Holiday tour question?

[ballarinamom]

Has anyone done this? We have seen the "tourists" sitting in the reserved spots for the parade with the hot cocoa and cookies. Thought it would be fun. I've read where it starts at 10:00 and is about 2 1/2 hours long. Do you take the tour and return to the reserved seating at parade time? Thanks!

 

[Califgirl]

I've done this tour several times. When the park gets crowded during the holidays, it's a good time to be on a tour!

You have headsets so you can hear the guide tell you all about Disney at the Holdiays. They explain about the decorating, the themeing, even the treats. Did you know that the Gingerbread House in the Haunted Mansion is real gingerbread made by Disneyland pastry chefs? You get to sample samples of the holiday fudge, you get to ride HM Holiday, It's a Small World Holiday, the train from New Orleans to ToonTown station. They take you through the different lands and show you the decorating and themeing. At the end of the tour you get hot cocoa in a souvenier mug, a treat (it's been a cookie, or a rice krispey treat depending on what they have that year) a collectible holiday tour pin, and reserved seating for the parade. It's nice to be able to sit and sip the cocoa and wait for the parade. The parade is always at the end of the tour, which is about 2 hrs long.
The parade seating is part of the tour, not something you come back for later.

I always enjoy this tour, especially on a busy park day.

 

[Sunobo]

We did the tour in November and while I found it interesting, hubby and the kids were bored. The seats were nice, and it was great not to have to fight for a parade seat. The downside was 3 of the 4 tour groups missed the pre-parade with Giselle.

The reserved seats are next to a curve so if the parade goes from ISAW to the hub, the seats give a great view. If it's one of the time the parade is going the other direction, you don't see it until it's almost right in front of you. I'm the kind of person that loves to watch parades coming down the street and we didn't get to see that effect for out tour.