There are hundreds of Disney World blogs and websites and I find the deluge of information overwhelming. I recommend checking out the Unofficial Guide to Disney World/Universal at your local library.

On some of the bigger topics, here are my opinions:

1. The parks are not "normal" right now due to COVID and may not improve much before December. For example, there are not currently any fast passes (at Disney), character meet & greets, character breakfasts, nighttime firework shows, and most of the theater performance/shows are not going. Most of these things aren't all that important to my family, but they might be to yours. Some of the "magic" is certainly missing. Our 5 year old's two very favorite experiences during our last trip was the Jedi Training Academy (Hollywood Studios) and Turtle Talk with Crush (EPCOT), but both of these attractions are currently closed due to COVID. Crowds are down, but wait times for rides have risen in the past couple of weeks as more people have visited the parks, but ride capacity is reduced as they try to enforce social distancing on rides. At the Universal Parks and Hollywood Studios, wait times this past week were longer that normal for this time of year.

Florida's governor has removed all restrictions, but how the parks respond remains to be seen. They'll have to balance making people comfortable with being in the parks, but trying to increase capacity. Also, Disney is having a major dispute with the primary union representing performers, so most of Disney's shows/performances are a long ways away from starting again.

2. Avoid going to the parks on weekends at all costs. Crowds double and sometimes triple on weekends. Specific to your time-frame, there isn't much of a difference between weekdays and weekends between Christmas and New Years, every day is crazy busy.

3. Disney vs. Universal - our younger kids (7 and under) do much better at the Disney parks. Disney has so many rides and attractions for that 2 to 8 year old age group that Universal doesn't really compare. Once our kids are old enough (about 8), I think we collectively prefer Universal and especially Islands of Adventure.

4. Take a Break - spending 4-6 days in a row at the parks with kids is utterly exhausting. We average about 10 miles a day walking at the parks. If you try to do 4-6 days straight of the parks, you will burn out and not have fond memories of your trip. With young kids, we tried taking nap breaks versus taking a day off. Disney World, in particular, is so spread out that taking a nap break means taking a 3-4 hour break (walking the 15 minutes back to the car/bus, driving 20-30 minutes to your hotel, taking the nap, then do the reverse). The parks are all running on reduced hours right now, so taking a 3-4 hour break in the middle of the day isn't really plausible. In March, before the Pandemic, we did parks on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. We took Wednesday off, sleeping in, spending time in the hotel pool, and going shopping. It was perfect. I highly recommend it.

5. Where to stay - there are a lot of recommendations above to stay on property at Disney. There are pros and cons. There is a bit more "magic" staying on property. If you can get a hotel along either the monorail or in the EPCOT/Hollywood Studios area, then you are well-connected to two of the parks, but poorly connected to the other two. But hotels in either area are very expensive compared to off-property options, especially when taking into consideration the cost of breakfast. We HATE Disney's bus system, which has poor service to get you to the parks for opening and notoriously long waits at the end of the day. As a result, we have stayed off-property on our last few trips. I've used points at Homewood Suites and we've also found very nice VRBO's for as little as $50 a day. The recommendation above regarding checking out DVC rentals is really good also. I've never stayed on-property at Universal.

6. Get to the parks early - on our last trip to Magic Kingdom, we went on more rides in the first hour of opening then we did in the next four hours combined. The parks gates open an hour before the listed "opening". Be in the parks before they "open".

7. Rise of the Resistance - the best ride in all the parks is the new Rise of the Resistance Star Wars ride at Hollywood Studios. To get on this ride, your entire family has to be in the park before opening and you must use the Disney app to book a "Boarding Group" at precisely opening time. Boarding groups are usually gone within 10 seconds of the park opening. If you want to go on this ride, you need to do some google searches to help you know what to do before you go.

8. Parks - I'd rank as-follows:

A. Hollywood Studios - the new Star Wars rides are amazing. The one con is that pre-Pandemic crowds have already returned.
B. Islands of Adventure
C. Magic Kingdom
D. Animal Kingdom - really hard to rate, because it has the fewest attractions, so it really only keeps you busy for 3/4 of a day. But their three headline attractions are some of the best in Orlando: the Pandora Flight of Passage (second best ride in all of Orlando), a long safari jeep ride through open animal enclosures, and Expedition Everest (a terrific roller coaster).
E. Universal Studios
F. EPCOT - but they could climb the list soon since they are opening a new Ratatouille ride and Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster in the next six months or so.
G. Busch Gardens Tampa - oft forgotten, but some absolutely fantastic roller coasters
H. Sea World

Honorable Mention goes to Discovery Cove, which is an all-inclusive swim with the dolphins and sea wildlife experience. So not really a thrill ride type of experience, but a top notch experience for the kids.