to feel this.
Tony:Like, you never got to really enjoy this.
Tony:So we, eventually, we've got to do this again.
Tony:And then last year we went to do it again.
Lauren:Oh, that's awesome.
Tony:So that was.
Tony:That was.
Tony:That was great.
Tony:But this time we didn't have the kids.
Lauren:This.
Tony:It was just full circle.
Tony:Exactly.
Tony:So it's full circle.
Tony:And again, one of the.
Tony:One of the criticisms, but yet it's hard criticism, but yet you can understand why they do it, is that the party doesn't really change.
Lauren:No.
Tony:And there's.
Tony:There's sort of a two camp feel to this.
Tony:Right.
Tony:If you're Disney and it's working, why change up?
Lauren:Yeah.
Tony:Right.
Tony:If you're selling out, why change thing?
Tony:This, this.
Tony:The system is simple.
Tony:We're having a party.
Tony:We've got characters.
Tony:You're getting cookie and hot chocolate.
Tony:We've got this parade.
Tony:You watch the parade, we've got the fireworks, got the stage show.
Tony:We're good.
Lauren:Yeah.
Tony:On the other hand, if you go consistently, you might say, can we do a different thing?
Tony:Is there something else?
Tony:But if you're Disney, why invest in the choreography of new things if, again, these things are selling out very quickly?
Lauren:But, you know, and it brings my mind to think, you know, you talk about how every party is sold out, which, you know, it very well does sell out every year.
Lauren:And I think to myself, from a marketing standpoint, they could almost offer this more nights in the holiday season and pay and charge more for it.
Lauren:So if they're having more parties but offering less tickets but still charging more, then their bottom line is going to be increased.
Tony:Yeah, that's right.
Lauren:And so why not do that?
Lauren:Make it feel more exclusive to the guests.
Lauren:But then you're still making more money off of it.
Lauren:And then they can keep things the same for some.
Lauren:Or they could offer like a totally different variation on some nights and then the classic one on another night.
Tony:Right, exactly.
Tony:And again, two parades.
Tony:This not to Miss Once Upon a Christmas Time parade.
Tony:I always tell people to try to watch the second one if weather permitting.
Tony:If you realize you're having a night where it's not going to rain, try to get the second one.
Tony:It's an easier viewing.
Tony:But also, we talked about this on Halloween, Jack and Sally, they're there at Christmas time.
Tony:Get in line for this.
Tony:Probably use your time that in the very beginning to do this.
Tony:It may not be around late when we told this.
Tony: think, like, I'll catch it at: Lauren:No.
Lauren:Catch the characters early.
Lauren:If you're.
Lauren:If you're really looking for a character that you want to meet, that's another one.
Lauren:Just like with Halloween, you got to do it early.
Lauren:Get that knocked off your list, scratch it off and then move on to the next thing.
Tony:And again, rides are available.
Tony:Some again have the overlays and whatnot.
Tony:So it's.
Tony:It's again similar to what we were talking about with Halloween.
Tony:You're getting a special event, you're getting a unique event and manage it the way you want to manage it.
Tony:If you love the rides and want to do the rides, great.
Tony:If you're really in it for the shows, do it that way.
Tony:I always say you can do the rides any day.
Tony:You can't do this party at any other time.
Tony:So I always tell people, joy the party for what the party offers and the special treats.
Tony:There is a second party that's in its second season and that's the Jollywood Nights event at Hollywood Studios.
Tony:Now, I haven't done this yet.
Tony:I didn't do it last year, so I am.
Tony:I'm sort of new to it.
Tony:But I do remember it was not well reviewed.
Lauren:It really wasn't.
Lauren:And I'm really, honestly a little surprised that they brought it back and also that they brought it back in almost the same form as last year, it seems like from what I'm reading online.
Lauren:But if you're not familiar with what Jollywood Nights is, this is over at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Lauren:And it really is more adult focused, which I think is a really good thing on Disney's.
Tony:I think so too.
Tony:Yeah.
Lauren:I think that's pretty smart because they, they put it in the right place.
Lauren:I think Hollywood Studios is the perfect park for this.
Lauren:But I also wonder, you know, what, what, what market are we trying to reach other than.
Lauren:I'm not sure that it, that it really encompasses the typical Disney adult.
Lauren:It's more glitz and glamour and.
Tony:Yeah.
Lauren:You know, but it's.
Lauren:I think it's a good concept.
Lauren:I'm anxious to see how it does in its second year compared to the first.
Tony:Yeah, exactly.
Tony:Because the first one from.
Tony:People who reviewed it said it was all over the place.
Tony:They didn't feel there was a cohesion of the theme.
Tony:There was like, well, there's a dance party over here and there's kind of a show over here, and I don't really get a flow.
Lauren:Right.
Tony:But it's, It's a little unfair to compare to something that even though it's the same company that has, I mean, the not so scary and the very Merry Christmas parties have had years of development, had years of processing complaints.
Tony:Oh, that didn't quite work.
Tony:Oh, maybe we should tighten this up.
Tony:Maybe we should add more trick or treat lines.
Tony:Maybe we should add more cookie lines.
Lauren:Yeah.
Tony:Like little things like that.
Tony:In the very beginning of these, they went through.
Tony:And even though it's the same company, you think you'd learn from the mistakes, but you got to know what mistakes you're making.
Lauren:That's right.
Tony:In order to change them.
Tony:And I think they.
Tony:A lot of people just didn't feel like it was.
Tony:There was a unifying tie to everything that they were doing.
Tony:Yeah, but I think you hit on something interesting because we, my wife and I went to the.
Tony:An after hours event like two years ago, and I remember thinking to myself as a Disney adult, yeah, this is a.
Tony:This is the better thing.
Tony:I wouldn't take a young child to an after hours event.
Tony:It's way too late.
Tony:Yeah, it's way too late.
Tony:But if you are somebody that says, I don't like these crowds, I don't like these strollers, I just want to.
Lauren:I go to the way to do it.
Tony:That's.
Tony:That is a way to really enjoy the park and feel like you have it to yourself.
Tony:One of the things I heard about Jollywood Nights was for whatever reason, and maybe it just wasn't, people were making the choice to do the Magic Kingdom park was.
Tony:It wasn't as busy as the other parks.
Tony:And if they.
Tony:I don't know if it's because they, you know, they're keeping it.
Tony:Let's try to sure.
Tony:Tighten it up.
Lauren:See how it does.
Tony:See how it does.
Tony:But if you are, if you are choosing between the two, and you've kind of done the Magic Kingdom, and I always recommend that.
Lauren:Yeah.
Tony:Try Jollywood Nights, if you're an adult, to try to get a little bit less of a crowd, a little bit less of an atmosphere that might work for you, if indeed they've worked out some of the bugs.
Lauren:Yeah.
Lauren:And if you're paying the same amount for the ticket either way and you get less crowds out of it, then it's a win, win situation.
Tony:Yeah.
Tony:And I heard if you like the Muppets, there's a lot of Muppet things.
Lauren:I've heard that too.
Lauren:And I really.
Lauren:I would love to see more footage of the whole party this year.
Lauren:I wish I could get down for it, but that's not going to happen.
Lauren:But.
Lauren:But I really do want to see more.
Lauren:I would love to see this grow because I do think that there is, there is space in every park for there to be something unique to that park.
Lauren:And I know we're going to talk about Epcot next.
Lauren:There's.
Lauren:There's got to be something for every park to be able to differentiate in the holiday season.
Tony:Yeah.
Tony:And again, it's.
Tony:It.
Tony:I know it's a difficult time because you're talking about families that are trying to figure out if I'm going to go to Disney and I'm going to do one experience at Christmas, if I'm doing one of these after hours things, which one am I doing?
Tony:It would be hard to choose Jollywood Nights over, you know, the very special Christmas party, because it's.
Tony:That's the iconic one that's going to fill you with a little bit more nostalgia.
Tony:You're going to get the Snope, you know, on top of you, you know, all that.
Tony:All that.
Tony:But let's go to Epcot center, because I think this is another one that is, if you're an adult and really want to experience a different way to look at the holidays.
Tony:Yeah, this is, this is one of the better ones, with festivities from around the world.
Lauren:Yeah, that's right.
Lauren:So really, at Epcot, there's a couple different things that we can focus on.
Lauren:So you're going to be able to go through the World Showcase and really experience what these countries, how they view Christmas and how they view the holidays and what, what they celebrate and just be able to immerse yourself in that.
Lauren:But, but aside from that also you can experience different narrators for the candlelight processional that happens every, every few nights of the week in the holiday season.
Lauren:And they get big names for this.
Lauren:There are narrators like Neil Patrick Harris and John Stamos and Josh Gad, who's the voice of Olaf.
Lauren:So this is a huge draw and something that if you take your family to something like this and get tickets to this, then it's really going to be a memory that they keep for a long time because it is such a spectacle to see.
Tony:Yeah, exactly.
Tony:And then there's different kind of foods and whatnot.
Tony:It's there.
Tony:There is a whole different way of doing it.
Tony:Different booths.
Tony:So again, they're not trying to replicate the sim.
Tony:A similar thing.
Tony:In each, each one of these parks, there is a distinct way they want to celebrate Christmas.
Tony:And I don't want to say target audience.
Tony:It's kind of the wrong way to.
Lauren:Do it to the personality of that park.
Tony:Right.
Lauren:And so there's really just so much to see and enjoy at Christmas at Disney.
Tony:And there's a very whimsical like way that the, the Christmas party at Magic Kingdom is.
Tony:And then there's a little bit more educational feel at Epcot.
Lauren:Yeah.
Tony:And then there might be a little bit more of an adult feel at, at Hollywood Studios.
Tony:Right now there are some extra packages that you can get if you want to do the dessert party on the terrace at Tomorrowland, watch the fireworks, things like that.
Tony:They have those kind of things that are available to you that are even more than the ticket that you're, that you're paying for.
Tony:So there's a lot of different ways to enjoy these parks.
Tony:But let's say you are there and you have a free day of non parks and you want to enjoy Christmas around the resort without having to buy an extra ticket to one of them.
Lauren:You absolutely should do this because this can take an entire day if you hit all of the, of the things that each resort has to offer.
Lauren:Because especially in the deluxe resorts, you're going to find so many unique things.
Lauren:Like at the Beach Club, they have a giant carousel that's Christmas themed in the lobby.
Lauren:At the Grand Floridian, most everybody knows about the life size gym gingerbread house that's made of real gingerbread.
Lauren:And once it's constructed, they sell pieces of that gingerbread straight from that gingerbread house, which my kids decided they wanted a piece of gingerbread one year and they had no idea.
Lauren:But they hate gingerbread.
Tony:Yeah.
Lauren:And so I do too.
Lauren:So there we are with the gingerbread.
Lauren:And it wasn't.
Lauren:They didn't like it, so.
Lauren:But it's really neat to go see it and see the trees in these places.
Lauren:My favorite resort to visit at Christmas time is the Wilderness Lodge, Right?
Tony:Yeah.
Tony:Very, very true.
Lauren:It has this.
Lauren:Their lob is so grand.
Lauren:It's seven stories and that tree spans from the ground all the way to the top.
Lauren:And it is just absolutely gorgeous to see.
Tony:It is a underrated thing to resort hop.
Lauren:It really is.
Tony:It really is.
Tony:A lot of people don't do it, but people who do do it, when they have a free afternoon and they're not dedicated any time to whatever park they wanted to go to, it is a remarkable experience to see how the decorations in each resort and.
Tony:And how they put together the festivities.
Lauren:Yeah.
Lauren:And when you talk about, like, the personalities of the parks being displayed with all the different decorations in the parks, the same can be said for the resorts.
Lauren:So whatever the theming is of each resort, whether that's a value moderate or deluxe resort, you're going to find their Christmas decorations to match the theming of the resort, which is really cool.
Tony:We were talking earlier about characters and there is an opportunity to get characters like, look, you might say already got Winnie the Pooh, but now is a chance to get Winnie the Pooh in a Christmasy outfit.
Lauren:That's right.
Tony:So there.
Tony:It's likely Halloween in a way that there's some characters that dress up you.
Tony:You can see different characters that you don't see.
Tony:Like, for example, they were talking at Jollywood Knights that you can see some characters like from the Three Caballeros that you don't get to see on a regular basis that.
Tony:That are brought out for one of the festivals that they have in one of the corners of Hollywood Studios.
Tony:Stitch.
Tony:Santa Stitch is one of the more popular places to go in Jollywood Nights.
Tony:We talked about Jack and Sally, but there are other, like, other Santa Clausy sort of Christmassy outfits that some of these characters will wear.
Tony:And it's a unique opportunity to get a photo.
Tony:Mickey Mouse in particular.
Lauren:Yeah, yeah.
Lauren:And you know, sometimes I have people that'll say to me, oh, well, you know, what if.
Lauren:What if I want to be there on Christmas Day?
Lauren:Surely it's not crowded on Christmas Day.
Lauren:And no, it definitely is crowded because the week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day is the busiest week of the year.
Lauren:And that counts for all travel, but especially for Disney travel.
Lauren:So keep that in mind.
Lauren:You're not going to go down there and think that everybody else is at home opening their presents because there's a whole lot of people that are there.
Tony:There is only a few times during the year where you will see park is at full capacity and Christmas Day is one of them.
Tony:Is one of them.
Tony:2018, my family.
Tony:Our family went down to visit my parents in Ocala, and they surprised us with Disney for Christmas Eve.
Lauren:Oh, how cool.
Tony:The goal was to be in the park after midnight just to say you were there at Christmas.
Tony:And we did it.
Tony:We made it.
Tony:We almost.
Tony:Because I had a lot of people in my family that had enough and wanted to go home, but I said, can we just.
Tony: Just swear: Lauren:You know, there's also some.
Lauren:Some dining locations that are super popular for if you're there on Thanksgiving Day or if you're there on Christmas Day.
Lauren:If you are going to be there during this time, make sure that you are online 60 days beforehand to get things like Liberty Tree Tavern.
Lauren:That's going to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal that can also be a really great Christmas meal.
Lauren:There's other places like Whis Canyon Cafe over at Wilderness Lodge, that's super popular for Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner.
Lauren:So just keep that in mind, too.
Lauren:If you are there on the actual holiday, you can still have a traditional meal.
Tony:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Tony:That trip we went that time we went in Christmas Eve.
Tony:I still get grief for this because, like, I'm.
Tony:I'm the kind of guy that's like, I don't need a map.
Tony:I am the map kind of person.
Tony:And so.
Tony:And here's the thing.
Tony:It's like my favorite thing to do is when people go, hey, how do you get to, like, Jungle Cruise from here?
Tony:And I'm always like, would you like the shortest route or would you like to go through?
Tony:And they go, can you just get me there?
Tony:I know you've got.
Tony:Oh, God.
Tony:You know, like.
Tony:But we were at Hollywood Studios and we wanted to get to Epcot.
Tony:And this was prior to the Skyliner.
Lauren:Yeah.
Tony:And so we were gonna go.
Tony:We go wait for the bus.
Tony:But then I said, no, we could actually walk.
Lauren:Oh, no.
Tony:Yeah.
Tony:No, don't do this.
Tony:Do not do this.
Tony:I said, well, there's a walk.
Tony:You can walk down here and it'll take to the back end of Epcot.
Tony:And everyone went, oh, really?
Tony:How far is the walk?
Tony:Oh, it's not that long now.
Tony:It's very, very long.
Tony:It's very long.
Tony:Don't do it.
Tony:It was my first time doing it.
Lauren:I thought 30 minutes of cardio for the day was.
Tony:Everybody got in.
Tony:Epcot was ready to, like, give me hell for this.
Tony:They're like, what is wrong with you?
Tony:And I still hear about it to this day whenever our family gathers.
Tony:Oh, the time.
Tony:Anthony took us from Hollywood Studios to Epcot and we walked, like, 10 miles, which wasn't that long, but it was long enough.
Lauren:So I took that walk one time too, because I decided that that would be a good walk for our children to try to fall asleep in their stroller.
Tony:Good for you.
Lauren:But we.
Lauren:So we were just going from Hollywood Studios back to Yacht Club.
Lauren:We were staying at Yacht Club, which is basically walking from Hollywood Studios to Epcot.
Lauren:And I remember I was.
Lauren:I was just so hopeful that they were going to take a nap, and neither one of them fell asleep in the stroller.
Lauren:And then me and Chris are just huffing and puffing all the way from Hollywood Studio.
Lauren:And so it was.
Lauren:It was horrible.
Lauren:I won't ever do it again.
Tony:Don't do it.
Tony:The Skyliner works great.
Tony:That's probably why they put it in there.
Tony:For idiots like me who thought, oh, it's.
Tony:I don't know.
Tony:It's like, I don't know.
Tony:Take us 10 minutes.
Tony:10 minutes.
Tony:We'll walk up there.
Tony:By the time we got to Boardwalk, I think my father was like, where are we?
Lauren:What can we stop here?
Tony:What are we doing?
Tony:And I go, oh, it's right over there.
Tony:And I realized.
Tony:I kind of realized halfway through, really, that I had made a huge mistake.
Tony:And I was like, well, we can't.
Lauren:Go back and you're stuck.
Tony:I was like, we're stuck.
Tony:We might as well complete it.
Tony:So that was our Christmas Eve tradition.
Tony:All right, so again, enjoy the holidays.
Tony:Any other tips or anything you want to mention from the Christmas Disney World perspective?
Lauren:Yeah, I think we pretty much covered it.
Lauren:I will say I'm still booking trips, but for Christmas, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there's still availability.
Lauren:There's still availability at a discount.
Tony:Yeah.
Lauren:So if you think you want to go just for a quick weekend, take the kids down, or for a full week, just give us an email, give us a call, we can get you scheduled.
Tony:That's lauren all the magictravel.com.
Tony:hit me up Tony at Travel with Tony D.
Tony:We'd love to help you on your Disney trip and we can guide you through.
Tony:If you've never been down there for Christmas and you're a little worried about the navigation of the whole thing, we definitely, definitely will give you all the information that you need.
Tony:So again, it's starting now.
Tony:They've changed it over.
Tony:There's a Christmassy feeling going on at the Magic Kingdom and all the parks.
Tony:So if you're heading down there in the next couple of weeks, all the way through to the end of the year, really, really enjoy the holiday season.
Tony:All right, that's going to do it for this edition of Wands and Wishes.
Tony:We'll be back next week.
Tony:Please subscribe to the podcast.
Tony:Leave us.
Tony:A five star review certainly helps us out with all of the algorithms and whatnot.
Tony:And we will see you next week on the Wands and Wishes podcast.
