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

[areweindisneyyet]

Getting so excited for my first Disneyland holiday trip! It's also my daughters first trip, she'll only be 7 months, but I know she'll enjoy checking things out. There's so much to see! My husband says I only had a kid so I have more reason to go to DLR...he's right

I had booked at the Red Lion, which I've stayed at before and was happy with, but yesterday I received a pin from Disney for a low rate I couldn't resist at the DLH! I am bummed it won't be decorated yet, but the decorated park will be enough for us! Less than three months now until our trip!

Does anyone know if the majority of rooms at the DLH will be renovated by November? I booked a standard room, but it would be awesome if we were able to get one of the renovated rooms. It will finally feel like you're getting what you paid for, they were long overdue for a renovation!

I am pretty sure that the DLH only sell renovated rooms now a there is only a small part of the Fantasyland Tower to finish.

Enjoy the DLH and sharing your first trip to Disneyland with your little one.

 

[nicolispicoli]

Jemilah- It wasn't GREAT, but then again, they never really are. It was $205/night at the DLH during Veterans Day weekend (our stay is 11/10-11/15). I think other days were $185/night. It was much more expensive than the Red Lion of course, but to me, the convenience of the DLH is worth it. Plus, I am dying to see the renovated rooms!

 

[nicolispicoli]

I am pretty sure that the DLH only sell renovated rooms now a there is only a small part of the Fantasyland Tower to finish.

Enjoy the DLH and sharing your first trip to Disneyland with your little one.

Thank you

I did call before I saw these updates and she said as of right now they are still giving out the old rooms, but that by November, it should be done. Of course, she mentioned that she couldn't confirm as they don't have a current schedule for renovations and it's based on availability.

 

[nicolispicoli]

Sherry E-

The pin I got was $185/night for DLH or 35% off, it was $247/night for DGC, which I was almost tempted to do, but didn't because of my interest in seeing the refurbed rooms. I think the pin was good for 11/1-11/19 and 11/27-11/31...it also had DPP for around $147/night.

 

[pattyduke34]

Thanks Pattyduke. We took lots of photos to remember the trip, over 2000. We visited from the Sunday after Thanksgiving until the Monday after the Candlelight Processional. The magic of Disneyland at Christmas is amazing and before we had even jumped on the plane home we had already started to plan a family Christmas in Disney.

Last year Sherry and friends went on a tree quest to find the 700 Disney Chrismas trees, which led to wreath quests, there are so many beautiful Christmaspictures to take as you know.

Have a wonderful time.

That sounds wonderful...I am the disney nut in my family..it is like pulling teeth to get them to go with me almost every time...so planning it soo soon would drive them nuts! But I get my way almost every time and I plan it all and they tag along....or else hmmmmm I would just go by myself!! This year I do plan to take time and just absorb all the holiday magic and take tons of pics....

 

[Sherry E]

Tree Quest, Ornament Quest and Wreath Quest are always on, for whomever wants to do them (there are many other Quests, too, but I am specifically naming the holiday-related ones). There's also Santa Quest, which is getting photos with all 5 of the Santas around DLR (this would only work if you are there post-Thanksgiving, when all the hotel Santas are out). And this year I want to try Frosty Quest - hunting down any snowmen hidden in decor around DLR! I bet there are more snowmen than we think there would be!

​

Anyway, speaking of decorations.....

Did anyone read the latest Al Lutz article for MiceAge? It just came out today. One of the things mentioned was that DLR apparently cannot let go of the idea of a street/dance party in DCA, even with the new makeover of that park coming to fruition next year.

So, although DCA will get rid of ElecTRONica (it's about time, since TRON will be outdated by next year), they want to replace it right away with another type of street party in an Alice In Wonderland theme (the Tim Burton version of "Alice," not the Disney cartoon Alice). It will be called Mad Tea Party.

Now, while I like the idea of a Mad Tea Party better than I like the idea of ElecTRONica, this means that the whole Hollywood area of DCA will never receive any holiday decorations. The main reason the Christmas decorations have been missing from the Hollywood Backlot since last year is because of ElecTRONica and the whole set-up for it. No more candy cane/bell-shaped garland on the posts along the street. No more wreaths hanging from the elephants at the entrance to the Backlot.

But I had hoped that once ElecTRONica was removed, we could go back to seeing that Hollywood area decorated because all the scaffolding or whatever nonsense is used to set up for that party would be gone.

Not so if there is a Mad Tea Party.... Mad Tea Party may be fun - but it will kill any possibility of Christmas decorations returning to that area because there will be too much 'stuff' set up in the area for the party.

Couldn't Disney just skip a year or two, and not have any street party for a while? Unless they decide to have a 'Christmas street party' kind of thing (Hey! Now there's an interesting idea!) in DCA, why can't they just let 2012 and 2013 focus on the new additions and changes to DCA, and let people really soak those in changes without a street/dance party every night?

Will a Mad Tea Party even fit in with the theme of Hollywoodland or with anything in DCA?

 

[GrandBob]

why can't they just let 2012 and 2013 focus on the new additions and changes to DCA, and let people really soak those in changes without a street/dance party every night?

Why? Because they're selling a whole lot of glowtini's.

-Bob

 

[dnamertz]

This picture was taken at California Adventure when they had the Visa card meet and greet over by the Wine Terrace...My oldest son's favorite is Goofy and we were the only ones there and got to spend at least ten minutes with them...It was great!

Where exactly do they offer this, and is it only at certain times?

 

[areweindisneyyet]

Found some DCA photos from our trip and the Hollywood Backlot. Also the love California letters that will be no more and the Golden Gate Bridge.

DCA will be quite different from the one we visited last. The sun was still on the wheel and mickey on Screamin.

Enjoy!

 

[basketrn]

Does anyone know of something to do that is family friendly on New Years Eve? We will not be going into the park on NYE but will be staying at the GC Villas?

This is our very first trip to DL (son is marching in the Rose Parade).

Thanks!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Bret -

I'm glad if I have helped give you photo ideas in some small way, maybe inspiring some unusual quests or things to take photos of. I think you did such an amazing job on my Heart Quest idea - much better than I expected anyone could do - and your photos have given me lots of ideas too. You also did a great job on Tree Quest last year!

Right now, I still think Frosty Quest might be a good idea. I'm sure there will be various types of snowman decorations in assorted places around DLR, maybe in different themes. That might be a good thing to look for. Anything that we think there might be a lot of, scattered around DLR, would be good. Trees, ornaments and wreaths are in abundance, so that was an excellent start. And even though those Quests will always be active for anyone, now the Quests get harder as we try to find more things to search for that can keep us busy for a long time!!

Your idea of presents is good. I mainly just paid attention to the presents at the hotel trees last year, primarily. I didn't look too closely at presents under any other trees outside of the hotels, that I can recall. I still have some extra trees that I have to revisit or find this year, that I didn't get to last year, or that I didn't get good photos of!

It was fun to do these different quests that people would have not done during the trip to the parks. Thank you for the comments on the Heart Quest and Tree Quest. Those quests were very challenging and very hard to do at the parks.

The Frosty Quest is a good idea and I think that is a good addition to the Holiday Quest during the Holiday season. The other quests that we have done in the Holiday season will always be a must do and the Frosty Quest will be more of a challenging since there will be few of them around the park.

The presents one is okay, but I would guess that there would be a lot of them around the parks, DTD and the hotels. So this would be endless around the resort.

 

[lconn]

Here's a hypothetical question for you: If you could choose any 7 day span during the holiday season....like if you had no restrictions like work or school, etc what week would you choose and why?

 

[Sherry E]

Here's a hypothetical question for you: If you could choose any 7 day span during the holiday season....like if you had no restrictions like work or school, etc what week would you choose and why?

I just happened to pop on to the DIS for a hot minute right now, and hadn't even planned on visiting this thread until tomorrow, so I can reply to Bret, areweindisneyyet, etc.

But I saw your question and wanted to chime in quickly before signing off.

Hmmm...no work or school restrictions....well, just as a matter of when would be a nice, magical 7-day block of time to go, momentarily setting aside crowd concerns and higher-priced hotels, I think the week of Christmas would be really nice, including the days leading up to it. There's a special energy in the air in those several days leading up to the holiday, from what I could tell on my weekend-before-Christmas visits. Or, if there were low crowds, I would say the week from Christmas to New Year's because that would be lots of fun.

However, crowds are an issue during those weeks and hotel prices are higher. So for lower crowds, lower hotel rates and the full array of holiday offerings that the season provides, as well as (most likely) some cool temperatures, I think the first week of December would be nice.

I may change my mind after this year - I'm going to try that week immediately following Thanksgiving weekend (the week starting 11/28), and that's supposed to be a wonderful time as well. If that turns out to be as delightful as it sounds like it is, that may become my new favorite time to go during the holiday season.

 

[areweindisneyyet]

Bump

 

[rentayenta]

Tomorrow is​

double digits!!!​

 

[areweindisneyyet]

Tomorrow is​

double digits!!!​

 

[Eeee-va]

Here's a hypothetical question for you: If you could choose any 7 day span during the holiday season....like if you had no restrictions like work or school, etc what week would you choose and why?

If I had NO restrictions and 7 days, I think I'd go the week of the Candlelight Processional (arriving on maybe Wednesday and leaving maybe Tuesday?). It would be neat to see the show (or try to). And if I had 6 or 7 days at the parks, I wouldn't have to worry so much about the crazy crowds that weekend, because I'd have plenty of other time to take everything in.

I'm not sure when Cast Member parties are, though (they close DL at I think 6 PM for two days in a row). If they're the Monday and Tuesday after the Candlelight Processional then I might adjust my arrival and departure so that I get a final "night" in DL.

With a more limited timeframe, in 2009 we had an excellent time Wednesday-Sunday around the second weekend of December. But it rained quite a bit on Friday and Saturday. I have no idea how crowds would have been if not for the rain...I assume bad. Wednesday (part day) and Thursday were just great, though, even with the great weather--DL was open 'til 11 and low crowds all day.

 

[rnewton2]

We are planning a trip to DL January 4-9. Any idea on crowds during that time?? I know it is technically still holiday season, but was hoping that after New Years it would empty out as kids and parents were returning to school and work. Any thoughts?

 

[rentayenta]

99 days !!!​

 

[Sherry E]

We are planning a trip to DL January 4-9. Any idea on crowds during that time?? I know it is technically still holiday season, but was hoping that after New Years it would empty out as kids and parents were returning to school and work. Any thoughts?

rnewton2 -

This is the first time the holiday season will extend quite so far into January, officially. Normally it ends several days earlier. So this will be uncharted territory for us, as we have no idea what the crowds will be like in this particular scenario.

Like you said, I have to think that many people will have returned back to work and school by January 4th, and the parks will empty out quite a bit.

At the same time, because it will be still "officially" be the holiday season and we assume that means that all the seasonal offerings will still be going on through January 8th, I do think that this will attract more people to the parks during that week who may not have been there otherwise.

I don't think it will be as crowded as it would be before Christmas and New Year's, by a long shot, BUT it will be an opportunity for anyone who is not able to get to DLR pre-New Year's to see the holiday stuff. In fact, many people may choose to go during that time because they feel it will be a great time to experience some holiday magic with lower crowds.

99 days !!!​

You mean 99 days until your trip begins? Is that 11/27?

Then that means 100 days for me!!! I'm right on your heels!