Halloween and Christmas in one?

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Well, today while doing some planning with my annual leave for our trip next year I discovered that labour day isn't on the 21st of October as I had assumed. It is infact on the 28th of October. My friend and I had specifically chosen to go to Disneyland in October as we wanted to be able to experiance Halloween. Halloween isn't a big holiday here in New Zealand and we were really looking foward to being able to experiance it in all of it's glory. I have a dancing competition on Labour weekend and therefore our only option if to fly out on labour day itself. So now instead of having the 10 days we thought had to experiance Halloween we now have only 3. And that's including Halloween day itself which I immagine would be very busy. I know that we will still be able to get photos with the majority of the characters in their costumes and experiance all of the Halloween specific entertainment during these 3 days, but will be very rushed!!!

So to say the least I am now very sad and frustrated at something that is completely out of my control

I did have a sudden thought that even though our Halloween season at Disneyland might be rushed, we may be able to catch the beginning of the Christmas celebration. has anyone had experiance with catching the two holidays in one trip? We would most likely be travelling until around about the 15th of November. Would we catch the christmas parade and snow on mainstreet? And Mickey and the gang in their cute christmas outfits? My dream has always been to see Disneyland during it's Halloween and Christmas overlays. So if I am able to kill two birds with one stone that might make me feel a little better about our rushed Halloween visit

 

[scrapshappen]

I personally haven't done it. But it sounds possible for you.

I think I read that Halloween itself is actually not very busy at Disneyland? Someone will correct me if I am wrong. And we spent 3 days there at Halloween time a few years back and saw and did everything we wanted to so I thing you will be OK.

Today, November 12 is the first official day of the Christmas season at Disneyland but many of the attractions and decorations have been up for a week or more. I'd guess next year November 11 will be the first official day of Christmas.

 

[Eeee-va]

Halloween day this year actually wasn't terribly busy. I believe we were able to get TWO sets of Fastpasses for Space Mountain coming in at 3:00 (park closed at 6 PM for the party). I think there's always a Halloween party that night, which was busy enough, but since we were expecting terrible crowds, we found it manageable. As an American, I found it very fun to spend the actual Halloween at Disneyland (as opposed to just a random day to dress up), but others may not.

We were in Disneyland 10/31 and then both parks 11/1 and 11/2 (thank you, DIS Unplugged!). A bit of Halloween remained in the parks after Halloween night. The Main Street pumpkins were gone by 11/1 (they were filming the Christmas parade 11/3 so they had to hurry), but the ones at the turnstiles remained in place throughout our trip. I believe most of the Halloween window displays remained in place throughout our trip--certainly in Downtown Disney. Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy was up through 11/4, I think, and of course Haunted Mansion Holiday will remain up throughout your trip.

Of course, Christmas was already starting to creep into the parks by Halloween night. On Halloween, snow was already on the castle and New Orleans Square seemed to be all Christmas-ized. The days following, we noticed Christmas decorations throughout Toontown (appeared to be completely decorated) and most of Paradise Pier at Disneyland, including their Christmas tree. (The meetable Duffy was also in the Christmas spirit as early as November 1!) As others have mentioned, decorations literally went up overnight, as we asked ourselves, "Was that there yesterday?"

If this year serves as any guide, almost all the Christmas offerings will be 100% up and running by the last few days of your trip, excepting the Candlelight Processional and perhaps the hotel Christmas trees. The down side is that you'll have a bit of a jumbled window in-between Halloween and Christmas, when the parks are mostly decorated for Christmas but it's not really Christmas yet. It's not bad, though, especially if you WANT to see the park decorated for Christmas. (I'd visited last year for Christmastime so I would've liked to see fewer decorations, but if that's the worst thing I have to complain about, my life is pretty good. )

And next year, it's rumored that seeing Christmas entertainment (Christmas parade, Christmas fireworks, Candlelight Processional, snow) will be exclusive to a separate ticket party, just like the Halloween party. I'd be slightly surprised (not shocked) if ALL the listed items become party exclusives, but at the least, I would think 3/4 of them will, so you'd need to budget that in. Worse, it's also possible that the first Christmas party would take place after the day you leave, since it appears Halloweentime starts a couple weeks before they start doing parties. Unfortunately, there's absolutely no way to know about that until it's way too late for you to decide when to go.

But if the very worst happens, Disneyland is still decorated very nicely, and there are still LOTS of Christmas offerings that are not exclusive to the party. And DCA has really stepped up their Christmas game, so you could get a good dose of Christmas in that park even if you for some reason can't attend a Christmas party.

Have a great trip! I think you're picking a magical time to go, and I do think 3 days would be plenty to experience what Halloween has to offer at the parks.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

This year, the decorations started going up the first weekend in November. The tree and garland on Main Street were up last Friday (11/9), and that is when it's a Small World Holiday opened up. Haunted Mansion Holiday opened just before Halloween.

It's not as quiet these days as in the past, but you should be able to enjoy the Halloween decorations and the beginning of the Christmas holiday during your visit if you come on the dates you said.

On Thursday, 11/8, they had the Halloween characters above the turnstyles. By Friday, it was the Christmas characters ... overnight.

 

[Disney Dreams]

I BELIEVE the start of Christmastime at DLR is based upon Thanksgiving. This year, Thanksgiving came very early. Next year it falls back to the 28th (as opposed to this year, 11/22). I would expect Christmas decor, entertainment, etc. to start later next year. This is just a guess, of course.

- Dreams

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

We were in Disneyland 10/31 and then both parks 11/1 and 11/2 (thank you, DIS Unplugged!).

I was wondering when you were going to reclaim your prize!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Thanks guys! Fingers crossed we will get to experiance all that the Christmas season has to offer. We don't mind paying a bit extra to see the fireworks and parade, but may have to extend our stay a few days. Guess we won't find out until next year!

 

[Girimama33]

We were there 10/22-10/25. The castle had snow on a few towers one day, and all the next. If you go for Halloween and early November, I think you can catch both.


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