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

[I'm mikey]

 

[summer0407]

Hi all. We just got back yesterday and had a great trip. Friday was so packed it was insane. I just wanted to give a quick tip. If you do not want to wait hours for a good spot in front of the castle for fireworks head over to It's a Small World. We had a great view of all the fireworks and there was so much snow over in that area as well. It was a great spot with less crowds!

 

[KCmike]

 

[Vala]

I got my Christmas present early - I never thought I'd get a photo like this.

Parade pictures from the Preferred Seating area of the Holiday Parade:

And one of my favorite shots I got at the Aladdin musical:

 

[MotoXPrincess99]

Does anyone know if/when Disneyland puts their Christmas stuff on sale?

 

[KCmike]

Zooming on the castle

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Zooming on the castle

The guy with the camera at Uncle Walt's feet reminds me of the scene in one of the pirate movies where Captain Jack and Captain Barbossa have the spy glasses and Barbossa's is bigger than Jack's.

 

[kmv1217]

And one of my favorite shots I got at the Aladdin musical:

I have a favorite one too I wanted to share!

 

[KCmike]

 

[KCmike]

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I recorded Guy's Disney Holiday on the FoodNetwork this weekend and watched it last night. DH came home and "caught me" watching it and asked why I was torturing myself. We have no Disney trip in the works besides a possible side trip NEXT Christmas before we head to Palm Springs.

 

[KCmike]

I recorded it as well! Small world. I know secretly it is torture but I love any show about Disneyland. I loved the candy cane portion and how the gentlemen working there had been there 20 and 35 years respectively. Amazing.

I just realized I went over 5000 posts. Wow I'm on here too much.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Ok, forecasting to next year.......trying to work around a college schedule, work schedule & kids school........how is Veteran's Day & that week (Vets Day will be on a Sunday, observed on Monday).......we'd be there Sunday to Friday a.m.

Just trying to figure out what we're looking at crowd wise.

I'm guessing that would be the first week of Christmas time, looking at this years calendar. Does the parade, fireworks & tour all begin when its the official start time for the season??

 

[Sherry E]

Ok, forecasting to next year.......trying to work around a college schedule, work schedule & kids school........how is Veteran's Day & that week (Vets Day will be on a Sunday, observed on Monday).......we'd be there Sunday to Friday a.m.

Just trying to figure out what we're looking at crowd wise.

I'm guessing that would be the first week of Christmas time, looking at this years calendar. Does the parade, fireworks & tour all begin when its the official start time for the season??

Laurie -

I wanted to pop on for a minute and answer you.

We have no clue if the holidays will officially begin on the Friday before Veterans Day in 2012, or ON Veterans Day, or sometime after Veterans Day. It seems like in the last Leap Year (2008), the holiday season at DLR began later in November after starting early in the years leading up to it, and then it resumed an early opening schedule in 2009 and beyond.

DLR may decide to go back to a later official November opening in 2012 (especially because 2011's season is ending a week later than normal in 1/12 and they may want to balance it all out), OR they could do it in stages, where some things are up before the official opening, some things begin on the official opening and some things don't kick in until Thanksgiving week.

If you go right around Veteran's Day, you will not see everything as far as the hotels' decor and some of Downtown Disney. That hotel stuff doesn't start to go up until at least early Thanksgiving week, if not immediately after Thanksgiving ends. So if the hotels' decor is important to you as far as experiencing the seasonal festivities, then wait a week or two, if possible.

Otherwise, yes, when the season officially begins - whenever that date is in 2012 - the parade, fireworks and tour should all begin as well. The Reindeer Round-Up will be open. IASWH will be going, etc. Most of the treats and goodies will be on sale (though some things don't appear until Thanksgiving).

Another factor is all the changes in DCA. Because there will be so much happening in DCA in 2012, that may somehow affect when DLR chooses to begin its holiday season (officially). Perhaps they will want to let the spotlight linger a bit longer on Cars Land and all that, and start the holidays a little later. But we won't know the dates for sure until 2012 - maybe not even until Summer (though hopefully before).

The crowds will probably drop off a little bit after Veterans Day passes, but again, with all the work at DCA being finished next year, I expect that the overall crowd levels will pick up from June on until the end of the year.

 

[Sherry E]

Correction to what I posted earlier to Laurie (I remembered this point as I was washing dishes!) -

The hotels may or may not not be decorated on Veterans Day or immediately after that date. It's not 100% certain and there will probably be no way to know for sure until it actually rolls around

I recall that Vala said that by the time her DLR trip came to an end this year (which was not long after the season officially began in mid-November, if I am correct on her dates), the PPH was already decorated. I remember this sticking out in my mind because that is not the usual schedule for it - it seemed early for the PPH.

However, another person posted that the GCH was most definitely not decorated when the season began, and that the GCH decor did not start going up until early in the week of Thanksgiving - maybe even the Sunday before Thanksgiving. In other years, the GCH decor did not appear until the Friday following Thanksgiving.

And I recall reading (on another forum somewhere) that no decorations were spotted at the DLH yet when the season began in mid-November.

So I think it's anyone's guess as to when the 3 hotels will get their holiday makeovers in 2012 - sometimes the designers and decorators may be ahead of schedule and sometimes behind - but if it is important to you to see the hotel stuff, then I would definitely make the DLR holiday trip later in November, just to be on the safe side.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Thanx Sherry......I'm really debating these dates......if we go for the Christmas season, I want my family to see & experience everything.........so next question......what does Dec. 16-23 look.....we'd be out of there before Christmas eve.....but I imagine it's usually packed at this point.

 

[KCmike]

 

[DizNee Luver]

A couple of my favorite pics from Day One (Dec. 6):

Looking up the Main St. Tree:

The Candy Canes (I got to the park too late to get a ticket for one of these beauties):

NOS:

HMH:

Mrs Claus at the Big Thunder Ranch:

Toy Soldiers playing in front of Small World:

These are just a few from the first half of Day One.....will post more in the next few days.

 

[tksbaskets]

Laurie those are great pictures!! Thanks for sharing.

Mike KC you captured a wonderful memory with your parade photo.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Laurie those are great pictures!! Thanks for sharing.

Thank You!!

Here's some more of my favorites from Day One of my trip: