Such great photos from everyone this week! It is very evident in all of the pictures that people are having fun and really enjoying themselves!
We're going on our first
Disney Cruise (Christmas themed!), then flying back home to CA to visit Disneyland
Looking to splurge and stay at the GCH, but also want to wait for those hopeful discounts on rooms. Should I book a room ahead of time, then apply the discount later (can I even do that?) Or should I just wait?
Can't wait for Fall and the march of Holidays to begin!
I'm with you! Even though it will probably be ridiculously hot on the first day of Fall (a sad truth about Southern California), at least it is a step in the right direction. Basically, once we officially get to the start of Fall, in my mind the holiday season has unofficially begun. That's when the Harvest/Autumnal décor is acceptable to hang on one's door or wherever. Then, of course, more pumpkins begin appearing in October. Halloween marks the beginning of the holiday season as far as I am concerned. The Autumn/Fall décor transitions nicely from Halloween to Thanksgiving, with bits of Christmas sneaking in. And then it's a giant wave of holiday splendor -- music, movies, lights, trees, crisp air, aromas, flavors, etc. I can't wait! I don't know how rainy it will or won't be, but I love to just walk around the neighborhood and soak in the season. I like seeing the Christmas trees in people's windows, and the different ways people decorate them. I like seeing which houses go all out with their décor, and which ones just slap a wreath on the door and call it a day.
I like to go up to The Grove (shopping center), and stand there while all of the fake snow gets in my hair and nostrils!
What I suggest doing is making your hotel reservation over the phone, and not online. Call the reservations dept. at Disneyland to make a "room only" reservation, and ask the Cast Member if you will be able to apply a discount later if one should arise. In the past, it was no problem to apply a new discount to an existing room only reservation (the packages can be a bit trickier, so I suggest skipping the packages and go for the "room only"), and I've definitely done that very thing, but I remember hearing something in the not too distant past about how certain discounts may not be applied to existing reservations anymore. I don't know which ones will have restrictions, but it would not shock me if that's true and that Disney is beginning to limit discounts on existing bookings. I don't trust them with that. So I would want to be sure to get confirmation that I'd be able to do that over the phone.
A big thank you to all who posted these fantabulous pictures! I love theme week! we normally go this time of year so it's been hard for the kids, the pictures give them something to look forward to.
With El Niño on the back of my mind, we have yet to decide whether to stop by San Diego before Disneyland. The kids love
Legoland, Seaworld and the Safari Park, but these parks are so exposed to the elements, not sure if we want to risk it.
It is nice to see everyone's smiling faces in all of the fun photos, isn't it? The Theme Weeks will keep on rolling through early November, so your kids will have a lot to look at and soak in before your trip.
El Nino is a big question mark this year! While all of the weather information services and scientists seem to agree that we are going to get "above average" rainfall in Southern California this year, some of them don't agree on exactly how intense it will be -- how heavy, how relentless, etc. Some of them are on the "Godzilla El Nino" side, and others are on the more reserved, cautious side, stating that they're not sure exactly how rainy it will be. In other words, is it going to rain (torrentially) every day for weeks on end? It's happened before, but will it happen again? Or, is it going to rain a whole lot in a short period of time, then stop for a few days, then start up with a vengeance again? Or, is a sudden drop in ocean temperature going to happen, causing much less rain than expected?
It's hard to know exactly what and how to plan, because you don't know how much rain you will be dealing with, and for how long of a stretch. It's still possible that the current El Nino conditions will fizzle out a tiny bit, leaving the rain to be not as bad as expected. Or, it could hit certain areas a bit worse than other places. I guess we won't know the week by week specifics until we get to late Fall/early winter, or whenever the weather begins to kick in.
Oh, and the Dia de los Muertos display (which takes all of 5 minutes to look at). And the hard ticket party includes a parade that is not a Halloween excusive either. 
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