Christmas is AMAZING, but we definitely alter our planning and thinking due to the crowd levels. Managing expectations is key! I’ve taken the kids both before and after Christmas for 4 years now (depending on when their father has visitation). We always have a wonderful time, but it definitely feels different than our summer / spring trips. (This is pretty much our only C’mas present every year - kids don’t need more crap, so we make memories)
Weather may be warm & nice, or cold & rainy - we had one trip that started sunny mid-80s and ended with freezing rain (literally - I-10 shut down b/c of ice, so we stayed an extra day. ha!).
Christmas Processional is one of our absolute favorite things to do. It’s beautiful. Eating around the world at the little kitchens is so much fun - we love to try new things. We tour the countries and learn about all the traditions. We end up spending a lot of time in Epcot, now that I think about it. These things have very little wait. We’ve made some amazing memories, like my youngest helping “Barn Santa” cause mischief in the story at Norway. Priceless!!
For the other parks, we typically do the rides we have FP’s for and the favorites, but don’t try to hit everything. Just walking down Main Street with the “snow” is magical!
Busy days are a good time to discover places we don’t always stop for, like Carousal of Progress (kids love it), or Hall of Presidents. We play more of the park games - Sorcerers, Pirates, Agent P, find hidden Mickeys etc. Maybe listen to a podcast on the way or find a book with some cool facts about the world and go explore those little known intricate details. Lou Mongello has a good podcast for these things.
All in all, make a plan, but don’t go expecting to ride everything. Expect lines, expect being very close to a lot of people, expect that some people are grinches. I HATE walking through crowds - normally we’d speed walk between rides and I get so aggravated being stuck behind families that are strolling slowly, 10 people wide, taking up the whole walkway so no one can get around!! But Christmas is different - somehow I don’t mind the strolling and looking around quite so much - maybe because I plan for that, or maybe because it is so lovely with all the decorations and I want to take it all in.
I almost never make time to resort hop and you have a bit of a short trip, but the decorations are really very lovely in all the resorts we’ve seen and worth spending time to admire.