Best-kept secrets and tips for visiting Disney during the holidays, according to travel experts

24.11.2023 - 16:50 / insider.com / Disney World

Around the holiday season, Disney becomes a magical experience. At Walt Disney World, fans can see 1,300 decorated trees and 8.5 million lights throughout the resort, according to The Walt Disney Company.

But have you ever wondered what Disney's best-kept holiday secrets might be?

From Magic Kingdom's overnight Christmas transformation to when the Christmas parade is actually filmed, here are the tips that travel experts revealed to Insider about visiting Disney during the holidays.

Christmas at Disney World is already special, Kelsey Capps, a vacation planner for The Magic Travel Company, told Insider, but it surprises people to see the overnight transformation of the Magic Kingdom.

"People are shocked to find out that Christmas decorations go up the very next day after the Halloween party stops," Capps said.

Magic Kingdom's famous transformation is a sight to see, but the entire resort is slower to shift fully into the holiday season, Rachael Saldana, a Disney travel-planning expert at Allonsy Travel, said.

"Magic Kingdom is first to change, then Hollywood Studios, then Animal Kingdom changes around the same time, but Epcot is still going through the Food and Wine Festival until mid-November," Saldana explained. "So if you want the full Christmas experience across the parks, that's not going to be until closer to Thanksgiving."

One well-kept secret about Disney's Christmas parade is that it's filmed weeks in advance, according to Saldana, who goes by @rachaelplansdisney on TikTok.

"It is an issue that Disney guest services have to deal with every single year — people go to Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day thinking they're going to get to be on TV for the national broadcast of this parade, and guest services have to tell them, 'That was three weeks ago, and no, you can't have a refund,'" Jill Knonenborg, a travel agent who specializes in Disney destinations, told Insider.

For those looking to catch the parade in person, it's typically filmed in November, Saldana said, so if you go to the park at that time, there's a chance you can catch it then.

Disney "resort hopping" is best during the holiday season, according to Knonenborg, who shares her park advice with her 78,000 followers on TikTok.

"Disney chefs spend weeks creating elaborate gingerbread house displays, candy displays, sometimes of the resort itself or a Christmas-y, North Pole scene," she said.

For example, the famous Victorian Gingerbread House at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa is 16 feet tall and baked with 1,050 pounds of honey, The Ledger reported. This is by far the biggest and most popular one — and they sell gingerbread out of it.

Saldana's favorite, however, is at Disney's Beach Club Resort, where the life-sized gingerbread