The holiday season at Walt Disney resorts embodies the company’s mantra. Uncle Walt constructed the "Happiest Place on Earth" and the "Most Magical Place on Earth" from orange groves and swampland. His ability to create something from nothing is why his status as a global icon remains unquestioned half a century after his death.
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The courtyard at Disney's BoardWalk Villas
The Walt Disney Company Cast Members bear the onus of maintaining the legacy of their founder. They understand that he demanded the best of his staff, and that organizational philosophy remains in place today. And once the lights go up at Disney facilities across the globe, the employees of Disney resorts show that they carry the weight of lofty expectations deftly and proudly.
Starting in November, they put on their proverbial Sunday best as the various theme parks and resorts decorate for the various end-of-year-holidays. It’s the most festive time to visit a Disney Vacation Club property, and even if you can’t be there, you’re likely wistfully thinking of a quick trip. I want to encourage your December daydreams, so here’s my list of the best DVC properties to visit during the holidays.
6) Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa
Out of all the DVC resorts, Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa is probably the most understated when it comes to Christmas decorations. Sure, they have plentiful trees on display across the massive 21 acres of DVC’s only Hawaiian property. People who follow Disney Pinterest boards and Instagram accounts will certainly see a fair share of attractive lights hung cleverly to accentuate the Polynesian décor. But that’s not why it’s on the list.
The reason why Aulani deserves special mention is that if you’re staying here, you’re spending Christmas in Hawaii. That’s everyone’s dream vacation at least once in life. It infuses your holiday experience with island fun in the sun. Aulani offers an artificial lagoon, Rainbow Reef, where you can spend the holidays sipping drinks with umbrellas in them and enjoying weather that you can use to tease your friends back home as they stumble around in their winter coats. When you’re at Aulani, you’re the one whose Instagram posts other people will follow.
5) Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas
Whether you prefer Jambo House or Kidani (Team Jambo House 4eva!), the most divisive home resort offers plenty of wonderful knickknacks during the holiday season. Due to the already amazing visual displays available that create a functional savannah backdrop in the heart of central Florida, it doesn’t take much by way of lights and wreaths to make Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas feel more festive.
Jambo House at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas
Even if you find the combination of safari-style resorts and Christmas lights incongruous, there’s still a strong selling point to stay here over the holidays. Families with small children can begin a new holiday tradition involving Ostrich Eggs. As this video shows, you can take your kids into the lobby of Jambo House and perform a thoroughly engaging crafting project. Your child can create an ornament that you can proudly hang on your tree for years to come, and it will always evoke memories of your holiday stay at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas.
4) Disney’s Beach Club Resort
Every DVC member has a favorite hotel. I live in a house divided. My wife favors Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort due to its proximity to Magic Kingdom. I am in the tank for Disney’s Beach Club Resort. Stormalong Bay is simply too big a selling point for any other resort to match. During December, however, a southern climate like Florida is still prone to cold weather spells that negate the value of a mini-water park onsite.
Even if we take the second strongest selling point of Disney’s Beach Club Resort away, however, it’s still a marvelous place to stay during the holidays. That’s because it still has its strongest selling point, a backdoor entrance to Epcot only 200 steps away from the resort. And Epcot delivers one of the most enjoyable experiences of any Disney gate during the holidays.
Lobby carousel at Disney's Beach Club Villas
Holidays Around the World offers storytelling exhibitions featuring some of the most entertaining artists Disney has on staff. Simply by spending a few minutes at the France or Italy Pavilion, a master of the craft will relay tales of their country’s take on Santa Claus and other holiday dignitaries. Plus, you can receive holiday passport stamps while you walk around the World Showcase.
For people who are looking for decorations and the like at the hotels themselves, the Beach Club has a few magic words for you: full-sized, edible carousel. I can’t prove it, but I’ve always suspected that the staff devours the carousel in the back the day they remove the display. If you’ve noticed the cast members looking a bit plump in mid-January, that’s the most logical explanation. Finally, this hotel also has fairly convenient access to Disney's Hollywood Studios, an important asset during December. It’s just not as well-located as…
3) Disney’s Boardwalk Villas
Some of the selections here involve proximity more than decorations. In the case of Disney’s Boardwalk Villas, the gorgeous holiday setup operates in conjunction with the crown jewel of Walt Disney World’s December celebrations to make it one of the three best choices for DVC over the holidays.
Let’s start with the hotel itself. You can watch a video of some of the hotel lights here, paying particular attention to the gingerbread sign. That’s the most important part. Over the holidays, guests should stop at Ginger’s Bread and Cookie Shoppe to enjoy many delectable desserts that will satiate your sweet tooth while your heart grows three sizes viewing the spectacle. Staying at Disney’s Boardwalk Villas guarantees that you have many treats nearby. Still, December is when your options hit their optimal level of sugar rush.
Lobby snack shop at Disney's BoardWalk Villas
Also, the resort remains the closest to Disney's Hollywood Studios. For 20 years now, that has meant walking access to The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, one of the true joys of Christmas at Walt Disney World. I recently documented the history of Jennings Osborne and how his holiday decorations wound up at Disney for Theme Park Tourist if you’re interested. I’m sure you’ve heard by now that this is the last year for the display at Disney's Hollywood Studios due to the impending Star Wars Land construction. While I have every confidence that The Walt Disney Company will bring this back sooner rather than later, the unfortunate turn of events makes the end of 2015 bittersweet. It’s the end of an era at Hollywood Studios, and the people staying at Disney’s Boardwalk Villas may no longer enjoy this benefit moving forward. Until they lose it, however, the resort merits top three placement. Were The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights guaranteed to be there next year, I’d actually have debated making the hotel the top pick, ultimately slotting it second.
2) Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Not everyone loves this particular resort as a holiday destination. Some maintain that its stately Victorian motif is a bit too patrician to comfort guests the way that other Disney properties can. I consider this point of view hogwash. Even though the signature property of the Walt Disney World options clearly caters to a ritzy crowd, the moment The Walt Disney Company added it as part of the DVC collective, it became a wonderful option for the 99 percent as well.
The famous Gingerbread House at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort
If you’ve never visited here for the holidays, you’re in for a true delight, too. Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa features a 16-feet tall gingerbread house that stands as one of the most beloved annual traditions at Walt Disney World. It’s the rare opportunity to enter a life-sized gingerbread house without feeling like Hansel & Gretel walking to their presumed doom. You won’t even have to fight a bloodthirsty witch to enjoy the festivities, which differentiates it from many people’s holidays spent with their in-laws.
The other advantage of staying at the Grand Floridian is that you’re on the monorail. That places you only a few minutes of novel ride-time away from either Magic Kingdom or Epcot, depending on where you’re headed.
1) Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Everyone will have a different favorite resort when asked to perform a similar ranking. It’s the nature of the beast. For my money, however, the companion tower to one of Walt Disney World’s original onsite resorts stands above the rest. The reasons are equal parts irrefutable and opaque.
First of all, I should acknowledge the opaque aspect. Bay Lake Tower itself doesn’t have the greatest decorations. In fact, Disney’s Contemporary Resort never really stood out either prior to the arrival of its sibling construction. Once both hotels stood side by side, Disney cast members chose to focus on the original property, but I view them both as the same entity for the purposes of this evaluation.
Mickey wreath on exterior of Disney's Contemporary Resort
Since the advent of the DVC side of the resort, Disney’s Contemporary Resort has added a wreath so large that if it ever gained sentience and mobility, it could enslave mankind. There’s simply no missing the thing, and it’s breathtaking. Fittingly, it’s also in the shape of a Hidden Mickey, although it’s much more of a Plain Sight Mickey. If Hidden Mickeys are subliminal, this is super-liminal in The Simpsons vernacular. And standing out in front of the hotel is a gigantic Christmas tree that causes cellphone cameras to click every time the monorail passes by it. The resort’s exterior is undeniably the best with regards to Christmas decorations.
Inside the Contemporary is a 17-feet tall gingerbread tree that delights children of all ages. People with a sweet tooth should approach the giant decoration since it gets better closer up. Candies and other lavish dessert treats line the rows by the gingerbread tree. It’s a singular setting of ornamental bliss.
Contemporary's 'Frozen' display
While all of the above is nice, however, Bay Lake Tower wins for an entirely different reason. My Fitbit tells me that the hotel is only 600 steps away from the front entrance to Magic Kingdom, the most popular theme park in the world. The DVC construct is actually closer than its elderly sibling resort, meaning that it’s the closest hotel to Magic Kingdom.
No matter how you feel about any other DVC property or Walt Disney World theme park, the original Orlando gate is where the magic happens. The Christmas Day Parade occurs here, Cinderella Castle features a majestic lights display, and the Cinderella Castle Dream Lights – A Frozen Holiday Wish Show transpires here every night during the holidays.
Between the large gingerbread tree, the giant Christmas tree, and the ginormous Mickey wreath, Bay Lake Tower already deserved to be the best holiday resort for DVC members. Its access to Magic Kingdom turns the debate into a blowout.
Disney Vacation Club member David Mumpower first visited Walt Disney World when he was six years old. The little brat promptly threw a tantrum because he couldn't find a comfortable shirt to wear around the park. Fortunately Disney shirts got a lot less itchy over the years. David current writes for a number of websites including "Theme Park Tourist", "Box Office Prophets" and "How Well Do You Know." To contact him click HERE.
