Ask any American today where the most magical place on Earth is, and more often than not, they'll tell you it's Disney World, successor to Disneyland, home of Mickey Mouse, and the brainchild of good old Uncle Walt Disney. A popular vacation destination all year 'round, the park comes most alive in November and December, amidst the kinds of holiday cheer and celebration that only the creations of the Walt Disney company can provide. When all of your friends and neighbors are heading over to Aunt Martha's for dry turkey and a Yule log, why don't you make this Christmas one to remember with a visit to the Magic Kingdom?

Believe it or not, the two weeks leading up to Christmas are actually one of least busiest times of the year for Mickey and the gang. You can turn this into savings for you and the clan: the associated Disney resorts and restaurants actually charge higher prices during peak times, and you can take advantage of the savings that come from a lull in business. Peak periods also sometimes force the restaurants of Disney World to require reservations, sometimes placed weeks in advance of your actual trip, so a Christmas-time vacation may actually be less stressful than it would be at other times during the year. Make sure you don't stick around too long, though - the park gets busiest in the week between Christmas and New Year's, when it hosts a massive New Year's Eve party.

There are plenty of other reasons to choose Disney World over dinner at Grandma's: the house of mouse hosts a variety of Christmas- and winter-themed events that will fill you with holiday cheer. New for 2007 is "Cinderella's Holiday Wish," a live show that features Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy beseeching Cinderella's fairy godmother to decorate her famous castle with thousands of twinkling lights. The Imagineers have designed this effect so well that the Cinderella Castle looks like it was flash-frozen beneath a sparkling sheet of ice.

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party makes night-time special when Main Street U.S.A. is covered in, yes, snowflakes, inundating visitors in a veritable Floridian blizzard of the fluffy white stuff. And when you're finished partying with Mickey, you can head on over to the Animal Kingdom, where Santa Goofy has set up Santa Goofy's Holiday Village, filled with enough decorations and snow-covered trees to alight any child's imagination. During the day, the Animal Kingdom also plays host to Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade - the mouse does get around this season, doesn't he?

Back at Epcot, you can visit some more down-to-Earth fare. "The Holidays Around the World" gives visitors a peek at how the rest of the globe celebrates Christmas, Hanukah, and Kwanzaa. You can finish your vacation with a stop at Disney-MGM Studios, soon to be renamed Disney's Hollywood Studios, and catch the "Spectacle of Dancing Lights", a showcase of moving displays, yet more "Florida snow," and over a million individual lights. The Studios also has the world-renowned Harlem Gospel Choir belting out spiritual Christmas classics at the theater of the stars.

You can make this Christmas really special by taking the whole family to see what Disney World looks like when turned into a winter wonderland, and you can get far more for your money than at any other time. You won't regret seeing how Donald Duck celebrates the holidays!

Learn more about this author, Michael Collins.
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