FREE Disney World Christmas Tour Tips
Our “Self-Guided Yuletide Tour of Walt Disney World Resorts” offers a Christmas itinerary for experiencing holiday highlights without using a park ticket. That’s right, this is a free way to enjoy Christmas at Walt Disney World! (Updated December 8, 2019.)
This post is a step-by-step tour you can do on your own that will take you through the hotels that are best-decorated for Christmas over the course of around a half-day or longer. Entertainment at Walt Disney World for free? It might sound too good to be true, but it’s for real!
We pioneered this Self-Guided Yuletide Tour of Walt Disney World back when we didn’t have Annual Passes and pinched pennies by purchasing discount Walt Disney World park tickets that we used sparingly. To save a day on our tickets, we did this on the morning of the day we attended Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, finishing right when we could enter Magic Kingdom for the special event…
For Christmas 2019, we’ve refreshed the Free Self-Guided Yuletide Tour once again. Thanks to the new Disney Skyliner gondola system, plus the debut and Gran Destino Tower at Coronado Springs and a surprising addition to Wilderness Lodge, we have even more yuletide fun for our Christmas tour this year!
However, the full tour now is so long you can’t possibly finish it all in a single day, let alone 5 hours. As such, we have a new 2-Day Self-Guided Yuletide Tour of Walt Disney World. In addition to the aforementioned locations, that will take you to Disney Springs and a few other spots outside the theme parks. As with this tour, all stops can be visited free of charge!
In addition to that, we also have individual posts for every single resort in the tour. This way, you can preview how each Walt Disney World hotel decorates for Christmas, and potentially put together your own itinerary of which ones you like best. Here are the top options (links open in new tabs/windows):
- Grand Floridian – The most popular and crowded resort at Christmas…but for good reason.
- Wilderness Lodge – The absolute best place at Walt Disney World during the holidays. Worth a separate visit apart from this itinerary late at night to see the resort at its festive best!
- Contemporary Resort – A futuristic holiday of gingerbread castles and lattes?
- Beach Club – The inspiration for one of our (future) Christmas trees.
- Yacht Club – An underrated holiday-time gem!
- BoardWalk Inn – Not one of the ‘elite’ Christmas resorts…but it’s improving.
- Animal Kingdom Lodge – A non-traditional Christmas for many visitors, but a beautiful one, nonetheless.
- Gran Destino Tower – Walt Disney World’s newest resort got into the holiday spirit this year!
For those interested in following our strategy and taking your own free self-guided Christmas tour of the resorts at Walt Disney World, here’s our plan, which assumes you’re starting out at the Magic Kingdom (take a bus from your home resort to get there).
Walk to Disney’s Contemporary Resort – There’s a pathway leading from the Magic Kingdom to Disney’s Contemporary Resort that takes about 5-10 minutes to walk. Alternatively, you can take the monorail, but it will take longer.
This one is a relatively new addition, and it’s Cinderella meets Mary Blair, the artist behind the mural in the Grand Canyon Concourse and style of ‘it’s a small world’. It’s a pretty neat display, with Cinderella Castle being the highlight.
Depending upon when you arrive at the Contemporary, we also recommend doing lunch here at Contempo Cafe. They often have excellent Christmas cupcakes and other desserts, and it’s one of our favorite counter service restaurants at Walt Disney World.
In addition to this impressive Mary Blair-inspired gingerbread creation, there is a large “icon” tree outside (one of nine ‘giant’ trees on property–4 of which are located at the resorts), and smaller trees in the lobby.
The icon tree is perhaps one of the oldest trees at Walt Disney World, and has an interesting retro-futuristic style that still manages to work. It looks much more impressive at night, so if you have a chance to check it out after Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, you might want to do that.
Take the Resort Monorail from Disney’s Contemporary Resort to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort – Unfortunately, the Poly doesn’t do a ton compared to the flagship monorail resort. Maybe that’s because Christmas is representative of cold winters at the North Pole, and the Polynesian is representative of…well…the exact opposite of that.
The Polynesian lacks an “icon” Christmas tree and a large edible display, but the decorations it does have are gorgeous. These typically include lavish smaller trees with excellent tropical color schemes. We always make sure to stop at the Polynesian on our tours, but that’s partly because we love the Poly, in general.
We expect more at the Poly next year, but aren’t holding our breath. Regardless, it’s an easy stop on the monorail loop, so we recommend checking it out.
Take the Resort Monorail from Disney’s Polynesian Resort to Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa – Expect to spend some time at the Grand Floridian. Depending upon your favorite “version” of Christmas (do you prefer the cozy charm of a rustic Northern Christmas or the elegance of a fancy Victorian Christmas?) the decorations at the Grand Floridian just might be your favorite on property.
The highlight of the decorations here is unquestionably the life-sized gingerbread house. The gingerbread house is composed of staggering amounts of real ingredients, and takes months to prepare.
Oh, and it doubles as a refreshment stand where you can order gingerbread shingles and other holiday treats. The gingerbread house is actually so cool that you might overlook some of the other awesome decorations at the Grand Floridian–don’t make this mistake.
Explore the first couple of floors and the lobby, as beautiful flowers and other smaller decorations grace the resort. One thing you certainly won’t overlook is the massive Christmas tree on display in the lobby, the second of nine giant Christmas trees on property.
Take the Resort Monorail from Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa to the Magic Kingdom, take the Resort Boat/Bus to Wilderness Lodge – It’s a bit more work getting to Wilderness Lodge, but it’s sooo worth it. I think Grand Floridian at Christmas is cool, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Wilderness Lodge, in my opinion.
Probably because, as a Michigander, I prefer Christmas to have a cozy rustic charm rather than Victorian elegance and splendor. From the beautiful giant Christmas tree in the lobby (3 of 9) to the use of pine-cones and antlers in all of its decorating, Wilderness Lodge’s Christmas offerings feel like they were designed by woodland critters.
The background music played at Wilderness Lodge is incredibly relaxing, and you might find yourself inadvertently taking a nap if you stumble upon one of the hidden nooks upstairs with fireplaces and relaxing rocking chairs.
While you’re at Wilderness Lodge, make sure you walk over to the Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, too. The tree isn’t as grand, but there are a number of cool decorations there, too, and who can pass up the chance to spend some time in the Carolwood Pacific Room?!
If you’re really ambitious, you can also take a boat over to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground. Walt Disney World has some thematically-fitting decorations here that are worth seeing, but that’s not the main draw.
Rather, the real star of the show is the displays put up by long-terms guests on the campground loop. Before you dismiss this, thinking that you don’t want to see amateur decorations, give it some more thought. Some of these decorations are seriously good.
The only problem is that they’re best viewed after dusk, and it’s likely that you’ll be doing this tour in the morning. If you are, for some reason, doing the tour at night, pencil in Fort Wilderness after Wilderness Lodge. If not, consider heading over here for dinner one night and taking a tour of the decorations!
This is definitely the highlight of the resort tour for me, and something you definitely should not skip just because it requires an extra boat trip!
Continue reading about the Epcot Resorts at Christmas on Page 2
We decided to do the resort tour yesterday. If you are planning to eat dinner at one of the resort restaurants, you will need a reservation. Due to high crowds, we had to eat at the bar area because the restaurants were only seating people with reservations. Luckily, we were able to find a seat at the bar, but even the bars were busy.
Where is the best place or way to park for free or cheap if you don’t have an annual pass for the free tour?
We parked at Disney Springs around 8:30, and checked it out *with no crowds at all* until the buses started running – I think it was about 9:30-10:00. Most stores weren’t open, but some were. The buses don’t run to the parks from the Springs until later, but they do go to the resorts, which worked perfect for us as we started at the Contemporary. We had a GREAT time following this Yuletide tour! We spent about 12 hours and 17.000 steps, and still didn’t see everything. It was great!
We are a group of 5 ladies visiting the Parks for an early Christmas “girls trip”. We plan to do the 1 day Yuletide tour on Tuesday the 10th. We are staying off site and will have a car. Just wondering if our modified 1 day plan would work.
Drive to Disney Springs bus to Poly, or Grand Floridian. Tour the 3 Monorail Hotels. Boat from Contemporary to Wilderness. Tour Wilderness. Bus from Wilderness to Hollywood Studios. Boat to Swan/Dolphin. Tour Swan/Dolphin, Yacht/Beach Club, Boardwalk. Bus back to Disney Springs. Tour Disney Springs. Questions? Will buses be running to the hotels from Disney Springs in the morning say about 9:30am? Where would you suggest we stop for lunch along our tour along the Boardwalk area? Thanks in advance for any advice, ideas, opinions or suggestions. All are welcomed and appreciated.
When at the Boardwalk, it’s worth the time to hop over to the Swan and Dolphin as well, especially at night. The Dolphin has lights synced to music after dark. The Swan has some amazing chocolate sculptures.
Just want to emphasize how amazing Fort Wilderness campground is at Christmas! Dec. 3-18 will be our 3rd year there in our RV and every year we’ve added a little more to our site holiday decorations! We don’t use the typical blow-up decorations and have created many of the pieces ourselves. (So much fun being retired!!) We love hearing the clip-clop of the horse-drawn carriages coming through our loop and the boat whistle from the dock. We rent a golf cart (off-site vendor) and love touring the other loops. We hope to see you there – hopefully in loop 400!!
Jo Ann I am so excited to come see them right after Thanksgiving! Can you give the best advice to those of us who are not staying on property but want to come see them? What’s the best way to get on property and then get down to where the decorations are?? If we rent a golf cart, where do we do that from if it’s after dark? Thank you so much!
One small edit – previously, you used to be able to walk from Wilderness Lodge over to Ft. Wilderness, however, with the new hotel construction, you can only travel between the two by boat or bus. Hope this path closing is only temporary!
Such beautiful images – you really capture the feeling of Christmas at the Resorts!
Will you be updating this for 2019? My husband and I are taking a kid-free vacation this December and we will be going to Universal Studios, but I’m thinking of hopping over to Disney just to see some decorations without spending any money (we plan to do Disney with the kids in a couple of years maybe). Maybe even watch the fireworks from the Polynesian (I have heard you can do this, anyway. Correct me if I’m wrong!).
When are the deluxe resorts at WDW supposed to have their Christmas trees up in 2019. We’re going around November 16th and hoping we won’t miss the beautiful Christmas decorations!
I was wondering this, too! We are in the area 11/3-10.
It varies by year, but this is a question I always want to know too! In 2017, all of the deluxe resorts were decorated from November 18th – November 24th.
Through some research, I’ve found that the Wilderness Lodge was decorated on the following dates: 2011-11/13; 2012-11/13; 2013-11/19; 2014-11/24; 2015-11/22; 2016-?; 2017-11/20.
Thanksgiving is “late” this year, so, there is a potential that Holiday Services will push decorating the resorts “earlier” than usual. They will also presumably have two new resorts to decorate – Gran Destino Tower and Disney’s Riviera Resort.
Additionally, with new holiday offerings at Animal Kingdom, they might be pushing all decorating earlier so they can get everything done before the very end of November. There are already some Christmas decorations up at Hollywood Studios!
I know that isn’t very helpful, but you will definitely see decorations at the parks and in the stores during your visit! Keeping my fingers crossed for you that the resorts will be decorated too!
Loved the relaxing self guided tour. Thank you. See you at rope drop tomorrow.