December questions from an Aussie :)

[aussiedaisy]

Hello!! My twin sister and I have decided to visit Disneyland in the second week of December 2010, the first week will be spent in WDW in Florida. I know it is a bit early to start planning but coming from Australia, I sort of need to plan quite far ahead. I just wanted to ask if the second week of December is a good time to visit? Are the crowds usually low? What is the weather like? What Christmas activities are available? Also, by then will the new version of California Adventure be up and running? Hope someone can give me some ideas, thanks soooo much

 

[ACDSNY]

Sounds like a wonderful trip. It's been a couple of years since I've gone in Dec, but I would think mid week should still be fairly decent crowd wise. I think you get alot of locals on the weekends.

 

[RuthieT]

We went December 11th to 17th in 2007 and the crowds got bad with long long lines around the 15th.... We went DEcember 4th to 11th 2008 and the crowds were much lighter and the lines we not bad at all... I would go early December again for sure!

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

I second going in the beginning of December. At least the first 2 weeks. We've been going around that time for the past 2 years for DBF's birthday and we love it. The Christmas decorations are up and kids are still in school so the crowds are light.

As for the Christmas activities, everything is up and running. The overlays for Small World and The Haunted Mansion (maybe this year) are up. The Holiday Tour is running too.

The new DCA won't be finished yet! There is still going to be some construction going on.

HTH!

 

[DisGirl819]

Take the Holiday Tour! It is about $60 a person but really awesome and you get priority seating for a parade and on the Haunted Mansion and Its a small world with no wait! Plus you will get a treat for the parade. Santa should be there with his reindeer too.

DCA will not be finished but they should be making good headway on it! It was downright depressing over Christmas last year (08) because the lagoon was drained. Hopefully that will be filled by then, but they have a lot to do in the lagoon so who knows?! There is still plenty to do in DCA regardless and both parks shouldn't be too busy the second week of Dec. Sounds like a great time to go! Have fun!

 

[mikayla73]

Those would be good weeks to visit either. Also you could see the Candlelight Processional depending on which days you're there. At DL it's usually the first full weekend in Dec, although they don't usually announce the dates for that until closer to time and they could change. DH and I went last year and it was beautiful. They have it at WDW too, but we have never been to that one.

 

[hollieplus2]

We are thinking about going 12/15-12/17. How bad is it really??? I already have my Hojo ressie.

 

[mikayla73]

We are thinking about going 12/15-12/17. How bad is it really??? I already have my Hojo ressie.

The 15th-17th is middle of the week and Christmas falls 2 Saturdays after that. If you're going then, that's probably your best bet and better than going over a weekend. Although no one can tell for sure obviously. Just plan ahead and use FP. The latest I have been is the 2nd week in Dec. It was OK for us.

 

[platypus67]

We have never had a problem with crowds during the first couple of weeks in December. We usually leave Australia around the 7th or 8th as airfares will jump about $1000 after the 9th of Dec. We have usually stayed until the 15th or 16th, and during the week crowds were generally low. Weekends are always busier but nothing compared to what we experienced at WDW in the first week of Dec.
As for weather, I guess it depends where in oz you live. Being Queenslanders and having lived in Cairns until 8 months ago we find it quite cold at that time of year, especially at night. Days were pleasant but not water ride temps for us. We certainly don't use the swimming pools at that time of year. We also found it cold in Florida at that time, but then again we are tropical people. It is however my favourite time of year to go.
We are planning to go to DLR again this Dec and have already booked our hotel.
We will leave flights a little longer as Qantas seems to be running a higher than usual number of specials.
Anyway have a great trip!

 

[aussiedaisy]

Thanks sooo much for the replies everyone, it was very helpfull!

HOWEVER...there might be a sooner trip in store as we have the Disney travel bug really bad at the moment, we are talking today about maybe a trip around mid November this year....what does everyone think about that time to go? How are the crowds then and is that bushfire season in LA? Hope someone can also give me some advise on that time of year to travel to Disneyland! Thanks

 

[mikayla73]

Oh that's my birthday! I have been and it wasn't bad. Just make sure not to go the week of Thanksgiving (4th Thrusday in Nov). There's also Veteran's Day on the 11th, so there might be more people around because of that, but I haven't had any problems. The Christmas decorations are usually up by mid Nov too, so you'll get a preview of Dec 2010!

 

[soak01]

We have never had a problem with crowds during the first couple of weeks in December. We usually leave Australia around the 7th or 8th as airfares will jump about $1000 after the 9th of Dec. We have usually stayed until the 15th or 16th, and during the week crowds were generally low. Weekends are always busier but nothing compared to what we experienced at WDW in the first week of Dec.
As for weather, I guess it depends where in oz you live. Being Queenslanders and having lived in Cairns until 8 months ago we find it quite cold at that time of year, especially at night. Days were pleasant but not water ride temps for us. We certainly don't use the swimming pools at that time of year. We also found it cold in Florida at that time, but then again we are tropical people. It is however my favourite time of year to go.
We are planning to go to DLR again this Dec and have already booked our hotel.
We will leave flights a little longer as Qantas seems to be running a higher than usual number of specials.
Anyway have a great trip!

Just saw this post about Disneyland in November/December. We are travelling to DL from Adelaide on 30 November having got a great fare with Cathay Pacific and are really looking forward to it, we just won't think about the $AUD.

I just wanted to ask any fellow Aussies, if you have any recommendations for transfers from LAX to Anaheim and how you book your DL tickets (i.e. through an agent or online through Disney).

We were looking at the DL Bus but as we don't arrive at LAX until 8.15pm, a shuttle/private transfer may be better.

Cheers

 

[BecBennett]

We always use the DL express to get to and from the air port, but depending on how many of you there are, a shuttle may be better.

I buy my DLR tickets through www.disneyland.com they email the tickets to you, so you just print them off and take them directly to the turnstyle (not the ticket booth) when you get there.

 

[kiwitravel]

Just saw this post about Disneyland in November/December. We are travelling to DL from Adelaide on 30 November having got a great fare with Cathay Pacific and are really looking forward to it, we just won't think about the $AUD.

I just wanted to ask any fellow Aussies, if you have any recommendations for transfers from LAX to Anaheim and how you book your DL tickets (i.e. through an agent or online through Disney).

We were looking at the DL Bus but as we don't arrive at LAX until 8.15pm, a shuttle/private transfer may be better.

Cheers

We book our tickets through an agent, it is cheaper than buying them in the US plus we can get the 14 day pass which is handy if you are there for more than 5 days. It was great to be able to go in and out as much as we pleased and not feel we have to go hard all day to get the most out of the day and it is only $10 or so more.

I am pretty sure the DL bus runs hourly till quite late. Shuttle can be a pain unless it is a specific Anaheim shuttle as they end up making a whole lot of other stops first and can mean a really long trip to the hotel.