My family just decided to go with a short stay at WDW for the days leading up through Christmas! I’m EXTREMELY excited as I’ve always wanted to see it during the holidays. I’m fully aware that the crowds will be brutal so I’m prepared to rope drop the parks and then run for the hills (the resorts) by lunchtime when the mass of humanity will become too much. That’ll be perfect as we can then check out the resort decorations and have a hopefully relaxing lunch.
I’m used to to resort restaurants being basically empty (and thus having plenty of room for walk-ins without ADRs) midday as everyone is at the parks. But does this still apply during the busy holiday season? I’m reluctant to make ADRs as I really have no idea how much time my family will tolerate being in the overly crowded parks before we leave. What have people’s experiences been in the resort restaurants (i.e. Wave in Contemporary, Grand Floridian Cafe in GF, Kona Cafe in Poly, etc.) during the holiday time?