disney at christmas

[mariezp]

Well, Sherry, while I have got you thinking you need really ought to spend more time at Reindeer Roundup I might as well entice you some more..... I've got a TON of them! Hope the rest of you enjoy them too!


More from 2008
Heading into Santa's house!

So what do you do once you get inside? Take pictures of the decorations, of course!

What do you suppose happens as soon as we get there and our turn is next? Santa stands up and it's BREAK TIME!

Santa's helper goes all out to keep DD entertained until Santa gets back.

Guess who finally makes it back? YAY! SANTA!

 

[amamax2]

Ooooh LOVE LOVE LOVE these pictures!!!

The first time we went to DL at Christmas, we went to take pictures with Santa and there was no one in line, so it was awesome! We got a great shot for our Christmas card.

When we went the second time, a few years later, we just assumed we'd be able to waltz right up again. Wrong! Boy had Christmas time gotten popular. The line was long, made worse by the whole "call my family to come meet us 'cause I'm close to the front of the line now" scenario. As we stood there, with the line getting bigger rather than shorter the longer we waited, we finally bailed. I was so sad as my mom was with us - her first time at DL in probably 30 years.

We made up for it with tons of pictures by the tree on Main St and the one in DCA.

 

[disneylovingfamily:4]

I love seeing all the Dec pictures!! We LOVE going in December!! We wont be able to do a Dec trip until 2011 We are doing birthday trips this year instead..But I am already getting excited about our next Dec trip!!!

 

[AttilaTheHun]

Hello everyone, I have been reading all your posts and I have learned a lot. My son and I are planing to go to Disneyland this Christmas. We have been to Disney World in Florida before but this will be our first Christmas in Disneyland. After spending the past couple of weeks trying to decide which hotel to stay at I decided on the Sheraton Park Hotel across from the park. Have any of you ever stayed there. Is it a pretty nice place. I will try to get a room facing Disneyland for the nice view. At first I was going to get the 5 day hopper till my son said he also wanted to go see Universal Studios. So thought then we could go with 4 day hopper. While doing more research I saw that the Medieval Times was not that far away and I was there the last time in the early 90's. Well this would take us down to 3 days for Disneyland. My other question to you all is should I add a day to our trip and have 4 days at Disneyland and 2 days to go to the other 2 attractions? Or would 3 days in Disneyland be enough?? My son just turned 13 so he will have a lot of energy. We plan to fly down from up here in the San Francisco area and use the shuttles to get to the other places.

What do you all think?

 

[ConnieB]

Hello everyone, I have been reading all your posts and I have learned a lot. My son and I are planing to go to Disneyland this Christmas. We have been to Disney World in Florida before but this will be our first Christmas in Disneyland. After spending the past couple of weeks trying to decide which hotel to stay at I decided on the Sheraton Park Hotel across from the park. Have any of you ever stayed there. Is it a pretty nice place. I will try to get a room facing Disneyland for the nice view. At first I was going to get the 5 day hopper till my son said he also wanted to go see Universal Studios. So thought then we could go with 4 day hopper. While doing more research I saw that the Medieval Times was not that far away and I was there the last time in the early 90's. Well this would take us down to 3 days for Disneyland. My other question to you all is should I add a day to our trip and have 4 days at Disneyland and 2 days to go to the other 2 attractions? Or would 3 days in Disneyland be enough?? My son just turned 13 so he will have a lot of energy. We plan to fly down from up here in the San Francisco area and use the shuttles to get to the other places.

What do you all think?

Just an FYI....Medieval Times is not a full day event. A couple of hours but not all day. I would plan MT for dinner to maximize the time you can spend at Disney and just be sure to get to Disney at rope drop to get as much as you can in there, head back to your hotel for a short rest/clothes change, then grab a cab to MT for dinner and adventure. MT has one show each night at 7pm M-TH, on Fri they typically have 2 evening shows and on Saturday/Sunday a matinee and one or two evenings. The show itself is less than 2 hours long as I recall. So, depending on Disney's hours and your energy level, you might be able to go back to Disney that evening for a short time.

How many days you need in Disney really depends on your son's interests and your style of touring the parks. My girls (just turned 14) and I are definitely wanderers....we have our goals of rides to get to, but we love to talk to CMs, watch the various street artists at work, wait in line to meet/greet characters, see the shows, watch the parade each day and the fireworks too, ride the less popular rides too, etc. 3 days would never be enough for us, we typically do a week at Disneyland touring both parks. We tend to go during less busy times (our next trip is early December) so that we don't spend a ton of time in lines.

The other extreme is more "commando" types where you are interested mostly in riding specific rides with little or no interest in stopping to watch the street artists, don't bother with the characters, glimpse the parades only as you rush off to the popular rides because the lines are shorter while everyone else is watching the parade, eat from Counter Service but take it to eat in the next ride line etc. Friends who are this type tend to be able to do their version in one day per park and feel they've done all they need in 2 days.

Your family is likely somewhere in between. Personally I think 3 or 4 days is an absolute minimum to get more than just rides done. Since the price difference between a 3 and 4 or 4 and 5 day ticket is about $10 a day personally if you can afford the extra night(s) of hotel I'd say an extra day or two.

 

[AttilaTheHun]

Hi Connie, Your insightful info was great, After staring at my calender I was thinking if we arrive the morning of Dec 21st and go to the Medieval Times for dinner the first day. Then on the 22nd we can go to Universal Studios, which would leave us the 23-26th to spend in Disneyland, and fly home the 27th. This would be a total of 6 nights down there and giving us 4 days in the Park. Also, if we get an evening flight home we could spend almost an extra half day at the park if we wanted to.

Do you think there would be less people the week before Christmas or the week after? Has anyone stayed at the Sheraton Park Hotel? Is it pretty good?

 

[Sherry E]

Hi Connie, Your insightful info was great, After staring at my calender I was thinking if we arrive the morning of Dec 21st and go to the Medieval Times for dinner the first day. Then on the 22nd we can go to Universal Studios, which would leave us the 23-26th to spend in Disneyland, and fly home the 27th. This would be a total of 6 nights down there and giving us 4 days in the Park. Also, if we get an evening flight home we could spend almost an extra half day at the park if we wanted to.

Do you think there would be less people the week before Christmas or the week after? Has anyone stayed at the Sheraton Park Hotel? Is it pretty good?

It will be less crowded before Christmas than after Christmas - but it will still be very crowded. Be prepared for that. Weekdays are better than weekends, however. This subject has been discussed a lot in this thread and I think we all agree that after Christmas is a madhouse.

I think you should ideally have 4 days at DLR if you can. There is a LOT to take in if you are interested in soaking in all the wonderful details (seen in the fantastic photos all through this entire thread - be sure to look at all the photos). Plus, it's just a sensory overload (in a good way) - you kind of need time to really absorb it all.

But - what I will say is, if you decide on only 3 days, which is fine, do 3 days if you go before Christmas. If you can only go after Christmas, take 4 days (you'll need more time with all the crowds). I really suggest avoiding the pos-Christmas mobs if you can, though.

 

[tksbaskets]

Hi Connie, Your insightful info was great, After staring at my calender I was thinking if we arrive the morning of Dec 21st and go to the Medieval Times for dinner the first day. Then on the 22nd we can go to Universal Studios, which would leave us the 23-26th to spend in Disneyland, and fly home the 27th. This would be a total of 6 nights down there and giving us 4 days in the Park. Also, if we get an evening flight home we could spend almost an extra half day at the park if we wanted to.

Do you think there would be less people the week before Christmas or the week after? Has anyone stayed at the Sheraton Park Hotel? Is it pretty good?

We were there during mob week (week between Christmas and NY) It was fine for us because we took advantage of Magic Morning and went back to our beloved Grand Californian hotel at the mid part of the day. We also found DCA to be much less crowded (or crowded feeling) in the afternoon.

Be prepared for this if you are at DL at 11:30 am trying to get to your lunch priority seating in New Orleans Square:

Trying to get to the FP machine for Indy:

Fore warned is fore armed! We had a great trip. The link is in my signature.

 

[GrandBob]

OK, you all have inspired me to post pictures from our trip last year. We were at DLR the Sunday to Thursday after Thanksgiving, and the holiday season was in full swing. Crowds were incredibly light (especially compared to tsbaskets pics, LOL)

In front of Christmas tree at town square

By Big Thunder Ranch

Parade Pics

Castle at Night

 

[PHXscuba]

It's Christmas in July for me!!!

My BFF and I were together today with our kids and got to talking about Disney (she is as nuts about it as me and just got back from a family trip to WDW). We made a pact to do a girls' trip to DLR this Christmas to see all the lights, special attractions, and eat, eat, eat the goodies (I peppermint).

I am so excited! I could have dragged DH, but he wouldn't have gotten into it as much and it's difficult to both take off without our kids. My best friend is the perfect person to travel with and now we have a goal.

Now I just have to go back and read all the pages on this thread .... Maybe after I get back from our one-day trip later this month ... seems weird to be thinking about Christmas when it's 110 here!

Anyhow, I knew y'all would understand my excitement!!

PHXscuba

 

[Sherry E]

It's Christmas in July for me!!!

My BFF and I were together today with our kids and got to talking about Disney (she is as nuts about it as me and just got back from a family trip to WDW). We made a pact to do a girls' trip to DLR this Christmas to see all the lights, special attractions, and eat, eat, eat the goodies (I peppermint).

I am so excited! I could have dragged DH, but he wouldn't have gotten into it as much and it's difficult to both take off without our kids. My best friend is the perfect person to travel with and now we have a goal.

Now I just have to go back and read all the pages on this thread .... Maybe after I get back from our one-day trip later this month ... seems weird to be thinking about Christmas when it's 110 here!

Anyhow, I knew y'all would understand my excitement!!

PHXscuba

PHXscuba!! Welcome! You're another holiday thread hopper!!! There are a few of us thread hoppers, that dart back and forth between Halloween and Christmas!!

Even if you don't have time to read the whole thread, the important thing is to enjoy all the photos in the thread, so at least look at those! Those pictures are what has made this thread so magical (and popular)!!

I'm so excited for you that you get to do a Christmas DLR trip!! Woo hoo!!!

 

[tksbaskets]

PHXscuba we do share your excitement!

GrandBob your pictures were great! Especially the castle at night and back towards Thunder Ranch. Thanks for sharing

 

[mvf-m11c]

Looks like I will post my pics from my 2009 trip. You can also look at my dec trip report and the different pics from my trip. That was a weird weekend when I was there during last year. It was really quiet and we just got on any ride at the park and it was raining that weekend.

IASW Holiday

 

[Sherry E]

I'm replying a bit out of sequence here - I already posted something to Attila and to PHX yesterday, so now I am backtracking and catching up on the posts I wanted to address!!

Well, Sherry, while I have got you thinking you need really ought to spend more time at Reindeer Roundup I might as well entice you some more..... I've got a TON of them! Hope the rest of you enjoy them too!

More from 2008
Heading into Santa's house!

So what do you do once you get inside? Take pictures of the decorations, of course!

What do you suppose happens as soon as we get there and our turn is next? Santa stands up and it's BREAK TIME!

Santa's helper goes all out to keep DD entertained until Santa gets back.

Guess who finally makes it back? YAY! SANTA!

Marie - I absolutely adore those photos!! I love all the details inside Santa's house. I love the pictures of the cookies for Santa, and those photos of your daughter with Santa (and Santa's helper) are so great - my favorite is the very last one, where they are both kind of looking at each other as if they are thinking, "Who is this peculiar person?"

Ooooh LOVE LOVE LOVE these pictures!!!

The first time we went to DL at Christmas, we went to take pictures with Santa and there was no one in line, so it was awesome! We got a great shot for our Christmas card.

When we went the second time, a few years later, we just assumed we'd be able to waltz right up again. Wrong! Boy had Christmas time gotten popular. The line was long, made worse by the whole "call my family to come meet us 'cause I'm close to the front of the line now" scenario. As we stood there, with the line getting bigger rather than shorter the longer we waited, we finally bailed. I was so sad as my mom was with us - her first time at DL in probably 30 years.

We made up for it with tons of pictures by the tree on Main St and the one in DCA.

Amamax2 - I had a heck of a time even getting my friend to get in the Santa photo with the Santa in the GCH lobby. The line was daunting for a while. She wouldn't budge from the table we found because she wanted to stay seated. Somehow I managed to drag her into it and it came out really nice, but the line was not short and that was a big deterrent for my friend. See, I'm willing to wait in a line if I have to. I'm not going to give up on something that will make the trip extra memorable or special just because we found a table to sit at. But not everyone is like that, as I have learned!!

We were there during mob week (week between Christmas and NY) It was fine for us because we took advantage of Magic Morning and went back to our beloved Grand Californian hotel at the mid part of the day. We also found DCA to be much less crowded (or crowded feeling) in the afternoon.

Be prepared for this if you are at DL at 11:30 am trying to get to your lunch priority seating in New Orleans Square:

Trying to get to the FP machine for Indy:

Fore warned is fore armed! We had a great trip. The link is in my signature.

Tksbaskets - Also good to note (for those who have never been to DLR in that mob week or on any other crazy busy day/weekend) is that, sometimes, leaving in the middle of the day is not a good thing if the park has reached capacity. They may not be able to get back in for several hours, no matter what kind of ticket they have or where they are staying. It usually does not happen that way, but it certainly has happened where the park reached capacity and they stopped letting people in.

In fact, last year in December, on that crazy busy day before Christmas when I was there, DL had reached capacity at some point (which made sense given the crowds we dealt with). We stayed in DL all day and didn't leave until late afternoon/early evening, when we moseyed over to DCA. By the time our friends met up with us, we hung around DCA and we all headed back to DL, it was nighttime and they were letting people into DL again.

 

[Sherry E]

Continuing on with the responses...

OK, you all have inspired me to post pictures from our trip last year. We were at DLR the Sunday to Thursday after Thanksgiving, and the holiday season was in full swing. Crowds were incredibly light (especially compared to tsbaskets pics, LOL)

In front of Christmas tree at town square

By Big Thunder Ranch

Parade Pics

Castle at Night

GrandBob - Yay! We finally inspired you to post!! What lovely photos and what an equally lovely family!! I especially love the last picture of your wife and daughter (I assume that's your wife and daughter?) with the Mickey letter 'C'.' It almost appears as if Mickey is holding your daughter in his hand (at a glance)!! And might I also add that I love that shawl/pashmina that your wife is wearing - it's a gorgeous color and I love the fabric!!

Looks like I will post my pics from my 2009 trip. You can also look at my dec trip report and the different pics from my trip. That was a weird weekend when I was there during last year. It was really quiet and we just got on any ride at the park and it was raining that weekend.

IASW Holiday

mvf-m11c - Oh yes! By all means, please share whatever you have!! Thank you so much for posting and keep 'em coming!! In fact, your photos are especially clear and crisp, as well! The nighttime pictures are exquisite. So I'm sure we all want to know - what camera did you use?

 

[mvf-m11c]

mvf-m11c - Oh yes! By all means, please share whatever you have!! Thank you so much for posting and keep 'em coming!! In fact, your photos are especially clear and crisp, as well! The nighttime pictures are exquisite. So I'm sure we all want to know - what camera did you use?

Thanks for the compliment. I have a Nikon D60 that I use during my trip last year.

 

[GrandBob]

GrandBob - Yay! We finally inspired you to post!! What lovely photos and what an equally lovely family!! I especially love the last picture of your wife and daughter (I assume that's your wife and daughter?) with the Mickey letter 'C'.' It almost appears as if Mickey is holding your daughter in his hand (at a glance)!! And might I also add that I love that shawl/pashmina that your wife is wearing - it's a gorgeous color and I love the fabric!!

Thanks Sherry. Yes, I'm not one for posting a lot of pictures, but what can I say? You're inspirational!

Actually, it's my wife and granddaughter. I'm GrandBob, remember? And my wife, the fashion maven, goes by the moniker GlamMa She's got dozens of pashminas that she likes to play with. Anyway, the funny thing is that DGD seems to have picked up the fashion gene from GlamMa -- her mom (our DDIL) is a sweats and T-shirt gal, so DGD didn't pick it up from her!

Anyway, thanks for the compliments, Sherry and tksbaskets. I'm particularly fond of the one with the moon silhouetting the Matterhorn with the castle lit in purple in the foreground.

-Bob

 

[Desert Dwellers]

mvf-m11c

I have a Nikon D60 that I use during my trip last year.

I have a Nikon D70 - what settings did you use for your nighttime shots? Absolutely gorgeous! Did you use a tripod?

Really terrific pictures from everyone -- it's making me anxious to go. I'd love to go tomorrow, but then it wouldn't be Christmas time.

 

[Sherry E]

Thanks for the compliment. I have a Nikon D60 that I use during my trip last year.

mvf-m11c -Those Nikons DSLRs get the job done every time! We've seen more great photos on this board that were taken by those Nikons. I would love to own one, but seeing that I can't even figure out the many manuals for my little Canon point and shoot SD880, I have a feeling I would be a lost cause with a DSLR!!

Thanks Sherry. Yes, I'm not one for posting a lot of pictures, but what can I say? You're inspirational!

Actually, it's my wife and granddaughter. I'm GrandBob, remember? And my wife, the fashion maven, goes by the moniker GlamMa She's got dozens of pashminas that she likes to play with. Anyway, the funny thing is that DGD seems to have picked up the fashion gene from GlamMa -- her mom (our DDIL) is a sweats and T-shirt gal, so DGD didn't pick it up from her!

Anyway, thanks for the compliments, Sherry and tksbaskets. I'm particularly fond of the one with the moon silhouetting the Matterhorn with the castle lit in purple in the foreground.

-Bob

GrandBob - I think this thread has inspired more than a few people to post photos - and more than a few holiday trips to be planned!!

You're right - that moon/silhouette photo is fantastic as well. It's one of those 'suitable for framing' photos like the great nighttime shot that Kayla's Mom posted here.

You know, for some odd reason, when I first glanced at your photos (and also bbangel's and someone else's pictures too), they appeared to be much smaller. Then, the next time I returned to the thread, they were large size again. Then they shrank again, and returned to large size again! I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but it was the weirdest thing! It's probably my PC doing crazy things, as usual, or it's a bizarre thing happening on the DIS. So when I first saw your photos they were the smaller size and I didn't notice the moon/silhouette shot as well or as clearly as I can see it today!! Awesome!!

GrandBob and GlamMa!! That is too cute!!! Well, DGD is adorable so I'm sure she will be a perfect fashionista when the time is right!!

mvf-m11c

I have a Nikon D70 - what settings did you use for your nighttime shots? Absolutely gorgeous! Did you use a tripod?

Really terrific pictures from everyone -- it's making me anxious to go. I'd love to go tomorrow, but then it wouldn't be Christmas time.

Desert Dwellers - No, it wouldn't be Christmastime, that's for sure. Of course, 4th of July is important for other reasons, but visually - aesthetically - it's just not as interesting at DLR as Christmastime or HalloweenTime are, sadly.

Some friends of mine once tried to have a Christmas party in July as a novelty idea, and even though there were decorations and things around, it just didn't have the same feel. It didn't seem like Christmas or have that holiday feeling with people jumping in the pool and barbecuing. It needs to at least be November before traces of Christmas start popping up and before I start buying into the fact that it's the holiday season!!

But I have been known, every now and then, to watch one of the Christmas shows I have saved on the DVR in the middle of summer (Guy's Disney Holiday, anyone?), like any of the multitude of Christmas lights shows that play on Travel Channel or The Learning Channel in December! I love those shows, and they certainly make me anxious for November to get here!!!

 

[ConnieB]

It will be less crowded before Christmas than after Christmas - but it will still be very crowded. Be prepared for that. Weekdays are better than weekends, however. This subject has been discussed a lot in this thread and I think we all agree that after Christmas is a madhouse.

I think you should ideally have 4 days at DLR if you can. There is a LOT to take in if you are interested in soaking in all the wonderful details (seen in the fantastic photos all through this entire thread - be sure to look at all the photos). Plus, it's just a sensory overload (in a good way) - you kind of need time to really absorb it all.

But - what I will say is, if you decide on only 3 days, which is fine, do 3 days if you go before Christmas. If you can only go after Christmas, take 4 days (you'll need more time with all the crowds). I really suggest avoiding the pos-Christmas mobs if you can, though.

Actually she has planned for 4 days...23, 24, 25, 26 and actually since they're not leaving until evening on the 27th they'll have a partial day as well.

You might consider getting one of the many guides available for Disneyland (Birnbaum is a popular one and many libraries will have it....there is also a Birnbaum for kids though it's not as informative). Read through it and write down the rides, shows, exhibits, etc that you want to see. This helps first time visitors because it's easy to get overwhelmed and unsure where to go next, lol.....not to mention lost in the maze of things and not realize you missed an entire section! The first time I took my girls to DL while waiting in line they'd pull out their list, mark off what we were in line for and start deciding what to do next with the help of the park map.....a great way to pass the time in line and build some excitement about what's coming up.