Christmas Time & Planning Questions (sorry it's long)

[carebee21]

I really want to go see the Christmas decorations and atmosphere at Disneyland for Christmas time. But my husband owns his own business and he just can't leave in December. It's too busy. So we thought we might be able to go Dec 27 or Dec 28 but then I saw those are blacked out with the AP. So I was talking to him about it and since he really doesn't care that much about Disneyland, he said why don't you guys (me and my son) go yourselves. My son will be on Christmas break, and my husband will be working long hours anyways, so I'm thinking we'll go on Dec 20-Dec 23.

The only thing I know right now is we're going to fly for sure. Looking at things, it looks like John Wayne/Orange County airport is the closest? Is that correct? And what's the best way to get to the hotels from there? Shuttle? I've heard about the magical express but is that only for Disneyland Resort hotels?

What would be the best hotels to look at? The disney ones are way out of my price range during that time and I'd like to stay around $100ish but not go over $150/night. I would like to be as close as I can be to the entrance. Somewhere safe and with lots of people who are walking back to the hotel room at night as well since me and my son will be alone.

And lastly, what are some of the can't miss things of Christmas time? I know It's a Small World does the holiday overlay, any other rides? Do any of the restaraunts or character meals do special holiday things/meals that I should make reservations for? Are there any special characters that only come out for Christmas?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

Here's a nice map showing hotels. The Entrance Plaza area is the key for closeness. HoJo is really good, and is walking distance (it looks far away but it's under 10 minutes walk).

Orange County airport is the closest, but it's often the most expensive to fly into. We're flying in October, and the base rate is $69 each way to both LAX and SNA (orange county/john wayne airport), but the fees cause the total round trip per person to be 180.40 for SNA, but only 159.20 for LAX.

The bus you mention is Grayline's Disneyland Express. It is for all the local area hotels, is not run by Disneyland, and unless we rent a car for this trip, we'll be taking it again. But...I like traveling on buses (my dad was a Greyhound driver so I spent many weekends on a bus, LOL).

This bus services LAX and SNA airports; LAX is a bit more expensive, but not horribly, in our opinion. For instance, for our trip with 2 adults and 1 child, round trip using LAX is $83 (using the internet discount of a couple dollars per person), but SNA is $66. Definitely NOT enough to make up for that $30 per person flight cost difference for us.

The other option that we've taken is Super Shuttle; if you want to use them, use the hotel name to get a quote, NOT the zip code. Using the zip code will give you a much higher price for some reason. The costs for SS to/from different airports is VASTLY different. Before making decisions on airports, make SURE you know the cost. I once flew us into Ontario airport b/c of the flight cost difference, but Ontario is just about THE most expensive for Super Shuttle, and they use a big cost for the first person, with small costs for subsequent people in your party, and I had my husband flying in and out separately for us...so I was the first person and he was the first person, then he was first person going home, too...we spent SO much on SS b/c of that mistake of mine.



IASW will have the overlay, and Haunted Mansion will still have the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. The whole place will be decorated for Yule, and it's just lovely. They will likely have icicles on the castle, if last year tells us what this year will have, they'll have "snow" every night (soap bubbles), they'll have all sorts of goodies. There's another thread where Sherry-a-moderator listed all the treats from last year...look around for the Christmas-time threads!

Lurk at the disney hotels, as Santa shows up on schedule at each of them; each of the onsite hotels will have a tree in their lobby (wait, I haven't ever seen it at DLH, so I don't know where their tree is).

We're not religious, we barely celebrate that holiday, but we LOVE going during that time b/c it's just so gorgeous. Even DCA gets decorated, and that's fun too, b/c it's sort of a humorous Yuletime decoration, with slightly less traditional, brighter, more FUN, things.

Have fun!

 

[carebee21]

Thanks for the response. I'll keep the total price of flight, taxes and shuttle in mind when comparing the airports. That's a great tip!