Christmas Day at a theme park

[Bowser]

Has anyone spent Christmas Day at a theme park?

I'm tempted to do it. Our son doesn't have any interest in presents or many of the other aspects of Christmas but he does like theme parks so would be a nice way for it to be an enjoyable day for him as usually it's quite a difficult one to get through.

Last year we went to Chessington on Christmas Eve which was brilliant as it was quiet and we got lots of night rides on Mandrill but this year they seem to be closing at 3pm.

Lots of the European parks seem to stay open the whole period so i'm wondering how busy they are? Our two new parks this year were Plopsaland and Efteling which would both be open.

Plopsaland we could potentially even do for a day but nearly all the rides are outdoors so seems a bit of a gamble. The indoor Water-park is open as well though.

Efteling is more weather resilient but means committing to a multi-day trip.

Obviously Disneyland Paris is open too but i imagine that's very expensive plus would be uncharted territory for us.

I actually went to Tokyo Dome park in Japan about 20 years ago on Christmas Day but it's not much of a holiday over there so not sure it counts.

Anyone have any Christmas Day experiences?

 

[Vik]

I did PortAventura over Christmas back in 2014. Pretty quiet on Christmas Day and Boxing Day then the crowds descended on 27th. We also stopped on resort too and that included Christmas Buffet and drinks included on Christmas Eve.

It was very reasonably priced back then. But it was 10 years ago so not sure how much has changed. I do know though that information on what you had included in the stay was pretty much non existent and only found out about the buffet on Christmas Eve when we checked in…on Christmas Eve.

 

[Matt.GC]

Bucket list for the future this is once the kids have grown up. I'd love to spend Christmas at Efteling personally.

 

[RicketyCricket]

Christmas Day is on Christmas Eve in Germany. So that could be more manageable?

One year we went to Phantasialand on 22nd/23rd December and flew back home on 10pm on the 24th. We wandered around Cologne all day before the flight back and of course every single shop/bar/restaurant/pub was closed. We eventually found a small bar that was open for regulars, but they let us in for an authentic German Christmas Dinner.

 

[Bowser]

Christmas Day is on Christmas Eve in Germany. So that could be more manageable?

One year we went to Phantasialand on 22nd/23rd December and flew back home on 10pm on the 24th. We wandered around Cologne all day before the flight back and of course every single shop/bar/restaurant/pub was closed. We eventually found a small bar that was open for regulars, but they let us in for an authentic German Christmas Dinner.

Interesting, did not know that! I did know Santa has an evil sidekick in Germany everyone chases or something?

Saving Germany for next summer hopefully as a lot of the rides at Europa and Phantasialand are 1.3m

 

[Leigh]

I did Christmas Day at Magic Kingdom many years ago. Was hell on earth. Bailed the park by 12 and went over to Hollywood Studios instead which was significantly more pleasant.

 

[Benzin]

Interesting, did not know that! I did know Santa has an evil sidekick in Germany everyone chases or something?

Krampus <3

Doing Christmas at Efteling this year. Am interested to see how it goes.

They do a Christmas package which gets you 2 nights (24-26th) in hotel with 3 day park tickets and a 3 course meal. Got it for just over a grand for 2 adults and under 3 in the current main hotel.

Winter Efteling before was great. Hopefully you still get the ridiculous hats with the hot dogs.