INFO: Top 5 Walt Disney World Resorts for the Holidays

Courtesy of Disney

Christmas is Almost Here!

Walt Disney World recently announced the coming of the most anticipated holiday celebration of the year – Christmas! Disney’s Very Merriest After Hours will take to the streets of Magic Kingdom Park this year! We cannot wait to see the parade, fireworks, the snowfall on Main Street, and, of course, Santa Clause! 

Since we’re in the booking season for a holiday getaway (even for 2022), I’d like to share with you my Top 5 Walt Disney World Resorts for a stay during the holidays.

#5 Disney’s Pop Century Resort. Though not as decked to the halls as deluxe resorts, this is one special, value resort where you can get a taste of Christmas at a reasonable price. By taste, I’m referring to EPCOT’s International Festival of the Holidays, which is easily accessible from this Skyliner hotel. Yet, there’s more to the Pop than meets the eye – it has the most awesome retro holiday décor that brings us all back to those old Polaroid pictures around grandma’s silver Christmas tree.

#4 Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort. As a moderate resort, the Riverside offers a budget-friendly stay at Walt Disney World for the holidays. The setting recalls the pleasantries of a Southern comfort, country holiday. If you want to see Christmas a tad more jazzed up, you can just walk on over to the French Quarter. Disney’s Port Orleans Resorts are just a ferry ride away from Disney Springs- home of endless holiday shopping, entertainment, and the ever popular Christmas Tree Stroll – making it an even more ideal choice for the holidays.

#3 & #2 Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts. These sister resorts equally deserve a spot on the list, and, since they are attached, I have paired them together. Though connected to each other, the two resorts elicit a very different feel of Christmas, with the Yacht Club starring as the most unique. At the Yacht Club, a Christmas railway diorama takes center stage with a Disney Christmas Village and beloved characters getting ready for the holidays around the tracks. Equally impressive are the model ships and boats that deck the trees throughout the resort. The Beach Club implores your sense of both sight and smell, as the scent of gingerbread wafts the halls, leading you to the stunning Gingerbread Carousel which changes in theming every year! What’s more, both resorts are a stroll away from EPCOT’s World Showcase where you can experience the holidays celebrated around the Lagoon.

Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Lobby by Melissa Reed

#1 Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. This is, beyond any doubt, the quintessential holiday resort at Walt Disney World. It’s cozy, rustic, woodsy – a typical winter getaway. I know I could stay in the grand lobby all day, looking up at the magnificent 60ft tree, and rock the night away on a rocking chair by the crackling, warm fire. You will feel worlds away from everything, yet it’s only a short ferry ride to the festivities at Magic Kingdom Park. One especially festive touch found only at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, and the nearby Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort, are the horse-drawn holiday sleigh rides! Board a festive, decorated sleigh for a ride through scenic trails in the secluded woodlands of Fort Wilderness  – no other resort can top that for the holidays, right?

Keep in mind, resort hopping is a holiday tradition that allows you to see all the wonderful decorations that each of the resorts display during this most wonderful time of year. That said, no matter where you stay, you can always set aside a day to take in all the sights, sounds, and scents of the holidays at Walt Disney World!

Which Walt Disney World Resort hotel do you prefer for your stay during the holiday season?