The holiday season may be the most special time of year to visit Walt Disney World Resort. Disney does a little something for each season but the holidays are pretty extravagant. Even if you’ve been to Disney World many times, there’s just something different about it during the holidays. The Disney World Christmas decorations are stunning. There is something at each of the Disney Parks in Orlando, Florida and the resorts too. The holiday season can be quite busy for most people. Luckily, Disney World Christmas and holiday offerings start very early, providing more people the opportunity to visit. Here are the main Disney World Christmas time events and offerings in 2024.
What are the Disney World Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve celebrations in 2024?
Notable holiday offerings at Walt Disney World resort include:
| Disney World Holiday Offerings | What it is | Where it is |
| Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party | A special ticketed event at Magic Kingdom with a holiday parade, festive fireworks and extra characters. | Magic Kingdom |
| Epcot International Festival of the Holidays | An overlay in the park with the addition of outdoor food booths, seasonal entertainment and decorations. | Epcot |
| Jollywood Nights | A special ticketed event at Hollywood Studios with exclusive holiday shows and entertainment. | Disney’s Hollywood Studios |
| Merry Menagerie | A walk around wintery, animal puppet experience near the Tree of Life. | Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park |
| Disney Springs Christmas Tree Stroll | A collection of themed Christmas trees throughout Disney Springs and snowfall in the Town Center area. | Disney Springs |
| Resort gingerbread houses and decorations | Resort lobbies have beautiful gingerbread displays and sell cookies, treats and warm beverages to celebrate the holidays. | Mostly Disney Vacation Club Resorts, outlined below. |
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party: Disney World Christmas 2024 Dates and Details
Disney World Christmas Party 2024 Info
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is a long time tradition at the Magic Kingdom park. The event offers holiday themed character meet and greets, a firework show, a parade, special seasonal food and more. This is a separately ticketed event that starts at 7:00 p.m., filling the kingdom with cheer until it closes at midnight.
Tickets for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party are quite pricey at $169 to $219 per ticket, plus tax, for adults ages 10 and up.
When is the Disney World Christmas party at Magic Kingdom in 2024?
The first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party date is November 8th this year.
| Disney World Christmas Party Months | 2024 Dates |
| November | 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29 |
| December | 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20 |
In our Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party guide we have everything you need to know to plan a great visit.
Epcot International Festival of the Holidays: Epcot Holiday Celebrations 2024
At Epcot, World Showcase is full of ways to celebrate the holidays. This park has really become the central hub of the holiday season at Walt Disney World resort. The Epcot International Festival of the Holidays is an annual event with festive foods, holiday entertainment, and lots of decorations. From the story of Hanukkah to a lively gospel group, there’s a little something for everyone.
The big show for the holidays at Epcot is the candlelight processional. This is a traditional telling of the Christmas story hosted by a celebrity narrator, with music sung by a large choir. Dining packages are available to help you secure close seats. This is a beautiful and calm spectacle. The tradition of Candlelight Processional started way back and at Disneyland.
Jollywood Nights & Disney’s Hollywood Studios Decorations
Jollywood Nights debuted in 2023 as an alternative to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party. While, the events seem similar, both are after hours holiday events, they have very different offerings. It makes sense to visit both if you enjoy the holidays. Jollywood Nights does not have a parade and fireworks like Very Merry. Instead, it focuses on an exciting lineup of shows with an additional offering added in 2024.
Jollywood Nights is one of the only places you can see Kermit and Miss Piggy live. These two join Belle, Tiana and dancers in a stage show spectacular.
There is something for The Nightmare Before Christmas fans too. A sing-along style show happens in the Hyperion Theater at Jollywood Nights.
In 2024 an ice skating style show will happen in the middle of the park in front of the Chinese theater.
Jollywood Nights also offers special character meet and greets, like Santa Duffy or Santa Stitch, that you may not see other places.
The Jollywood Nights event has some really interesting food and beverage set ups like a jazzy evening in The Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant. There’s also Latin influence with food and music that will be located in the Animation Courtyard this year.
Tickets for Jollywood Nights run high at $159 to $179 per ticket, plus tax.
Some additions have been made in 2024 including a few additional hours of event time.
Hollywood Studios Christmas Decorations and Overlay
Even during regular park visits, you’ll see a glamorous line of garland stars down Sunset Boulevard at Hollywood Studios. The Hollywood Tower Hotel glows with holiday spirit through different projection shows at night. In Echo Lake near the Frozen singalong show you’ll find the park’s massive tree floating on water. There are also large, vintage style decoration scenes that match the Hollywood Studios aesthetic around the front of the park.
Merry Menagerie at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
When you enter Animal Kingdom, the tree of life area is brought to life with Merry Menagerie during the holiday season. This subtle and quaint show experience has walk around puppeteers with interactive animal puppets. Look for tiny penguins, a fox and other precious creatures to interact with.
See more about Merry Menagerie at Animal Kingdom.
Disney Springs Christmas Tree Stroll and Nightly Snowfall
Disney Springs is a wonderful place to visit during the holiday season. There are Disney themed Christmas trees throughout the property that you can enjoy finding. There are so many different restaurants and many offer different flavors during the season. There is so much shopping to do, whether it’s Disney or other brands, to help you check off your list.
If you are arriving by bus from a resort, you’ll enter Disney Springs in the Town Square and be met with the dazzling Disney Springs Christmas tree. This is one of the tallest trees at Walt Disney World during the season. It also snows in this area, bringing lots of cheer to the busy shopping and dining complex.
Disney World Resort Gingerbread Houses and Decorations
Every resort has glitzy decorations for the holiday season. Christmas decorations at resort hotels at Walt Disney World might be some of the best you ever see. Many lobbies are filled with Christmas trees that are stories tall. Some displays are more impressive than others. Each of them are themed to the resort with a special color palette, lights and individual ornaments.
The greatest of all the Disney World Christmas displays might be the one at the Disney’s grand Floridian resort and spa. In the main lobby guests will find one of the magnificent, tall trees beautifully adorned in a 12 days of Christmas theme. The real joy is right behind that.
A large Grand Floridian gingerbread display house sells beautifully decorated treats. Disney culinary cast members work on this edible masterpiece that’s built from real gingerbread and chocolate. You can purchase one of the gingerbread shingles like you see on the house. For a charming view, head to the second floor and look down on the Grand Floridian’s magical holiday display.
At other Disney Vacation Club Resorts, there are additional gingerbread displays. A gingerbread castle art installation is found on the fourth floor of Disney’s Contemporary resort. At Disney’s Beach club resort, a small carousel made of gingerbread spins in the lobby.
Even if the resort doesn’t have a dream like gingerbread display, there are garlands, ornaments, and lights themed to the specific resort.
Are there Christmas lights at Disney World?
There are currently no dedicated Christmas light displays at Walt Disney World resort.
For years, Disney World had the best Christmas light displays. Many guests came every year just to see the Dream Lights on Cinderella castle. An already beautiful structure, during the holiday season the Magic Kingdom castle was adorned with sparkly, twinkling lights from top to bottom. It was quite the sight to see but it hasn’t returned the last few years.
At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the Osborne family spectacle of dancing lights was absolutely extraordinary. Millions of lights draped the Streets of America section of the park, lighting up in a choreographed fashion to music.
At Disney Springs, there was a Christmas tree trail for a few years. This was a section of themed Christmas trees with Disney character and attraction ornaments, snow falling and festive music. During the pandemic. Disney stretched this out over the whole of Disney Springs instead of in just one area. Guests can now seek out trees in different areas of the shopping complex.
Disney World Christmas ornaments
There are many places to buy ornaments at Walt Disney World resort. There have always been Disney character ornaments. More recently, some really creative Disney World specific ornaments have debuted. There is now a resort collection featuring different hotels. You’ll also find Disney World Christmas ornaments themed to different attractions. The best places to shop for Disney World Christmas ornaments are:
- Days of Christmas at Disney Springs
- Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe at Magic Kingdom
- The Emporium at Magic Kingdom
- Creations Shop at Epcot
- Other large merchandise stores in each park
- The main resort gift shop at each resort
- Special events
Does Disney World have special Christmas meals? Does Disney World serve Thanksgiving dinner?
You may be able to enjoy a holiday themed meal for Christmas or Thanksgiving at Disney World. It can be tricky to plan for because only certain restaurants debut a special turkey and sides offering or something similar. This information isn’t typically shared far in advance. You may just see a sign or flyer the week of at your resort. Many Disney World, restaurants, especially sit down locations, take reservations. Those reservations can go pretty quickly, leaving no availability for last minute planners. You usually have to have a restaurant booked far in advance before you know if they’re offering a special meal for Thanksgiving or not.
If you’re looking for holiday flavors in a casual setting, the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays has small plates and grab and go options. In the America pavilion you might find a typical Thanksgiving plate at the outdoor holiday kitchen.
It’s also always Thanksgiving at Liberty Tree Tavern in Liberty Square at Magic Kingdom. This family style, sit down restaurant has Thanksgiving dinner served all year round.
Disney World Christmas Treats
Disney World Christmas trips are made even more spectacular thanks to the amount of seasonal foods you can find. Flavors like pumpkin, peppermints, gingerbread, cinnamon caramel and more decorate dessert menus around the resort. Look for a seasonal food guide on the Disney Parks Blog each year.
Disney World Christmas Shopping: Ship Your Items
Disney World has many systems in place to provide a high quality experience for visitors. One of the more convenient things you can do at Disney World is ship your packages home right from the store where you purchase them. Many stores offer this. You fill out a form, Disney provides tracking and you pay for the shipping along with the item. This makes Disney World Christmas shopping quite convenient. If you spot a beautiful castle play set that would be perfect under the tree but not perfect for your suitcase, this is your solution.
What is there at Disney World New Year’s Eve?
We typically don’t find out about the specific Disney World New Year’s Eve celebration offerings until closer to December. What we can expect based on past years is special fireworks at Magic Kingdom on the 30th and 31st. Over at Epcot, the party starts early as New Year’s Eve is celebrated in each of the countries of world showcase.
DVC Resale Experts Can Help with Holiday Magic
Great memories are just waiting to be made at Disney World resorts that are beautifully decorated for the holiday season. If you’re enchanted with the thought of visiting Disney World every year, Disney Vacation Club might be a wonderful fit for you. This is the Disney timeshare. It’s possible to buy contracts from owners who are selling theirs at prices much lower than you’d find at Disney World directly.
See DVC resale listings available right now.
