Holiday Time at the Disneyland Resort" Guided Tour"

[GenGen22]

Hello,

Has anyone taken this your before? What all is included? I see that a pin & personalized button are included but the Disneyland website doesn't really state what this tour is about and if lunch is included like some of the other tours. Can someone who's taken it tell me what it's about and how you liked the tour? And the personalized button is it like the I'm celebrating ones you get at city hall or what is it?

 

[GenGen22]

Also if a meal is included what are your options?

 

[Malcon10t]

No meals. You have previously gotten a cookie and hot chocolate with seating for the parade.

 

[AussieNSW]

We went last year 2016. It was the first time that that had removed fast passes for any of the Christmas rides as part of the tour. Bit of background information I adore Christmas I love everything about it. Our family is heavily into Christmas lights. Our house has been in the newspaper and my husband is involved with xlights and attends Christmas light conferences here in Australia and flew over to Las Vegas for the conference this year. We were hoping to go to Christmas expo in Nashville in July this year but the cost from Australia after the vegas conference was to much. I had always wanted to see Disneyland at Christmas time so nov 2016 we went celebrated thanksgiving at Disneyland did a few things in the United States and then went back to Disneyland before flying home to Australia.
I was very excited about this tour and had happily been reading other people's experiences in past years.
It was a complete let down.
Pros
We got seats for the parade opposite ITs a small world.
Nice hot chocolate.
Ginger bread.
Choc bark from Main Street.
A pin that wasn't very Christmasy
A name tag that was Christmas themed.
Cons
Not value for money
Guides tried to fill the time with boring commentary for example information about the main Christmas trees ( interesting yes) but trying to draw it out because you now have nothing much to do with the guests by taking about everything decoration ( it is red because red is a Christmas colour) is just a waste of my time.
It was so bad that they had to bring guest relation supervisors to the groups to deal with people's dissatisfaction.
We ended up leaving the tour as many people did and meeting them at the chairs for the parade.
They said they weren't supposed to do this but people were so unhappy I think they did it to make there lives easier.
People were expecting something so much better because in past years they took you on the rides and it wasn't all about seeing how many tours they could fit in a day.
During this time we now had we went on the Christmas themed it's a small world.
Those who persevered got more of over here we have a wreath kinda of commentary. There we're a lot of people asking for there money back.
I didn't as I liked sitting in a spot roped off for the parade, I hate confrontation and I didn't want my Christmas spirit to be destroyed by having to ague with them as others were having to do.
If you decided to do it double check what is included as the information that was provided on the web site and by staff at the start of the season was very different to what the reality was.

 

[cmwade77]

Hopefully this year's is better than that

 

[MacMama0930]

I did it last year too and I loved the parade seating but the tour was boring! Don't know why they took the rides out of the tour - they desperately need to put them back in!!

 

[DizMe]

The main reasons I used to go on the tour every year with my sister were the rides, the candy samples, and the parade seating with treats and commemorative pin. It was also a fun bit of camaraderie with the other tour members, calling out to other tours and singing carols. That all just died or became one of those painful things where no one was interested. They took us from NOS to FL on the train the first year, but the train was dropped after that.

Knowing you got front of the line for HMH and IASWH were prime motivations for paying for a tour. I also got the AP discount and only had to pay for myself so not too big a hit to the pocket. My sister and I decided before we learned that the rides had been removed as a perk that we didn't need to do it again, even though we loved the parade and the rides. It had become so dull and everything was getting scaled back. The huge Mickey gingerbread cookie with white and dark chocolate turned into a small Mickey cookie with some chocolate and then into a generic gingerbread 'thing'. I liked the annual Christmas travel mug that you got with the cocoa, but you can get one without taking the tour.

I think that if crowds make certain things impossible (like getting front of the line for rides), Disney needs to add something else to make it worthwhile. People don't like feeling 'taken' and that's what's happening. The tour, by itself, is not worth much since the headphone system is pretty bad and the information given is only fun when you get a good tour guide, which apparently isn't happening too often these days. Maybe they should just offer a Christmas dessert seating for the parade and quit trying to get a tour to work.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

The main reasons I used to go on the tour every year with my sister were the rides, the candy samples, and the parade seating with treats and commemorative pin. It was also a fun bit of camaraderie with the other tour members, calling out to other tours and singing carols. That all just died or became one of those painful things where no one was interested. They took us from NOS to FL on the train the first year, but the train was dropped after that.

Knowing you got front of the line for HMH and IASWH were prime motivations for paying for a tour. I also got the AP discount and only had to pay for myself so not too big a hit to the pocket. My sister and I decided before we learned that the rides had been removed as a perk that we didn't need to do it again, even though we loved the parade and the rides. It had become so dull and everything was getting scaled back. The huge Mickey gingerbread cookie with white and dark chocolate turned into a small Mickey cookie with some chocolate and then into a generic gingerbread 'thing'. I liked the annual Christmas travel mug that you got with the cocoa, but you can get one without taking the tour.

I think that if crowds make certain things impossible (like getting front of the line for rides), Disney needs to add something else to make it worthwhile. People don't like feeling 'taken' and that's what's happening. The tour, by itself, is not worth much since the headphone system is pretty bad and the information given is only fun when you get a good tour guide, which apparently isn't happening too often these days. Maybe they should just offer a Christmas dessert seating for the parade and quit trying to get a tour to work.

I agree with this 100%! We had done the tour a few times and really loved it, but reading about the changes last year and the subsequent reports, it doesn't sound worth it all. Hopefully some changes coming this year! Or, as you said, switch to a dessert party!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

That is too really too bad if they took the rides off of the tour. We did it in 2015 on December 30, and it was well worth the money between the info, rides, and parade seating. We did the tour on a very crowded day and to us it was worth it, if the rides aren't a part of it I think rethink it.

 

[Miggee]

We went last year 2016. It was the first time that that had removed fast passes for any of the Christmas rides as part of the tour. Bit of background information I adore Christmas I love everything about it. Our family is heavily into Christmas lights. Our house has been in the newspaper and my husband is involved with xlights and attends Christmas light conferences here in Australia and flew over to Las Vegas for the conference this year. We were hoping to go to Christmas expo in Nashville in July this year but the cost from Australia after the vegas conference was to much. I had always wanted to see Disneyland at Christmas time so nov 2016 we went celebrated thanksgiving at Disneyland did a few things in the United States and then went back to Disneyland before flying home to Australia.
I was very excited about this tour and had happily been reading other people's experiences in past years.
It was a complete let down.
Pros
We got seats for the parade opposite ITs a small world.
Nice hot chocolate.
Ginger bread.
Choc bark from Main Street.
A pin that wasn't very Christmasy
A name tag that was Christmas themed.
Cons
Not value for money
Guides tried to fill the time with boring commentary for example information about the main Christmas trees ( interesting yes) but trying to draw it out because you now have nothing much to do with the guests by taking about everything decoration ( it is red because red is a Christmas colour) is just a waste of my time.
It was so bad that they had to bring guest relation supervisors to the groups to deal with people's dissatisfaction.
We ended up leaving the tour as many people did and meeting them at the chairs for the parade.
They said they weren't supposed to do this but people were so unhappy I think they did it to make there lives easier.
People were expecting something so much better because in past years they took you on the rides and it wasn't all about seeing how many tours they could fit in a day.
During this time we now had we went on the Christmas themed it's a small world.
Those who persevered got more of over here we have a wreath kinda of commentary. There we're a lot of people asking for there money back.
I didn't as I liked sitting in a spot roped off for the parade, I hate confrontation and I didn't want my Christmas spirit to be destroyed by having to ague with them as others were having to do.
If you decided to do it double check what is included as the information that was provided on the web site and by staff at the start of the season was very different to what the reality was.

like you, my family of 5 did the holiday tour last year and was disappointed, we also had some in our group that were from Australia as well as a women there for her 60th B day celebration (also from Australia), none of us realized the fasspasses were taken out of last years tour, guest relations was brought over and really nothing was done for them except the option to cancel and walk away (which some did, but were not allowed to come back to the chairs for the parade), it was nice to get a seat for the parade and see the lighting of IASW, but really not worth the money at all... I feel so bad for the women celebrating her B day that i asked her to go with me to IASW holidays after (I had special fasspass). we will defin NOT do that again this year, and I made sure I provided feedback. just not handled the way I would expect Disney to.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

The holiday tour was a much loved tradition for us every year. But after reading the negative reviews last year, we decided to skip it (sadly). Now I am glad we did, even though we missed doing it. For those who did the tour and did not enjoy it, please write to Disney to tell them that you expect better things this year. For the rest of us who gave up on the tour last year because of the bad reviews, write in, too. There is still time for Disney to make positive changes for this year's tour. Pixie dust and fingers crossed!

 

[Miggee]

The holiday tour was a much loved tradition for us every year. But after reading the negative reviews last year, we decided to skip it (sadly). Now I am glad we did, even though we missed doing it. For those who did the tour and did not enjoy it, please write to Disney to tell them that you expect better things this year. For the rest of us who gave up on the tour last year because of the bad reviews, write in, too. There is still time for Disney to make positive changes for this year's tour. Pixie dust and fingers crossed!

agreed, I made sure guest relations know how we feel and also wrote an email when I got home, hopefully they listened and bring it back to the way it was.. one can hope!

 

[Nonsuch]

I did it last year too and I loved the parade seating but the tour was boring! Don't know why they took the rides out of the tour - they desperately need to put them back in!!

It seems special access to attractions is becoming an exclusive benefit of VIP Tours. Attractions add value to the Holiday Tour, but perhaps that devalues the VIP Tour. The holiday overlays greatly increase the lines to Jungle Cruise and Small World, so they were a great feature for the Holiday Tour (Haunted Mansion overlay is easily experienced with FastPass).