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

[Jamian]

New Orleans Square by -Jamian-, on Flickr

 

[lvdis]

So, Jamian and WDWFigment, how did you get those empty street pictures? I love them!

 

[Jamian]

So, Jamian and WDWFigment, how did you get those empty street pictures? I love them!

Thanks! For me (and Tom would probably agree) it's really just about waiting out all of the other guests in the park. I always start in one of the far corners of the park and slowly work my way to Main Street by which point most if not all the remaining guests have left.

It involves staying 1-2 hours past the official closing time and possibly inviting some "conversations" from security, but it's worth it to me.

 

[Sherry E]

Thanks! For me (and Tom would probably agree) it's really just about waiting out all of the other guests in the park. I always start in one of the far corners of the park and slowly work my way to Main Street by which point most if not all the remaining guests have left.

It involves staying 1-2 hours past the official closing time and possibly inviting some "conversations" from security, but it's worth it to me.

I had wondered the same thing (I posted the question last week, I think)! I was mystified how you could capture such empty, people-free shots in the week between Christmas and New Year's, which is a notoriously crazy time for crowds. I guess, even during the busiest times of year, the crowds still have to leave when the park closes!

Anyway, thank you again for contributing your lovely photos!

 

[loveysbydesign]

Love this thread and all the great pix!

I was wondering we like to go to WDW the week before T'giving as most of the Christmas stuff has started by then.
Is this also true for DL or would we be better off looking at the week after T'giving or 1st week of Dec. This would be our 1st trip to DL/CA and since we love WDW so much near the holidays I though it might also be a good time for our 1st visit to DL!

 

[Sherry E]

Love this thread and all the great pix!

I was wondering we like to go to WDW the week before T'giving as most of the Christmas stuff has started by then.
Is this also true for DL or would we be better off looking at the week after T'giving or 1st week of Dec. This would be our 1st trip to DL/CA and since we love WDW so much near the holidays I though it might also be a good time for our 1st visit to DL!

loveysbydesign -

Hi there! Thank you so much for joining us!

Okay, in my honest opinion, I feel that if you really want the full holiday experience at Disneyland Resort, where everything is in complete Christmas/holiday mode, you should go either in the week immediately following Thanksgiving or in that first week of December.

While most holiday things will be in place in the parks before Thanksgiving, the 3 hotels (which are all within walking distance from each other and from the parks) will not necessarily be decorated before that. It seems like sometimes they get their holiday decor right before Thanksgiving and sometimes it's right after. I'm not sure what it will be this year, but to be on the safe side I would suggest waiting until one of those post-Thanksgiving weeks.

The reason I think it's worth waiting is because the Grand Californian Hotel is very special at Christmas time. The lobby environment is particularly cozy as it is, and it really lends itself to the seasonal merriment. The tree is enormous. There are carolers who come and perform both by the tree and in one of the corridors every day/night. Santa has a PhotoPass photographer with him at this hotel, and he is there every night for a couple of hours. The pianist plays Christmas songs. There's a guitarist that comes in when the pianist is on break. People curl up on the comfy chairs and sofas to soak in the atmosphere, with drinks in hand. It's just a really nice (free!) way to enjoy some holiday spirit.

Also, the Paradise Pier Hotel Christmas tree is stunning in person - it glows in blue-green lights. It's worth seeing, believe me! When I checked into the PPH last year (two months ago), it was about 6 a.m. and people were standing around, staring and pointing at the tree because it is so striking!

The Disneyland Hotel also has some fun decorations - a rather elaborate Santa set-up, a whimsical tree at Goofy's Kitchen, etc.

So I think that being able to kind of stroll from hotel to hotel and see the different decorations (no elaborate edible displays like at WDW, though, sadly, except for a gingerbread house in Storytellers Cafe) enhances the whole experience and if you go before Thanksgiving you may miss all of that.

When I was at Disneyland this past December, I was there in the very first week of December (12/4 - 12/8) and it was great! I would definitely go in that week again. Usually I go a bit later in December but that week was wonderful!

Let us know what you decide!

 

[loveysbydesign]

Thanks for that info! We unfortunately won't be staying on-site as for our family of 5 it costs too much for our budget, but I do know we can still check out the resorts for the decor. correct??
I am currently pricing airfare and if I can find it just as cheap the week after t'giving as that week before I think we will go with that. I was wondering how the crowds might differ between those 2 weeks as well. we were originally going to visit in 2013 but the airfare seems reasonable and compares to what we would pay to go to FL, $1300 for 5 of us roundtrip nonstop from Philly.

 

[Sherry E]

Thanks for that info! We unfortunately won't be staying on-site as for our family of 5 it costs too much for our budget, but I do know we can still check out the resorts for the decor. correct??
I am currently pricing airfare and if I can find it just as cheap the week after t'giving as that week before I think we will go with that. I was wondering how the crowds might differ between those 2 weeks as well. we were originally going to visit in 2013 but the airfare seems reasonable and compares to what we would pay to go to FL, $1300 for 5 of us roundtrip nonstop from Philly.

Yes, you can absolutely visit each one of the hotels and see all of the decorations and enjoy the atmosphere without staying in them! I wholeheartedly encourage it! I have fully enjoyed the GCH's lobby, carolers and Santa even when I was not staying there.

It's very easy to just walk from the parks, through Downtown Disney and turn off into the GCH, or keep walking straight through to the Disneyland Hotel. Paradise Pier is right across the street from GCH - and Paradise Pier is where the Surf's Up with Mickey character meal is located.

Many folks have said that the week immediately following Thanksgiving weekend is delightfully uncrowded, whereas the week before it can tend to be a bit packed (I guess a lot of folks take off that whole week from work?). This year, with Cars Land and all the other changes happening at California Adventure, we can't be sure if the same patterns will stick, but I have to believe that people still need to go back to work and school right after Thanksgiving weekend ends so they can get in a few weeks before their Christmas break.

The first week of December is a lower crowd point for the season as well. Once you get into the second week of December, the crowds start to pick up gradually.

 

[loveysbydesign]

Thanks for all the info!!
I actually meant the week before T'giving week...not the week of T'giving

 

[Sherry E]

Thanks for all the info!!
I actually meant the week before T'giving week...not the week of T'giving

I realized what you meant (which you clearly said) as soon as I posted that last comment, and was going to go back and re-word what I was saying!

I don't know about the whole week before Thanksgiving - whether or not the whole week is crowded or not - but I have definitely read some comments here and there about things getting crowded in the latter part of that week, because there are people who will extend their vacations and take off a couple of weekdays from work and then carry through to Thanksgiving!

So it's hard to say what will happen this year. I expect crowds to increase a bit overall this year because of the California Adventure changes, but again, people still have to return to work and school in between holidays so things may die down right after Thanksgiving.

One other thing to consider is that we don't know when the holiday season is officially starting at Disneyland this year. Four years ago (the last Leap Year), it began on the Friday right before Thanksgiving. Ever since then it has begun earlier than that, so we assume it will start somewhere in the range of maybe 11/9 or 11/12 this year but if Disney decides to keep the focus on California Adventure for a bit, they could delay the start of the season.

So if the season were to officially begin in that week before Thanksgiving week, it would definitely be crowded (people always flock to the parks at the beginning of the holidays).

 

[SkRiderMom]

Thanks for the reply Sherry.

It's official - we booked our flights with Airmiles and will be in Disneyland November 27- December 5!! I have a feeling I will be spending the next 9 1/2 months haunting this thread in anticipation of our trip.

 

[6Smiles]

I am 100% excited and thrilled that we have booked our holiday trip (been in the works since last October). DH Graduates with his Master's degree Dec. 15th in California so we decided to spend Christmas in California and are booked from Dec. 14 - Dec. 26th. Oldest DD will be graduating next may 2013 and is planning on going back East for school and with Nursing School in full swing this will be our celebratory trip for all the upcoming positive changes our family is going through. My youngest Daughter will be turning 8 on the trip and I can not imagine a better way to spend her birthday. This trip is being kept a secret from the kids for now, but financing an exceptional trip is going well. DH is beginning to transition into his new degree and will be requesting the time off during hiring and the kids and my school will be on break. Holiday Disney here we come! We are planning Lego Land and then Sea World on our way back home.

Kris

 

[Sherry E]

Kris - Yay! I'm so happy for you that you get to have a wonderful DLR holiday trip this year!banana::

I am planning to (finally) start my TR for my holiday trip 2 months ago - I have never waited that long to start a TR but it couldn't really be helped this time. Better late than never! So stay tuned for that.



SkRiderMom - You're welcome - and please feel free to haunt this thread all you like! In fact, if things work in my favor, I wouldn't be shocked if I end up back at DLR somewhere in the time frame you will be there. I will probably go in early December again, or late, late November.

 

[jacs1234]

I haven't done my Christmas TR either Sherry and it may take me a lot more time to get started lol.

My mother and I decided to do a trip to New York this November as it's her last year working and will be the best time that she can pay for a trip lol. We are taking advantage of the stopover in LA and have booked 5 nights at the Grand from the 14th - 19th of December. I know it's not likely that the Christmas decorations will be up at the Grand but I sure hope the castle is decorated. I am kind of hoping that I might get to see a normal parade as I've only ever seen the Christmas parade and that music will go around my head all year lol Would be nice to experience a different themed parade.

 

[sirvin12]

Hi everyone,

I know there is no absolute answer to this question but I would like opinions or educated guesses. I am planning a trip to Disneyland in december with my girls. It will be for my youngests third birthday. Her birthday is on December 16. Do you think there will much differance with crowd level between that weekend or the weekend before. I am thinking we will drive or fly up on thursday afternoon and leave on monday. What are your thoughts? I just want to go and have an amazing trip with my girls and dont really care that much about the crowds but I would like to be mentally prepared for them. I would change my dates if there was a huge differance though. My last trip in October was a huge bust because I hated where we stayed and my poor baby was sick the whole time.

Thanks in advance!

 

[NewbieMouse]

Hi everyone,

I know there is no absolute answer to this question but I would like opinions or educated guesses. I am planning a trip to Disneyland in december with my girls. It will be for my youngests third birthday. Her birthday is on December 16. Do you think there will much differance with crowd level between that weekend or the weekend before. I am thinking we will drive or fly up on thursday afternoon and leave on monday. What are your thoughts? I just want to go and have an amazing trip with my girls and dont really care that much about the crowds but I would like to be mentally prepared for them. I would change my dates if there was a huge differance though. My last trip in October was a huge bust because I hated where we stayed and my poor baby was sick the whole time.

Thanks in advance!

There may be - a lot of people say that the later in December you go, the worse it gets. We went Dec. 21-24 in 2010 and then Dec. 12-15 in 2011, and I think it was busier when we went later, especially at night. But I really avoided the weekends, and will again this year (we're going the 11-15). Could you move it a bit earlier to be during the week (or even Saturday-Tuesday rather than Thursday- Sunday?). Are you early morning people? If you get there at opening, that will help.

On a completely unrelated side note, we've booked our plane tickets on air miles! We're locked in for our third Disney Christmas!

 

[sirvin12]

Newbiemouse thanks for your advice. I can totally move my dates from Saturday to Tuesday. That is a great idea in fact, thank you. I have a poll for you all. If you could pick between the following dates which would you pick and why. 11/30 - 12/4, 12/7-12/11, or 12/14-12/18. I would like to be there for my daughters birthday but if it is going to be better to go earlier we can. It would be nice to not have to buy her a ticket so that is one pro of going earlier. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I have to make a decision soon because I need to request the time off of work.

 

[Sherry E]

Good morning, everyone! There are 8 months until the holiday season at DLR begins (maybe 8-1/2 months; maybe 8-3/4 months - who knows?), but I think they are going to zoom by!! We are already in March, and the first 2 months of the year have flown by.

Someone in this thread must have unknowingly sent me some psychic vibes through the cosmos because one minute ago I was literally thinking, "I've got to get over to the Christmas thread today and make some comments as well as post some pictures." Then, that very second I saw the e-mail notification came through with Shannon's (sirvin12) post!

​

NewbieMouse - thank you sooooo much for answering Shannon's questions. I was surprised that more folks didn't jump in as well. I just didn't have a chance to get over here so I am delighted when someone else can take on dispensing information.

And...I am thrilled to read that you have booked your plane tickets for a 3rd Disney Christmas! I assume this going to be a Disneyland Christmas and not a WDW Christmas? You're hooked on DLR at Christmas time, just like the rest of us!!!

​

jacs1234 - I'm so sorry it took me so long to reply to your post. You said it's not likely that the Grand decorations will be up when you're at DLR this year, but you said you're booked from December 14 - 19. Is that correct? Or did you mean to say November 14 - 19?

If your dates are actually in December, yes, the GCH will most definitely be decorated and everything will be in full swing! If you meant to say November 14 - 19, it's hard to say what will happen this year. There should definitely be decorations up in the parks, but I don't know how deep into the holidays DLR will go at the hotels at that point.

Thanksgiving is on 11/22 this year, so it's possible that DLR will try to get its hotels decorated earlier than usual and have everything up on the pre-Thanksgiving weekend if the crowds have been really pouring in to see all the stuff in DCA. If they are getting many more visitors than usual, or are expecting more visitors to the parks during the holidays because of DCA's changes, they may try to capitalize on it by roping folks into the holiday spirit early and getting the hotels into shape. Or they could delay things a bit.

I am really curious about how much focus Disney will put on Cars Land and all of the DCA changes, beyond Summer time. If they really push Cars Land, etc., to the point of taking a bit of the focus off of Halloween Time and off of the holiday season, then they may begin both of those seasons a bit later.

I have to think that the holidays will officially begin at DLR at some point between Mon., 11/12 - Mon., 11/19. Any earlier than 11/12 seems unrealistic, and any later than 11/19 wouldn't work because they have to have everything up by when Thanksgiving starts.

So you should definitely get to see the Winter Castle lit up at some point during your trip, if not every night of the trip!

I know what you mean about that darn Christmas parade! Don't get me wrong - I like it. I think it's happy and cheerful and colorful. I love the chubby-cheeked snowmen and the burnt-bottomed gingerbread men. But....I've had enough of that parade for a couple of years. I saw it enough times in 2010 and 2011 combined that the theme song to it is still stuck in my head, even today! I think I can go another year or two without seeing that parade again!


I finally, finally, finally got started on my TR. It's called "Aunt Betty's Weepy, Wacky, Wonderful Christmas Trip to DLR," or some such thing (I had to shorten the title in the Title line!). It starts on Page 169 of my existing TR; Post 2532. So far I have just gotten through the Introduction and Background, Part 1, and am about to do the Intro/Background, Part 2, and then on to the actual main TR. (It's only 3 months late, but who's counting?) Anyway, I'd love it if people would join me in my TR! I think I waited so long to start the thing that my usual TR followers have tuned out.

Let us know when you get your TR going too!

​

Shannon/sirvin12 - Hello! I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents on your December dates as well, if you don't mind.

Okay, so the options are 11/30 - 12/4, 12/7 - 12/11, or 12/14 - 12/18, and your daughter's birthday is on December 16th, correct?

Well, NewbieMouse was correct in that the parks do start to get more crowded the further into December you get. There seems to be a bit of a slow-down right after Thanksgiving weekend ends and into the first week or 2 of December, because (presumably) everyone has gone back to work and/or school before they take their Christmas breaks.

I think that if you really want to be there on your daughter's birthday (is that a Sunday?) and don't mind some crowds, you should do the 12/14 -12/18 time frame! It will be crowded in the days leading up to 12/16 because its a weekend. Weekends during the holiday season are always busy. And your other choices start on weekends too, so there may not be too much difference.


In my experience:

I have been to DLR on the weekend directly before Christmas for 3 years in a row (2007, 2008 and 2009), and by the time 2009's trip was over, I was saying, "In 2010 I am going to go earlier in December, and I am going on weekdays instead of a weekend!" The crowds in 2009 were too much to deal with for me.

So in 2010, I went to DLR not on a full weekend in December, but I started my trip on a Sunday and left Disneyland on Wednesday, and the Cast Member parties fell on the Monday and Tuesday nights in the middle, which caused Disneyland park to close early. My dates were 12/12 - 12/15/10. I know that it was much more crowded than I expected it to be, all the way through. My last day - Wednesday, 12/15/10, was the least crowded day out of the whole trip.


I then decided to make my annual DLR holiday sojourn even earlier in 2011! So my December 2011 dates were Sunday, 12/4 - Thursday, 12/8. No Cast Member parties this time around, but I arrived on a Candlelight Processional day, and the crowds - in my opinion - were really not that unreasonable until mid to late afternoon, close to when the CP was about to begin. I expected massive crowds all day - and so did my friends - but we were all relieved that the crowds did not pour in until later in the afternoon.

But then - a most wonderful thing happened! After the Candlelight crowds vacated, the parks largely emptied out! Monday, 12/5/11 was delightful! I wandered all around California Adventure, and there were hardly any people around. It was amazing! I went over to Disneyland and for the first time ever, I did not see a line at Gibson Girl Ice Cream. Wonderful!!! Monday, 12/5/11 was the best! In fact, when my group of 8 people showed up 40 minutes earlier than our reservation time at Goofy's Kitchen for dinner later that evening, our table was ready right away because Goofy's Kitchen was not full! We got seated almost immediately. Awesome!!!!

Now, once Tuesday, 12/6/11 rolled around, the crowds picked up. It got very busy in Disneyland all of a sudden. But Wednesday, 12/7/11 was not bad, crowd-wise, in California Adventure. I ate at Taste Pilots Grill and there were very few folks in the restaurant. Thursday, 12/8/11, I did not go into the parks so I can't say, but it didn't take long for us to get our table for breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen.

So just because of my experience with the 12/4 - 12/8/11 dates, as opposed to the 12/12 - 12/15/10 dates, I would definitely, absolutely, positively go to DLR in that early December time frame again, and on weekdays!

 

[sirvin12]

Thank you so much Sherry!!! I have to say I have read the entire thread the last few days and I am officially obsessed!!!! I love everthing you do so thanks! I followed you last year on the Halloween thread too. We went last year for halloween but my little one was sick and had a fever 104-105 the entire time. We spent one night in the ER :-( and even came home a day early. I felt so bad for my 6 year old daughter because we missed out on so much because her sister was so sick. So needless to say I have huge expectations for this next trip. I'm not going to tell the kids so I am so excited to surprise them! So my instinct was leaning towards the earlier dates and I think from your description it is probably going to be our best bet. Thank you for your advice. Oh one more question is there usually pin codes or cheaper hotel rates at that time? We really want to stay at DLH or PP. oh we have to include a weekend because my mom is coming with us and she can only get 2 days off during the week and Sydney is in school. So I am thing we are going to fly out on friday afternoon so we can ce there bright and early on Saturday morning and then fly home on Tuesday evening.

 

[kaoden39]

Well, although my trip is in November, Sherry has convinced me that it is a Christmas time trip. So I am here!! I just booked our hotel for the trip. So I am in the full planning mode!! Oh yeah!!