Why You Should Go to Disney World for the 2025 Holidays
Due to popular demand, Walt Disney World just opened sales for the 2025 holiday season.
After months of waiting, you can finally book packages for November and December 2025!
Since we’re not yet in the 2024 holiday season, you may be wondering why you reserve your 2025 package.
Here’s why you should go to Disney World for the 2025 holidays.
The After-Hours Events
For decades now, Disney fans have known to spend the holidays at Disney World.
Part of the reason why is the seminal annual event, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
This after-hours ticketed event is more than 40 years old, so Disney has hosted it longer than many of you have been alive.
When you visit the Christmas party, you’ll watch holiday parades, nighttime fireworks, and other live performances.
You’ll also participate in dance parties and character interactions.
Best of all, Disney gives away free Christmas treats, and the only way Magic Kingdom gets better is when there’s free hot cocoa.
In 2023, Disney’s Hollywood Studios got into the act. This park added Disney Jollywood Nights.
While the Magic Kingdom party delights children of all ages, Jollywood Nights is a decidedly more adult affair.
That’s to say, it’s boozy, and the live entertainment presentations cater more to grown-ups.
So, when you visit during the holiday season, you’ll have your choice of two different but equally enjoyable parties.
And let’s not discount the fact that Disney is quite magical during the day, too.
The Candlelight Processionals
Speaking of annual traditions, one of the oldest ones at Disneyland began with Walt Disney himself.
In 1958, the park hosted its first Candlelight Processional.
Imagine a mass choir of accomplished musicians playing holiday music.
In between songs, a celebrity narrator such as Edward James Olmos or Neil Patrick Harris recites the Nativity story.
In 1971, Magic Kingdom started the Disney World version of the Candlelight Processional before it moved to EPCOT in 1994.
For more than 30 years now, fans have crowded the World Showcase to delight in every sold-out performance of the Candlelight Professional.
And let me be clear. It WILL sell out.
You should book early and then set a calendar reminder to purchase a Candlelight Processional Dining Package for next year.
This is one event you don’t want to miss – but remember that the competition to see the show is heavy.
The Character Greetings
You’re never too old to hug Mickey Mouse, and the same statement applies to Santa Claus.
You’ve lost your childhood whimsy if you sneer at doing either of those.
Disney officials know this to be true, which is why Santa Claus appears at every park during the holiday season.
You’ll even find him at Disney Springs!
I adore that many holiday interactions feature characters wearing red and green to perfect the vibe.
The Decorations
The most magical transformation at Disney World occurs during the witching hour. It’s nothing macabre, though.
As soon as Disney hosts its final Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party of the season, a change begins.
Disney parks post their holiday decorations as soon as November begins. The process takes a few days, which I quite enjoy.
I love capturing pictures of the gradual changeover.
For the next two months, everywhere you look on the Disney campus is so festive that it will put a song in your heart.
Walt Disney World is always beautiful, but it somehow presents a more serene glow in November and December.
That’s why I’m visiting in November this year, and I’ll visit in either November or December next year.
The Festival
Everywhere at Disney is fabulous over the holidays, but I’m devout in the belief that the World Showcase is the place to be.
In late November, EPCOT hosts its final exhibition of the year.
The EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays will charm you with its many offerings, including a perennial favorite, The Storytellers.
These Cast Members appear at the various international pavilions and describe their country’s holiday traditions.
You should take the time to watch as many as possible, as each storyteller provides their own charm to the proceedings.
Realistically, you’ll probably visit the World Showcase for The Holiday Kitchens, though.
These locations serve seasonal delicacies that are culturally appropriate and also as tasty as anything you remember from your childhood during the holidays.
The Gingerbread Houses
When you’re not at the parks, you’ll find that the holiday magic extends to the resorts as well.
Cast members decorate each hotel for the season, but some go that extra mile.
At various Disney deluxe tier resorts, you’ll discover gingerbread houses, gingerbread stores, and other creations that will dazzle you with their design and technique.
The most remarkable part is that each one is entirely edible.
Don’t get me wrong. Disney won’t let you grab a fork and dive into any of them, but even the working Gingerbread Carousel at Disney’s Beach Club resort contains the same ingredients you’d use to bake holiday treats in your kitchen.
Of course, you will get hungry, but that’s okay because there are usually sweet treats available wherever you notice a gingerbread house…or bakery…or zebra.
Yes, there’s a gingerbread zebra!
Holiday Overlays
Some Disney attractions will add seasonal overlays, giving them unique looks and vibes in November and December.
The two most famous ones are Jungle Cruise and Living with the Land.
During the holidays, Jungle Cruise converts to Jingle Cruise, where all the puns are holiday-related…but just as dad joke-hokey.
In Living with the Land’s greenhouse area, you’ll discover all kinds of holiday lights and even some oversized Christmas packages.
By the way, these aren’t the only seasonal overlays.
You’ll find a couple more when you attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
Tomorrowland Speedway and Space Mountain both offer altered holiday effects during the party.
The New Attractions
By this time next year, Walt Disney World will have introduced a new ride, show, and parade.
At EPCOT, Test Track 3.0 will finally debut.
This thrill ride will use some of the same ride structure as the Test Track version we all know and love; however, it will be modernized.
At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure debuts next summer as well.
So, when you book during November or December, the crowds should have died down at both attractions.
Finally, we have the first new nighttime Disney parade in a while, Disney Starlight.
Disney hasn’t revealed much about this parade yet, but rumors suggest that it’ll be one of the most visually stimulating parades in theme park history.
We’d expect nothing else for a Magic Kingdom parade.
As you can see, the holiday season is the ideal time to visit Disney World.
Since several holiday 2025 packages are now on sale, you should speak with a MickeyTravels agent to find the best one for your vacation.
Remember that MickeyTravels agents provide their services free of charge.
So, you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain by reaching out to them.
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