December crowds question…

[Wendylet]

I am headed to Disneyland with my daughter and two grandchildren (1 and 6) Dec 15-20. Yes call us crazy but here in Canada there are restrictions for my granddaughter upon returning to Canada and she cannot attend school for 2 weeks, hence choosing to return when she is on Xmas break! We know the crowds will be crazy likely but we really want to immerse ourselves and have never been to Disney at Xmas. What would your approach be? We decided to look at 1 or 2 ADRs per day just to give the kids a break and some quiet but would you pick breakfast reservations? We really enjoy that but I’m worried we might be trading off valuable time in the parks at a time of day when we might get more done. Also I wonder what the rule is to return to a park if you leave. I know they can restrict park hopping due to capacity but if we started at one park and left for a bit can you be denied entry if you want to return to that same park after a break? Not really the same as park hopping but I wonder what the rule is on this. Thank you for any assistance!!

 

[twodogs]

Having just returned from Columbus Day weekend with my DD, I would strongly advise using the early morning to ride all the rides you can. I would NOT do a sit down breakfast. The first hour of the parks was the only reasonably decent time for ride waits, and even that was pretty horrible. The only other time we saw better waits was late at night 10-11pm, with 11pm closing time for DL. I doubt kiddos that young can stay up that late (I was traveling with my 14 year old, so not a problem).

 

[Wendylet]

Having just returned from Columbus Day weekend with my DD, I would strongly advise using the early morning to ride all the rides you can. I would NOT do a sit down breakfast. The first hour of the parks was the only reasonably decent time for ride waits, and even that was pretty horrible. The only other time we saw better waits was late at night 10-11pm, with 11pm closing time for DL. I doubt kiddos that young can stay up that late (I was traveling with my 14 year old, so not a problem).

Thanks for your input. I think we will rethink the breakfast reservations and maybe just book one on our fourth day. I am hoping Genie+ might be a go as I think that might be handy at least on the weekend! We are just so excited to be a small part of the magic.

 

[twodogs]

I would have paid a lot for G+ for this trip. We always go on holidays, weekends and school breaks since my kids are too old to want to miss school and we have to fly in from Texas. That said, the stand by lines were the worst I have seen. Even the little ”easy” rides like Ariel’s were 30+ real minutes of waiting. Buzz was 40+. The rides you can always count on being quick were just not. And the headliners (which may not interest you since you have littles with you) such at GOTG, RSR, SM, HMH etc were basically over an hour wait immediately after park opening and didn’t drop until 10pm, if they dropped.

I wish you a great trip, and having TS will help break up the day when the ride waits are just not do-able for littles. And I pray that G+ has started by then for you!

 

[Wendylet]

I would have paid a lot for G+ for this trip. We always go on holidays, weekends and school breaks since my kids are too old to want to miss school and we have to fly in from Texas. That said, the stand by lines were the worst I have seen. Even the little ”easy” rides like Ariel’s were 30+ real minutes of waiting. Buzz was 40+. The rides you can always count on being quick were just not. And the headliners (which may not interest you since you have littles with you) such at GOTG, RSR, SM, HMH etc were basically over an hour wait immediately after park opening and didn’t drop until 10pm, if they dropped.

I wish you a great trip, and having TS will help break up the day when the ride waits are just not do-able for littles. And I pray that G+ has started by then for you!

Thanks so much. I know it will be challenging but in the end so worth it.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Thanks for your input. I think we will rethink the breakfast reservations and maybe just book one on our fourth day. I am hoping Genie+ might be a go as I think that might be handy at least on the weekend! We are just so excited to be a small part of the magic.

We never do breakfast for this reason. The first 2-3 hours are the best of the day and it usually goes downhill from there so we mobile order Starbucks breakfast sandwiches and do lots of rides in the morning then do sit down for lunch and/or dinner to rest and recharge.

Since you will be there on a weekend you could try for brunch reservations at Lamplight Lounge, a little later in the morning and brunch is supposed to be great.

It will probably be crowded but maybe not as bad as the week between Christmas and New Years.

 

[Wendylet]

We never do breakfast for this reason. The first 2-3 hours are the best of the day and it usually goes downhill from there so we mobile order Starbucks breakfast sandwiches and do lots of rides in the morning then do sit down for lunch and/or dinner to rest and recharge.

Since you will be there on a weekend you could try for brunch reservations at Lamplight Lounge, a little later in the morning and brunch is supposed to be great.

It will probably be crowded but maybe not as bad as the week between Christmas and New Years.

Thanks for your thoughts. We actually do have plans to do the brunch at Lamplight Lounge on the Saturday and We are kicking around the idea of doing Storytellers Cafe on our travel day before we head out to the airport. Our hotel actually offers a hot buffet breakfast with our room so we could just take advantage of that and try to rope drop as much as possible.

Would you happen to know the answer to the question regarding park capacity and return to your first park after leaving for a bit? We are just wanting to hit Downtown Disney at some point but don’t have a free day to spend on it. I’m a bit worried about crowd levels and if we would have any problem getting back into the park!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Thanks for your thoughts. We actually do have plans to do the brunch at Lamplight Lounge on the Saturday and We are kicking around the idea of doing Storytellers Cafe on our travel day before we head out to the airport. Our hotel actually offers a hot buffet breakfast with our room so we could just take advantage of that and try to rope drop as much as possible.

Would you happen to know the answer to the question regarding park capacity and return to your first park after leaving for a bit? We are just wanting to hit Downtown Disney at some point but don’t have a free day to spend on it. I’m a bit worried about crowd levels and if we would have any problem getting back into the park!

Nobody knows the answer at this point but if I had to get I wouldn’t think it would close for capacity reasons considering the reservations. And if it did I suspect it would be more like the days from Christmas to New Years rather than the time you are going. Finally, DTD is very small. You don’t need a day there, a few hours is sufficient, even if broken up on different days.

 

[sjmac42]

Would you happen to know the answer to the question regarding park capacity and return to your first park after leaving for a bit? We are just wanting to hit Downtown Disney at some point but don’t have a free day to spend on it. I’m a bit worried about crowd levels and if we would have any problem getting back into the park!

Extremely unlikely you will have any trouble returning to the same park due to the park reservation system. They don’t release more reservations throughout the day so only a set number of people will have a reservation for that day and that won’t change. Parkhopping is potentially an issue but there have been no reports of people been unable to park hop. That will be more of an issue between Christmas and New Year. The crowds the week before Christmas are generally quite manageable, busy but manageable. The week after Christmas is the crazy busy time. When we went in 2019 the crowds didn’t really hit until the 27th December, the day we were leaving.
Do you have your park reservations in place?

 

[l4dyj8]

Since you will have a 1 and 6 year old, I would allow for some down time. Things not going as scheduled. Taking our time has made crowded parks days tolerable. It’s a wonderful time to be there and since you will be there for several days, there’s no need to rush.

They have yet to announce any holiday details but there’s plenty of activities. In the past, they’ve had food events in DCA, Festival of Holidays. Lots of activities for kids. Grand Californian has holiday treats. Santa is at Redwood Creek. They’ve had cookie decorating kits. (Again, all of this has yet to be confirmed).

 

[Wendylet]

Extremely unlikely you will have any trouble returning to the same park due to the park reservation system. They don’t release more reservations throughout the day so only a set number of people will have a reservation for that day and that won’t change. Parkhopping is potentially an issue but there have been no reports of people been unable to park hop. That will be more of an issue between Christmas and New Year. The crowds the week before Christmas are generally quite manageable, busy but manageable. The week after Christmas is the crazy busy time. When we went in 2019 the crowds didn’t really hit until the 27th December, the day we were leaving.
Do you have your park reservations in place?

Yes we have all our reservations in place. Thank you I was hoping we could return and it makes sense to me that if you have a reservation it should be for the whole day really so leaving and returning shouldn’t affect anything. I was really trying to avoid a tearful situation should we not be able to return due to capacity restrictions and tiny tots having a meltdown!

 

[Wendylet]

Since you will have a 1 and 6 year old, I would allow for some down time. Things not going as scheduled. Taking our time has made crowded parks days tolerable. It’s a wonderful time to be there and since you will be there for several days, there’s no need to rush.

They have yet to announce any holiday details but there’s plenty of activities. In the past, they’ve had food events in DCA, Festival of Holidays. Lots of activities for kids. Grand Californian has holiday treats. Santa is at Redwood Creek. They’ve had cookie decorating kits. (Again, all of this has yet to be confirmed).

That all sounds so wonderful. I will keep an eye out for festive things. In the past would you have had to make reservations for any of the festive things that happened?

 

[Halloweenqueen]

We plan to go December 12-17th. It is important to get up in time for rope drop. We do a breakfast, but counter service, right before the change over to lunch. We never eat breakfast at home, but we need our coffee. We often make mobile orders for the 10:50 mark. So many restaurants have the same menu for lunch and dinner. It is nice to have a change of pace.

We take a break usually from 2-5 or whenever we feel the crowds are getting too bad. Then we return for our dinner reservation and stay until close. That break really helps.

 

[PirateBrigade]

That 2-5pm or 3-6pm break/nap is key, because it lets you take advantage of the two lightest traffic periods of time in the day--the first few hours of opening, and the final hour or two before close, especially if it's Fantasyland/smaller kid rides.

Pre-pandemic, we would reenter the parks after naps/dinner at 7pm and rejoice at all the half-zombie children slowly getting carried out of the park. I remember 11pm-12am, everything being a walk-on except Peter Pan. We'd enter that line just before midnight as our last ride.

 

[l4dyj8]

That all sounds so wonderful. I will keep an eye out for festive things. In the past would you have had to make reservations for any of the festive things that happened?

No reservation needed at all. And besides Santa, the activities aren’t that busy. (It’s coloring and crafts, learning different culture celebrations)

 

[disneegrl4eva]

Yes we have all our reservations in place. Thank you I was hoping we could return and it makes sense to me that if you have a reservation it should be for the whole day really so leaving and returning shouldn’t affect anything. I was really trying to avoid a tearful situation should we not be able to return due to capacity restrictions and tiny tots having a meltdown!

I really don't think you are going to have to worry about park capacity on the dates you are going...now if it was Christmas Eve or after then ya you probably should worry...but I think you will be ok

 

[ishbit92]

That 2-5pm or 3-6pm break/nap is key, because it lets you take advantage of the two lightest traffic periods of time in the day--the first few hours of opening, and the final hour or two before close, especially if it's Fantasyland/smaller kid rides.

Pre-pandemic, we would reenter the parks after naps/dinner at 7pm and rejoice at all the half-zombie children slowly getting carried out of the park. I remember 11pm-12am, everything being a walk-on except Peter Pan. We'd enter that line just before midnight as our last ride.

YES, this. Mid-day naps are game changers for Disney days. Staying until the park closes has a special kind of magic to it.