We have been to WDW a handful of times, and we are planning our first visit to DLR for December of 2026 to experience Christmastime in Disney, which we have never done. Our available dates are Dec 12-19. We plan to spend 3 days in the parks, and the rest of the trip will be sightseeing in a few of the National Parks we haven’t been to yet. That said, I can’t decide if we should front load the trip with Disney, or end it with Disney. I did get a tip to check the blockout dates on APs which I will do for sure, but all things considered, would you do the beginning of that week or the end of that week in the parks? I’m leaning towards ending the trip there. Thanks for any insight you can share, including where to stay for a family of 5 (kids will be 12, 15, 17 by the time we travel).
I personally would do Disney at the end of the trip. After all the walking in the theme parks, I wouldn’t be up for more walking in the national parks.
I agree with the advice to put it towards the end BUT I would also carefully plan your park days to avoid the last in the parks for the Believe and Enchant levels last day in the parks before they are blocked out for the holidays. Those days are right in your range and their last day can bring an influx of crowds specifically to the Christmas entertainment and offerings.
Assuming the National Parks are in/around SoCal, and you have a car, I’d rent a house. Better sleep, multiple bathrooms, and a kitchen.
We stayed in a house in Garden Grove for our 7-n SoCal vacation and it was an easy/short drive to DLR (we went four days for RD).
I’d likely put the park days wherever they fit, and even consider intermingling them if all the national parks are in So Cal. Can end those hike days early to provide more rest before park days.
That is an interesting idea @QwertySC. I suppose I can share which parks we’re going to for more context. We talked about first renting a car and doing Channel Islands and Joshua Tree. Death Valley can be at the very beginning or very end since it is farther from everything. Then on our Disney days we could ditch the car and stay near DLR. Right now I’m leaning towards doing JT and CI, then spend a few days at DLR, and finish with DV, then fly home from there. Or the reverse order, but keeping DLR in the middle. This is why I want to choose our Disney days first and plan the rest of the trip around those.
I am probably overthinking it, but as first timers to Land I want us to have the best possible experience considering it’s going to be Christmastime and crowded.
If you’re doing Death Valley, then Las Vegas is the most convenient airport. The easiest way to do this trip will be with a one-way car rental with one end at LAS and other at SNA. You can either fly home from SNA or fly from SNA to LAS and fly home from there. Joshua Tree is on the way to or from DV. I personally would not do Channel Islands in Dec. It’s too cold and windy and the boat ride over is just miserable if anyone in your group is subject to sea sickness. That park is really much better in the summer.
For DL, the crowds are smaller on Tu/Wed/Thu, but you miss a lot of the evening entertainment if you don’t go on a Fri/Sat/Sun.
This is one thing I was wondering about, and makes me possibly want to go Wed/Th/Fri even though that Fri evening will be really crowded. I want to make sure we get to see the nighttime entertainment. Will it not be running every night by then? I think I saw that during normal times it only runs on weekends, but I thought the week we’re going was close enough to Christmas that we’d be able to see it anytime that week.