Fall break or pre-post turkey day 2017

[Melanie415]

Aloha all! Please help me decide. We went to WDW for the last 3 weeks of October, 2016 and enjoyed WDW and all the Halloween activities. It was a perfect time of year to go, crowds and weather were optimal. We travelled from Hawaii so we wanted a nice long vacation and I assumed it would be our only Disney trip! We had the best vacation ever!

Now, I am thinking about going to Disneyland for 7 days this October or November. It's closer and we have never been. My husband likes Disney but does not like California. I have persuaded him into going to DisneyLand and will stay at the DLH or GC to keep us in the Disney bubble. We enjoy hanging out at the resort almost as much as the parks.(bay lake tower and beach club).

October would be good during fall break when the kids are out of school. However, I've read that this is a super busy time to go due to Columbus Day and schools are out and parties messing with the park hours. Positives: no missed school and warm weather to swim at DLH pool.
October 8-15.

However, since we went to 3 Halloween parties last October and saw all the Fall decorations I think I would be more excited for a Christmas-y Disneyland trip this time. I am worried about it being too cold to want to ride splash mountain and other wet rides cuz we do not like the cold! Not to mention, if we are paying big money for a nice Resort, it would be nice to use the pools but not a deal breaker. Our choices for November would be anywhere from
11/12-12/2 (kids out of school Thursday & Friday 11/22 & 11/23 for Thanksgiving, which I understand would be super busy)!
for 7 days (willing to have the kids (1st&3rd grade) miss a few days of school).

Besides missing school and swimmable weather, the other important factor is CROWDS. Due to our long stay at WDW and major planning, we Never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride. Is that even possible at DL? Which time would you choose? By the way, I loved pre-planning! I am a little apprehensive about the lack of planning for DL...:

October 8-15, 2017 Halloween decorations, no school, major fall breaks.

(November: Any configuration of these dates for 7 nights)

November 12-19, 2017 week b4 Thanksgiving, Christmas beginning, warm enough to swim?

November 25-December 2, 2017 week after Thanksgiving, more Xmas, more cold?
*our first day would be relaxing at the hotel, not a park day to get over jet lag.
*Planning on buying 4 or 5 day passes, 2 Resort days.
*what hotel is better for Christmas time? DLH or GC? No difference?
* club level fans?
* private tour (plaid) fans?
It will be our 20th wedding anniversary in November. Kids club reviews?

 

[Imdboss]

So in the past we made an annual trip in October for 5 days in the park all around the Columbus Day weekend. I would definitely avoid it!!! That time of year has become so busy that we never plan to go back then. We've since done a July and Aug trip with fewer crowds. DH and I did a kidfree weekend in November and the crowds were very manageable. DL is just all around busier than say 5 years ago but you can pick times where it won't be too crazy. We went thanksgiving week a few years ago and found that to be not nearly as busy as we expected which was a nice surprise since I'd read about max capacity crowds on the holiday.

As far as weather goes, well that's hard to say , SoCal is pretty unpredictable these days, never know when a heat wave is going to hit. This past Nov I wore jeans and a tshirt during the day and added a hoodie and night, not warm enough for me to swim but my kids would have.

 

[Melanie415]

So in the past we made an annual trip in October for 5 days in the park all around the Columbus Day weekend. I would definitely avoid it!!! That time of year has become so busy that we never plan to go back then. We've since done a July and Aug trip with fewer crowds. DH and I did a kidfree weekend in November and the crowds were very manageable. DL is just all around busier than say 5 years ago but you can pick times where it won't be too crazy. We went thanksgiving week a few years ago and found that to be not nearly as busy as we expected which was a nice surprise since I'd read about max capacity crowds on the holiday.

As far as weather goes, well that's hard to say , SoCal is pretty unpredictable these days, never know when a heat wave is going to hit. This past Nov I wore jeans and a tshirt during the day and added a hoodie and night, not warm enough for me to swim but my kids would have.

Thanks Imdboss. That was what i was afraid of. Our friends went last October to DL during fall break when we went to WDW and they said it was not a fun trip due to the long lines! They attended a Halloween party and said it wasn't worth it. We had the best experiences during our Halloween parties at WDW, expensive but fun. I guess we can just hope for warmish weather in November. Perhaps wearing the extra clothes will be fun for us and contribute to the Christmasy-ness of the season since we are almost always in shorts here in south Maui. I have to remind myself if we want to swim, we can just go to the beach or hotel here. I guess I am just worried since we will be going for 7 days we might get bored and want to hang out at the hotel, if not swimming, then what??

 

[mom2rtk]

These days if Disney expects a low crowd time, they work hard to fill it. Your best chance of some low-ish crowd days will always be Tues, Wed and Thurs. If you're going to take a down day, do it on the weekend.

We were there the week before Thanksgiving last year. Last minute (just weeks out) I found out they were taping the Christmas parade and bringing Paint the Night back out to premiere again during our stay.

Weather was great, shorts during the day and jackets in the evening. But keep in mind we're from the midwest, so we break out the shorts when it hits 50. If I recall, we had highs in the 70's though. We did Splash several times.

We went the 2nd week of December a few years back and it was bitter cold the whole time. So if you do visit, be prepared for any weather.

 

[VandVsmama]

There are trade offs to both of your options.

October:

• the week you've selected is also Fall Break week for lots of schools in Arizona and Utah. This results in tons of AZ & UT families being at DL, too.
• in addition, Disneyland at Halloween is SUPER POPULAR for So Cal residents.
• we went that week in October 2015 and I felt that it was pretty crowded, but not unmanageable.
• definitely the warmer weather of your 2 options. MUCH more likely to be able to swim in October.

November:

• much LESS likely to be able to swim this month. Weather MUCH MORE LIKELY TO BE COLDER than you're used to in Hawaii.
• week BEFORE Thanksgiving is likely to have MUCH lower crowds than the week you selected in October.
• However, it's also the start of the Christmas season, so you might see an uptick in crowd levels in the evenings each day during the week when So Cal locals leave work early to go to DL for the evening so they can see the Christmas decorations & the Xmas parade before their APs get blocked out at Thanksgiving.

There is a lot to do in Southern California. The DIS Unplugged has a series of podcasts all about Day 6 adventures and they highlight various fun activities around LA, San Diego, and Orange County. However, if your husband really hates Southern California and doesn't want to venture out of DL and your hotel, then you really do need to select October instead of November...especially if you're going to have 2 resort days. Downtown Disney is not an all day thing, for example. You could go see a couple of movies at the movie theater in DTD, but that's not going to last you 2 days.

 

[VandVsmama]

Is it possible to go to DL during a busy time of year (which is most of the time now) and not wait in long lines? YES! Here's what works for our family. My DH hates waiting in super long lines and he gets Theme Park Fatigue (cranky pants) about it.

1. Get to the parks for rope drop. It's worth it since MOST visitors to DL are So Cal locals. And they usually don't start showing up until 10-11am. So if the parks open at 8 or 9 am, that's about 2 or so hours of lower crowds.
2. Even on busy days in October during Fall Break week, the crowds won't start to get to the level of "cranky pants" in my opinion until 1pm-ish.
3. THEN you leave the park, go back to your hotel, hang out, swim in the pool, take a nap, do whatever.
4. Go back to the park in the evening.
5. If you're doing rope drop at DCA during EMH, go to RSR first, then Toy Story. When EMH ends, grab FP's for RSR.
6. Download the Disneyland app to your smart phone and use it to monitor ride wait times throughout the day.
7. If you're doing rope drop at DL during EMH, pick 1 EMH day to focus on Fantasyland and another DL EMH day to focus on Tomorrowland. So for Fantasyland EMH, go on Peter Pan, Dumbo, Matterhorn, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Pinocchio, Mr Toad's Wild Ride. You might not get through all of that in that hour, but you'll get through most of it. Then when EMH ends, go on Storybook Land Canal Boats, then It's A Small World. Storybook Land Canal Boats doesn't open until regular park opening. We've regularly been able to get on 6 rides in Fantasyland during EMH. But this requires you to be at the park gate BEFORE it opens for EMH. It's worth it. Trust me. You can nap in the afternoon.
8. For EMH in Tomorrowland, start at either Space Mountain or Star Tours, then do the other ride when ride #1 is done. Then Autopia and Buzz. I can't remember if the Finding Nemo subs are open during EMH. If they are, do that during EMH.
9. Subscribe to RideMax. It's more accurate than Touring Plans, which I've read works really well at WDW.

Here's an example of a typical itinerary we've done at DL on a busy day:

• get up early. Be at park gate 20-30 min before park opening or EMH opening. usually we end up there 20 min before hand.
• Walk with purpose to Fantasyland. If we want to go on Peter Pan, we do that FIRST!
• Then Dumbo, Matterhorn, Alice, Mr Toad, King Arthur's Carousel, Snow White, Pinocchio.
• Then Storybook Land Canal Boats.
• Maybe IASW next or we might do this later in the day.
• Walk to Adventureland and get FP for Indiana Jones. Note return time on FP. ** IMPORTANT** When that FP return window begins, go and get FP for a different ride.
• go visit the Tiki Room
• Then Haunted Mansion & Pirates of the Caribbean.
• IJ FP window is now open, so send a runner to get Splash Mtn FP while the other adult gets a snack for the kids & everybody sits to rest for a bit.
• Browse through the Adventureland Bazaar shops. Get a "prescription card" from the Shrunken Ned machine. Silly and fun! Watch out for the pirate band roaming through Adventureland and New Orleans Square because they're very entertaining and fun.
• Now go to Tomorrowland while we wait for Splash Mtn FP window to open. Go on Autopia and Buzz. When Splash Mtn FP window opens, grab FP for Star Tours or Space Mtn. Walk to Critter Country for Splash Mtn
• Go on Splash Mtn with your FP. Then go on Winnie the Pooh. Stop for a character meet & greet with Winnie the Pooh and his friends if they're there.
• Stop for a bathroom break. Ask if anybody's getting hungry. Start thinking about lunch locations if we don't have lunch reservations for TS somewhere.
• If you still have time to kill before the Star Tours FP window opens, shop a little bit in a store or 2, especially in New Orleans Square. Go check out the train at NOS station.
• Take family pics with a PhotoPass photographer in front of the castle. On Main Street, get silhouettes done of our kids.
• go see Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. When Star Tours FP window opens, ride 1 of the Main Street vehicles down to the hub instead of walking. Take more PP pics in Town Square before heading down to Tomorrowland.
• Get a FP for Space Mountain & Buzz (Buzz is disconnected), then go on Star Tours.
• Have lunch. Browse & shop after lunch. Decide what you want to do while you wait for Space Mountain FP window to open. Maybe go on It's A Small World or explore Toon Town. See Mickey & the Magical Map. Or go see one of the hilarious shows in the Fantasyland Royal Theater. Or do the meet & greets in Princess Fantasy Faire.
• After you go on Space Mountain, get on the monorail and head to your room at the DLH.

 

[cruisehopeful]

October will be very busy and can be very hot, but I love October at DL. You can pull fast passes for rides at both parks at the same time (if you have park hoppers) and that will take care of the majority of the higher demand rides. The Halloween party nights are busy in DL and DCA. I would buy tickets for that rather than planning on going to DCA those nights. The last 2 years, we have had very hot Octobers. Too hot to dress up very much for Halloween.

If you go the week before Thanksgiving, you'll have lower crowds, but maybe shorter park hours, too. Since Veteran's Day is on the Saturday before your visit, there may be people tacking on days at DL in the beginning of your stay. I am guessing it will still be less crowded. It shouldn't be too hot or too cold.

*what hotel is better for Christmas time? DLH or GC? No difference?

They are both gorgeous for the holidays, GC moreso for Christmas. They build a giant gingerbread house in the lobby, but I doubt it will be up that early in the season. The nice thing is the hotels are close enough that you can walk to either of them as much as you want to. GC has a convenient entry if you get too soaked on Grizzly Rapids and need to change your clothes. You can do that and be back at the park in 15 minutes.

* club level fans?

Never used it because the value isn't there for my size group. If you have a big enough group to justify the cost of the snacks and you plan on being at the resort during the times they serve food, it is probably a good choice.

* private tour (plaid) fans?

Haven't done it, but want to. If you go in October, you can book a VIP Tour for your first park day and get through everything that you want to get through. It's a good choice if you can afford it. That will make the rest of your days a lot less stressful if there are lines for everything. I am thinking about doing it in October, but I am going to Hawaii in November - so I'll probably need to save my money for Hawaii.

 

[mistyinca]

Honestly, in terms of crowds, I don't know which is better. The weather can still be really HOT in October. Summer in So Cal lasts until October 30 (Halloween is the first cold day of the year! Sometimes you go from 87 on the 30th to 60 on the 31st!)

 

[Melanie415]

Is it possible to go to DL during a busy time of year (which is most of the time now) and not wait in long lines? YES! Here's what works for our family. My DH hates waiting in super long lines and he gets Theme Park Fatigue (cranky pants) about it.

1. Get to the parks for rope drop. It's worth it since MOST visitors to DL are So Cal locals. And they usually don't start showing up until 10-11am. So if the parks open at 8 or 9 am, that's about 2 or so hours of lower crowds.
2. Even on busy days in October during Fall Break week, the crowds won't start to get to the level of "cranky pants" in my opinion until 1pm-ish.
3. THEN you leave the park, go back to your hotel, hang out, swim in the pool, take a nap, do whatever.
4. Go back to the park in the evening.
5. If you're doing rope drop at DCA during EMH, go to RSR first, then Toy Story. When EMH ends, grab FP's for RSR.
6. Download the Disneyland app to your smart phone and use it to monitor ride wait times throughout the day.
7. If you're doing rope drop at DL during EMH, pick 1 EMH day to focus on Fantasyland and another DL EMH day to focus on Tomorrowland. So for Fantasyland EMH, go on Peter Pan, Dumbo, Matterhorn, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Pinocchio, Mr Toad's Wild Ride. You might not get through all of that in that hour, but you'll get through most of it. Then when EMH ends, go on Storybook Land Canal Boats, then It's A Small World. Storybook Land Canal Boats doesn't open until regular park opening. We've regularly been able to get on 6 rides in Fantasyland during EMH. But this requires you to be at the park gate BEFORE it opens for EMH. It's worth it. Trust me. You can nap in the afternoon.
8. For EMH in Tomorrowland, start at either Space Mountain or Star Tours, then do the other ride when ride #1 is done. Then Autopia and Buzz. I can't remember if the Finding Nemo subs are open during EMH. If they are, do that during EMH.
9. Subscribe to RideMax. It's more accurate than Touring Plans, which I've read works really well at WDW.

Here's an example of a typical itinerary we've done at DL on a busy day:

• get up early. Be at park gate 20-30 min before park opening or EMH opening. usually we end up there 20 min before hand.
• Walk with purpose to Fantasyland. If we want to go on Peter Pan, we do that FIRST!
• Then Dumbo, Matterhorn, Alice, Mr Toad, King Arthur's Carousel, Snow White, Pinocchio.
• Then Storybook Land Canal Boats.
• Maybe IASW next or we might do this later in the day.
• Walk to Adventureland and get FP for Indiana Jones. Note return time on FP. ** IMPORTANT** When that FP return window begins, go and get FP for a different ride.
• go visit the Tiki Room
• Then Haunted Mansion & Pirates of the Caribbean.
• IJ FP window is now open, so send a runner to get Splash Mtn FP while the other adult gets a snack for the kids & everybody sits to rest for a bit.
• Browse through the Adventureland Bazaar shops. Get a "prescription card" from the Shrunken Ned machine. Silly and fun! Watch out for the pirate band roaming through Adventureland and New Orleans Square because they're very entertaining and fun.
• Now go to Tomorrowland while we wait for Splash Mtn FP window to open. Go on Autopia and Buzz. When Splash Mtn FP window opens, grab FP for Star Tours or Space Mtn. Walk to Critter Country for Splash Mtn
• Go on Splash Mtn with your FP. Then go on Winnie the Pooh. Stop for a character meet & greet with Winnie the Pooh and his friends if they're there.
• Stop for a bathroom break. Ask if anybody's getting hungry. Start thinking about lunch locations if we don't have lunch reservations for TS somewhere.
• If you still have time to kill before the Star Tours FP window opens, shop a little bit in a store or 2, especially in New Orleans Square. Go check out the train at NOS station.
• Take family pics with a PhotoPass photographer in front of the castle. On Main Street, get silhouettes done of our kids.
• go see Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. When Star Tours FP window opens, ride 1 of the Main Street vehicles down to the hub instead of walking. Take more PP pics in Town Square before heading down to Tomorrowland.
• Get a FP for Space Mountain & Buzz (Buzz is disconnected), then go on Star Tours.
• Have lunch. Browse & shop after lunch. Decide what you want to do while you wait for Space Mountain FP window to open. Maybe go on It's A Small World or explore Toon Town. See Mickey & the Magical Map. Or go see one of the hilarious shows in the Fantasyland Royal Theater. Or do the meet & greets in Princess Fantasy Faire.
• After you go on Space Mountain, get on the monorail and head to your room at the DLH.

Wow VandVsmama, this is brilliant! I will feel much better having a tried and trusted plan for the parks. Thanks!

 

[Melanie415]

Thank you for all the great information
VandVsmama, mom2trk, cruisehopeful, Imdboss and mistyinca!

I've got a lot to think about. I'm so excited to go to Disneyland!

 

[VandVsmama]

Wow VandVsmama, this is brilliant! I will feel much better having a tried and trusted plan for the parks. Thanks!

You're very welcome! And that's just the first half of the day! Probably until about 1-1:30 pm.

When we take a break back at our hotel, we usually head back to the parks about 4-5pm. We'll often eat dinner at the parks, but you could alter things a lot to your own liking. For example, you could have lunch or dinner at the DLH at Trader Sam's or Tangaroa Terrace or somewhere in DTD. And since you'll be in the parks for 5 days, you won't feel rushed at all.

DL has as many attractions as WDW but in a smaller footprint. Plus you won't have the hassle of getting on buses or having to factor in transportation between resorts and stuff. You'll have a wonderful time!

Usually an evening at DL for us looks something like this:

• enter park, grab FP for Star Tours. DH usually likes to go on this twice/day when we're there. He loves it. We all love it, in fact.
• If we're there to see the Soundsational parade at 4pm, we go near the Alice in Wonderland bathrooms in Fantasyland. Just to the left of the bathrooms, there is a row of concrete benches and we usually can find a spot to sit there 30 min beforehand. It's close enough to the bathrooms so that our kids can go to the bathroom by themselves and I can watch them. And close enough to attractions that DH or I can take the kids on a quick FL ride before the parade. Or we'll get a snack and sit and eat and wait for the parade.
• If we're not there for the parade and we enter about 4:30-5:30 pm-ish, then after getting Star Tours FP, we go on Pirates and Haunted Mansion again. When Star Tours window opens, we might get a FP for Splash Mtn or BTMRR (but DH hates BTMRR so he doesn't go on it). Or if we haven't done IASW yet, we'll go on that. Or we go on the train once around the whole park when we're tired. Of course, the train isn't running right now. It's supposed to come back this summer, but they haven't announced exactly when yet.
• Go on Star Tours. Before going on Star Tours, get FP for Buzz again because DH loves going on Buzz Lightyear.
• Eat dinner. Either at a TS restaurant where I've made a reservation ahead of time or CS. If CS, we'd eat at Hungry Bear because we like being near the water. If it's TS, I'd probably splurge for Blue Bayou. Or if not splurging, we'd eat at Carnation Cafe or Cafe Orleans.
• Browse through the Star Trader store in Tomorrowland. On our next trip, we'll definitely go to the Chewbacca and Darth Vader meet & greets in Tomorrowland.
• If there's time, go on some more rides in Fantasyland again. Or Pirates again. On one trip, we went on Pirates 4-5 times in 1 day. 3 times in a row late at night during the 2nd Fantasmic performance and it was walk on every time. SO MUCH FUN!
• Find a spot to watch the fireworks. Then do the slow death march back to the hotel and crash.

Using Ridemax, I finagle our touring itinerary so that we don't have to wait in a line more than 20 min at a time. So all of the above is stuff that's <20 min wait.

 

[meggles]

If you are staying onsite you can definitely spend a good day doing the resort exclusive activities like movie nights, scavenger hunts, hotel tours, etc. They are fun and really add to the bubble experience!

We've been in early November the last two years and it's usually warm enough to swim, especially with the hot tub near by.

 

[Manapua]

We also come from Maui and have visited DL during both the periods you are considering, so let me share our experiences.

Our first trip to DLR in 2014 was the Wed-Fri of the week prior to Thanksgiving. Crowds were light (in retrospect as we had no frame of reference at the time) except for the Friday afternoon and evening when it became increasingly crowded. We had a great time and it led to our future trips.

In 2015 we went during the school fall break since our oldest started school. I think it was the first week of October. We went for 5 days plus a Halloween party. We had such a great time we decided we were going to do the exact same thing again the next year.

This past year we again went during the fall break - which I believe was the second week of October. It was insanely crowded. Even the Halloween party was more crowded. Although we still had fun, it wasn't worth it, and I will never go back to DLR knowing it might be that crowded. There is no reason to believe that it will be less crowded this year, so we are not going at that time. We are again considering going back this year, just not that week. We too are faced with the dilemma of missing some school to go to DLR or skipping it. No way I'm going that second week of October.