Christmas at Disneyland 2012

rosie2283

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 14, 2011
I know we just finished witht he season, but I am trying to make travel plans for next winter. We are planning a trip for early November and would like to finish out last few days on the "official start to Disneyland at Christmas". Does anyone know when they announce when the season is official at Disneyland? I know it is somewhere in the middle, but was looking for amore specific date as I would love to book hotels and be ready for seat sales on flights.

Thanks to all in advance!

 
Unfortunately we won't know until later in the year, probably a few months before.

ETA: I'm trying to go through the holiday thread from this year to see when it was announced but I'm having a hard time. I'm sure one of the other regulars of that thread remember when it was announced?? Sherry?
 
I know we just finished witht he season, but I am trying to make travel plans for next winter. We are planning a trip for early November and would like to finish out last few days on the "official start to Disneyland at Christmas". Does anyone know when they announce when the season is official at Disneyland? I know it is somewhere in the middle, but was looking for amore specific date as I would love to book hotels and be ready for seat sales on flights.

Thanks to all in advance!

Mostly, DL during the Christmas season starts officially on the 2nd weekend of November. This last year, it started on Nov. 14 which was a Monday. It was odd to see the first day start on Monday instead of Friday, but only "A Christmas Fantasy" parade was the only show or ride that was started on that day while the other Holiday shows or rides were open a few days before that day. I would say that the Christmas season at DL will start around Nov. 9 on a Friday or Nov. 12 on a Monday. This is my opinion of when the Christmas season starts at DL from all these years that I have been at DL. During the end of the Halloween season all the way towards the first official day of the Holiday season, the parks will be decorated with the Christmas decorations. But for shows like "A Christmas Fantasy" parade & "Believe...In Holiday Magic" fireworks will be up and running when the Holiday season officially starts.

I remember that Sherry said that the dates for the Christmas season were announced around July. I don't know where it said the dates, but I know that it was around July that DL announce the dates.
 
I too am already planning a trip for Christmas 2012. We take our grandkids to Disneyland for their fourth birthdays so this year we will be taking three little girls the first week in December. I would love any hints anyone may have. Thanks so much.
 


I am planning too for Christmas 2012. Would you go the last week of November (Thanksgiving is early this year) of the first week of December? Which do you think will be the least crowded?
 
Though "2nd weekend in November" has been the start date the last two years, this year it won't give a lot of time to switch from Halloween which is mid week. I'd guess at the earliest Monday the 12th, but more likely Friday the 16th.

Crowds last week of November after Thanksgiving will likely be quieter as usual. One interesting thing this year is that Deluxe APs are blocked the weekend of Dec 8/9.
 
Though "2nd weekend in November" has been the start date the last two years, this year it won't give a lot of time to switch from Halloween which is mid week. I'd guess at the earliest Monday the 12th, but more likely Friday the 16th.
I agree, it's a very short changeover period this year from Halloween to the previous Holiday Start. It may very well fall on the later date.


Crowds last week of November after Thanksgiving will likely be quieter as usual. One interesting thing this year is that Deluxe APs are blocked the weekend of Dec 8/9.

That is very queer indeed. Perhaps from rising crowds, maybe a change to the operation schedule of the season.
 


I'm here sonnyjane! Better late than never! The information was, indeed, announced in the Superthread but if you didn't know who announced the dates it would be hard to trace when exactly they were released! (Plus, the Search feature on this site has not been working well for months and months so it's hard to find things!)

Our helpful DIS'er jernysgirl (Kim) was the one who discovered the official holiday season dates on the DLR website last year, and I think it was in July, as Bret said. Possibly even a little bit earlier than that. However, that is not always the case. In some previous years the dates were not released until much later than that.



rosie2283 -

This is what has happened - in 2008 (coincidentally, the last Leap Year), the holiday season officially began on the Friday immediately before Thanksgiving.

In 2009 and 2010, the season officially began two Fridays before Thanksgiving.

Then, in 2011, all of a sudden Disney whipped a Monday start date out of its hat - which was very unexpected and unusual. We all thought that the season would begin on Friday 11/11/11 or Friday, 11/18/11. When we heard it was going to be Monday, 11/14, that was surprising.

So my personal guess (and that is only based on watching the start date patterns) is that in 2012, Friday, 11/9/12 will be way too early to start the holidays. But Friday, 11/16 might be a little too late given how popular the season has become. I think DLR could do another Monday start date such as 11/12/12, but at the very latest I think it will begin on Friday, 11/16. I don't think it will be any later than 11/16.

I am guessing that the 2012 holiday season will end on Sunday, January 6, 2013.

So we will hopefully find out the dates from the DLR website again in the Summer, although, with all the new DCA and CarsLand stuff happening, the focus may stay on those areas and the holidays may kind of take a back seat for a while.

Keep in mind that the 3 DLR hotels don't always get their holiday decorations until the week of Thanksgiving - either right before Thanksgiving or immediately after. So if you want the full DLR holiday experience with reasonable crowds, I would go after Thanksgiving or in the first week of December. I just did a first-week-of-December trip last month and the crowds were very pleasant. A couple of days the crowds were downright light for Disneyland during the Christmas season. Of course, things could change this year and maybe crowds will be huge. It's hard to predict.



Stay tuned to the Disneyland at Christmas Time Superthread - it's a year-round thread (not specific to any year) with all the basic info and discussion (and plenty of photos) on the holiday season. Starting in late August, we will begin to count down to the season start date with "Theme Weeks" each Monday, which will focus on a different aspect/highlight of the holiday offerings!
 
Crowds last week of November after Thanksgiving will likely be quieter as usual. One interesting thing this year is that Deluxe APs are blocked the weekend of Dec 8/9.

Ooh... I find APs being blocked that weekend interesting... I wonder why? I hope it isn't because they are expecting crazy crowds. Our dates are the 5th-10th... Wednesday arrival, and leave Monday, anticipating CM parties that Monday night. I am hoping we'll have lots of time (and evenings) so do everything we love to do.

Yep, planning a year out here too!

:rotfl:
 
Ooh... I find APs being blocked that weekend interesting... I wonder why? I hope it isn't because they are expecting crazy crowds. Our dates are the 5th-10th... Wednesday arrival, and leave Monday, anticipating CM parties that Monday night. I am hoping we'll have lots of time (and evenings) so do everything we love to do.

Yep, planning a year out here too!

:rotfl:

My first thought when I read what 3Minnies1Mickey posted was Candlelight Processional. Typically, the CP happens on the very first Saturday and Sunday in December, though there have been random exceptions going back in its history.

BUT...if DLR decides to start its holiday season (officially) a bit later this year than it did the last couple of years (like it did 4 years ago), I can see DLR delaying the CP by one week as well. A later holiday season start date may mean a later Candlelight Processional.

Although...I'm not sure why the Deluxe AP's should have to be affected by/blocked on CP weekend, other than the fact that it is a busy, crowded weekend. Hmmm...

It wouldn't be a Christmas party. I don't think that DLR would use up both a Saturday and a Sunday for a party.
 
My first thought was CP too. If it was based just on holiday crowds I'd expect the weekend of 15/16.
 
If its CP, we can go with the flow obviously... one of the reasons why I decided to go early Wed, is so we have most of Wed & all of Thursday hopefully before it starts to get crowded. Then we'll bob and weave Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and have most of Monday before the flight home. I know lots don't like the idea of a Christmas party, but if one happened to land on one of our days there we'd do it. I love the Halloween party.

This is bad, but I kinda wish it was just dd and I going... hubby is a good sport, but when I am pulling all my Dis tricks to go opposite of the crowds, it can be lots easier without another adult in tow. :rotfl:
 

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