Holiday Time at Disneyland Tour, Question!

[SunsetsOnTheBeach]

Hi everyone,

I am new to this board and have a question about the Holiday Time Tour at Disneyland. We are going over NYE weekend, and would love to do the tour strictly for the ride and parade privileges! But, I read that the tour is around 2.5 hours long. What kind of things do you do besides the neat ride and parade privileges, and the snack and pin? I have a 4 & 6 yr old who will be along for the ride too, will they be completely bored? Is it a quick moving tour? We will have a double jogging stroller, so I'm not worried about them getting tired, just getting bored.

Anyone who has any info on this would be very helpful, thank you!

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

Welcome to the Dis!!

Click on this thread - it has a lot of great info:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2820066

As far as the kids gettting bored - there is some talk of the first part of the tour going a bit slow for the little ones. I have never been, but will be going next week. Can't wait!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

We did the tour 2 years ago with 4 kids under 8, and a double stroller. We were lucky that the rest of our group was a family with kids too. The CMreally geared the tour towards the kids. They had fun singing carols and listening to the guide and music on the headphones. I'd check in early and see if they can put you with another group with kids. One thing I'm not sure if we did because of the kids or not, was that we stopped to see Santas reindeer and learned they are on a strict diet of gingerbread and candy canes. I think they're hidden in the hay so little kids don't try to eat it.

 

[DizNee Luver]

I just did the tour on Weds. & there were kids in our touring group. They are given the headphones to listen to the music & hear the tour guide just like the adults....they seemed to like that. We got a sample of fudge from the candy shop, we stopped at different places around the Disneyland park learning some interesting trivia & history. You're on the move with short stops. You ride HMH & then catch the train to ToonTown. Our tour was group 3 of 3, so they stagger the start times. I believe our next stop would have been getting on IASW-Holiday, but we wouldn't have been done in time for the parade....so we went into ToonTown to get our Hot Cocoa & Gingerbread Cookie. We got to our parade seats, watched the parade & then got on Small World. Time goes quickly on this tour. There was a little guy probably around 4 & then his 8 yr old brother with Cerebral Palsy. They both seemed to be having fun!!! I plan on taking my autistic/delayed twins next year if we can do our family trip for the holidays. They try to gear this tour for the whole family.

(Totally worth every penny for priority loading on the 2 rides & VIP seats for the parade)

 

[SunsetsOnTheBeach]

Thank you for the Welcome!

And GREAT info. Sounds like it is pretty kid friendly. I didn't know you wore headphones to here the CM, that will be fun and interesting for the kids. I will be sure to check in early and request to be put with a family if possible.

DizNee Luver: My DS also has autism. Have you gotten the guest assistance pass with your little guys before? We plan on getting one.

 

[SunsetsOnTheBeach]

ColoradoMom- This thread was extremely helpful, and has pretty much addressed all of my concerns by page 3! Thank you!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

DizNee Luver: My DS also has autism. Have you gotten the guest assistance pass with your little guys before? We plan on getting one.

Yes we have used them in the past. The girls don't really like getting on the rides, but we did use it to get them on Small World a fraction quicker than standing in the standby line.

We get it so the strollers can go anywhere a wheelchair can. So places where they ask you to park the strollers, we were able to keep them in the strollers. For one of the girls this was a must!

 

[Scotch]

Hi, could you clarify which second ride (in addition to Small World) was included for the priority boarding?

I just did the tour on Weds. & there were kids in our touring group. They are given the headphones to listen to the music & hear the tour guide just like the adults....they seemed to like that. We got a sample of fudge from the candy shop, we stopped at different places around the Disneyland park learning some interesting trivia & history. You're on the move with short stops. You ride HMH & then catch the train to ToonTown. Our tour was group 3 of 3, so they stagger the start times. I believe our next stop would have been getting on IASW-Holiday, but we wouldn't have been done in time for the parade....so we went into ToonTown to get our Hot Cocoa & Gingerbread Cookie. We got to our parade seats, watched the parade & then got on Small World. Time goes quickly on this tour. There was a little guy probably around 4 & then his 8 yr old brother with Cerebral Palsy. They both seemed to be having fun!!! I plan on taking my autistic/delayed twins next year if we can do our family trip for the holidays. They try to gear this tour for the whole family.

(Totally worth every penny for priority loading on the 2 rides & VIP seats for the parade)

 

[Sherry E]

Hi, could you clarify which second ride (in addition to Small World) was included for the priority boarding?

Haunted Mansion Holiday.

 

[Scotch]

Thanks. That's a bummer as I'm really interested in this tour for the priority boarding and parade aspects (given we'll be visiting during the busiest week of the year). But there is no way my 4 year old would go on the Haunted Mansion ride. (He refuses to watch the Lion king because we've read him the story and he is scared of the hyenas and the dead elephant graveyard scenes).

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Thanks. That's a bummer as I'm really interested in this tour for the priority boarding and parade aspects (given we'll be visiting during the busiest week of the year). But there is no way my 4 year old would go on the Haunted Mansion ride. (He refuses to watch the Lion king because we've read him the story and he is scared of the hyenas and the dead elephant graveyard scenes).

You can opt out for that ride. Have you seen the holiday version? It's less scary than the original. Maybe watch it on youtube.

 

[Scotch]

I haven't seen the holiday version; I didn't know it might be less scary! Thanks, I'll go take a look online later today.

Opting out of the ride makes the cost less worthwhile. And what would we do when the rest of the tour goes on the ride? If we go on another ride, we might not get back with the tour in time; alternatively, we'd just hang around and wait.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I haven't seen the holiday version; I didn't know it might be less scary! Thanks, I'll go take a look online later today.

Opting out of the ride makes the cost less worthwhile. And what would we do when the rest of the tour goes on the ride? If we go on another ride, we might not get back with the tour in time; alternatively, we'd just hang around and wait.

If you opt out you'd have to wait. They go straight into the stretching room when they get there so there isn't time for much else. My kids loved the holiday nightmare before Christmas version, and were scared of the regular version. It's a lot brighter with neon colors.

 

[SunsetsOnTheBeach]

My 4 yr old would never go in the regular Haunted Mansion either, or watch Lion King or even Toy Story, all too scary. But he did watch parts of the Nightmare Before Christmas recently, and likes Jack Skellington, so I think he'll go in and be ok. This age is tough, I think he'll be scared on quite a few rides! Hoping I can get him on Pirate's.


On another, unrelated, note. Does anyone know if you can cancel and get a refund for the tour? If the parade is rained out, I wouldn't want to do the tour. That is pretty much the biggest reason we'd go on it. We went to DL on 12/19 last year and it poured all day long. Parades, fireworks, everything was canceled.

So, are you able to cancel and get your money back if it's raining?

 

[Scotch]

On another, unrelated, note. Does anyone know if you can cancel and get a refund for the tour? If the parade is rained out, I wouldn't want to do the tour. That is pretty much the biggest reason we'd go on it. We went to DL on 12/19 last year and it poured all day long. Parades, fireworks, everything was canceled.

So, are you able to cancel and get your money back if it's raining?

Someone on that other DIS thread re the 2011 holiday tours said they experienced rain last year (or the year before) and Disney offered to cancel and rebook the tour or a refund. Otherwise, I was told over the phone today (when calling to check availability) that the tour prices are nonrefundable and nontransferable.

 

[SunsetsOnTheBeach]

Ok, thank you. I am just going to hope and pray for no rain! Well, I don't mind a little rain, I'm originally from the Pacific NW. But POURING miserable soaked to the bone rain, and canceling parades and fireworks, is a real bummer!!!

 

[aidensmom31]

Ok, thank you. I am just going to hope and pray for no rain! Well, I don't mind a little rain, I'm originally from the Pacific NW. But POURING miserable soaked to the bone rain, and canceling parades and fireworks, is a real bummer!!!

I currently live in the Pacific NW and a little rain is definitely nothing to us. Not when it continuelly pours