Required Itinerary Changes for Later December 2011

By Dave Shute

This page has required and suggested changes for arrivals 12/17 and 12/24/2011.

ARRIVAL 12/17 2011

The Basic Itinerary works fine for the first weeks of December.

For those arriving 12/17, it mostly works, but needs one set of required changes:

• It sends you to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party on 12/20.  However, this party is not scheduled this night. 
• Instead, take that Tuesday night off, and change what the itinerary says for the Second Saturday to accomplish what had been planned for Tuesday evening: go to the Magic Kingdom first thing and see Tomorrowland, and see the evening parade and Holiday Wishes that evening.

ARRIVAL 12/24/2011

The Disney World Summer Itinerary mostly works for Christmas week 2011–not because it’s summer, but because Disney has common operating patterns during high crowd periods!

However, some changes are required, and others are suggested.

First, note that multiple 8a openings and additional morning Extra Magic Hours are already scheduled for this week, and more will come.  Hence, you need to stay up to date with Disney World operating hours to assure you arrive before the parks open–the key to managing crowds anytime, but especially at this time of year.

Second, the itinerary has you at the Magic Kingdom during the morning and evening of New Year’s Eve, and dining at the Crystal Palace that night. 

There’s a couple of problems with this.  First, the park may close, precluding you from returning for the evening and getting to your dining seating.

Second, you may wish to spend New Year’s Eve at your hotel if you want to avoid crowds, or at another park–the Magic Kingdom does not serve alcohol.  Epcot and the Studios will both be open late, and both serve alcohol.  For fireworks, choose Epcot.

The easiest way to work around this is to flip Friday and the Second Saturday in your itinerary and To-Do List.  If you choose to spend New Year’s Eve at Epcot, you’ll need to add a Park Hopper to your tickets as well.

If you do want to be in the Magic Kingdom New Year’s Eve, then you should change the reservation at the Crystal Palace to one of the three restaurants at the Contemporary Resort instead (Chef Mickey’s, The California Grill, or the Wave, in that order of preference). 

I suggest the Contemporary because you can walk there and back from the Magic Kingdom…but if the Magic Kingdom closes, then using the monorails it’s easy to get to Epcot instead.

Questions?  Let me know using the comment form below!