Grinchmas is a live-action musical based on Dr. Seuss’ classic story.

Grinchmas
Islands of Adventure has an entire land dedicated to the stories of Theodore Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. While this land is always fun for families, it takes on a special magic during the holidays as it is overrun with Whos. Dr. Seuss fans will recognize the Whos as residents of Whoville, the Christmas-loving town that is visited by the Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

The main attraction is a special half-hour stage show, offered only during the Christmas season. This delightful musical retells the story of the Grinch through song and dance, and some of the most impressive visuals of any theme park show I have ever seen. The theater is large, but all seats have an excellent view. Plan to stand in line for up to an hour, especially during the notoriously busy week between Christmas and New Year’s.

Be sure to check out the Whoville Wonky Tree Lot, where kids and adults will delight at the trees curved in seemingly impossible shapes. Allow time in your schedule to get autographs from various Whos and even, if your kids are brave, the Grinch himself. For a special treat, consider booking the specially-priced Breakfast With the Grinch at Confisco Grille, which also includes express access to the Cat in the Hat ride.

The Macy’s Holiday Parade imports authentic balloons from the famed Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Macy’s Holiday Parade
Since 1924, the Macy’s department store has sponsored a massive Thanksgiving Day parade through the streets of New York City. The parade, known for its enormous character balloons as well dozens of floats, bands and performers, was first televised in 1948. For many families, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade defines the start of the holiday season.

In 2001, Universal Orlando partnered with Macy’s to bring authentic balloons and floats from New York for the Macy’s Holiday Parade, held in Universal Studios. For safety reasons, the largest balloons are not included, but even the smaller ones used at Universal are truly spectacular. In addition to those used in the parade, several balloons are on display throughout the New York section of the park, giving you the opportunity to study these incredible creations more closely. The parade steps off shortly before dusk and is followed by a Christmas tree lighting ceremony that is well worth seeing.

Tips for Parents
Both Grinchmas and the Macy’s Holiday Parade are included with standard park admission. It is possible to enjoy the Christmas events on the same day that you tour the parks. However, crowds are generally heavy and the best parade viewing locations are full by an hour or so before the parade. For this reason, many families prefer to buy multi-day admission tickets, which allow you to slow your pace and take in the parks in a more leisurely way.

The Macy’s Parade and Tree Lighting are great for kids.

If your kids are at least 48 inches tall and everyone is wearing closed-toe shoes, you can sign up to be balloon handlers on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration begins two hours before the parade, and jumpsuits and gloves are provided. I recommend against doing this on your first visit, so that you can take in the entire parade spectacle, but on a subsequent visit it is a fun way to be part of the action. Keep in mind that you will be walking and helping to manage a heavy balloon for roughly 45 minutes, so dress accordingly.

The best view of the tree-lighting ceremony is directly in front of the Macy’s storefront in the New York section of the park, but this area becomes quite crowded. Louie’s Italian Restaurant and other areas along that street give reasonable views and are only moderately crowded. If you prefer to avoid the throngs, watch the parade from the Hollywood area of the park and plan to skip the tree lighting.

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is well-known for its parade.

Walt Disney World offers a seemingly endless array of separately priced special events and packages, from Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party to the Feel the Force package during Star Wars Weekends. Events are held after-hours, while packages offer preferential treatment during regular park hours. If you are on a limited budget, you might wonder whether it is worthwhile to direct some of your funds toward these options.

Special Events
Most Walt Disney World special events are included with park admission, from the spring Flower and Garden Festival through the holiday Candlelight Processional, both at Epcot. However, some events are known as hard ticket events, which means that you must buy a special ticket to attend. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party are wildly popular annual hard ticket events. A Villains Party is being tested this year as a hard ticket at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and other hard ticket events have been available at various times.

These events are advertised as featuring holiday-themed parades, stage shows and fireworks displays that are not shown to the general public. While this is basically true for the Halloween party, keep in mind that you can see the Magic Kingdom fireworks from numerous locations around Walt Disney World. There is nothing stopping you from finding out the schedule and watching the special fireworks from a publicly accessible location.

For Christmas, the parade and stage shows move to daytime performance schedules as soon as the Christmas parties are over for the year (typically a few days before Christmas) and run through New Year’s. If you are willing to battle the crowds during Christmas week, you can see the same entertainment during the day without paying for a party ticket.

In general, Dad and I no longer find the hard ticket events to be worth the money. At one time, the Christmas party included numerous extras such as a free family photograph and some shows we enjoyed that are no longer offered. As the inclusions gradually decreased and the prices increased, we reached the point that the hard ticket events no longer made sense for us. Clearly others disagree, as the hard tickets frequently sell out.

Packages

The Feel the Force package provides premium viewing for the Star Wars Weekends celebrity motorcade.

Packages provide a premium experience, such as reserved viewing locations for parades or fireworks and often some food and/or alcohol. For example, the Star Wars Weekends Feel the Force package includes VIP viewing for both the parade and the fireworks, as well as soft drinks and snacks during the parade and a dessert buffet during the fireworks. For 2014, the price was $54 per adult and $32 per child aged 3 to 9. Similar packages are offered with different focuses throughout the year at all four Walt Disney World theme parks, allowing you to sign up for the package that best suits your family’s interests.

Dad and I have never chosen to participate in a package, but we are not opposed to the idea. We simply find that we are usually too busy with all of the activities that are included with the regular price of admission! If you are doing Disney on a shoestring, rest assured that buying a package is entirely unnecessary to having a good time. We always find good places to watch the shows, parades and fireworks, and probably could not actually consume $54 worth of dessert per person.

Backstage Tours

Backstage tours take you behind the scenes at your favorite Walt Disney World theme parks.

As the name suggests, backstage tours allow you to go behind the scenes of many of your favorite Walt Disney World attractions. Dad and I have participated in backstage tours, and would happily do so again. These tours are guided by experts who share a seemingly endless amount of trivia and fun facts, as well as providing a perspective that most guests never get to see.

These tours run the gamut from the one-hour, $20 (as of 2014) Behind the Seeds tour at the Land pavilion through the all-day Backstage Magic tour (nearly $245 as of 2014). If your kids are young, note that some tours have minimum age requirements, which vary by tour from 8 to 16. Depending on the tour, kids under age 16 or 18 might need to be accompanied by an adult. Check the specifics, including any discounts for which you might qualify, before booking a tour.

While the backstage tours are a lot of fun for Disney aficionados, I do not recommend them for first- or second-time visitors. There is so much to take in that you are likely to be overwhelmed as a new guest. If you are traveling on a shoestring, no matter how many times you have visited, the tours are definitely not necessary for a good time. In all the years we have been annual passholders, Dad and I have only done a couple of tours. Think of them as a fun way to spend a little disposable cash rather than something that could make or break your vacation.

Scary characters are everywhere at Halloween Horror Nights.

Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights is intense. Seven or eight haunted houses, creepy comedy shows and streets packed with wandering monsters keep many park visitors on the run for the entire evening. It is not unusual for people to start screaming when they walk through the gates and keep screaming until they go home that night.

The Super Fans
Halloween Horror Nights also attracts legions of passionately dedicated fans. Rather than screaming and running away, they are drawn to the experience like a moth to a flame. Eager to soak in every detail, they purchase season passes and spend virtually every night at the event. They walk through the houses in slow motion, drinking in the sets, lighting, costumes and makeup, and giving shout-outs to their favorite actors. By the second weekend, they can repeat every line of that year’s Bill and Ted show. They get to know each other as well as the cast, and they form a sort of family.

The Art and Design Team
The massive Halloween Horror Nights is designed by a surprisingly small team of highly dedicated, passionate people who truly love their jobs. They also love their fans, and go out of their way to interact with them. In past years, the Art and Design team has held free question and answer sessions, sat and talked with individual guests, and even led small (paid) private tours through the haunted houses.

The Art and Design Team is highly engaged with the fans.

In 2005, the team decided to reward its most loyal fans with a special interactive game. Clues to the mystery were revealed on the Halloween Horror Nights website throughout the season, leading to a major encounter with a live actor on the event’s final night. The game was a success, and it planted the seeds for what was to come.

Legendary Truth: The Collective
Building on their experience with the 2005 game, the Art and Design team launched Legendary Truth: The Collective in 2008. Legendary Truth is a live-action alternate reality game that takes place within the fictional world of Halloween Horror Nights. According to the back story, the Collective is a group of people tasked with investigating the strange happenings within the game world. In 2008, all the happenings were linked to the mysterious Dr. Mary Agana, aka Bloody Mary, a psychologist who became obsessed with fear and subsequently disappeared.

In 2012, the game reappeared as Horror Unearthed. Players were divided into Legions, each representing a different facet of horror, and instructed to research their roots. RFID cards allowed players to check in at different locations throughout the event. At home, players around the world could join in even if they were unable to make it to Orlando. The online experience included a variety of games that allowed players to earn points. Many people played both online and at the parks, racking up large point totals and creating a friendly rivalry between the Legions.

The 2013 finale had us meet with fan favorite characters from the previous year to complete a series of tasks.

For 2013, Art and Design brought it all together with a brand-new Legendary Truth: The Collective experience. This time, players remained in their previous Legions, but were tasked with a paranormal investigation that was bigger than the individual Legions. Online players, known as remote operatives, received information and solved puzzles that were inaccessible to those who checked in at the parks. They relayed what they learned to the in-park players, sending them to various check-in locations where they, in turn, received information that was unavailable to the remote operatives. Both groups had to work together, both in their Legions and as a larger whole, to solve the overarching mystery that developed throughout the season.

The Art and Design team has assured the fans that Legendary Truth: The Collective will continue for the 2014 event. It is not yet known exactly what tricks the designers have up their sleeves, but if history is any indication, this year will bring the most immersive experience yet.

Tips for Parents

The fortune cookie task wrapped up the 2013 event while generating enough speculation to keep everyone busy until the 2014 game.

Legendary Truth: The Collective is an alternate-reality game that takes place within the Halloween Horror Nights experience. The in-park tasks typically require a great deal of commitment, as you must solve puzzles, check in with remote operatives online, visit locations in a specific order or join a group meet-up at a designated place and time. Therefore, it is not recommended for those who will visit only once or twice. Just seeing all the haunted houses, shows and outdoor scare zones is tough to manage in a single night.

If you plan to visit more often, however, Legendary Truth is a truly gripping experience. The puzzles are difficult enough to be fun, but not so challenging as to be frustrating. Each year’s mystery is engrossing, and the tasks are appropriate for all ages. You can serve as both an in-park operative and a remote operative on different nights, allowing you to play along even if you will only visit the event a few times.

As of 2013, RFID stickers, placed on the back of the admission ticket, were free for season pass holders and just a few dollars for those with one-night admission. Laminated plastic cards were also sold at a slightly higher fee. Both options allow park-goers to check in at designated locations via a brief scan, earning points for themselves and for their Legion. Remote operatives check in by logging onto the official Legendary Truth: The Collective website.

Of course, playing the game in-park requires the ability to filter out the noise, excitement and scares going on around you. If your kids are nervous or easily startled, they might not be able to focus on solving the mystery. Fortunately, the game is included with park admission, so if you find your kids are unable to concentrate, you can drop out at any time.