Dec. 5-9

[kailuagirl]

Last year we went the week right after Thanksgiving and LOVED it! This year we are thinking of trying out the 2nd week after Thanksgiving. DH doesn't get his holiday pay for Thanksgiving and day after if he doesn't work the following Monday or Tuesday Any thoughts on the comparison between the two? Are crowd levels about the same? Or do we need to worry about CP or cast party kind of things? Should we try to include a weekend? was thinking M-F would be better.

So excited that we might get to go during the holidays again!!

Thanks for any advice or suggestions or imput

 

[Sherry E]

Last year we went the week right after Thanksgiving and LOVED it! This year we are thinking of trying out the 2nd week after Thanksgiving. DH doesn't get his holiday pay for Thanksgiving and day after if he doesn't work the following Monday or Tuesday Any thoughts on the comparison between the two? Are crowd levels about the same? Or do we need to worry about CP or cast party kind of things? Should we try to include a weekend? was thinking M-F would be better.

So excited that we might get to go during the holidays again!!

Thanks for any advice or suggestions or imput

The CP will be on December 3rd and 4th this year, barring any sudden changes in the traditional schedule. But we don't yet know when the Cast Member parties will be. The old pattern used to be that the CM parties would be held on the Monday and Tuesday immediately following the CP, and that the parks were fairly uncrowded on the CM days.

Last year, however, the CM parties were moved to one week later than normal (12/13 & 12/14), and I found the parks to be very crowded in the daytime.

We don't yet know if the CM parties were held one week later than usual last year for a specific, one-time-only reason and will resume their usual post-Candlelight Processional slot in the first week of December this year, or if they have been permanently moved to the second week of December. The CM parties may or may not happen on 12/5 and 12/6, during your trip, but whenever they happen Disneyland will close at 6 p.m.-ish, and California Adventure will stay open.

Again, I found the CM party days to be very crowded (more than I expected) last year, but that could be because they were held in a later week then they normally would be. If they had stuck to their usual schedule right after the CP, the crowds may not have been as bad.

Stay tuned to the Disneyland at Christmas Time Superthread, where we discuss any and all breaking news or information that comes in about the season. I'll be updating Post #1 and #3 of that thread with specific details pertaining to this year when they are released.

 

[lovedisneyland1]

How were the crowds the week directly after thanksgiving? Just curious. We usually go the first week or so in December. I think the crowds then are manageable. We also have 12/5-12/9 booked. Now I'm wondering if I should move it up a week.

 

[kailuagirl]

Thanks Sherry, I'll be sure to follow that thread.

lovedisneyland1 -- We thought the crowds were perfect, not that busy at all, but busy enough that there was still some lines, but nothing you wouldn't stand in (except Peter Pan, which always always always had about a 60 min wait, even early in the morning, and the meet and greet for Tangled was always long and hard to do, but it had just opened). We were 3rd in line for PFF and just walked right up at a random time, it was amazing. Teacups was almost always a walkon, and we rode matterhorn so many times as the line was always really short. We were basically jumping from ride to ride to whichever had the shortest or no line, it was wonderful. But there wasn't that many characters to be found now that I recall. DD3 really wanted to meet the Fairy Godmother, anyone from ToyStory and a couple other people but we could never find them in their right spot, but Jack and Sally were there and she LOVED LOVED LOVED Jack, even though she never saw the movie, she was just in awe over him. It was cute.

We split our trip up a bit so we could go w/ family who live in the area one day, so we went one day - the day after Thanksgiving, found it pretty crowded, then went back M-Th. and it was much much better. The fireworks were almost canceled one night due to wind, it was canceled right before scheduled time, but then about 5 minutes later as everyone was leaving it just started up, it was awesome, the crowd cheered with joy.

I'd really love to go that same time again. Now I'm worried about the CP days, I don't want to be there when the park closes at 6, it was hard enough to leave at 8. My SIL has a friend who is a CM, I'm going to ask her to let me know as soon as they hear anything about the holiday schedule.

So confused now on when to go DD starts kindergarten next year so this will be the last time we can go at this time unless we took her out of school.

Thanks

 

[Sherry E]

The funny thing was that I planned my dates last year (12/12 - 12/15) specifically to avoid the CM party days. Even though I'd heard that CM party days were not too crowded in the parks, and even though I don't necessarily always stay really late at DL, I wanted the option of longer nighttime hours just in case. If I had a sudden burst of energy and wanted to stay in DL until midnight, taking photos of nighttime holiday sights, I wanted to have the option to do that. It's all about having options!

So I had my dates set and my reservation booked. And wouldn't you know, the darn CM parties moved to one week later, right in the middle of my trip! At that point it was going to be too much trouble to rearrange my trip, and it was too late in the game to move my PPH reservation to one week earlier - all the rooms were pretty much booked.

So I went and I dealt with the 6 p.m. closure in DL and it worked out fine for me - but I think that it was okay for me because I wasn't necessarily going to be in DL until late at night anyway. I just wandered around DTD and into the enchanting GCH lobby, while plenty of people were going into DCA.

However, if you're a family/person who really enjoys staying in DL (specifically DL, not DCA) until late, then a 6 p.m. closure would make a big impact on your trip, most definitely!

We still have no clue why the CM party dates were changed last year and if they will stick to the new schedule or go back to the old schedule, but I decided I wasn't going to risk encountering those parties again, so this year I am now going to DLR in that week-after-Thanksgiving time slot (11/28 - 12/5)! I keep hearing about how the crowd level is pretty decent for the holiday season during that week, so I am going to experience it for myself! After a few years in a row of pretty heavy crowds (getting bigger each year), I want to try this post-Thanksgiving time frame that everyone pretty much agrees is delightful!