When it comes to the holidays at Walt Disney World, there are three questions we receive more than any others. One of those is “when will Christmas decorations go up in the parks & resorts?” That’s what we’ll answer in this post. (Updated October 20, 2024.)
Just in case you’re curious, the other most common question is: “How do you get tickets to see the ABC Christmas Day Parade live in person at Walt Disney World?” (Sorry, we have some bad news on that one.) Rounding out the top three, “when are Christmas decorations taken down? (Answered in our Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World.)
As people plan their Christmas trips months in advance, it makes sense that this would be important information. This year, Walt Disney World officially kicks off Christmas on November 12, 2024. However, there are a couple of exceptions to this. Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in Magic Kingdom starts on November 8 and Jollywood Nights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios starts on November 9. By contrast, the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays starts after Thanksgiving.
In a normal year, Walt Disney World’s Holiday Services team always gets a jump start on Halloween by putting up the more ambiguous decor in late October, and we’d expect that to continue in late October 2024.
The groundwork is already quietly being laid for this at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, where infrastructure is now up for Sunset Seasons Greeting, snow on Sunset Boulevard, and more. Within the next few days, we’d expect to see proper decorations go up around the park. (Not to be outdone, there’s already snow on the castle out at Disneyland!)
Later this week, expect to see tinsel stars in Hollywood Studios, luminaries in Animal Kingdom, and gingerbread house construction at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, among other things. Some of this–like gingerbread house construction–necessarily occurs in October, as it needs to be ready for the start of the holiday season and takes a week or longer to complete.
If you’re hoping to see fully-fledged Christmas decorations at Walt Disney World, the good news is that they go up earlier than you might expect. No, not as early as the holiday aisles at Target or Walmart, but decorating usually begins immediately after Halloween has ended. Like, literally overnight right as the fall decorations go down.
One of the common misconceptions about Walt Disney World and the holiday season is that all of the decorations appear overnight, all at once. There are a variety of reasons why this is a persistent urban legend. For one thing, it used to be true. Back when Walt Disney World was just two theme parks and a few resorts, the Holiday Services team did almost everything overnight.
Second, because Walt Disney World still releases time-lapse videos showing the transformation of Main Street USA from Halloween to Christmas. In large part, that does occur overnight–but even that now usually takes two nights, not just one.
Finally, it’s a matter of guest perception. You can leave Magic Kingdom one night and see Halloween decorations on your way out and enter the next morning to see the scene magically transformed to Christmas. It’s an impressive sight to behold, and one that you might be convinced happens “all at once.” However, not all of the details are there at that point, nor are the other parks totally decorated.
Anyway, perception aside, the reality is that Christmas decorations go up pretty early in the parks.
Despite the Christmas 2024 season not officially starting at Walt Disney World until November 12, the reality is that decorations will go up before then.
Last year, Diwali occurred early and Walt Disney World installed lanterns and marigold flowers in the Asia area of Animal Kingdom, in front of the Andapur Theater District, to illuminate this space for the special season. Known as the Festival of Lights, Diwali is celebrated for 5 or 6 days in different regions of India.
While those were the first decorations to go up for the holiday season at Walt Disney World last year, they were not the only ones installed in late October. Discovery Island Luminaries are also starting to go up at the front of the park, and there’s no real world holiday coinciding with their installation to explain why that’s happening. For the sake of reference, these were installed on October 24 last year.
This year, you can expect Magic Kingdom to be mostly decorated by November 1, 2024 and fully decorated by November 3, 2024.
This is a safe assumption because many decorations will go up as Halloween decorations come down. It’s also necessary to get Magic Kingdom done quickly because the first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party will be held around November 8, 2024. Typically, the park is fully decorated by then.
Even before the first MVMCP, it’s likely that the first ‘Frozen Holiday Surprise’ will debut. In previous years, Magic Kingdom was fully decorated by the time that debuted. That should further narrow down the range that decorations will appear in the park, but we’d expect decorating to be done well before November 7, 2024.
(It used to be the case that the Christmas tree didn’t go up until after the ABC Christmas Day Parade was filmed, as cameras were placed in Town Square. That hasn’t been the case for years; now, the Christmas tree goes up in early November and crews manage to shoot around it.)
Another thing that’ll occur early is Jungle Cruise’s transformation into Jingle Cruise! This happens overnight, meaning that the ride is not closed for the overlay. It simply ends one day as Jungle Cruise and magically begins the next as Jingle Cruise.
Walt Disney World has already confirmed that Jingle Cruise will start on November 2, 2024. Beginning on that date, guests can experience this wild attraction wrapped with festive jokes and even more fun memories, something guests of all ages look forward to every single year.
Jingle Cruise starting on Nov. 2 further reinforces our above prediction that Magic Kingdom’s holiday transformation will occur overnight in two evenings after Halloween ends. Jingle Cruise is part of that–so it’s all but certain that the rest of the decorating will likewise be done by the second day of November.
Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be next up after Magic Kingdom.
The timeline with both of these parks is a little less certain. Animal Kingdom and DHS have been known to put up more ‘ambiguous’ holiday decorations in late October (see above). In fact, the tinsel stars at Disney’s Hollywood Studios are usually the very first decorations to go up at Walt Disney World, often appearing by the second to last week of October.
There are a lot of decorations that will be visible during the daytime hours, but the finished product won’t be ready and the lights likely will not be lit up at night until closer to the official start date of Christmas 2024.
Disney Springs also begins its Christmas offerings in early November. Sometimes that happens gradually, so expect some items not to be up until the following week. That’s the good news.
Epcot is the last park to get in on the holiday time fun, and that’s because the lucrative Epcot International Food & Wine Festival runs until late November. Consequently, decorating for Epcot will begin before Thanksgiving and finish by November 24.
Due to all of the construction at Epcot, do not expect the front of the park to receive extensive decorations this year. The Epcot International Festival of the Holidays should ensure that World Showcase receives its normal decor for each pavilion.
The resort hotels are the true wildcard. Last year, decorations went up about a week earlier than normal throughout the resorts. We are anticipating that this trend will continue, with almost all major hotels (Deluxe and Moderate Resorts) having their Christmas trees, gingerbread displays, etc. up by mid-November.
Gingerbread displays are usually prioritized, likely because these are accompanied by snack stand kiosks that generate revenue selling snacks. The dates for these are highly variable. The teams that do some of the fabrication and installation work usually start at Grand Floridian in late October or early November, then move on to the Contemporary, followed by the Crescent Lake resorts. This is a process, and takes longer than the rest of the decorations–even though there are far fewer resorts that get the gingerbread houses.
Usually, Holiday Services can do an entire resort in a single night, with teams deployed to multiple resorts simultaneously. This means that, for instance, Wilderness Lodge (usually done in mid-November) will be completely transformed into the Christmas spirit overnight–in the same evening that Coronado Springs, for example, receives its holiday decor.
However, due to the sheer number of resorts throughout Walt Disney World, even if Holiday Services decorates two hotels in a single night, the process would still take over two weeks to complete. Moreover, there are no hard and fast rules as to the order that resorts receive their decorations. It varies from year to year.
With all of that said, if you’re visiting on or after November 1, you’ll start to see some decorations at Walt Disney World. By that weekend, you’ll see even more items installed–the process should be about half-finished.
By November 4, you will find that the 3 of the 4 Walt Disney World theme parks are either partially or fully decorated and some of the resorts are decorated. If you visit a week after that, you’ll have the same amount of in-park decorations, but now half of the resorts will also be decorated. Another week and the resorts will be totally decorated. Visit for Thanksgiving week or at any point in December, and everything at Walt Disney World will be decked out for Christmas!
For comprehensive tips for planning your Christmas-time trip to Walt Disney World, check out our Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World. For Walt Disney World trip planning tips and comprehensive advice, make sure to read our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide and related articles.
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Walt Disney World’s ‘process’ for getting decked out for the holidays? Is November 4 too early for Christmas decorations? Are you excited to experience the holidays at WDW? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
