Holiday Tour: What happens on it and is it worth It?

[camouseketeer]

My DD's, ages 7 and 8, and I will be at DLR Nov 11 and 12. I believe the tour begins Nov 12. We are DLR vets with AP's. We have been in November before and have seen the parade and holiday Small World. My girls are scared of Haunted Mansion and don't want to go on that ride. My DD7 has food allergies and would not be able to eat the gingerbread cookie, the fudge, and perhaps the hot chocolate.

Is the holiday tour worth it for us? My girls are well behaved and can listen well, but will the information on the tour be interesting to them? I want to see the parade and small world again, and I would love front row seats on both, but I am not sure if the rest of the tour is of interest. Besides the 2 rides and the parade, what happens on the tour? What is discussed?

Any insights and opinions are welcome!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Most of the DISers on the board think that the Holiday tour is worth the price. Not only do you get priority boarding on HMH and IASWH, a reserved seating for "A Christmas Fantasy" parade, gingerbread cookie and beverage, you get to go to Santa's Reindeer Round-Up and see the Holiday turkey and reindeers, we got treats at the Candy store on MS (I picked the pumpkin instead of the fudge), get to ride on the DLRR. The part I like during the Holiday tour when we were walking around the park is when we sang Christmas carols and our CM was teaching all of us to say Merry Christmas in different country languages.

When I did the trip last year, there was one child in my group didn't want to go on HMH and the family waited outside the exit until our group came out of HMH. You don't have to get hot chocolate when you get your beverage, you can ask for a different drink instead of hot chocolate. My DA got coffee instead of hot chocolate.

Here is my description of the Holiday tour when I did it last year in December. Holiday Tour TR 12/11/09

After lunch, we did a couple of different rides until we head over to the Tour booth for our 1pm Holiday Tour. It was so exciting for the both of us since this will our first time to do a tour in Disneyland. Our CM guide was a nice young lady name Cassie. We had around 13 people in our group and we were in the third group at 1pm. During the first part of the trip, our CM talked about the decorations and the history of the holiday season on Main Street. We got to have free samples at the Candy store on Main Street, some of us got chocolate fudge, i picked the pumpkin. When we head over to the Reindeer Round-up, our CM was teaching all of us to say Merry Christmas in different country languages. We got to see the Holiday turkey and the reindeers. After that we head over to NOS and went on the HMH with all the other groups. It was so exciting to see the HMH especially during the dining area in HMH, it had a spinning gingerbread carousel with the jack and zero and different ghost on it. After we got off the HMH, we head over to NOS Railroad Station and got on the train to Mickey Toontown Station. We got to ride on C.K. Holliday with the Holiday 5 car set along with the Lilly Belle. When we got off the train, our group went over to IASWH. Our tour group got to get onto one boat, our guide went along with us for the ride and talked about the different holiday cultures from other countries. It was great to see all the decorations inside IASWH. When we got off, we head over to Mickey's Toontown to get our holiday souvenir cup and a gingerbread man. Then we head over to our premium seating for the Christmas Fantasy Parade right across from IASWH. We were in the second row, but we were close to the gates when the parade comes out. It was exciting to see the parade, especially with Pooh and Tigger riding in their sleds. It was kind of funny to see Eeyore pulling his sled. It was the same as the last years parade with the additions of Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. When the parade was over, we said thank you to Cassie for being a great tour guide.

 

[NewbieMouse]

How long was the tour - from the start to when you sat down for the parade? TIA!

 

[mvf-m11c]

How long was the tour - from the start to when you sat down for the parade? TIA!

I would say around 3 hours.

 

[NewbieMouse]

Sounds like a tour around 1:00 on a busy day the week before Christmas would be a good thing to do while the crowds are at their worst! That's what I'm thinking; my husband is "tour impatient", but not nearly as much as he hates crowds.

 

[mvf-m11c]

A lot of the DISers that did the Holiday tour last year mostly did the 2nd tour than the first tour. I like to do the first tour since there will be a lot of light so I can videotape "A Christmas Fantasy" parade. But I think that they choose the 2nd tour instead of the first since it will be busy around 1-3 in the afternoon than the 2nd tour from 4-7.

 

[Littleprincess2010]

The tour we have on Nov. 12 starts at 3pm and the parade is at 5:30pm, so Im guessing its 2.5 hours of tour and 30 min of parade? Is that correct?

 

[mvf-m11c]

The tour we have on Nov. 12 starts at 3pm and the parade is at 5:30pm, so Im guessing its 2.5 hours of tour and 30 min of parade? Is that correct?

That is close for the tour and the parade. The parade lasts around 15 min when it starts so around 20 min when you leave the reserved viewing area.

 

[Littleprincess2010]

That is close for the tour and the parade. The parade lasts around 15 min when it starts so around 20 min when you leave the reserved viewing area.

Perfect! Thanks

 

[Alinasan]

How much walking and how fast would you say the Tour guide goes? I'm still trying to compare the Welcome tour to this, but heard that involves a lot of walking and is a "whirlwind". Plus it sounds like that tour can change a bunch based on the guide and size of group. The Holiday tour sounds more consistent.

 

[mvf-m11c]

How much walking and how fast would you say the Tour guide goes? I'm still trying to compare the Welcome tour to this, but heard that involves a lot of walking and is a "whirlwind". Plus it sounds like that tour can change a bunch based on the guide and size of group. The Holiday tour sounds more consistent.

There is a lot of walking from MS, Fantasyland, Frontierland, NOS and TT. Our CM tour guide was walking at a consistent pace but not really quickly where we can't keep up with our guide. Most of the guides were like that and some were fast. They do stop at a lot of different locations during the tour so we get to rest until it was time to move on.