My Thoughts on the Holiday Time at Disneyland Tour

[WebmasterMaryJo]

After going on the Walt's Main Street Story tour, I didn't have high expectations for the Holiday Time at Disneyland tour. I took the tour with my friend, Michael Bowling (Connecting with Walt podcast), and we were both pleasantly surprised at the tour and treats and goodies.

Here is the tour as advertised:
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/events-tours/holiday-time-at-disneyland/

Discover the Merriest Place on Earth​

Gather ‘round for a festive tour of both parks for a close-up look at our dazzling seasonal transformation.
Your guide for this 2.5-hour walking tour will share favorite Disneyland holiday traditions from around the world. You’ll also enjoy reserved viewing for A Christmas Fantasy Parade, delicious holiday treats, a wonderful wintry ride on “it’s a small world” Holiday and more.
Tour Schedule
Holiday Time at Disneyland Resort Tour is offered daily during Holidays at the Disneyland Resort. A seasonal tradition, portions of the tour are refreshed each year, so Guests returning to enjoy their favorite highlights can also look forward to discovering some new surprises.
All offerings, experiences and collectible souvenirs are subject to change without notice. Valid theme park admission and park reservation are required and not included in the price of the tour.

There’s More to Celebrate!​

Thanks to nearly a million sparkling lights, thousands of beautiful decorations and holiday entertainment around every corner, one of the best ways to rekindle the joy of the season is during Holidays at the Disneyland Resort. Find your jolly at the place where everyone is welcome to be a wide-eyed kid again!

Our tour was on Friday, 2 Dec, at 1:20pm. There were 16 in our group. We had the same tour guide on this tour as the one I had with the Walt's Main Street Story tour, so I was really interested in how she delivered on this experience in comparison. The tour is just as advertised, except that instead of 2.5 hours, it was 2 hours, unless they count the parade as part of the 2.5 hours. Even at that, I really enjoyed it.

We started at Tour Gardens, and were handed individual ear pieces so we could hear our guide at all times. She was very good at ensuring we didn't block pathways, and had good views of everything as she talked about them. Our first stop was at California Adventure (we didn't have to have park hoppers and our bright yellow lanyards told the CMs we were part of the tour). We meandered down Buena Vista Street and to the Christmas tree, and heard about different traditions and our guide pointed out holiday touches in the windows and the tree itself.

We then went to Main Street, Adventureland, New Orleans Square, Frontierland, and Fantasyland, while we learned more about different traditions and holiday decor was pointed out to us. One of the things I noticed as we faced NOS from the river, the left side is very festive with bright colors, and the right-side is gold toned. I asked the guide why so, and she gave an explanation, but I wondered if the nearness of the Haunted Mansion just sucked the color out of the ornaments, lol.

When we went to Fantasyland we all boarded it's a Small World, and I thoroughly enjoyed the attraction. Disneyland really does a lovely job with it's a Small World, and every time I seem to find something new in the decor. After the attraction we made our way to the restrooms by Alice in Wonderland - by the Chesire Cat, and that is where our parade viewing was. Michael live-streamed Small World and the Christmas Parade, if anyone wants to watch. Although they no longer offer seats we still enjoyed our viewing location. One thing we noticed was that since there is only one viewing side all of the characters interacted with the crowd on our side, so this was much better than being in Town Square surrounded by people on both sides of the parade route. We were also given hot cocoa and a treat (not a rice krispy treat) to enjoy while watching the parade.

Final thoughts. I'm really glad that I took this tour, and watching the parade really put me in the Christmas spirit. We got some treats and gifts that I wasn't expecting due to the lack of gifts on the Main Street Story tour. I went back to City Hall to leave my positive comments, and the cast member told me that 5 people had left positive comments about the tour. Also, I purposely left out details and what we got so that if anyone else wants to take the tour that it's not spoiled.

After the tour we went on Haunted Mansion Nightmare Before Christmas. I didn't see the Monkey Bride in the attic although I know it's there, and I heard that there is one in the ballroom this year. The gingerbread house was great, as always.


Final thoughts on the day in general. I wasn't really looking forward to going and am so glad I did. Disneyland at this time of year is just beautiful (even with the bit of rain we experienced), and I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and feeling the Christmas/holiday spirit. It was definitely a good day.

​

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

Well I imagine the company helped, you and Michael are both magical people and it really helps, I imagine 2 + 2 = 8 when it comes to Disney magic.

 

[D2Pugs]

Happy to hear you and Michael enjoyed your trip to Disneyland. Also glad they made some improvements to the tour.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Thanks for the review, although you are a week too late for me. It took the tour last Friday and I enjoyed it a lot. My husband and I had taken the Holiday tour before and we missed having seats by small world for the parade but our tour only had 9 people and the other tour had 4 so there weren't many people in the viewing area. Our tour guide was Murray and he did a great job giving information and he tried to talk with us all. The pin from the tour was pretty too. We had a 4:15 pm tour and we were able to be on Main Street when the lights came on, that was pretty cool.

 

[DizMe]

Thank you, Mary Jo!! It's so nice to hear good things and now I wish I'd booked the tour!

 

[1dorseer]

If you could only do one, would you pick the Holiday Tour or Walts Tour? We are trying to decide!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

If you could only do one, would you pick the Holiday Tour or Walts Tour? We are trying to decide!

Personally, the Holiday tour. The Main Street tour only if you want to pay $160 pp to get in Walt’s apartment.

 

[Pluto468]

Thanks for the report, it sounds like a wonderful tour. I hope to do one of the tours sometime.

 

[onatrek]

Our tour was on Friday, 2 Dec, at 1:20pm. There were 16 in our group. We had the same tour guide on this tour as the one I had with the Walt's Main Street Story tour, so I was really interested in how she delivered on this experience in comparison. The tour is just as advertised, except that instead of 2.5 hours, it was 2 hours, unless they count the parade as part of the 2.5 hours. Even at that, I really enjoyed it.

A friend and I went on Thursday and we did the first of the tour times (1:10).

I'm not sure if it was our guide or just having start the earliest of those three tours during that block, but we were also the very last ones to the parade viewing spot, by what seemed like a lot - as most people had finished at least their cocoa if not also their treat (more than a bite or two thing).

It may be worth booking the earliest of the tour slots since they all have a 'hard' finishing time in order for the groups to get to the parade viewing area it naturally gives the possibility for a longer tour time.

We also really enjoyed it, though I'm glad I ended up having a friend go and not my teen daughter, who was originally scheduled to be with me this trip. To me the one thing I think would have been a good natural inclusion was also riding Haunted Mansion Holiday, which it seems used to be part of the tour pre-Covid closure. When the tour takes you right out front and they spend extended time talking about the ride transformation, it just felt lacking to not actually take you on it. That said, it would have eaten a lot of tour time, so I can see that being an issue as well.

Having done a number of WDW tours but never a DLR one prior to this, and it seeming like the DLR ones don't have the same degree of positive sentiment about them as the WDW ones do (overall), I was admittedly pleasantly surprised. And the friend I was with (Magic Key holder and long time Disney fan) had never done any tours and she was pretty much giddy afterward, talking about how much she enjoyed it and all the things she would never had known prior.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I'm not sure if it was our guide or just having start the earliest of those three tours during that block, but we were also the very last ones to the parade viewing spot, by what seemed like a lot - as most people had finished at least their cocoa if not also their treat (more than a bite or two thing).

It may be worth booking the earliest of the tour slots since they all have a 'hard' finishing time in order for the groups to get to the parade viewing area it naturally gives the possibility for a longer tour time.

This is such a good tip. I'll remember it for future.


Another piece of news that we were told. We asked about the Horticulture tour and they said that they are bringing it back. So, looking forward to it.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

This is such a good tip. I'll remember it for future.


Another piece of news that we were told. We asked about the Horticulture tour and they said that they are bringing it back. So, looking forward to it.

That is good news about the Horticulture tour, that was a very interesting tour and I wouldn't mind going on that again. We also did the California Story (I think it was called) at DCA and that was a good tour as well. I wonder if that will ever come back as well?

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

This is such a good tip. I'll remember it for future.


Another piece of news that we were told. We asked about the Horticulture tour and they said that they are bringing it back. So, looking forward to it.

Gosh, my mom and I would love that one!

 

[Rich M]

Going on this tour on Dec 14th. After reading some bad reviews on other posts I am glad to see some positives. I have been to Disneyland over 100 times and have never done a tour. I am excited to experience this one as I am now trying to find other fun things to do besides the rides as I am getting older. Thank you for taking the time out to review this and giving me hope and not making me want to cancel.

 

[PaladinButters]

We did this tour on Monday and the change to not having chairs was a big disappointment at the end to a chunk of the group who had done previous years tours (thanks to the DIS I already knew about the change). A bunch of us were willing to do a ground sit in the first few rows of our area so more of the group could see but the tour group next to us was standing making the "good view" window pretty narrow but still much better than trying to find your own spot anywhere with 10 minutes to parade time so I'd still go for it every time.

I'll keep it spoiler free - but the treats, while very tasty, were also changed from the previous time we toured (2019) and that got to be my moment of crushing disappointment.

 

[TinkAgainU]

Did they have a "reason" for no longer having chairs for the parade viewing? That might actually be our deciding factor for cancelling our Tour. At $110 per person it's double what they used to cost... [Update: We did cancel our tour - having somewhere to sit was the tipping point more than the price.] But sometimes with Disney the best way to have your opinion heard is by using (or not using) our credit cards.

 

[disney-inspired]

When we went to Fantasyland we all boarded it's a Small World, and I thoroughly enjoyed the attraction. Disneyland really does a lovely job with it's a Small World, and every time I seem to find something new in the decor. After the attraction we made our way to the restrooms by Alice in Wonderland - by the Chesire Cat, and that is where our parade viewing was. Michael live-streamed Small World and the Christmas Parade, if anyone wants to watch. Although they no longer offer seats we still enjoyed our viewing location. One thing we noticed was that since there is only one viewing side all of the characters interacted with the crowd on our side, so this was much better than being in Town Square surrounded by people on both sides of the parade route. We were also given hot cocoa and a treat (not a rice krispy treat) to enjoy while watching the parade.

Final thoughts. I'm really glad that I took this tour, and watching the parade really put me in the Christmas spirit. We got some treats and gifts that I wasn't expecting due to the lack of gifts on the Main Street Story tour. I went back to City Hall to leave my positive comments, and the cast member told me that 5 people had left positive comments about the tour. Also, I purposely left out details and what we got so that if anyone else wants to take the tour that it's not spoiled.

After the tour we went on Haunted Mansion Nightmare Before Christmas. I didn't see the Monkey Bride in the attic although I know it's there, and I heard that there is one in the ballroom this year. The gingerbread house was great, as always.


Final thoughts on the day in general. I wasn't really looking forward to going and am so glad I did. Disneyland at this time of year is just beautiful (even with the bit of rain we experienced), and I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and feeling the Christmas/holiday spirit. It was definitely a good day.

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I went on IASW on Sunday and I was pleasantly surprised by the fragrances they have in there now - balsam and then peppermint. I don't recall those being used before but loved how they added to the holiday overlay.

 

[Chickinvic]

I went on IASW on Sunday and I was pleasantly surprised by the fragrances they have in there now - balsam and then peppermint. I don't recall those being used before but loved how they added to the holiday overlay.

? There were no scents when we were there (mid November).

 

[pharmama]

There have been scents on IASW holiday in the past for sure. Usually there is gingerbread at one point too.

 

[deejdigsdis]

? There were no scents when we were there (mid November).

I was there Dec 7 and 8 and was disappointed by the lack of scents. I loved the cinnamon scent last year. I caught a faint whiff of something in a specific spot each time I rode last week but I couldn't detect what it was. So just one scent, and it wasn't Christmasy to me. I really missed that cinnamon!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

When I was there first weekend in December we smelled peppermint, gingerbread and something tropical in the Polynesian section - I'm calling it plumeria. I loved the scents when we were there... and also the gingerbread scent in the Haunted Mansion.