It's that wonderful time of year when everyone is playing Christmas music and everywhere you go has holiday decorations. One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season now that I live in Florida is being able to go to theme parks and see what they are doing for the holidays. The two parks that I have passes to are Disney World and Universal, both have amazing things they do for the holiday season. Now this isn't comparing the two or saying I like one more than the other, it's just the things I find cool about the two different places.

First of all, there's Disney World, the most magical place on Earth at the most magical time of year. Each of the four parks (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot) is decorated in different ways and have different Holiday events.

Magic Kingdom is not only decorated but it is also where Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is held. This event is separately ticketed and only has a certain amount of tickets but it is worth the money. The park closes to everyone else at 7 pm and the park empties out. Throughout the park there are stands set up to get Christmas treats and drinks, characters that aren't usually out are stationed throughout the park, lines go way down, and cheery Christmas music is played throughout the park.

Epcot is another great Disney Park to visit at Christmas time. Although I haven't visited there during the holiday season yet, I've heard about all of the wonderful decorations and events they have going on. Besides the beautiful, winter themed topiaries, they also have different holiday events at all of the worlds in the World Showcase. For a few examples: In America, you can meet Santa and Mrs. Clause as well as learning the story of Hanukkah and in England you can meet Father Christmas, and in most or all of the worlds you can get special holiday treats. This doesn't even begin to describe the other holiday surprises around the park.

Hollywood Studios is decorated like crazy and you can meet Santa here as well. And of course, Animal Kingdom has the most unique decorations out of all the parks.

Stepping away from Disney we have Universal Studios. This theme park involves two parks, each with their own unique Christmas Celebrations.

Let's start with Islands of Adventures. Most of the park has Christmas decorations around in stores but there is one section of this park that is more festive than the rest. If you head over to Seuss Landing, you're in for all kinds of holiday joy. Every part of this section is covered with decorations and characters. Whos wander the park, play instruments, wish you happy Who-liday, and take festive pictures. Not only are the Whos roaming about, you can wait in line to meet the Grinch. Now, you can meet the Grinch anytime of year, but only during Grinchmas can you meet a live action Grinch dressed as Santa. On top of this, they have a Grinchmas show featuring the story of How the Grinch Stole Grinchmas.

Now over to Universal Studios. At 5pm you can experience the Christmas portion of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, the Christmas floats from the parade are brought to universal and they show the parade every night. Not only do we get to see the floats we also get to see the Rockettes and watch the tree light up. I've only seen the parade once but sitting by The Mummy ride seems to be the best seating because it's near the tree. And on select nights, guests are treated to a free Manheim Steamroller concert!

Living in Florida around the holidays is very strange but very wonderful, sometimes it's hard to get into the Christmas spirit because it just doesn't feel right, but going to these parks help get you into the holiday cheer!