Need some help planning a November 2015 trip

[NovemberMom]

I am planning a November trip to Disneyland for my daughter's birthday's. We want to go when the Christmas decorations are up since we always go to Disneyland in the summer. I was planning to go to Disneyland on November 12th - November 15th. I was reading on the board that the Avenger's Half Marathon is the same weekend we are planning our trip. How does the Half Marathon affect the crowd at Disneyland? Also will all of the Christmas decorations be up by November 12th? Or would it be a safer bet to plan our vacation for the next weekend November 19th - 22nd?

Any help would be appreciated. My Mom is coming with us and runs a daycare where she puts out a calendar of her vacation days for the year in January so we are trying to secure a firm date.

 

[ImDMous]

We were there for Avenger's weekend this year. All the Christmas decorations were up, I think it was the first weekend for them so between that and the marathon, it was busy. It wasn't unbearable and it certainly wasn't as crowded as the weekend before Christmas. We were there Friday to Monday and went to the park every day after whatever race event we did in the morning. We never stayed very late though since the events were really early in the morning so I don't know what the night-time crowds were like.

 

[figment_jii]

I was also there during that same period in 2014 and I found the crowds to be quite high on the weekends. As the PP said, the Christmas season official started that weekend, so most everything was in full swing (parade, fireworks, WoC Winter Dreams, ride overlays, decor, etc.). So the combined marathon crowds and holiday crowds lead to crowds in the parks (and especially DTD Saturday evening!). I had a good time, but if I had a choice, I would probably aim for the next weekend (no marathon), though you will probably start to run into Thanksgiving crowds. So maybe it's six-of-one/half-a-dozen-of-another type of situation.

 

[NovemberMom]

Thank you for the replies... I am leaning more towards the 19th - 22nd to avoid the Avenger's Marathon.

 

[nicolispicoli]

We went the weekend after (20-22nd) to avoid the marathon crowd, (we wanted to leave before thanksgiving week crowd came in) and it wasn't that bad at all. Minimal waits for everything, all the decorations were up, etc. I would definitely go during that time frame again.

 

[NovemberMom]

We went the weekend after (20-22nd) to avoid the marathon crowd, (we wanted to leave before thanksgiving week crowd came in) and it wasn't that bad at all. Minimal waits for everything, all the decorations were up, etc. I would definitely go during that time frame again.

Perfect, this seals the deal The 19-22nd it is!