I will be going to WDW in November for a “staycation” (no parks) and want to resort hop over a few days to see the various holiday decorations. Am planning on visiting the following resorts and am wondering what the best way to plan the days out.
Wilderness Lodge
Grand Floridian
Polynesian
Beach Club
Yacht Club
Boardwalk
Riviera
French Quarter (staying here)
Riverside
Disney Springs
FYI … the lobby is still undergoing refurbishment and they will not be displaying a Gingerbread House this year.
You can bus to Hollywood Studios and take the Skyliner to: Riviera, Boardwalk, Yacht Club and Beach Club (you could boat or walk from DHS to the last 3 as well).
You can bus to Magic Kingdom and take the monorail or boat launch or walk to Grand Floridian and Polynesian. If it’s after 3pm you can take a boat from the Contemporary (via monorail) to Wilderness Lodge.
Riverside you can walk to!
Disney Springs you can bus to.
From POFQ, walk to POR.
Take the boat to Disney Springs.
Take bus from Disney Springs to Yacht Club.
Walk to Beach Club.
Walk to Skyliner near Epcot..
Take Skyliner to Riviera.
Take Skyliner back to Epcot.
Walk or boat to Boardwalk.
Walk or boat to Hollywood Studios.
Take bus to Poly.
Walk or monorail to Grand Floridian.
Take monorail to Contemporary.
Walk to MK.
Take boat to Wilderness Lodge.
Take boat back to MK.
Take bus to POFQ.
I have used this itinerary a couple of times: 2-Day Self-Guided Yuletide Tour at Disney World - Page 2 of 2 - Disney Tourist Blog.
Since you aren’t going to the parks, you might want to also consider adding night time touring of the outdoor decorations all lite up! I did this last year. You will see the decorations better during daylight hours. Enjoy! It’s my favorite time of year to be in WDW but unfortunately, I had to cancel my trip this year! 
Thank you for letting me know! Saves a trip
Thank you!
Thank you very much for the link!
I enjoy going in October for the MNSSHP and Food & Wine Festival, but enjoy the holidays as well. Will take your advise to visit some of the resorts in the evening!
The boat is lovely and our preferred mode of transportation between Epcot hotels and HS
Oh, please add AKL to this! Their decorations are GORGEOUS!!
Also visit DS in the evenings if you have time. Here are pictures from dusk through night at DS last year: https://forum.touringplans.com/t/im-back-again/102282/674?u=stlouie. Last year, the World of Disney had interactive windows with your Magic Band.
Oh yes! I enjoy the Christmas Tree Trail at Disney Springs. Definitely make time for that.
I think AKL at christmas is just as fab as WL
I didn’t even think about how much I enjoyed the holidays at CSR. I haven’t been there for the holidays w/ their new main lobby. That’s a GREAT link btw 
Going at dusk, is such a GREAT idea! I’m sorry you had to cancel your holiday trip 
FYI - there was some discussion in the December 2025 thread in La Cava. Another suggestion was a carriage ride at Fort Wilderness.
@ryan1 Great directions! Thoughts on whether the following minor revision might work?
Disney Springs bus to Boardwalk [not super decorated, so could skip and just bus to Yacht Club]
Boat to Yacht/Beach (could stop at Swan if desired to see the chocolate - I haven’t been)
Walk to Skyliner
Skyliner to Riviera [not super decorated, so mainly for coffee and signature cookies]
Riviera to Hollywood Studios
That said, my favorite decorated locations last December were (in order, ideally after dark):
AKL Jambo (Kidani also cute) - go on the 5th floor bridge too
WL (BRV lobby always cute)
CSR Gran Destino Tower / also the bridges at night + go to Toledo or the lounge if you can
Contemporary (also has an outside tree)
GF if they have the tree this year
For AKL / CSR, I would probably do:
Hollywood Studios to CSR
CSR to Animal Kingdom (or Studios if AK is closed)
Animal Kingdom to AKL
(Or I would Lyft directly from CSR to Jambo and save a bunch of time.)
Then AKL to Magic Kingdom is a longer ride, but it gets you to the monorail resorts, or AKL fo Disney Springs / Hollywood Studios and back to POFQ.
There’s no need to walk from POFQ to POR for the boat to DS. Unless you want to see POR specifically. And maybe that is the intent.
You don’t have AKL on your list. To me, that’s a don’t miss with the gingerbread animals. You can bus from POFQ to AK then bus to AKL. Bus to Disney Springs after that.
For Disney Springs, just take the boat from POFQ one evening.
I’d take the bus from POFQ to MK and then boat over to WL. Take the bus from WL back to MK. Sometimes it stops at the Contemporary on the way to MK. If it does get off. If it doesn’t then go back to MK and walk to Contemporary. Monorail to the Poly (but their tree is nothing special). Grand Flo will not have their gingerbread house this year so skip it and then boat from or monorail back to MK. If you want to continue to for more that day, you could bus from Poly to DHS. Take the boat or walk to Boardwalk, Beach, and Yacht club. Skyline from IG to Riviera and then skyline back to DHS.
If I had 3 days, here’s how I’d split it up:
AKL and Disney Springs one day/evening, bus to AK then bus to AKL, bust to DS. You could boat to POR and walk back to POFQ
Contempo/WL/Poly day 2. Bus from POFQ to MK
Boardwalk, Beach, Yacht, Riviera day 3 using bus from POFQ to DHS. Since you’ll be on the skyline route, head on over to CBR, AoA and Pop too. Pop’s tree reminds me of my childhood–late 70’s/early 80’s. AoA’s tree is animation themed. CBR is beach themed. I actually liked seeing those better than the Riviera. I’ve been through Riviera twice at Christmas time and the decor is so unremarkable, that I don’t even remember it and don’t have a picture of it. Is there even a tree there??? The rooftop at Topolino’s was really pretty with poinsettias everywhere but that’s all that stands out for me from those two visits.
Yes. That was my intent. I don’t actually remember if there is much to see at POR for Christmas, though.
