Free Self-Guided Yuletide Tour of Disney World at Christmas
As mentioned, with one notable exception, what’s on display at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Area resorts for Christmas is the best of the best. The Deluxe Villa, Moderates, and Values aren’t doing a ton.
The decorations at those resorts do the job in terms of getting their guests in the Christmas spirit, but they are not Christmas “destinations” for Walt Disney World guests who aren’t staying at them. That is, unless you have a lot of extra time.
Also, there is one notable exception to this, and that’s way out at Animal Kingdom Lodge, where you can find some of the most interesting decorations at Walt Disney World.
Let’s take a look at why it’s such a big draw, as well as what some of the other, lower-key resorts do at Christmas…
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – Given the difficulty of reaching Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, we typically tour its resort offerings on the day we go to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, rather than with the rest of our resort tour. If you do it as part of this tour, you’ll have to take a bus to one of the parks–ideally, Animal Kingdom–and take a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge, before taking another bus all the way back to the other side of Walt Disney World for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
That said, if you’re not visiting Animal Kingdom on your trip, you might want to give serious thought to heading over to Animal Kingdom during the resort tour if time allows. Animal Kingdom Lodge’s giant lobby Christmas tree and decorations are not to be missed. There are African-inspired decorations adorning strands of garland throughout the lobby and cool decorations at the resort’s restaurants. Consider heading over to Kidani Village to see some of its decorations, too.
Other Resorts – We really only recommend visiting other resorts if you’re going to be at or near them anyway for a dinner, or if you want to take a boat from Disney Springs to one of those resorts. Or if you are really into a particular theme.
Every resort from the Deluxe Villas on down does a decent job decorating in an on-theme manner, and the details you’ll find within the garland and trees at these resorts are typically interesting reflections of the greater themes of those resorts.
A prime example is Port Orleans French Quarter; you can see the details of one of its smaller Christmas trees above, and they most certainly fit the Mardi Gras theme. However, there aren’t a ton of decorations around the resort, there’s no icon tree, and it lacks a centerpiece that is worth investing a chunk of time to go see.
This is pretty much the norm at all other Walt Disney World resort hotels not specifically discussed in this post. We wouldn’t go as far as to say decorations are sparse at the other resorts, but they don’t rise to a level that justifies taking an hour or so to go see (and you’re looking at spending at least that much time on each of them due to transit).
It’s important to note that Walt Disney World Christmas decorations change yearly, and what you see described and photographed here is not necessarily what will be offered next year or beyond. Some of these displays have already evolved a bit since the photos were taken! That said, regardless of any cosmetic changes to the displays, all of these resorts have been worth touring at Christmas since we’ve been visiting them.
For comprehensive tips to plan your Christmas-time vacation to Walt Disney World, check out our Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World. For Walt Disney World trip planning tips and comprehensive advice, make sure to read our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide and related articles.
Your Thoughts
Which other Walt Disney World resort hotels do you think are worth visiting at Christmas? Which resorts have your favorite Christmas decorations? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Do people who are not staying on the Disney property have access to the monorail, bus and boats? I could use parking ideas. How do you make a dining reservation?
Will the hotels let us in if we are dropped on by Uber or Lyft? Obviously they would not be parking.
They may ask if you’re staying on that property. Like what was mentioned Dining reseevations or mobile order pick up will get you in. You better have a dining reservation b/c they will check!
you can park at disney springs and catch a bus to most of the resorts
Does anyone know if the hotel bars are open? We like to have a festive drink at some of the reosrts
This was alot of fun for me! Spent all day riding the Disney transportation system! From Skyliner to Monorail to the boats and buses!
I will be staying on property 2021 and dinning on property. Just wondering in a normal Christmas year, if all I wanted to do was to see all the decorations at Disney World parks and resorts, doing no rides. How many days should I figure on staying?
Where do we find the Christmas guide?
Is there an updated FREE Christmas tour for 2020? Going for first Christmas wDW trip Dec 1-11!!! This is a bucket list tour and plan on doing this tour Thank you.
We did the “tour” last year at night and had a drink at one of the bars at the resorts.
Will this be possible this year 2020- will bars be open
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!).