Dec. 29-January 4. Which park which day?

[slg]

I know it’s crazy going this week but my dh really wanted to take my 3 sons, 24, 21, 18 to SWL as a holiday present.

Not going to get MaxPass or park hoppers. Thinking 3 days in MK and 2 in CA. Should we avoid MK Dec. 31 and Jan 1 and head to CA? Will we miss something amazing for NYE?

Advice needed!

Thank you.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Please rethink getting MP -- at what is known to be one of the busiest times of year at DLR, MP could make a very big difference in lowering the stress of your trip. By the way, at DLR, Disneyland is abbreviated DL (MK is at WDW) and Disney California Adventure is abbreviated DCA (if you look up CA, you'll probably get information on the state of California) -- this way if you do any searches here, you'll find information on the right park!
Are park hopper tickets in the budget at all? It is sooo easy to hop at DLR (the parks are the length of a football field apart) -- if one park gets too crowded, just hop to the other park. MP allows you to get FPs for one park while you are still in the other park -- very convenient! That also could help lower stress on this trip by helping you to avoid the worst crowds in either park -- just hop to the other park for a while until things calm down.
Have you looked at the 2019 Holiday Time at DLR Superthread: 11/08/19 - 1/06/20!? There is good information there and good discussion about visiting during that wonderful, but very busy, time of year at DLR.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

For those dates, I absolutely would get MaxPass and parkhoppers.

As for New Year's Eve and New Year's...on years that we have gone, we spend New Year's Eve in DCA. It's more relaxed and there is musical entertainment and usually a special low level fireworks show and World of Color at midnight. We figure the only thing we are missing is being all squished together with tons and tons of people waiting to see a fireworks show that may or may not happen due to winds at higher elevations. lol. If we want to visit Disneyland on New Year's Eve, we go early, like 8 AM - 10 or 11 AM and then switch to the other park. New Year's Day is not particularly worse than the other days at that time and better than New Year's Eve. We had a really lovely New Year's morning many years ago when my kids were too young to stay up late the night before. New Year's morning Disneyland was very quiet from about 8 AM - 10 AM; don't know if it is like that these days.