Planning a Christmas Trip to Disneyland

[louisakurt327]

Our family will be flying into LA on Christmas morning. We are a group of five, my husband and I and three young adult children. Due to lower airfare, we added two days to the front of a week near San Diego. We will be staying at a hotel which is very close to Knots Berry Farm and has shuttles to Disney. We will also have a car.

My question is, are we crazy to try to go to Disney on Christmas day or on the 26th which happens to be a Saturday? Is Disney extra magical at Christmas time? Would Knots Berry Farm be a better option? At any rate, we have two days near LA that we weren't expecting and need to fill.

We would also be open to suggestions for other destinations in LA. My husband and I have been there, but it was 25 years ago. Our kids have done Disney World, but never Disneyland.

Thanks, in advance, for any advise.
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[GoofyDadude]

YES, DL is very magical, even more so on Christmas Day. We did Christmas Day last Dec and had a blast. As the day went on though, it got really crowded. Get there early, as Christmas Day and New Years Day are defiantly two days that DL gets at, or goes over copacity.

We had a week there and Christmas Day was our first of 6 days. It was very noticeable as the day went on to the size of the crowds. And that was the week that LA saw the most amount of rain there for December in many years. Think the amount of rain set a few records too.

Have fun, plan for the crowds and take in all the sights. We want to do Christmas again someday, but my wait until our granddaughter is a bit older, if we can wait that long.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

The busiest week of the year is between Christmas and New Years.

 

[Sherry E]

Our family will be flying into LA on Christmas morning. We are a group of five, my husband and I and three young adult children. Due to lower airfare, we added two days to the front of a week near San Diego. We will be staying at a hotel which is very close to Knots Berry Farm and has shuttles to Disney. We will also have a car.

My question is, are we crazy to try to go to Disney on Christmas day or on the 26th which happens to be a Saturday? Is Disney extra magical at Christmas time? Would Knots Berry Farm be a better option? At any rate, we have two days near LA that we weren't expecting and need to fill.

We would also be open to suggestions for other destinations in LA. My husband and I have been there, but it was 25 years ago. Our kids have done Disney World, but never Disneyland.

Thanks, in advance, for any advise.
Guido

It's definitely extra magical at Disneyland during the holidays! It is very much worth paying a visit if you have never experienced it before. But it will be crowded, as 3Minnies1Mickey and GoofyDadude stated - especially on 12/26. However, if you plan wisely and expect crowds going in, it doesn't have to be that much of an interference. The best thing is to know what to expect and not be shocked, and have a plan in place so you know where to go and what to do when the crowds get annoying.

Take a look at the first page of our Disneyland at Christmas Time Superthread.

You don't need to read the whole thread, of course, but if you have time, scan over the first 3 posts on Page 1 of the Superthread. The very first post is a Welcome post with thumbnails and a brief overview of the holiday season at Disneyland, just to kind of give you an idea of what to expect. Post #2 is a Table of Contents for various photos of all the different highlights of the season, broken up into categories. Post #3 is an Information post, with many links to all sorts of threads, Trip Reports, blogs and other valuable info on the season, as well as detailed information on treats and other aspects of interest. There's even a Q&A with commonly-asked questions about weather, crowds, etc.

And if you have extra time, feel free to jump in on the Superthread and join in the discussions with us. But to start with, try to skim those first 3 posts if you can and you will get a good sense of how wonderful the Christmas season is at Disneyland!

 

[spacemermaid]

Knott's is closed on Christmas day (the only day out of the whole year they're not open).

My family learnt this the hard way a long time ago.

Christmas at Disneyland = amazing, magical, fabulous, but also very, very crowded.

 

[jacky b]

If you plan on going on Xmas day, just make sure you are there at opening! It will get really crowded as the day goes by when all the locals start showing up. We did Xmas in 07 and mornings were great, but late afternoons, evenings and all the way to closing was extremely crowded. But it is so worth going!!!!

 

[alleycatmom]

We went last year; I believe it was the 28th.

We had a FABULOUS time! There was a thread on here at the time where people were griping about how it was so crowded, they'd never come again, etc. We started to get worried.

But we were there all day (7:30am to past midnight) and we got to ride everything we wanted and do everything we wanted. Sure, it was crowded, but we didn't care.

We've only been to Disneyland three times; we live 10 hours away. So we don't have much to compare it to, crowd-wise. As far as we knew, it could be like that every day.

Oh, and the decorations are awesome!!

 

[Sherry E]

We went last year; I believe it was the 28th.

We had a FABULOUS time! There was a thread on here at the time where people were griping about how it was so crowded, they'd never come again, etc. We started to get worried.

But we were there all day (7:30am to past midnight) and we got to ride everything we wanted and do everything we wanted. Sure, it was crowded, but we didn't care.

We've only been to Disneyland three times; we live 10 hours away. So we don't have much to compare it to, crowd-wise. As far as we knew, it could be like that every day.

Oh, and the decorations are awesome!!

There have probably been several threads in which we were discussing (griping about) the crowds between Christmas and New Year's. I'm one of the people who would not choose to go back to DLR during that week if I can help it, but some people are totally fine with it. Everyone is different and everyone has a different tolerance level for crowds, as well as a different opinion of what is 'too much' for them. Two people could go to the parks on the same day and come back with two totally different recaps of what the crowds were like from their vantage points.

The thing that is essential to remember is that knowledge is a key factor. Anyone who goes in blindly and is not expecting huge crowds may be in for a shock when the park starts closing due to capacity being reached. Those folks are probably the ones who will come back, saying "never again."

But if you plan wisely and have a back-up plan just in case things get too crazy, you'll be fine. If you go in and expect to see huge crowds, then it will be a relief and blessing if it turns out to be less hideous than what you imagine! Some folks will still come back and say "never again." Others will come back and say, "It wasn't that bad."