I had planned on popping in again last night to reply to a couple of posts, but I was distracted (and annoyed) by the loud harmonica playing that seemed to be coming from one of my neighbors' windows (must be a new neighbor). It was too warm and muggy to leave the window closed, but every time I opened it up this harmonica-playing fool would start wailing away. After a while he began "singing" in between bars. (Well, to be honest, it sounded more like the anguished cries of a wildebeest than it sounded like singing, but whatever.) And this carried on well into the night, and well after 11 p.m. It was so loud that I couldn't concentrate while sitting at the PC.
This will be our 3rd trip during the holidays in 3 years. We did our first trip in 2011 and I feel in love with Disneyland during the Holidays
I have stayed at the PPH before, we did that last year in November so the holiday decorations were not all up till our last day or the day before our last day.
My plan was to stay at PPH for the second half of the trip. There are two things holding me back, the extra money that I could use towards extras or souvineers or treats
and the time it would take to move over. I think I am going to give myself a little more time to think on it and wait till end of summer to make my final decision. It will give me time to research some extras we want to do. We are staying at the BWPPI right now and the easy walk is also a plus for us. Plus we dont plan on spending that much time in the room, in November when we went the park closed early so it was nice to go back to the PPH and have all the disney. This time around the park will close at midnight so really the only need we have of the room is sleeping.
aidensmom31 -
I completely know what you mean about falling in love with the holidays at Disneyland. I am guilty of the same thing. It's odd, but I always find it surprising and puzzling when some people
don't fall in love with it too!
I know that everyone likes different things; some people like the holiday season more than others; sometimes it is more crowded than other times; sometimes a trip may be less successful than another trip, etc. Still, though, I guess I always expect that people will come away from the Disneyland holiday experience being in love with it too (like you are and like I am)!!
You make some very good points about why you wouldn't split your hotel stay if you decide not to split it. The price, of course, is crazy. The "good" discounts that Disney used to offer for the hotels -- even up to maybe mid-December or so -- are not so good anymore. The prices seem mostly unreasonable.
And the inconvenience of having to pack up and move mid-trip would be annoying, especially if all you think you will need the room for is to sleep.
I have thought of doing split stays in the past, instead of staying totally onsite, because I don't want to give up the idea of staying onsite entirely but the prices are so high. However, the idea of not really being able to get settled in one place because I'd need to move to the other place would get on my nerves. I would feel like I couldn't really unpack and get comfortable in the first place because I would be moving to the second place soon after.
I think that waiting until the end of the summer to decide is a good idea. Take some extra time to think about it. Maybe by that time we will know IF there is going to be a Christmas party happening or not, and you'd know whether you wanted to figure that into your budget at all.
Last year there were PPH rooms available (for my second-week-of-December trip) as late as the week of Halloween, if not beyond that. I was surprised.
My wife and I are going to Disneyland for our 5th anniversary. Our actual anniversary is on Sept 26th. We are debating on what to do with 3 choices of dates, and I was hoping to get some advice from the fine people this awesome thread!
Option 1) Go Sept 21st - 26th Sun-Thurs
This would include our actual anniversary date, and I feel like the crowds will be pretty good this time of year. However, the off season hours and entertainment are a drawback for us.
Option 2) Go Nov 23rd - 27th Week leading up to Thanksgiving Sun-Thurs
We have gone this week 2 other times, once in 2007 and then again in 2011. It seemed much more crowded in 2011. The monday tuesday were manageable, but after that it was a mess. We do however love the fact the the Christmas season is in swing.
Option 3) Go Nov 30th - Dec 4th Sun-Thurs
We have never gone this late in the Christmas season and are sure about the crowds. It looks like the hours may be a little longer than Sept, but not much. Also not sure if the weather is much different. We know Sept will be much warmer for sure.
I welcome all comments and advice! I am a planning addict, and I know I am in a place that can understand that. As a Matter of fact I already have a spreadsheet started with our dates and possible adr's and Fantasmic Desert seating dates....... So any advice is welcome especially if you have experience with trips during any of these dates.
Lets hear it folks!!!!!! and thanks in advance!!!!
lwanthony --
Hello!
Your plan is for 2014, correct? here are my thoughts...
Unless you really want to be there on your anniversary in September and to experience Halloween Time (which is great, but not as extensive and thorough as the holiday season), I would go for
Option 3.
The holiday season will be in
full swing during that 11/30 - 12/4 time frame, even more so than it would be pre-Thanksgiving. By that post-Thanksgiving time frame, the 3 Disney hotels will be decorated and Downtown Disney will be playing Christmas music too. The entire Resort is immersed in holiday merriment by that time.
Also, if we don't get a Christmas party this year I think we will be most certainly be getting one next year, and it could start after Thanksgiving ends. That would be an extra option for something to do during your trip.
Even better than that is the fact that the post-Thanksgiving time frame (like right after the holiday weekend, into the first week or two of December) is known to be a bit less crowded. That is not to say that the parks will be empty - they won't be empty -- but many people head home to work and school right after Thanksgiving weekend is over, and it is too early for Christmas break. So you have a small window of time in which the parks are less crowded -- in between holiday breaks. A lot of people will probably head home on the Sunday you'd be arriving!
I've been to DLR in both the first week and second week of December and have noticed a definite difference in crowds during those times than when I was there on the weekend immediately before Christmas. The crowd level was much more manageable.
So I vote for Option 3.
As for weather, our weather in Southern California is so odd. This is no exaggeration, but you really never know what you will get in October, November or December! I have literally experienced hot, dry weather in December (like even as high as 90 degrees), as well as wind, light rain, clouds, 70-degree weather, 60-degree weather, 30-degree weather at night, 50-degree weather at night, pouring, heavy, blinding rain, etc. There have been December trips to DLR in which I was comfortably walking around at night in a t-shirt with bare arms, and other times when it was 30 or 40 degrees at night and my teeth were chattering because my coat was back in the hotel room and I couldn't get warm.
Thinking about going January 2nd-6th or December 26th-30th. Do the January dates still have the decorations up? Which date has the better crowds? I am thinking about going across country by train and seeing Disneyland for a first time visit in 20 years.
tstidm1 --
Hello, and welcome!
Wow! The first time in 20 years? You have a lot to see and catch up on.
That January time frame is more
Tksbaskets' specialty, as she has been to DLR during that week in the past.
The crowds will probably be quite large during the post-Christmas December time frame, BUT you'd get the full holiday experience, including being able to enjoy the 3 Disney hotels' decorations as well.
The January time frame will still technically be within the official Disneyland holiday season (I suspect that the season will actually have its last day on Sun., January 5, 2014), but certain decorations will start to come down, a little at a time, after the New Year rolls in.
I thought that the post-New Year's time would be less crowded, but people have told me on this board that as long as certain schools are out on break and the holiday season is still going on, the parks will still be busy. I still tend to think that
someone has to get back home, and that not everyone can just hang out in Disneyland after New Year's Day.
So I would say that if you are mainly interested in lower crowds, the January dates may be the lesser of two evils (but not by much). However, if you can handle crowds and you want the full Disneyland Resort holiday experience, go during the December dates.
So we decided to tell the kiddos tonight that we are going to Disneyland during Christmas time. I couldn't hold it in anymore. They miss Disneyland so much and even though I wanted to surprise them I really wanted them to have something wonderful to look forward to!
We put in one of our Disneyland videos (just happened to be our Christmas time one
) Everyone was talking about how much we miss Disneyland and how the very best time to go is Christmas time! In the middle of watching the video I pulled out a booklet the Disney Vacation sent us about our upcoming trip. And said hey whats this that I found? Its cute it looks like a book and it has the toy story characters on the front and it says "Your Story The Jerrell Family Vacation" and inside it has all our itinerary info and cool stuff like maps and such.
They were so excited!!! My oldest DS actually started to cry. It was so cool. They are beyond happy. I cant wait!!! The first thing my youngest DS wanted to do was make a Disney chain.
I told him we will make one in the morning.
Yeah! So Happy!
Mickeybell --
How wonderful! While I can understand the urge to want to keep it all a surprise, I also think there is something to be said for giving the kids something to be excited about and look forward to. When kids know a Disneyland trip is coming, there can be no end to the excitement, I think.
I know the "Your Story" booklet you're talking about! I received one of those last year or the year prior to it (out of the blue) and I had never seen one before. In all of my onsite stays, that was the first time Your Story got to me!
Using that Your Story booklet to help make the announcement to your kids was a very clever idea!
The holiday season will be here before you know it. There are just under 4 months until it begins at DLR in November, and about 4.5 months until December gets here! The time will fly! So many of us think that we have all sorts of time before the holiday trips arrive, but all of a sudden we find that our trips are almost here!
So hi, I'm Jamie! We are preparing for our 2nd annual Thanksgiving trip. And thinking we will upgrade to APs again!
Don't these people know Christmas is just around the corner??????? Well, sort of??????? 
You'd think maybe they were all preoccupied with lesser holidays like Halloween or something.....
is all I can say to that.
Say it isn't so!
I hope that this year has been much happier.
