Walt Disney World

Magic Kingdom

Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade 12 and 3pm – Adventureland? to Cinderella’s Castle and down Main Street, Xmas fireworks Cinderella’s Castle 8pm. Dining in the MK. Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire in front of Cinderella’s Castle 10am, 11:10am, 1pm, 2pm, 4:10pm.

• Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen – casual.
• egg roll cart at Adventureland (near Sunshine Tree Terrace)
• Diamond Horseshoe – $42 lunch or dinner, all you can eat, turkey/pot roast/pork or Impossible meatloaf.
• Liberty Tree Tavern – $42 lunch or dinner, all you can eat, turkey/pot roast/pork or Impossible meatloaf.
• Aloha Isle – Dole Whip – raspberry-pineapple swirl, coconut, pineapple upside down cake with whip
• Sunshine Tree Terrace – Dole Whip orange-vanilla swirl
• Casey’s Corner – plant-based hot dogs and sausages
• Friars Nook – plant-based bratwurst
• Columbia Harbour House – plant-based crab cake sandwich
• Crystal Palace breakfast buffet – $48 breakfast, $61 lunch or dinner, characters
• Cinderella’s Castle – highly rated but expensive because characters

Four main parks in Orlando: Disney World, EPCOT, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios. A four-day, single park per day ticket Christmas week 2023 is $158.06 per day. A five-day ticket is $142 per day. Enter a park at opening and tour counterclockwise.

Xmas 2023 need reservations and tickets. Holiday highlights.

• Dec 20 Hollywood Jollywood Nights 7pm start, Wonderful World of Animation at 7:30pm 12min
• Dec 23 Disney Springs, Drawn to Life Cirque de Soleil
• Dec 24 EPCOT
• Dec 25 Disney Springs
• Dec 26 EPCOT, 4:35pm Rose & Crown dinner packages, 8:30pm Candlelight Processional, 9:30pm Luminous
• Dec 27 Animal Kingdom, Sanaa 9pm dinner reservation
• Dec 28 Disney World, Be Our Guest 9:40pm dinner reservation
• Dec 29 Disney Boardwalk or St Augustine?
• Dec 30 Hilton tour 8:30am to 10am, check out 1pm

Restaurants – walk up bar seating (especially in Disney Springs). Plant-based dining options.

The free airborne Skyliner flies between several hotel properties and the BoardWalk area behind EPCOT.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

One Man’s Dream experience in Hollywood Studios.

Jollywood Nights 2023 Dec 20, 7pm park entrance, 8:30pm to 12:30am party. Highlights.

Themed entertainment: DJd music on Hollywood Boulevard, throwback bash at Echo Lake with characters meetups, street fair and Latin music on Holiday Fiesta en la Calle, jazzy setting at Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurant (limited capacity), and an “otherwordly soiree” at The Hollywood Tower Hotel courtyard (limited capacity).

Jollywood Nights is new in 2023. Occurring on certain evenings in November and December with the last date December 20th ($180 per ticket), this separately ticketed event includes entertainment options which will not be available the week of Christmas and shorter lines for rides.

Dining

• Oga’s Cantina
• Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant
• Hollywood Brown Derby
• Ronto Roasters

EPCOT

Activities and Rides

• Twinings Tea Tour in The Tea Caddy, UK Pavilion, World Showcase.
• Behind the Seeds, $45, 1-hour.
• Inside Shanghai exhibit in the China pavilion.
• Moana, World Nature, self-guided dry and wet walks, opened October 2023.
• Test Track.

EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays.

• Meet Storytellers, World Showcase.
• Living with the Land, Glimmering Greenhouses.
• JOYFUL! ensemble, World Showcase Plaza, 1:15pm, 2:20pm, 3:25pm, and 4:30pm.
• Candlelight Processional (America Gardens Theater, 5:15pm, 7pm, and 8:30pm) with celebrity narrators (Audra McDonald Dec 27 and 28, Steven Curtis Chapman Dec 24 – 26). Combine with dinner package for reserved seating. Dining packages: Rose & Crown, Spice Road Table.
• Spaceship Earth light displays after dark.
• Holiday Kitchens and Holiday Cookie Stroll.
• Olaf’s Holiday Tradition Expedition Scavenger Hunt, $10.
• Santa Greeting, Odyssey Pavillion thru Dec 24 (every 1.5 hours, first 11am, last 6pm).

Special Tours

• Dolphins in Depth, $209, 2 hours.
• DiveQuest, requires SCUBA certification, $249, 2 hours.

Dining

• Rose & Crown – dinner reservations for the 26th
• Space 220
• Via Napoli
• Garden Grill Restaurant
• Tangierine Cafe, Morrocco
• La Creperie de Paris
• Takumi-Tei – $250 regular / $150 plant-based prix fixe – walkup for dinner on the 24th

Disney World – Magic Kingdom Park

Download and play the Play Disney Parks app to get the most out of your visit to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Fireworks Dessert Pre or Post Party at Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant, $99, checkin 90 or 60 minutes prior to show. Xmas Parade 12 and 3pm, Xmas fireworks 8pm.

Magic Kingdom to the Max, $149, 5 hours including lunch and walking through the Utilidor underground passageways.

Xmas week 2023 schedule.

The Disneyworld Very Merry Christmas is separately ticketed and will offer shorter ride lines but will not include event exclusive entertainment.

Dining

• Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen – casual.
• egg roll cart at Adventureland
• Crystal Palace breakfast buffet – $48 breakfast, $61 lunch or dinner, characters
• Be Our Guest – character, reservations, lunch and dinner prix fixe French $70; some yelpers give the food very low marks

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Available Xmas 2023.

• Avatar Flight of Passage, ride inspired by the movies.
• African birds.

Not Available Xmas 2023.

• Wild Africa Trek $229, 3 hours, snacks.
• Caring For Giants (100 feet from the elephant herd), $39, 1 hour.

Dining

• Satu’li Canteen – casual
• Sanaa – breakfast, reservations dinner. Bread service. Savanna views.
• Nomad Lounge – mushroom bao and Impossible sliders, casual.
• Yak & Yeti
• Tusker House – breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffets, character dining. $47 / 62.

Disney Springs

Cirque de Soleil Drawn to Life $100 90 minutes, 5:30pm and 8pm.

Aerophile balloon ride $25 8-minute ride.

Dining

• Terralina
• House of Blues
• Homecomin’
• Wine Bar George
• Gideon’s Bakehouse cookies
• Raglan Road

Music: AdventHealth Waterside Stage, House of Blues, Paradiso 37 Entertainment, Raglan Road Live Entertainment, The Edison Live Entertainment, Waterview Park, Splitsville Luxury Lanes. Disney Springs Kids Club, Saturdays 10:30am to 12:30pm. Stargazers Live Entertainment, live music Fridays and Saturdays 7 to 11pm.

Disney Springs Art Walk.

Vintage Amphicar Tours, $125 per car (3 to 4 people), 20 minutes.

Disney Springs Christmas Tree Stroll.

Disney’s BoardWalk

Atlantic Dance Hall, nightclub 21+, 8pm to 1am, Thursdays thru Sundays.

Jellyrolls, piano bar 21+, 7pm to 1:45am, nightly.

Electric Water Pageant, 8:25 to 10:30pm nightly.

See the WDW fireworks—as well as the classic water-based Electrical Water Pageant— for free from the Contemporary, Grand Floridian, and Wilderness Lodge resorts. Watch Happily Ever After, the Magic Kingdom’s 8pm nightly fireworks spectacular, for free from the beach of Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort (and buy a frozen Dole Whip from the Pineapple Lanai).

Dining

• Disney Contemporary Resort: Steakhouse 71 for mushroom wellington; California Grill $89 three-course with plant-based options
• Disney’s Polynesian Resort: ‘Ohana for $49 breakfast (with pineapple-coconut breakfast bread) all you can eat with characters, a la carte from Tambu Lounge, Pineapple Lanai for Dole Whip and watching Disney World evening spectacular from the beach.
• Disney Grand Floridian – Grand Floridian Cafe – miso tofu (or salmon)
• Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort: Sebastian’s Bistro.
• Dahlia Lounge
• Victoria & Albert’s very high end dining.
• Disney’s Wilderness Lodge: Whispering Canyon Cafe all you can eat skillets and a la carte, Story Book Dining at Artist Point with Snow White
• Animal Kingdom Lodge – Boma Flavors of Africa – $37 breakfast buffet, $56 dinner buffet; Jiko the Cooking Place – a la carte
• La Luce

Magic Kingdom Resort Area

Winter Summerland Miniature Golf $19.

Wilderness Back Trail Adventure, $99, Segway X2, 2 hours plus 30 minutes instruction.

Sofrito Latin Cafe.

Trip Advisor vegetarian friendly dining in and around WDW.