Help plannig our first Christmas at DL

[emacat]

OKay, fellow DL Disboard lovers, I need your help. I'm planning a secret trip to DL for my daughter's 12th birthday- December 15-21st. Since we've always gone in June every other trip, this is quite a change, planning-wise.

So, here are my questions-

Is DL really busy that close to Christmas?

When is a good time to buy plane tickets for that time of year?

What is the basic temperature? Jeans and a light jacket? I'm guessing it might be a bit too chilly for the hotel pool??

How do we set up a little side trip tour to Hollywood?

Any help would be great! I'm definately out of my element on this one.

 

[emacat]

LOL- And I'm so sorry about the title of the thread, despite my poor typing, I do know how to spell planning!

 

[Sherry E]

Hi there!

I think you may have popped in and visited us in the first version of the Disney at Christmas thread once or twice, if I recall. The new version (Disneyland at Christmas Time Superthread - Part 2) is much more organized. I think you will be able to find a lot of valuable information to help you. Be sure to subscribe to the thread if you can, as we will be discussing breaking news about the season as it comes in, and I will be updating the first page as we get info on the 2011 holiday season! Feel free to jump in at any time and ask questions if you can't get them answered elsewhere.


In this Holiday Info post, in particular, there is a Q&A section (addressing commonly asked questions about the season), and that tackles the weather and crowds issues, among other things:

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39197550&postcount=3


As for your other questions, I know that you will get tons of replies to help you out!

You'll have a wonderful time at DLR for Christmas! (Yes, it will be busy!)

 

[skiingfast]

Is DL really busy that close to Christmas?

When is a good time to buy plane tickets for that time of year?

What is the basic temperature? Jeans and a light jacket? I'm guessing it might be a bit too chilly for the hotel pool??

How do we set up a little side trip tour to Hollywood?

The season runs from mid November to New Years. And it has a fairly exponential rise in attendance. So yes that time will be busy, and the time after crazy busy. So not good not horrible.


Plane ticket. Easy to answer hard to plan for. When ever oil is cheapest.

Hotel pools are mostly heated. Yes Jeans and Light Jacket. There is a good weather post around.


Grayline does some tours to hollywood. Consider that or renting a car. There are a lot of see the stars tours.

 

[Sherry E]

The season runs from mid November to New Years. And it has a fairly exponential rise in attendance. So yes that time will be busy, and the time after crazy busy. So not good not horrible.


Plane ticket. Easy to answer hard to plan for. When ever oil is cheapest.

Hotel pools are mostly heated. Yes Jeans and Light Jacket. There is a good weather post around.


Grayline does some tours to hollywood. Consider that or renting a car. There are a lot of see the stars tours.

Are you talking about HydroGuy's weather post? I have a link to his post in my Holiday Info/Q&A post that I linked above, if you need to find it.

 

[skiingfast]

Are you talking about HydroGuy's weather post? I have a link to his post in my Holiday Info/Q&A post that I linked above, if you need to find it.

That's a good one indeed Sherry.

Here is the direct link.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1711391&highlight=detailed+weather+information

 

[emacat]

Thanks to both of you, Sherry and Skiingfast!

You are right, Sherry, we did check out the first Chrsitmas board, and it looked so great, it made me determined to try to somehow get there at Christmastime someday (and I was able to order a few great items you had mentioned to put under the tree this last holiday ). I'll definately check out the new thread right away!

We stay at the Hojo everytime, so I'll have to find out if the garden pool is heated. We've stayed in the 2 story building behind the main office, and in building 1 another visit, but never in building 2 garden side, which I've reserved this time, so I'll hope that pool is heated.

As for the ET rate pre-charging that the Hojo is doing, I think I'll have to give reservations a call in the am and have them pre-charge my c.c., since I see the 15th is the only day the ET rate is going on the rooms I saved so far. That new pre-charge thing kind of threw me, but I definately see the reason for it.

 

[Sherry E]

Thanks to both of you, Sherry and Skiingfast!

You are right, Sherry, we did check out the first Chrsitmas board, and it looked so great, it made me determined to try to somehow get there at Christmastime someday (and I was able to order a few great items you had mentioned to put under the tree this last holiday ). I'll definately check out the new thread right away!

We stay at the Hojo everytime, so I'll have to find out if the garden pool is heated. We've stayed in the 2 story building behind the main office, and in building 1 another visit, but never in building 2 garden side, which I've reserved this time, so I'll hope that pool is heated.

As for the ET rate pre-charging that the Hojo is doing, I think I'll have to give reservations a call in the am and have them pre-charge my c.c., since I see the 15th is the only day the ET rate is going on the rooms I saved so far. That new pre-charge thing kind of threw me, but I definately see the reason for it.

Yes, the new policy at Hojo caused quite the stir (and then Lorealle disappeared shortley thereafter), even though I can understand why they had to do it. I think that the 3 Disney hotels may be revising their own hotel bookings soon too. I did a recent survey for them that leads me to believe they may be making some big changes.

That's right! I remember you were asking about the items to get for Christmas! I had forgotten that until you just mentioned it, but I knew you had been in the first Christmas thread a couple of times. I'm glad to hear you found some goodies!

That first Christmas thread was great and very special - and the photos were just amazing. People really loved that thread while it lasted. The only problem was that, because it had not begun as a Superthread, it was not organized. All of the info was lost in the pages, and there was not one singular page or post that had the bulk of the info for everyone to reference. So that's what I did with Part 2 of the Superthread - got it organized, addressed the topics and categories/subcategories of the holiday season that come up all the time and directed people where to find info and photos!

So hopefully, you will get a lot of good info from there!!

You know, right now it is a cold 49 degrees in my part of Southern California (and probably about the same in Anaheim, I would guess). It's actually colder right now than it sometimes is in December!!