December 20 or 21 - Any difference? A few Christmas questions

[Serenity1207]

Hi everyone!! My family and I will be going back home to Los Angeles for the holidays as we do every year. This year we decided to do a day at Disneyland I know the holidays are crazy and I fully expect it to be nuts!! We will be in the area from Saturday, December 19 to Wednesday, December 30. I was thinking of going Sunday, December 20 or Monday, December 21. I was wondering if you thought either of those days would be any better than the other. I prefer to go on Sunday so that we can avoid the weekday morning traffic (we'll be coming from Westlake Village). Also, do you think it's imperative that we arrive before rope drop? And lastly, should I expect park closures on either of those days? DS13 will want to ride all the big rides, but I really just need to soak up the ambience And DD2will want to do some things in Fantasyland. I had annual passes for many years and we are very familiar with the parks. Do you suggest using a touring plan or just taking it easy and enjoying the Christmas feeling?

Okay, that ended up being a few more questions than I expected TIA for any advice you can give me for these two days I can't wait to go and I'm hoping it gets me in the holiday spirit!!

Julie

 

[DLR29]

Hi everyone!! My family and I will be going back home to Los Angeles for the holidays as we do every year. This year we decided to do a day at Disneyland I know the holidays are crazy and I fully expect it to be nuts!! We will be in the area from Saturday, December 19 to Wednesday, December 30. I was thinking of going Sunday, December 20 or Monday, December 21. I was wondering if you thought either of those days would be any better than the other. I prefer to go on Sunday so that we can avoid the weekday morning traffic (we'll be coming from Westlake Village). Also, do you think it's imperative that we arrive before rope drop? And lastly, should I expect park closures on either of those days? DS13 will want to ride all the big rides, but I really just need to soak up the ambience And DD2will want to do some things in Fantasyland. I had annual passes for many years and we are very familiar with the parks. Do you suggest using a touring plan or just taking it easy and enjoying the Christmas feeling?

Okay, that ended up being a few more questions than I expected TIA for any advice you can give me for these two days I can't wait to go and I'm hoping it gets me in the holiday spirit!!

Julie

Both the 20th and the 21st will have similar crowds, but as a general rule, the closer you get to Christmas, the larger the crowds. So the 20th might be good. HOWEVER, Sunday is a Magic Morning day and by only visiting the parks for 1 day, you won't have MM. Since the Fantasyland rides are the main draw during MM, if you enter on Sunday morning, some FL rides will already have decent sized lines. If you go on Monday, everyone has an equal start in the morning.

Yes, it is essential that you get there early in the morning, especially to do FL rides and start collecting FPs.

The parks shouldn't close due to capacity. That is much more common in the week between Christmas and New Years.

Especially with a 13yo and a 2yo with totally different interests, I wouldn't try a touring plan. Be very flexible, and maybe even split up sometimes to maximize time. I've been twice right before Christmas. It's a great time to go because the hours are long, no rides are down for refurbs usually, all the nighttime entertainment is going daily, the wonderful decorations, and the crowds are definitely not as high as after Christmas.

 

[Eeee-va]

I think either of those days will be OK. School will be out so historically those dates have been fairly busy. But this year it seems that more and more DLR guests have annual passes, and that has affected crowd flow.

The lower tiers of APs (the ones exclusively for Southern California residents) will be blocked out, so guests can no longer use them to get in during your dates. This summer, at least, the biggest crowds have actually materialized right after new entertainment offerings open up, and also right before APs block out for a season.

But I think you will be OK. 12/20 and 12/21 shouldn't have any issues with throngs of people coming to see "new" entertainment. The Deluxe APs do block out starting on Christmas Eve, so you might get some of those guests trying to see Disneyland for Christmas before they block out for the season, but I don't anticipate it will be a huge problem.

If you don't feel too strongly about riding all the little rides in Fantasyland, then 12/20 should be fine. If you definitely want to do Peter Pan's Flight without a 30 minute wait, and IF you can get to the park at rope drop, then Monday is going to be the better choice as far as Fantasyland goes. (I have heard it is challenging to get into the park at rope drop if you are driving, as the parking garage doesn't open until maybe 30 minutes before park opening? The best bet, if possible, is to drop someone off at the front and then park the car and meet that person who was dropped off in line.)

I do strongly recommend being there at rope drop if at all possible, though. If the park is busy, you can literally get more done in your first hour than you can in 2-3 hours in the middle of the day.

I would consider a casual itinerary for the first hour or two of the day, especially if you really want to do a large number of Fantasyland rides. (Though if you get there early and remember to do Peter Pan first in Fantasyland, and the Matterhorn and Mr. Toad fairly early, you'll be in pretty good shape!) Other than that, you just need to know the basics about Fastpass and which rides to FP first (such as, don't get a FP for Buzz Lightyear right as you come in, as there are bigger rides to get FPs for first ).

If you want to help your DS ride everything thrilling, you may need to keep some sort of plan in the back of your mind, though. But if you get a full itinerary it is way too easy to just rush everywhere and never take any time to soak up the atmosphere. I made that mistake my last trip.

I don't think many, if any, rides will be down for rehab then, if that's what you meant by "closures". (Or even if it's not. )

Have a great time!

 

[Serenity1207]

Thank you both so much for the responses. They are very helpful and also very much appreciated I have a few more quick questions. If we do go on Sunday, which has MM (and we won't be attending), will that totally screw us up for the day? I really prefer to go on Sunday simply because of the traffic we'll have on Monday. We'll be driving from an hour+ away and after living in Los Angeles for 20+ years, I know that Monday morning could very well tack on an extra 30-60 minutes or more to that drive. I'd really rather avoid that if possible. If there's not going to be too much of a difference with MM or without, then we'll definitely opt for Sunday and hope for the best. I'm not too concerned with Fantasyland stuff, but here is a list of our must-sees:

Pirates
Haunted Mansion
Matterhorn
Big Thunder
Space Mountain
Buzz Lightyear
Winnie the Pooh
Indiana Jones
Dumbo
Carousel
Toontown coaster (DD is just big enough)
IASW

Will we likely be able to do all of that on such a busy day? And which FP's would you recommend getting first? We will do child swap for the big rides since DD can't go on them. And we may even split up so DH can take DS on the big rides and I can take DD on the little stuff.

Also, do you think it's worth getting the park hopper and doing a few select things at California Adventure? Or do you think spending the whole day at DL is better. Personally, I'd rather just stay at DL the whole day, but will we maybe want to escape from the madness a little bit and maybe hop over to CA?

Sorry for all the questions. I feel silly asking them, or rather that I don't know the answers I spent so much time at DL and had annual passports for years, but we never went at busy times. With the passes, we just went at slow times, so I've never encountered crazy crowds.

Thanks again for your help!! I really appreciate it

 

[Sherry E]

We have been to DLR on the weekends immediately before Christmas for the last two years, and while it was very crowded, it wasn't so unbearable for us that we couldn't get anything done. See, if you were not going with your son, I would say skip the schedule and the urgency to get on certain rides by a certain time, and just wander around soaking in the wonderful, glorious holiday atmosphere at a leisurely pace. I really wish you had more than one day to spare for this trip because, especially during the holidays, it will be tough to cram in all of the 'big rides' your son will like. Plus, there will be the Haunted Mansion Holiday, which you have to see, and It's a Small World Holiday, which you can't miss. But that time of year is so beautiful and magical at DLR that it is worth it to be there even for one day.

I always advocate getting a Hopper - even for one day. DL will get very crowded and at some points of the day it is is worse than other times. DCA is handy to escape to during those times, and your son would probably love being able to ride California Screamin', Toy Story Midway Mania and Soarin,' and you all may enjoy It's Tough to be a Bug and Monsters Inc. or Aladdin. You won't be able to see and do everything in either DL or in DCA, but you can get a really good taste of both places in one day. Yes, get there very early in the morning, and yes, stay as late as you can at night. Use Fast Passes, make Priority Seating plans if you plan to eat at a table service place in the resort - anything you can do to maximize your time.