Christmas and early entry questions

[blue888]

Debating staying onsite versus off site (walking distance) at Christmas. We've done Christmas onsite twice and gotten a ton done in the first hour every morning.

At what $ amount would you consider upgrading to get that hour for your stay?

Any tips? 2 adults right at Christmas for 3 nights, 3 days in park.

 

[alvernon90]

I say heck yeah, especially for two adults. I would just pay whatever it takes to stay at one of the on-site hotels. Here's why:

1. The hotels and DTD are decorated spectacularly at Christmas, and I love being surrounded by excellent Christmas decor for every minute of the visit.

2. The extra hour is a 7:00 entry, which are the best. Very few people are willing to get up that early. It's not like a private party or anything, but it's easy to experience a lot in the extra hour and then the first hour after the park opens to the public.

3. EMH at Christmas starts in the dark. This may just be personal to me because our family tradition when I was a kid was to wake up before dawn on Christmas morning to open presents, so walking through all the hotel and DTD Christmas lights in the dark while knowing there are two beautiful parks we are about to unwrap feels very exciting.

4. Plus the sunrise. Hard to discount the winter sunrise in Southern California.

5. It's Christmas, but Santa is not real. If you want a special present, you're going to have to give it to yourself. Give yourself permission not to be miserly for this one short trip, and experience a feeling of generosity to yourself. It's nice every once in a while.

6. It's cold in the early morning. It can be hard to get in the Christmas spirit when you've stripped down to a t-shirt because it's 86 degrees and the sun is wearing you out, but the crisp cold morning air fits with all the Christmas anticipation described above.

7. I am clearly biased, so you should listen to me, that's just logic! Do it! You won't regret it! (P.S. My bias is for the Disneyland hotel, pool view upper floor.)

Have a great time whatever you decide!

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

We have spent Christmas at Disneyland for the past 3 years...taking a break this year. We LOVED the EMH in the morning. I agree that not many people go to the park at 7am so that extra hour from 8 - 8 am you can get in a lot of rides. For example last year we were staying at the PPH. We were through security and waiting for the monorail at DTD because we wanted Star Tours, Space Mountain and IASW. We got the monorail at 7 am and were in the park in no time. Between 7 and 8 we rode, Star Tours, Buzz, Space Mountain, IASW X2, Haunted Mansion X3, and Pirates. We were able to squeeze in Indiana Jones and Jungle cruise by 8:15 am. I will warn you that it is cool at 7 am so dress accordingly!!!!! You will have a blast spending Christmas at Disneyland.

 

[Malcon10t]

We have spent Christmas at Disneyland for the past 3 years...taking a break this year. We LOVED the EMH in the morning. I agree that not many people go to the park at 7am so that extra hour from 8 - 8 am you can get in a lot of rides. For example last year we were staying at the PPH. We were through security and waiting for the monorail at DTD because we wanted Star Tours, Space Mountain and IASW. We got the monorail at 7 am and were in the park in no time. Between 7 and 8 we rode, Star Tours, Buzz, Space Mountain, IASW X2, Haunted Mansion X3, and Pirates. We were able to squeeze in Indiana Jones and Jungle cruise by 8:15 am. I will warn you that it is cool at 7 am so dress accordingly!!!!! You will have a blast spending Christmas at Disneyland.

Interested how you rode Haunted Mansion 3x and Pirates before 8 when those rides don't open til park opening.

 

[dieumeye]

Interested how you rode Haunted Mansion 3x and Pirates before 8 when those rides don't open til park opening.

Yeah. Not to call the poster out, but I’m not so sure you could even physically do all those rides in one hour even if they were open and had no lines! I mean, the monorail ride alone is 7-8 minutes. And two trips on Small World would eat a half hour in itself.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Interested how you rode Haunted Mansion 3x and Pirates before 8 when those rides don't open til park opening.

Yeah. Not to call the poster out, but I’m not so sure you could even physically do all those rides in one hour even if they were open and had no lines! I mean, the monorail ride alone is 7-8 minutes. And two trips on Small World would eat a half hour in itself.

Sorry...I wasn't watching my watch...guess it must have been 8 am when we were headed towards those rides...there was no CM stopping us, the park was practically empty the day we were there...

 

[alvernon90]

Sorry...I wasn't watching my watch...

I get this. The great thing about people not wanting to get up for 7:00 EMH is that barely anyone wants to get up for 8:00 park opening, either. Of those that do get up for rope drop, half will go to the areas where the EMH people are just leaving. The west side of Disneyland remains very quiet for the first hour, while the east side starts to get crowded as rope drop people mix in with EMH people.

Doing 7:00 early entry is recommended year round, not just at Christmas. They only happen during busy season, which makes them even more valuable because later in the day is guaranteed to be crowded.

 

[blue888]

Thanks everyone! I think this has solidified that we need to stay onsite. That's the problem, once you stay onsite, you are spoiled, lol.

Seriously though, thanks for the confirmation. And yes, I agree with the really early park opening it was very empty when we were there both times with our kids and family at Christmas. We've gone twice right at Christmas. The best day was Christmas day. We've always gone in for morning, back for pools in afternoon (my Canadian kids think Dec in Cali is hot) and then back in park for evenings.

I'm not worried about the cold (we are from Canada), so it will feel hot to us (ha ha).

 

[tink89]

EMH has been great for us. We have used EMH at Chrismat 3 years in a row and it is great. We did get to do a lot. From what i recall we did ST, Buzz, Tea cups, Alice, Matterhorn and had a MP for IJ at 8:30. We then rode Pirates, HM, used MP for IJ got MP for BTMR and rode that one all before 9 am. All of this was done with a group of 12 people and at a very leisurely relaxed pace.
7 am EMH is great. There has always been a big group of people waiting to enter the other lands at 8 am, but they all mostly go to IJ and we have always had to line up until they remove the rope. I think it starts to get crowded after 10 am and really packed by 1pm. By 11 am we are usually

 

[Malcon10t]

Sorry...I wasn't watching my watch...guess it must have been 8 am when we were headed towards those rides...there was no CM stopping us, the park was practically empty the day we were there...

No problem! The ride times for the rides you listed were about 2 hours alone, so was kind of confusing. But you got a lot done in a short period of time!

 

[Kittyskyfish]

OP, we decided to check off the Grand Californian this December from our bucket list to compensate for the (what I consider) unprecedented attendance uptick due to SWGE. We're going to need all the Disney magic and EMHs we can get!!! lol Normally we always stay at the Fairfield using miles, so this change is an absolute extravagance. In your case, going RIGHT at Christmas for only three days absolutely warrants staying on-site.

 

[mfleeting]

I don’t think there is a price for our family on is it worth it or not. We always see the benefit of getting stuff done early and being able to enjoy the pools. Plus my husband and son just hate change so they force me to book DLH.

I think it comes down to is it going to cut into your budget making you suffer elsewhere if not then go for it. Sometimes I’ll also compare the price to some of the other local hotels I would be willing to stay at just to see if I’d rather save any money or not (or to convince me that it’s really not that much more to stay on site). I also occasionally book a local hotel just Incase my budget decreases (and cancel it 30 days or so in advance).

 

[mfleeting]

Interested how you rode Haunted Mansion 3x and Pirates before 8 when those rides don't open til park opening.

When your there in the morning and able to just walk on rides the time starts to jumble together. She probably meant right at 8am when it opened and very few people there. I’ve posted similar mistakes before and it was more like well they were practically walk ons with no wait.