Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread #2 (Closed)

[spiderdust]

I would say the same thing that the Good Neighbor hotels don't go all Holiday out. I have seen the Lobbies at BWPPI and BW Stovall's decorated in the lobby with some nice Christmas decorations. It is not like the DLR which goes all Holiday crazy. Just as you have said Sherry, the DLR hotels are very nice during the Holiday season especially the GCH.

Hmm... anyone know if HoJo decorates their lobby?

 

[tksbaskets]

We may be going the week of January 1-7. Does anyone know when the decorations and overlays come down?

How are the crowds post-holiday?

TK

 

[mvf-m11c]

We may be going the week of January 1-7. Does anyone know when the decorations and overlays come down?

How are the crowds post-holiday?

TK

That is very great news to hear TK that you may be going to DL. Even though the Holiday schedule is not announced yet, but in the past the first weekend of January is the last weekend of the Holiday season. Right now January 1st is on a Sunday and it might be the last day during the Holiday season. I'm hoping that you will be able to enjoy the Holiday events on the first day.

The post Holiday crowds should be low after the last day of the Holiday season. I remember that IASWH wasn't closed immediately when the Holiday season ended, I beleive it was sometime around the middle of January. The HMH will be closed when the Holiday season is over. I look at TP and it said that after Monday Jan 2nd, the crowds should be really low during your visit.

 

[Sherry E]

We may be going the week of January 1-7. Does anyone know when the decorations and overlays come down?

How are the crowds post-holiday?

TK

TK - To expand on what Bret said, the last day of the holiday season is typically the first Sunday in January....BUT that Sunday usually falls after New Year's Day, so it gives people a few extra days to enjoy the decor before it comes down.

In 2012, however, New Year's Day will actually be on Sunday. So I'm not sure if DLR will choose that to be the last day of the season and begin to take things down before dawn on January 2nd (Monday), OR if they will just make Monday, January 2nd the official last day and then start to take things down by 1/3/12. They generally do not end their seasons on Mondays, BUT they are breaking tradition this year and ending Halloween Time on a Monday, so who knows what they will do, those sneaky Disney folks?

The other possibility is that they could end the holiday season - officially - on January 8th...but that almost seems too late to do it.

To me, January 1st seems too early to end it - and, in fact, things like the Rose Parade in Pasadena don't happen on Sundays (there's a bit of trivia for anyone who didn't know!). The Rose Parade will happen on Monday, January 2nd. A lot of people will use that Monday as their paid New Year's Day holiday.

So...my guess is that for 2012, DLR will break tradition and 'officially' end its season on Jaunary 2nd (Monday).

IASW Holiday will probably stay up until around MLK Day in January as they remove all of the stuff from Haunted Mansion Holiday.

So at the very least, you will get to enjoy IASW Holiday during your trip - I am almost certain of that (unless DLR changes it up on us!). BUT, if my hunch is correct and they decide to go with a Monday, 1/2/12 end date to the season, you will likely be able to sneak in a ride or two on HMH and see the Reindeer Round-Up before it's gone. And you will see the decorations coming down slowly but surely during your trip.

Oh, and Santa will be gone when Christmas ends - there have been conflicting reports of whether or not he still appears (in street clothes!) at the Round-Up past December 25th, but he will be gone from all of the other locations around DLR after Christmas.

I hope you get to go, TK!

 

[mvf-m11c]

That is what I thought Sherry. When I looked at TP and it said the park would be 10/10 on Monday January 2nd, and the Holiday season would be extended towards that day instead of the usual first weekend Sunday. I never go during that time when it is crazy and taking down the Holiday overlays.

TY for clarifying it up, I knew that you would step in this morning and say it correctly.

Hope this helps you TK when you plan your trip.

 

[DizNee Luver]

The trip planning has begun........we've booked the HoJo's for November 28-Dec 3!!!!!!
See what you started Sherry??

 

[Sherry E]

The trip planning has begun........we've booked the HoJo's for November 28-Dec 3!!!!!!
See what you started Sherry??

Yay!! I've worked my holiday magic on yet another person!

Laurie, I'm so excited for you! I just know you and the family will love DLR during the holidays. How could you not love it, really? As you said, you already love Christmas and you love DLR - so...this is a perfect combination, I'd say!

I hope the plan sticks and that you don't have to change it or shorten it or anything. I'm crossing my fingers. That's a good 6-day trip, too! A nice amount of time to take it all in - and get tons of photos!

I see you have it perfectly arranged to where you will be leaving on Saturday, December 3 - just in time for the Candlelight Processional crowds to pack into the park! Smart thinking!!

What kind of room did you book? Did you get one of the kids' suites? Or did you just book 2 regular rooms?






By the way, since I've had annoying plumbing work done on my building and in my apartment for, like, the last 8 days, and I can't focus on anything until they all leave and things settle down, I was trying - "trying" being the operative word - to group many of my holiday photos together into different folders on Photobucket - just so I could do like an all-Paradise Pier thing, and all-GCH thing, an all-DLH thing, etc.

I was going to post some holiday photos here from the different categories while I was waiting for the work crew to leave. And that darn Photobucket just cannot get through the loading process without some sort of error! I have tried the bulk uploader and the regular uploader, and there are constant problems! It is soooo frustrating.

Of course, I already have all of the photos loaded to Photobucket in the folders from my December DLR trip, but to find all the PPH pictures, all the GCH pictures, etc. spread out amongst and mixed in with all those pictures, will be a pain.

I have come to the conclusion that there is no easy way for me to post photos!

 

[tksbaskets]

That is very great news to hear TK that you may be going to DL. Even though the Holiday schedule is not announced yet, but in the past the first weekend of January is the last weekend of the Holiday season. Right now January 1st is on a Sunday and it might be the last day during the Holiday season. I'm hoping that you will be able to enjoy the Holiday events on the first day.

The post Holiday crowds should be low after the last day of the Holiday season. I remember that IASWH wasn't closed immediately when the Holiday season ended, I beleive it was sometime around the middle of January. The HMH will be closed when the Holiday season is over. I look at TP and it said that after Monday Jan 2nd, the crowds should be really low during your visit.

TK - To expand on what Bret said, the last day of the holiday season is typically the first Sunday in January....BUT that Sunday usually falls after New Year's Day, so it gives people a few extra days to enjoy the decor before it comes down.

In 2012, however, New Year's Day will actually be on Sunday. So I'm not sure if DLR will choose that to be the last day of the season and begin to take things down before dawn on January 2nd (Monday), OR if they will just make Monday, January 2nd the official last day and then start to take things down by 1/3/12. They generally do not end their seasons on Mondays, BUT they are breaking tradition this year and ending Halloween Time on a Monday, so who knows what they will do, those sneaky Disney folks?

The other possibility is that they could end the holiday season - officially - on January 8th...but that almost seems too late to do it.

To me, January 1st seems too early to end it - and, in fact, things like the Rose Parade in Pasadena don't happen on Sundays (there's a bit of trivia for anyone who didn't know!). The Rose Parade will happen on Monday, January 2nd. A lot of people will use that Monday as their paid New Year's Day holiday.

So...my guess is that for 2012, DLR will break tradition and 'officially' end its season on Jaunary 2nd (Monday).

IASW Holiday will probably stay up until around MLK Day in January as they remove all of the stuff from Haunted Mansion Holiday.

So at the very least, you will get to enjoy IASW Holiday during your trip - I am almost certain of that (unless DLR changes it up on us!). BUT, if my hunch is correct and they decide to go with a Monday, 1/2/12 end date to the season, you will likely be able to sneak in a ride or two on HMH and see the Reindeer Round-Up before it's gone. And you will see the decorations coming down slowly but surely during your trip.

Oh, and Santa will be gone when Christmas ends - there have been conflicting reports of whether or not he still appears (in street clothes!) at the Round-Up past December 25th, but he will be gone from all of the other locations around DLR after Christmas.

I hope you get to go, TK!

That is what I thought Sherry. When I looked at TP and it said the park would be 10/10 on Monday January 2nd, and the Holiday season would be extended towards that day instead of the usual first weekend Sunday. I never go during that time when it is crazy and taking down the Holiday overlays.

TY for clarifying it up, I knew that you would step in this morning and say it correctly.

Hope this helps you TK when you plan your trip.

Bret and Sherry you both ROCK I now have to wait for DH school schedule to be 'officially' posted for next year 9/2011-6/2012. I already have our DSs college break schedule. It will be super if it works out to see DL for a tiny bit of holiday cheer and then enjoy a less massive crowd. I could then focus my TR on the daily changes in the park decorations

Keeping my fingers cross that all our plans allign!

TK

 

[Sherry E]

TK - I think that sounds like a great idea for the TR. Although it's slightly sad, it would be interesting to see the gradual removal of the holiday stuff all over DLR with each passing day. I'd be curious to see exactly how much is gone in, say, 2 days, 4 days, etc.





Only 7-1/2 months until the holiday season begins! Woo hoo! Right around the corner!

 

[Sherry E]

An interesting thing to note - our very own TheColtonsMom (Sherri) has been invited to do a travel blog this summer about various destinations in Montana!

Sherri should mention it here in this particular thread, because, coincidentally, it was her DLR Christmas Trip Report (the link to which is on Page 1, Post 3, of this very thread, under the Holiday Trip Reports section) that got her the gig! A local newspaper saw her Christmas TR and the rest is history!!

So you see...those holiday trips to DLR that we all love, and those holiday TR's that some of us love to write, can actually sometimes lead to other things!!

Congratulations, Sherri!

 

[TheColtonsMom]

Thanks for the congrats Sherry! And here is my announcement which you will likely see all over the boards because I posted in most threads where I "hang my hat" so to speak!

Just had to share some good news! (Some of you may see this post in more than one place I am excited!)

The local newspaper editor saw my Christmas TR and forwarded my name and a link to it to a group looking for someone to write a Montana travel blog and newspaper travel articles about traveling with your kids.

I have been waiting until it was official but "Traveling in Colton's World" is a go!

So those of you that want to follow along with our travels around Montana this summer can! I will post the link when it gets started. Basically the idea is they pay for us to travel one weekend a month all summer and I write the blog in exchange for the travel $. Any blog article that they want re-vamped as a newspaper article I will actually get paid for on top of it! Since I owe this opportunity to the DIS all the money I earn is going towards our Halloween trip!
__________________

And here are some of the trips that are in the planning stages for the summer.

Due to the weather being somewhat unpredictable still our April trip is going to be to Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs since it is only 17 miles away as well as some of the local things to do here in Malta.

May (allowing that the weather co-operates and the station opens by May) we will be taking a train trip to Glacier National Park and their train museum.

Currently it looks like June may be a road trip that includes Lewis & Clark Caverns & Little Bighorn monument & their annual re-enactment among other things.

July we are planning on doing the Montana Dinosaur trail.. a series of museums, dig sites & interactive exhibits all across Northern Montana.

August should include camping at the American Prarie Reserve wildlife refuge where they have a herd of Buffalo among other wildlife Followed by more camping at Yellowstone.

September will be a trip to the Missouri breaks to see the Elk bugle.

All summer there will be mini trips when we take our boat out to Nelson Resivoir or Fort Peck Lake to camp and local stuff like the Dinosaur festival, Car show and Crazy days where there are things like giant tricycle races & bed races in the streets of Malta. We will also ride our horses along with the Milk River Wagon train for 3 days while they do their re-creation of a covered wagon train camping at local ranches along the way. I will also blog the county and state fairs as well as local drag and AMX car racing and Rodeo events.

All of these plans are tentative except the April one since April is already here!

 

[tksbaskets]

Thanks for the congrats Sherry! And here is my announcement which you will likely see all over the boards because I posted in most threads where I "hang my hat" so to speak!

Just had to share some good news! (Some of you may see this post in more than one place I am excited!)

The local newspaper editor saw my Christmas TR and forwarded my name and a link to it to a group looking for someone to write a Montana travel blog and newspaper travel articles about traveling with your kids.

I have been waiting until it was official but "Traveling in Colton's World" is a go!

So those of you that want to follow along with our travels around Montana this summer can! I will post the link when it gets started. Basically the idea is they pay for us to travel one weekend a month all summer and I write the blog in exchange for the travel $. Any blog article that they want re-vamped as a newspaper article I will actually get paid for on top of it! Since I owe this opportunity to the DIS all the money I earn is going towards our Halloween trip!
__________________

And here are some of the trips that are in the planning stages for the summer.

Due to the weather being somewhat unpredictable still our April trip is going to be to Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs since it is only 17 miles away as well as some of the local things to do here in Malta.

May (allowing that the weather co-operates and the station opens by May) we will be taking a train trip to Glacier National Park and their train museum.

Currently it looks like June may be a road trip that includes Lewis & Clark Caverns & Little Bighorn monument & their annual re-enactment among other things.

July we are planning on doing the Montana Dinosaur trail.. a series of museums, dig sites & interactive exhibits all across Northern Montana.

August should include camping at the American Prarie Reserve wildlife refuge where they have a herd of Buffalo among other wildlife Followed by more camping at Yellowstone.

September will be a trip to the Missouri breaks to see the Elk bugle.

All summer there will be mini trips when we take our boat out to Nelson Resivoir or Fort Peck Lake to camp and local stuff like the Dinosaur festival, Car show and Crazy days where there are things like giant tricycle races & bed races in the streets of Malta. We will also ride our horses along with the Milk River Wagon train for 3 days while they do their re-creation of a covered wagon train camping at local ranches along the way. I will also blog the county and state fairs as well as local drag and AMX car racing and Rodeo events.

All of these plans are tentative except the April one since April is already here!

This is so cool!! Congratulations Sherri. I'm sure your followers will have as much fun reading about your travels as we all do!!

 

[tksbaskets]

TK - I think that sounds like a great idea for the TR. Although it's slightly sad, it would be interesting to see the gradual removal of the holiday stuff all over DLR with each passing day. I'd be curious to see exactly how much is gone in, say, 2 days, 4 days, etc.


Only 7-1/2 months until the holiday season begins! Woo hoo! Right around the corner!

Not wishing the year away but....

 

[summer0407]

Congrats Sherri sounds like an absolutely amazing opportunity!!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Congratulations Sherri.

 

[smiley_face2]

Hmm... anyone know if HoJo decorates their lobby?

They have in the past! usually a very nice retro style theme in fitting with the hotel itself last tree I saw was all lovely whites and blues, very pretty.

 

[Cali_Traveler]

Hi everyone! I have very much enjoyed reading all of the wonderful stories and seeing all of the amazing pictures!!! We are planning to go to Disneyland Dec. 23-30 2011 , with my daughter . We went in November of 2010 and thought that all of the CHristmas decorations were wonderful and have decided that we would like the full effect! So i was just wondering if you could help me with some questions:
-- I know that it will be busy , but how busy?
-- What time should be to the Disneyland gates on Christmas morning? (we are planning on staying at the PPH)
-- What are some must see things? ( i know that its still about 7 months away , but me and my daughter espicially , is counting day by day lol)
-- What should we make sure we do at the PPH? (it will be our first time there)
Thanks you sooo much!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Hi everyone! I have very much enjoyed reading all of the wonderful stories and seeing all of the amazing pictures!!! We are planning to go to Disneyland Dec. 23-30 2011 , with my daughter . We went in November of 2010 and thought that all of the CHristmas decorations were wonderful and have decided that we would like the full effect! So i was just wondering if you could help me with some questions:
-- I know that it will be busy , but how busy?
-- What time should be to the Disneyland gates on Christmas morning? (we are planning on staying at the PPH)
-- What are some must see things? ( i know that its still about 7 months away , but me and my daughter espicially , is counting day by day lol)
-- What should we make sure we do at the PPH? (it will be our first time there)
Thanks you sooo much!

Welcome to the Christmas Thread Cali_Traveler. Mostly Sherry is the one who does all the greeting, I can will help you with your questions.

1. When I looked on Touringplans on all of your days at the DLR, it is going to be at the max 10/10. So the park will be really crowded during your visit. During this time of the year, it is by far one of the busiest times to go at the DLR.

2. The DL gate hours during the busiest days of the year is mostly at 8am to midnight. Since you are staying at the PPH, you can take advantage of MM on the specific days. It will be really crowded during the day and a good way to enjoy the park during the busy times. You get to be in the park one hour before the park opens at 8am, so you would be able to enjoy the park for one extra hour in the morning.

3. The must do during the Holiday season is It's a Small World Holiday which is decorated, Haunted Mansion Holiday, "Believe...In Holiday Magic" Fireworks, "A Christmas Fantasy" Parade, SB Winter Castle that is light up at nighttime, and Santa's Reindeer Round-up which is behind BTMRR. These are the highlights of the Holiday season at DL. Also the Little Mermaid Ride at DCA and Star Tours 2 will be up during your trip so that is a must do during your trip.

4. Since I have never stayed at the PPH, Sherry would be the perfect person to ask about the PPH. As I have said about MM on top, you should take advantage of it during your visit. It will get save you time during your visit with all those heavy crowds.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

Hi everyone! I have very much enjoyed reading all of the wonderful stories and seeing all of the amazing pictures!!! We are planning to go to Disneyland Dec. 23-30 2011 , with my daughter . We went in November of 2010 and thought that all of the CHristmas decorations were wonderful and have decided that we would like the full effect! So i was just wondering if you could help me with some questions:
-- I know that it will be busy , but how busy?
-- What time should be to the Disneyland gates on Christmas morning? (we are planning on staying at the PPH)
-- What are some must see things? ( i know that its still about 7 months away , but me and my daughter espicially , is counting day by day lol)
-- What should we make sure we do at the PPH? (it will be our first time there)
Thanks you sooo much!

Bret got most of your questions. My family was there Dec 25th to 29, 2010 so you can go hit my TR to see just how crowded it was. Also be sure you hit the reindeer round-up and Santa's other locations early in your trip as he is not there after Christmas... Indeed he was not at the DLH on Christmas Day either so make sure to see him early.

 

[Cali_Traveler]

Welcome to the Christmas Thread Cali_Traveler. Mostly Sherry is the one who does all the greeting, I can will help you with your questions.

1. When I looked on Touringplans on all of your days at the DLR, it is going to be at the max 10/10. So the park will be really crowded during your visit. During this time of the year, it is by far one of the busiest times to go at the DLR.

2. The DL gate hours during the busiest days of the year is mostly at 8am to midnight. Since you are staying at the PPH, you can take advantage of MM on the specific days. It will be really crowded during the day and a good way to enjoy the park during the busy times. You get to be in the park one hour before the park opens at 8am, so you would be able to enjoy the park for one extra hour in the morning.

3. The must do during the Holiday season is It's a Small World Holiday which is decorated, Haunted Mansion Holiday, "Believe...In Holiday Magic" Fireworks, "A Christmas Fantasy" Parade, SB Winter Castle that is light up at nighttime, and Santa's Reindeer Round-up which is behind BTMRR. These are the highlights of the Holiday season at DL. Also the Little Mermaid Ride at DCA and Star Tours 2 will be up during your trip so that is a must do during your trip.

4. Since I have never stayed at the PPH, Sherry would be the perfect person to ask about the PPH. As I have said about MM on top, you should take advantage of it during your visit. It will get save you time during your visit with all those heavy crowds.

Thank- u so much! this has already been a lot of help!!! We really r excited for the Little Mermaid ride! And we havent yet seen the woc show but we must see it this time wen we go!