Christmas in Orlando: the parks in their busiest week
In Orlando, Christmas lasts almost two months. Disney switches it on November 13 and turns it off January 6, Universal keeps it going from November 14 to January 3, and in the middle sit ten days, December 20 through January 3, when more families arrive than at any other time of year. Here’s what each park has, what costs extra, which night each event ends, and how to handle the airport when half of North America is flying the same days you are.
The 2026 season calendar
Start by separating what comes with park admission from what needs its own ticket, and by knowing when each one ends. Some events wrap up before Christmas, and anyone who lands on December 26 planning to see the Magic Kingdom night party finds out it’s already over.
| What | Where | Dates 2026–2027 | Admission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disney holiday season | All four Walt Disney World parks | November 13 to January 6 | Included |
| Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party | Magic Kingdom, select nights | November 8 to December 22 | Separate ticket |
| Disney Jollywood Nights | Hollywood Studios, select nights | November 7 to January 5 | Separate ticket |
| EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays | EPCOT | November 27 to December 30 | Included |
| Universal holiday season | Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Epic Universe | November 14 to January 3 | Included |
| Christmas Tree Stroll | Disney Springs | November 11 to January 3 | Free |
| Christmas Celebration | SeaWorld Orlando, select nights | November 6 to January 4 | Included |
| ice! featuring The Polar Express | Gaylord Palms, Kissimmee | November 13 to January 3 | Separate ticket |
Dates published by each park for the 2026–2027 season. Daily hours are posted by each park on its own calendar.
The week between Christmas and New Year’s
Schools in the United States and Canada close at the same time, Latin American families use their summer or year-end vacation, and all of it lands on the same parks. The week of December 26 to 31 is, year after year, the most crowded on Orlando’s calendar. That doesn’t make it a bad time to go: the parks are at their best, fully decorated and running shows that only exist these few weeks. But it’s a trip you plan, not one you improvise.
The most useful number comes from the airport. For last year’s holiday season, December 19, 2025, to January 5, 2026, Orlando International Airport projected about 3.1 million passengers, a record. The two heaviest days weren’t before Christmas but at the very end: Saturday, January 3, with about 196,000 passengers, and Sunday, January 4, almost the same. That’s everyone flying home right before school starts again.
Buy date-based tickets
Disney and Universal tickets change price by day, and this week’s are among the most expensive. Buying early doesn’t always make them cheaper, but it locks in the day you want.
Check your pass’s blockout dates
Universal says its Seasonal and Power passes have blockout days during the holiday season. At Disney, annual passholders need a park reservation on many dates; guests with a date-based ticket don’t.
Be there at opening
This week, the first hour and a half in the park is worth an entire afternoon. Lines are short, the air is cool and you can still walk without weaving through crowds.
Keep one day free of parks
Ten days of vacation with kids and packed parks wears anyone out. A pool day or a Disney Springs afternoon in the middle of the week saves the rest of the trip.
Magic Kingdom: the Main Street tree and the night party
The photo at the top of this guide is the classic one: the giant tree in Town Square, at the entrance to Main Street, with toy soldiers standing around it. From mid-November the whole park is dressed for Christmas, and that decor stays up until January 6, so you’ll see it whenever you go.
What doesn’t stay is Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. It’s the separately ticketed night party held on select nights from November 8 to December 22, 2026. It starts at 7 p.m., although your party ticket lets you into the park from 4 p.m. On those nights the usual parade is replaced by Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade, the holiday parade that only rolls during the party.
If you arrive before December 22
Check which nights have a party and buy early: the nights closest to Christmas sell out first. On those days Magic Kingdom also closes earlier for guests with a regular ticket.
If you arrive after December 22
There’s no party anymore, and the park runs regular hours with the full decor. It’s the most crowded week: get in at opening and save for the evening whatever looks best with the lights on.
If you’re bringing small kids
The party ends late. Plan the next day without a park, or with a short one, because the tiredness builds fast this time of year.
EPCOT: cookies, holiday kitchens and the Candlelight Processional
EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays runs from November 27 to December 30, 2026, and it’s included with park admission. Around the lagoon, each World Showcase country shares how it celebrates the season, and the Holiday Kitchens appear, seasonal food booths that only open these weeks. If you’re traveling with kids, the Holiday Cookie Stroll is a five-cookie trail with stamps in the festival passport and a prize at the end.
The most anticipated part is the Candlelight Processional, a choir and orchestra that tell the Christmas story at the America Gardens Theatre. There are three performances every night, at 4:45, 6:30 and 8 p.m., and seats are first come, first served. The line forms long before showtime, especially during Christmas week.
| Dates | Candlelight Processional narrator |
|---|---|
| December 20 and 21 | Henry Winkler |
| December 22 and 23 | Lacey Chabert |
| December 24 and 25 | Jodi Benson |
| December 26 and 27 | Simu Liu |
| December 28 to 30 | Eva Longoria |
Narrators announced by Disney for Christmas week 2026.
Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom
At Hollywood Studios, Christmas is something you see after dark. Sunset Seasons Greetings projects holiday scenes onto the Hollywood Tower Hotel, the building that houses The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, every night of the season. From November 4 to January 6 there’s also a holiday-themed Frozen Sing-Along, Minnie’s Holiday Dine and Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster with Christmas music.
A heads-up on a show a lot of people look for: Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! is no longer part of the park’s regular schedule. You can only see it inside Disney Jollywood Nights, the separately ticketed Hollywood Studios night party, on select nights from November 7, 2026, to January 5, 2027. Unlike the Magic Kingdom party, this one does run past New Year’s.
Animal Kingdom has the calmest take on the holidays: Santa’s Holiday Grove, the Merry Menagerie with its fabric animals and lights, and Tree of Life Awakenings Holiday Edition, a projection on the Tree of Life that repeats every ten minutes from nightfall until closing. It’s the best park for a slower day in the middle of the week.
Universal: Grinchmas, Hogwarts and Epic Universe’s first Christmas
Universal Orlando’s season runs from November 14, 2026, to January 3, 2027, and it’s included with regular admission or an annual pass, apart from the blockout dates on some passes. It’s the other half of an Orlando Christmas, and for a lot of families with teenagers it’s the half they look forward to most.
Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s
At Universal Studios Florida, with giant Macy’s balloons, more than a hundred performers and Santa at the end, with snow. It’s the parade the rest of the country watches in New York on Thanksgiving Day.
Grinchmas Who-liday Spectacular
In Seuss Landing, inside Islands of Adventure: a live show with music recorded by Mannheim Steamroller. Around it you’ll find meet-and-greets with the Grinch and the Who-ville Tree Lot.
The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle
Projections on the Hogsmeade castle every night, from dark until closing. It repeats, so there’s no need to stake out a spot hours ahead.
Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley get decorated, and in Diagon Alley Celestina Warbeck sings her holiday concert. At Epic Universe, the magical Paris of the Harry Potter world dresses up too.
Epic Universe, for the first time
It’s the new park’s first full holiday season: SUPER NINTENDO WORLD gets its own Christmas, Isle of Berk celebrates Snoggletog, the winter festival of the Vikings from How to Train Your Dragon, and Celestial Park turns into a winter landscape.
Beyond the parks
Not everything happens behind a turnstile. Orlando has a handful of Christmas outings that don’t take a full park day, and they work well for your arrival afternoon, your rest day or the night before your flight home.
Disney Springs
The Christmas Tree Stroll gathers decorated trees all around the district, from November 11 to January 3, free of charge. Snow falls in Town Center every night, and Santa takes visitors through December 24. You get there by car and parking is free, although it fills up this week.
ice! at Gaylord Palms
In Kissimmee, the Gaylord Palms hotel puts up its carved-ice attraction, this year themed to The Polar Express, from November 13 to January 3. It’s 20,000 square feet kept at freezer temperature, so they lend you a parka. Outside there’s snow tubing, a carousel and photos with Santa.
SeaWorld Christmas Celebration
Select nights from November 6 to January 4, included with park admission. Winter Wonderland on Ice, the ice show, runs on select dates from November 7 to January 5.
Winter Park and Leu Gardens
For anyone who wants the city’s Christmas rather than the parks’: Holidays on Park in Winter Park, from November 27 to January 3, and Dazzling Nights, the light walk at the Harry P. Leu Gardens botanical garden, from November 20 to January 3.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: the 24th and 25th
The parks are open on December 24 and 25, and they open full. Disney and Universal haven’t posted the exact hours for those days in 2026 yet: they go up on their calendars a few weeks ahead. Check them when you buy your tickets and again the day before, because at this time of year hours sometimes get extended.
If your family does a big Christmas Eve dinner, the way Mexico and much of Latin America celebrate Nochebuena, book it now. In the United States the main meal is on the 25th, not the night of the 24th, but in Orlando the restaurants in the parks and at the large hotels fill up both nights. At Walt Disney World, dining reservations open 60 days before the date: for December 24, that was October 25. If you didn’t get one, check the app several times a day; cancellations do show up.
Christmas Mass
If you want to go to Mass, look up the Catholic parish nearest your hotel and check its Christmas Eve schedule. In the tourist area, some churches add Spanish-language Masses on these dates.
The gifts
Arriving with presents in your suitcase is one problem at the airport and another in the room. Plenty of families buy them here, at the outlets or at Disney Springs, and fly home with an extra bag.
The morning of the 25th
It’s one of the best times to walk into a park: a lot of people stay at the hotel opening presents and don’t show up until after noon.
The airport during the holidays
Orlando International Airport (MCO) asks passengers to arrive at least three hours before their flight this season, and if someone is picking you up at ground transportation, it suggests adding half an hour to your plan. That half hour is how long it takes to get out of the terminal with your bags when every flight is landing at once.
Arrivals are organized by level. Ground transportation is on Level 1 at all three terminals, and that’s where our driver meets you with an eTransfers sign. Terminals A and B share the main building on the north side, and Terminal C stands on its own on the south side: you can’t walk from one to the other.
Check your terminal before you land
It’s on your boarding pass. If you give it to us when you book, your driver waits at the right curb.
We track your flight number
Delays are normal this time of year. If your plane moves, we move the pickup; you don’t pay extra because your flight came in late on December 23.
Avoid flying home on January 3 and 4
If you can fly on the 2nd or the 5th, do it. If you can’t, leave the hotel with more cushion than you’d allow any other month.
Getting around those weeks
Orlando isn’t walkable. The parks, the hotels and the shopping areas are separated by highways, and during Christmas week those highways are loaded at opening time and, above all, at closing time. These are the drive times from the airport in normal conditions:
| From MCO airport to… | Time without heavy traffic |
|---|---|
| Walt Disney World (17 miles / 27 km) | about 30 min |
| Lake Buena Vista | about 25 min |
| Universal and International Drive | about 20 min |
On the heavy days of the season, add a cushion, especially on the way back to the airport.
Closing time is the hard part
When a night parade or a party ends, tens of thousands of people try to leave at once. Set your pickup ahead of time, at a specific spot.
Big families
Christmas is a grandparents, cousins and strollers kind of trip. One van for everyone costs less and runs smoother than two or three rideshares.
Traveling with shopping bags
If you’re flying home with one more suitcase than you brought, tell us when you book the return. We’ll assign a vehicle with room for everything.
Weather and packing
December in Orlando is cool, not cold. According to the National Weather Service, the average high for the month is 73 °F (23 °C) and the average low is 53 °F (12 °C), with little rain. On December 25 the normal is 73 °F (23 °C) during the day and 51 °F (11 °C) before dawn. That means cool mornings in the line at opening, short-sleeve middays and jacket weather at the night parades and outdoor shows.
Layers
A sweatshirt or light jacket that fits in your backpack. You’ll put it on and take it off three times a day.
Closed, comfortable shoes
A park day covers a lot of miles, and this week you walk even more because you’re weaving around people.
Something dressier for dinner
Christmas Eve or Christmas dinner at a hotel restaurant tends to be dressier than a regular park day.
Room in your suitcase
For gifts, shopping and souvenirs. It’s the thing people forget most and regret most at the airport.
A Christmas week that actually works
There’s no perfect plan, but this order avoids the usual mistakes: two parks back to back with kids, the Candlelight Processional without lining up early, and a flight home on the airport’s busiest day.
| Day | Plan |
|---|---|
| December 20 | Arrival. Transfer to the hotel and Disney Springs in the evening for the Tree Stroll and the snow in Town Center. |
| December 21 | Magic Kingdom from opening. If you want the party, this is one of its last nights. |
| December 22 | Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure: the Macy’s parade, Grinchmas and Hogwarts after dark. |
| December 23 | Easy day: the pool, shopping or ice! at Gaylord Palms. |
| December 24 | EPCOT and the Candlelight Processional, with a dining package or an early spot in line. Christmas Eve dinner booked ahead. |
| December 25 | Presents at the hotel and a park by midmorning: Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios. |
| December 26 to 28 | Epic Universe and whichever parks you have left, always from opening. |
| December 29 or 30 | Fly home, before the back-to-school weekend. |
If you’re staying through New Year’s, the order changes: the last days of December are the most crowded, and the January 3 and 4 return is the one to dodge. If your dates are flexible, the season’s other big holiday weekend is Thanksgiving, at the end of November: we cover it in our Thanksgiving in Orlando guide.
Your arrival, sorted before you fly
Christmas week is not the time to negotiate a ride on the curb with tired kids and four suitcases. We meet you on Level 1 of your terminal with an eTransfers sign, track your flight and take you straight to your hotel in Lake Buena Vista, on International Drive or around Universal, at a price per vehicle that’s locked in when you book.
Tell us how many of you there are, how many bags you’re bringing and whether you’ll be flying home with shopping, and we’ll assign the right vehicle. For the trip back, we’ll work out your pickup time with you, with the three hours the airport asks for this season in mind.
Orlando airport transfers · Orlando airport guide · Things to do in Orlando
Traveler questions
When does Christmas start at the Orlando parks in 2026?
What is the last night of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party?
Is Christmas at EPCOT and Universal included with admission?
Where can I see Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!?
Are the parks open on December 24 and 25?
What are the busiest days at Orlando airport over the holidays?
Is it cold in Orlando at Christmas?
Where does the driver meet me at Orlando airport?
Sources
- Disney Parks Blog, the 2026 holiday season at Walt Disney Worlddisneyparksblog.com · checked 2026-11-12
- Disney Parks Blog, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party 2026 datesdisneyparksblog.com · checked 2026-11-12
- Disney Parks Blog, EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays 2026disneyparksblog.com · checked 2026-11-12
- Disney Parks Blog, Candlelight Processional narrators 2026disneyparksblog.com · checked 2026-11-12
- Walt Disney World, Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! at Disney Jollywood Nightsdisneyworld.disney.go.com · checked 2026-11-12
- Disney Springs, Christmas Tree Strolldisneysprings.com · checked 2026-11-12
- Universal Orlando, 2026 holiday seasonuniversalorlando.com · checked 2026-11-12
- Universal Orlando Resort, 2026 holiday guideblog.discoveruniversal.com · checked 2026-11-12
- Gaylord Palms, ice! featuring The Polar Expressgaylordhotels.com · checked 2026-11-12
- SeaWorld Orlando, Christmas Celebrationseaworld.com · checked 2026-11-12
- Visit Orlando, 2026 holiday eventsvisitorlando.com · checked 2026-11-12
- Orlando International Airport, 2025–2026 holiday season forecastflymco.com · checked 2026-11-12
- Orlando International Airport, ground transportationflymco.com · checked 2026-11-12
- National Weather Service Melbourne, December normals for Orlandoweather.gov · checked 2026-11-12
