Holiday decorations / lights schedule

[prc4prc]

Hi!

When we planned our trip a few months ago - we tried to plan it so we would be able to see the holiday decorations. I just read the Disney E-mail that gives Friday Nov 21st as the start date to the holiday season. Our last night at the Grand Californian is on Thursday the 20th! (staying for four nights).

So are we going to miss all the decorations and lights by one day? Or will the workers be putting up the decorations/lights throughout the week? If they do - do they turn on the lights as they go (at night) or do they wait until the 21st to turn everything on?

We really wanted to see the decorations/light - but at the time we made our reservations, even Disneyland could not give us a good start date for the decorations/lights. We are now thinking about changing our dates to see the lights - as our schedule is flexible.

Thanks.

 

[BillyFan]

You will definitely see decorations. They will start putting them up as they are taking down Halloween, and I'm sure that by the 20th everything will be up and ready. I'm not sure about all the lights though. They will be up, but I'm not sure if they will light them all.
The Reindeer Roundup and Small World Holiday won't be open until the 21st, so if you want to experience those, you'll need to be in the park those days.
We will be in the parks Nov 19-23, so we can have small crowds at the beginning of our trip and all of the holiday stuff at the end.
BTW, the holiday fireworks are fantastic, but they don't start until the 21st as well.

 

[prc4prc]

BillyFan,

Thanks for the reply.

We have reservations from Sun-Thurs, and are thinking that maybe we should change to Wed-Sat if they still have availability. It would be a bummer to miss out on all the lights by just one day.

Thanks.

 

[BillyFan]

If you switch, you'll probably be trading much lighter crowds for the official holiday season, so it really depends on what's important to you. We get in at around noon on Wed, and our plan is to do as much as possible on Wed and Thurs. Then we can just enjoy the holiday stuff and do repeats on the busier weekend days. We wen the the same weekend last year, and it worked out great.
Now if you don't/can't move your dates, just keep in mind that you will still have a great time, and you'll be missing the big crowds.