Christmas at Disney World 2026: When It Starts, Decorations, Events and Dining

Christmas at Walt Disney World runs from Friday, November 13, 2026 to Wednesday, January 6, 2027. Decorations, holiday shows and seasonal food are in all four parks and at Disney Springs for the whole stretch, and almost all of it is included with a normal park ticket. Two things cost extra: Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom and Disney Jollywood Nights at Hollywood Studios.

Use this page as the map. Each event is listed with its dates and what it takes to get in, and each of the big ones has its own page with the detail: the two ticketed parties, the Candlelight Processional, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. The one thing here you will not find on Disney's site is a running count of which holiday reservations still have a table.

Where to find things

• Christmas at Disney World 2026 at a glance
• When does Christmas start at Disney World in 2026?
• Magic Kingdom at Christmas
• EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays 2026
• Hollywood Studios at Christmas
• Animal Kingdom at Christmas
• Christmas at Disney Springs and the resort hotels
• Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner
• The holiday reservations that go first
• Park hours on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve

Christmas at Disney World 2026 at a glance

The two ticketed nights, on November 10:

• Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is nearly gone. Disney's calendar had tickets for 3 of the 25 nights: December 13, 15 and 17.
• Disney Jollywood Nights is mostly available. Ten of the 15 nights had tickets, at $189 to $199.

Those are the only two special ticketed holiday events on Disney's calendar this season.

When does Christmas start at Disney World in 2026?

When does Disney World decorate for Christmas? Before the official start. Undercover Tourist and WDW Prep School, which both log it each year, describe the same order: Magic Kingdom changes over straight after its last Halloween party on October 31 and is finished within the first week of November, the hotels follow in the second week, and EPCOT is last because its festival starts on November 27. The decorations begin coming down after New Year's Day, and most are gone by the middle of January.

Coming for Thanksgiving week? Our Thanksgiving dinner at Disney World guide lists every restaurant with a turkey dinner and which still have a table.

Magic Kingdom at Christmas

Magic Kingdom splits in two this season: party days and everything else.

On the 25 party days, the park closes to day guests at 6:00 PM, there are no regular fireworks, and the evening belongs to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party: a Christmas parade at 8:30 and 11:00 PM, Minnie's Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks at 10:00 PM, a castle stage show and free cookies and cocoa. It runs 7:00 PM to midnight and ticket holders can enter from 4:00 PM.

On other nights, Happily Ever After runs at 8:00 PM.

Included with a park ticket all season:

• Holiday decorations through the park, and Frozen Holiday Surprise, the castle lighting show, which was at 6:15 PM on Disney's calendar when we checked.
• Jingle Cruise, the holiday version of Jungle Cruise.

Christmas week is the free version of the party's best part. After the last party on December 22, Disney's calendar shows Minnie's Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks at 8:00 PM for every guest from December 23 to 29. On December 30 and 31 the park is open 9:00 AM to midnight with Fantasy in the Sky fireworks at 6:30 PM and 11:50 PM. Parade times for that week were not on Disney's calendar yet.

Know before you go: Tiana's Bayou Adventure is closed for refurbishment from November 2 through December 17.

Everything about the party, including which nights are left, the six free treat stops and how dinner works on a party night, is in our Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party 2026 guide.

EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays 2026

The EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays runs November 27 to December 30 and is included with park admission.

• Candlelight Processional. A celebrity narrator tells the Christmas story with a choir and orchestra, three times a night at 4:45, 6:30 and 8:00 PM. The show is free with admission, but the only guaranteed seat is a dining package at an EPCOT restaurant. Our Candlelight Processional guide has the narrator for every night and every package price.
• Holiday Kitchens with seasonal food and drink.
• Holiday Cookie Stroll. Buy five qualifying cookies, collect the stamps and redeem them for a treat.
• Holiday storytellers at the World Showcase pavilions.
• JOYFUL! on stage, and Santa at CommuniCore Hall through December 24.
• Living with the Land dressed in lights as Glimmering Greenhouses.
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind plays holiday songs from November 25 to January 6.

Luminous, the nightly fireworks, moves to 9:15 PM during the festival.

On New Year's Eve EPCOT is open from 9:00 AM to 1:00 AM, with Luminous at 6:30 PM and a midnight fireworks show, Cheers to the New Year, at 11:54 PM.

Hollywood Studios at Christmas

• Sunset Seasons Greetings. Projections on the Hollywood Tower Hotel every night, included with a park ticket.
• Disney Jollywood Nights. The ticketed night: stage shows, lounges and live music on 15 nights. Food is not included, and the park's restaurants close before it starts. Our guide covers the nights still on sale and where to eat.
• Minnie's Holiday Dine at Hollywood & Vine, November 4 to January 6, a character meal. Lunch and dinner are $64 per adult and $45 per child, breakfast $49 and $34.
• New this year: a holiday overlay with new music on Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, and a holiday playlist on Alien Swirling Saucers, both November 4 to January 6.
• Also dressed for the season: Toy Story Land, the Frozen sing-along with a holiday finale, and holiday shorts at Walt Disney Presents.

Watch the closing time. Hollywood Studios is open 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM on most days but closes to day guests at 7:00 PM on the 15 Jollywood nights, and Fantasmic! plays only once, at 6:30 PM, on those nights.

Animal Kingdom at Christmas

Animal Kingdom has the shortest day of the four parks: 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM on most days, including Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, with no fireworks.

• Merry Menagerie. Animal puppets on Discovery Island.
• Tree of Life Awakenings, holiday edition. Projections on the tree from sunset.
• Santa's Holiday Grove, in a new location this year, November 13 to January 3.
• Mickey and Minnie in holiday outfits at Adventurers Outpost.

Tusker House, in this park, had the most open times of any restaurant in our Christmas Day table below.

Christmas at Disney Springs and the resort hotels

• Christmas Tree Stroll, November 11 to January 3. Themed trees around Disney Springs, with new Bluey, Monsters, Inc. and Hallmark trees this year. No ticket needed.
• Santa meets at Disney Springs through December 24, and there is nightly snowfall in Town Center.
• Resort decorations. Disney decorates more than 25 of its hotels. One change this year: Disney Tourist Blog and Undercover Tourist both say the Grand Floridian's gingerbread house has been retired, with smaller displays in its place.

New to booking Disney restaurants? Our dining reservations guide explains how it works.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner: what is still open

This is what was open when we checked on November 10 at 12:50 PM Eastern. The chart counts reservation times open at each restaurant, at any meal. The full list, with dinner times only and many more restaurants, is on our Christmas Day page.

What the numbers say:

• Cinderella's Royal Table and Liberty Tree Tavern had nothing on either day, for either party size.
• Christmas Day is much tighter than Christmas Eve at Magic Kingdom. The Crystal Palace went from 26 times for two on December 24 to 2 on December 25, and Be Our Guest from 28 to 5.
• Couples have it harder on Christmas Day. Boma had 4 times for two and 30 for four. Garden Grill had none for two on either day and 19 or more for four.
• The signature restaurants are down to scraps. Le Cellier, California Grill and Topolino's Terrace had at most a couple of times on Christmas Day, and nothing for four.
• Animal Kingdom is wide open. Tusker House had more than 30 times at both party sizes on both days, and Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge about 20.

A table at one of the tight ones is not a lost cause. Christmas plans change, people cancel, and those times become bookable again. That is exactly what an alert is for. Our Christmas dinner at Disney World guide has many more restaurants, the dinner times that are left, and which tables came back this week.

New Year's Eve: on December 31, Cinderella's Royal Table, Le Cellier, California Grill and Topolino's Terrace showed no open times at either party size. The data can't tell us whether that is a sell-out or a restaurant not taking regular reservations that night, so check Disney's page for the restaurant before you set an alert. Our New Year's Eve dinner guide goes park by park: EPCOT had one restaurant with a dinner time left, while Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios still had late tables.

The holiday reservations that go first

Across the season, these are the reservations our data shows are hardest to get. Each links to the page where you can set an alert.

Two rules catch people out every year:

• Party-night dining needs a party ticket. At Magic Kingdom, the restaurants that seat into the Christmas party and both dessert parties require a party ticket for the same night. At Hollywood Studios, Jazzy Holidays requires a Jollywood Nights ticket.
• A Candlelight dining package needs park admission. The package is a meal and a seat. Your EPCOT ticket is separate.

Park hours on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve

From Disney's calendar on November 10. Hours can change, so check again the week you go.

Magic Kingdom also runs its New Year's Eve fireworks the night before, on December 30, at the same times.

When the reservation you want shows nothing

Holiday tables are booked early and returned late, usually when another family changes its plans. Open the page for the restaurant, dining package or dessert party you are after and set an alert there; PixieWire messages you if a time appears for your date and party size, and you complete the booking with Disney. Alerts are the part of PixieWire that costs money (from $4.99, charged once). They cover dining, not party tickets.

The holiday guides: Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, Thanksgiving dinner at Disney World, Candlelight Processional 2026, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party 2026 and Disney Jollywood Nights 2026. Every Disney World dining package is on one page.

Sources and how this page is checked

• Season dates and what each park offers: Disney's holidays page and the Disney Parks Blog holiday announcement.
• Park hours, fireworks times and closures: Disney's daily calendar, read November 10, 2026.
• Disney Springs: the Christmas Tree Stroll page.
• Decoration timing and the gingerbread house: Undercover Tourist, WDW Prep School and Disney Tourist Blog, named where used.
• Which holiday reservations are open: PixieWire's availability tracking. See how we measure availability.

Hours are re-read in early December, when Disney usually fills in Christmas week.