Need help deciding

Jenn1116

<font color=coral>My goal in life is to visit DLP<
Joined
Dec 20, 2007
Messages
1,078
Ok. I finally decided to plan another trip and I'm going to surprise my parents. The non-ressecion (sp?) has been tough for them and I know they want to go with us because my DD4 is finally big enough to go on a lot more rides. Sooooo since I'm a Disney freak and on a tight budget myself I've decided to make major changes to make this happen.:dance3:

So the first thing I need major help with is deciding which month. I picked dates in October and December. Lorealle confirmed both dates are covered by HoJos entertainment rate. The hardest part is picking which month. I've never been during either season. I love the fall and pumpkins and I really enjoy all of the pics of Halloween. I also love Christmas and the merriment:santa: . They are my two favorite holidays and I just can't decide!!!! :confused3 Can anyone tell me something that will sway my vote one way or the other??
 
Haloween is cute with the decorations and all . . . but Christmas time is just MAGICAL! You get daily parades, Believe fireworks with snow falling after. Also, the new and improved IASW will be open in November. If you time it right and go mid November, you can catch low crowds mid-week and catch the beginnings of all the holiday entertainment on a Friday night.
 

I vote for during the holidays as well. Christmastime at Disneyland cannot be beat! pixiedust:

Agreed Christmas time at DL is awesome and truly a unique experience. But for crowd reasons I would try to go after Thanksgiving 2 weeks before Christmas or right before Thanksgiving. Less crowds, more fun.
 
We did last Halloween and I wish we waited for Christmas........Halloween is Ds11's b-day but mine is closer to Christmas, so maybe we can sneak in a trip later this year for mine!
It is amazing how beautiful it is decoratred that time of year!
 
Oh Good Grief!!! I thought I settled on October - for weather reasons and also because it won't interrupt things like Christmas shopping, or worrying about a live tree drying out while we're gone... But then I check your respinses and everyone seems to be voting Christmas. The week I'm thinking of in December is the first week, Wed - Sun, which I'm hoping will fall after the CM parties and the Candlelighting which I've heard are VERY busy.

I guess a major question is park hours. Are hours reduced during December and October even though DL seems to be pretty crowded during those times?? My biggest concern is the park closing at 8pm. I like the park being open later so I don't miss valuable time by going back to the hotel to rest mid-afternoon. So can anyone tell me about the park operating hours during October and December? Thank you so much for all of your help!
 
By the way, I think November is a nice idea but we have too many birthdays (friends and family) that month so it's not a good time for us to be gone.
 
HAHAHAHA I just saw that I typed October and November in my first post. :lmao: I meant October and December.
 
We were there in both Oct and Dec of this year. Crowds were about the same to me. However in Oct we were still willing to ride the wet rides, in December we skipped them. If I were only going once this year and it was december, I would most likely have ridden them, but it would have been more miserable...
 
I'm still wondering about the operating hours of DL in October in December. Are the hours reduced to park closing at 8pm during these busy months? Thanks everyone for all of your help!
 
My Entertainment Times Guide from the week of Oct 2-5, 2006 shows that DL closed at 8 and DCA at 6.

I don't know where my guides from our December trip are.

Darn, I thought I could get an answer about last December from my pictures, but I guess I wasn't taking pictures later in the evenings.

I do remember longer hours for our December trip (early dec) than our late September trip, though.

Something to think about, and you probably have realized this since you live in CA, but extended hours when it's dark around 5 can be really depressing, especially if you have a kiddo. It was more of a big deal for us, because we live in Washington where it's light later, but it's possible you hadn't quite thought of that. I have a picture taking in bug's land right before 5 in December, and it's already very dark.

Don't know if you've thought about it yet, but especially since you're in CA (and therefore closer than we are!) you might think seriously about getting APs, just in case you might be back inside of a year from the start of this trip. :)
 
We went for both October and December last year, but the weekend we went in October was Gay Days, so it was super duper busy.. We go Friday's through Monday's, so both times DL was open from 8am to 12am. I'm not sure what the times are for weekdays.

I would pick Christmas time, you can't beat the magic.. And the snow!!
 
Thanks everyone. I think everyone has voted December :) Bumbershoot, thanks for bringing up the dark factor. I actually enjoy DL at night and I think it gives a different feel to many rides, which is fun to experience. Even though I do live in CA, I'm near San Francisco so it's still an 8 hr drive. I'd love to get APs but this will be the one, and probably only, time I go twice within a year. I should have gotten APs in February when I went with friends, but I had no idea I'd be so fanatical about going back before 2009.

I guess I'm going to go with Christmas because it has come so highly recommended. Plus I'll have more time to save money to spend at the parks. And my friend wants to go in October 2009, so I can go with her then. Hmmm... I guess I better get on the phone with HoJos.
 












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