I love "Christmas" in Disney. I love that it starts the day after Thanksgiving, I love the music that plays in every park and I love every loving touch of Christmas decor that is displayed. Bust mostly I love the Christmas Photo Spots. Every year we go for Thanksgiving and every year I plan our Fast Passes around the different parks, family outfits and the Characters decked out in Holiday spirit (notice the emphasis on "I" and not "we"). The Hubs could do without the matching outfits #sorrynotsorry #suckitupmister. There is nothing better than Christmas Family Photos that have that Disney magic in them.

We frequent Disney a lot and I am a HUGE photo person, but do not always want to take out my phone every two seconds so when we purchase our annual passes, we do buy the gold membership since it comes with the memory maker and all of our photos are included. FOR US, this is a 100% worth it. A majority of the photos hanging in the house have been taken by photopass photographers and as an example when we went to go see Daisy, the photographer took 60 pictures and they were all amazing, I wouldn't know how to pick if I tried...and I don't have too. With that being said, I can understand why to some people this upcharge is not worth it since they can hand over their camera/phone to the photographer and have them take it (which they will).

Two years ago we started seeing Santa in Disney Springs, but once the Christmas Tree Lane became uber popular, so did the wait for Santa. You can end up waiting upwards of 4-5 hours just to get your picture taken with him. Now they do send you a text message and let you know that you have 10/15 minute window to make it back to the area, but still. Last year we began our tradition of seeing Santa and Mrs. Claus at Epcot outside of the America Pavilion on Black Friday (for non-shoppers that is the day after Thanksgiving). I can honestly say that I think having your photo taken here is the best. Epcot Santa is the best Santa and you cannot persuade me any other way. The photo opportunity includes BOTH Santa and Mrs. Claus which none of the other Claus Photospots have. Additionally, if you have more than one child, it offers a lot more space for a larger family photo rather than being crammed into a smaller area and crowding around Santa and his chair.

The times for Santa at Epcot normally look like this;

• 11:45am to 12:55PM

• 1:45PM to 2:55PM

• 3;45Pm to 4:55Pm

• 5:45PM to 6:55PM

I suggest asking the attendant how long the wait is. Just because you are in line at 12:55PM, it does not guarantee you seeing Santa and Mrs. Claus, you might end up waiting until the next time opening.

There are a couple caveats as well as bonuses with seeing Santa and Mrs. Claus: I suggest going earlier in the day. You will wait about 45 minutes, but the longer you wait in the day the longer the wait time becomes. Because the the Candlelight Processional also takes place at the America Pavilion a lot of people will wait for Santa and then traipse over there for seats which is why it is best to go earlier and just circle back.

We timed it out with the kids naps and lunch and got in line around 11:20am, waited 45 minutes and because the Festival of the Holidays was going on they had an American Kiosk outside so we were able to get food for ourselves and EV (The Holiday Festival is like Food and Wine, but on a smaller scale). There is also Kidcot right next to where Santa is so if you need something crafty for the kids to occupy themselves with and to keep from having a meltdown, this is perfect. I cannot give EV her Kindle in ride lines as she will space out on Mickey Mouse and will be a terror if I try to take it away from her, so I need other distractions that are not mouse related. All of our fastpasses were built around knowing that we were seeing Santa first and rides and activities after. Doing it this way also assured that we would look fresh, awake, and tantrum free in the photos. My girl friend and her family who were also there waited till the sun set a little bit (they did their fast passes and meet and greets first), the kids had a total meltdown, were hungry and they ended up waiting 2 hours to see Santa on top of that. I personally thought their photo was epic.

(if you don't have at least one crying Santa picture, did you even do it right?!)

Santa and Mrs. Claus as would be expected are so good and patient with the kiddos. Last year as you can see, EV was not keen on being held by a stranger, so after the cutesy kid crying with Santa photo, Mrs. Claus insisted I hold her so that we could also have a nice photo as well. Luckily this time, EV had no qualms about being held by Santa (she was prepped with A LOT of Santa storytime prior to this moment) and Baby D loved being held by Mrs. Claus so having each held by one and interacting with them made the experience that much more enjoyable (especially after waiting 45 minutes).

I also suggest planning your family outfits ahead of time with a change of clothes. Yes, I said family outfits, you are going to see so many cute variations in line and trust me you will regret not doing this. if you cannot get your significant other onboard, hide their outfit in your backpack or in the stroller and you can thank me later. We had the cutest family outfits that we had used for our newborn photo shoot with Baby D (Yay Vineyard Vine collab with Target). It was beach themed and it was nice to be able to use them again for the Santa Photos especially since we live in Florida. We had extra clothes packed so that the kids as well as ourselves could be comfy afterword. After Santa, we did circle back to the Epcot Christmas tree, Daisy (EV's favorite person/duck in the whole entire world), as well as Elsa and Anna and took a few more family Christmas photos before using the Family Restroom to get into comfier clothes and having a larger lunch.

Honestly though, my favorite Christmas family photospots have always been Animal Kingdom. I do not know what it is about the Photopass Photographers over there, but I have had nothing but phenomenal pictures that have come from them. I also think it has to do with the the sun/lighting along with the tree coverings, there is something about that trifecta that has always made our photos magical. I will say however I was disappointed this year with Safari Mickey and Minnie not being in their Christmas outfits but instead Safari Holiday themed attire and for the first time ever, I was not happy with how the photos came out. But,it is not a big enough deal to harp on (Santa would have been a whole other story).

Animal Kingdom 2018....also known as sans Baby D

(to date, my absolute favorite picture)

We used the same family sweater we had from last year (I am a 100% that person and not embarrassed by it one bit #bringonthematchymatchy) and kept them in our stroller baskets since we only wore them for photos (it was unbelievably hot). We bought these Star War sweaters last year at Target, but because it did not come in Baby D's size, we opted for an adorable Darth Vader onesie instead to keep the theme on target. I size up a smidge in the kids holiday stuff so that we can potentially use it again, in this instance mama planning was on point!

Prime Holiday Animal Kingdom Photo Locations:

• The characters in Dinoland USA are in an area all decked out for the Holidays, so we normally take pictures with Donald and Daisy (big surprise I know). Not all the characters are easy to find so it pays to walk around (especially behind Donald)

• We take an annual photo with the gorgeous Christmas Tree right outside of the main entrance

• We take a photo in Pandora at the bottom of the waterfall where the entrance to Flight of Passage is.

• There are also some great photospots that are never busy in Asia so the photographers tend to take extra ti and will find creative ways to take multiple pictures.

• One in particular is under a gigantic gnarly tree by Yak and Yeti where they will do a magic shot of Kaa from the Jungle book (a photographer is not always here though, so if you see one snag a picture).

After Animal Kingdom we jetted to Hollywood Studios and of course took a bunch of Star Wars family sweater shots in Galaxy's Edge because #wheninrome. They were a huge hit with the Storm Troopers. Galaxys Edge is not decorated for the Holidays so just know that they will not look very holiday-ish unless you and your family are decked out yourselves in holiday garb. There is not much covering in Galaxy's Edge, so it was really hot and taking the sweaters off and on were kind of a pain in the butt and EV was beginning to hate life and her sweater, but we were able to do several really great shots before getting rid of the sweaters altogether.

Toystory Land actually has the most fun and interactive Holiday Locations, but honestly I forgot even to head over there after Galaxys Edge, but this will give you a taste of last year.

The most difficult of the family pictures to get is honestly Magic Kingdom. Mainly because the greatest shots are all done when the sun goes down.

There are three shots we always get that are holiday related and one that is not.

Magic Kingdom Holiday Photospots (our must-haves)

2018 2019

• Obviously the big one is the castle in all its icicle glory. There is normally a Photopass photographer by where the bronze statue of Walt and Mickey are (or a smidge to the right). I like this spot the best since it is the closest to the Castle. Keep in mind that everyone else and their mother are also trying to get these photos so it is beyond busy and you will be waiting in line for a while. Also, without fail there will be a ton of people in your pictures which leads to a lot of cropping and Photoshop (#extrapartyofone). If this photo is the more important one to you and your family, you might consider finding another photopass photographer and having them take another shot as well.

• If you do not mind not having a front facing picture of the castle there is a great spot as you walk into Tomorrowland (there is a cul-de-sac little area) where a Photopass Photographer can sometimes be found and if you take a photo here, there will be no one in the background.

• Santa does not stay after dusk, so if you did want a picture with him he can be found on Main Street on the side of the Firehouse, I suggest getting that picture first while you are waiting for the sun to set.

• The second photo is of the Christmas Tree, again it can be a lengthy wait, but one we do every year so I love seeing the changes.

• Right by the maingate there is a photographer that takes your picture in front of the train depot. it is beautiful at night all lit up with wreaths and Christmas lights and if you are lucky the train will be in the background when it is taken. The photographer here again tends to really take their time so although the line is never really that long, the wait can be longer than anticipated.

• The last Photopass spot at Magic Kingdom that we take every Holiday is the the Tangled Lantern by the Tangled Bathrooms in Fantasyland. ANYONE will tell you that this is a long wait (you will see for yourself), but a 100% worth it! This was the first year that EV could stand by herself with the lantern and the pictures came out positively magical. There are a couple other locations that do similar photos. A majority of the more fun magicshots, holiday lights, lanterns, etc are done when the sun goes down, so if you planned to take your holiday pictures at Magic Kingdom, you may want to consider making sure that your day ends there rather then begins.

Doing all this just for some pictures may seem excessive to some, but as mentioned, we are there a lot and Thanksgiving is always super busy, so although we had Fastpasses for the trip (Flight of Passage included and a total shocker since for AP peeps they are impossible to score) we knew that a lot of this trip was just taking in the parks and one another.

Holiday pictures and seeing the progression of our party of three to a party of four was just icing on the holiday sugar cookies!

#WaltDisneyWorld #Epcot #Christmas #Santa #CharacterMeetandGreet #Photopass