November 2017 Trip coming up!

[whitneyebz]

Hi all! It's been awhile since I've been here. We only get to go to Disneyland every 1-2 years but I am thankful we are in a financial position to even be able to do that!

Our last trip was early March 2016 and it was the first time we all went together (including the youngest). My kids are ages 10,8,6,3. The 3 year old will be nearly 4 and is already 40 inches tall so we won't really need switchpasses. Also coming along are my MIL and FIL, SIL and BIL and their son. So more adults than kids (although, from experience, having so many adults does NOT mean a child may or may not get lost. Not that it happened to me....) We are planning to go Nov 2-4 with 3 day parkhoppers. Okay, I know what you all are thinking- WHY are we missing out on halloween and christmas and going right in between instead? Listen, I looked at all kinds of calendars and we don't like to wait in super long lines, so we chose the least crowded. We are hoping to see holiday decor of some kind- don't care what kind! But we don't like to do the special events and October is riddled with Halloween parties. And I've heard it's ridiculously crowded at Halloween time. But my husband wants to see the Halloween decorations so of course we want to go when there's a chance that some will still be up.

We would go later in November and see Christmas stuff, however, the following weekend is a race weekend and there is no way I'm getting caught up in that crowd, lol! So here we are, looking at an in between week/weekend where our kids will only miss 1.5 days of school and there might be some holiday. So I do have a few questions because we've never gone in the fall before.

How does the Halloween/Christmas changeover typically work? Will there be some Halloween stuff up for a few days...do they just go straight to Christmas or is there a gap? Also, how long will rides be closed to take down Halloween stuff? I am specifically concerned about DCA...I am frustrated to think that some of our favorites will be down all at once, but if it's just a day or 2 to change back then no problem. Any insight is welcome! We will of course have a blast no matter what, we always do . The main thing is that we want to experience GotG and also our youngest is the biggest Cars fan ever and wants to ride RSR for the first time (I keep hearing rumors about it getting a Halloween overlay so again I worry about closures, but...the latest news says that it's the other 2 rides and the town getting Halloween decor, not RSR).

Thank you all for your help and I apologize for the rambling! We are so excited for our trip

 

[Elima2015]

How exciting to have a trip to look forward to! We went those exact same dates last year (though the days of the week were different, of course). It was awesome from a crowd perspective. You will see a little bit of both Halloween and Christmas decorations. It was actually kind of fun to see the progression of what happened overnight. On Nov 2 there were still some Halloween decorations up (like big pumpkin Mickey over the gate) and start of some Christmas deco (Castle and Main Street had garland, WoC viewing area large present boxes). There was hardly any Halloween deco left by Nov 3 and more Christmas items were up. And on Nov 4 they had even more deco up, I specifically remember Cars Land being pretty well decorated. Space Mountain was closed 2 days to remove the overlay, so it was up and running by Nov 3. Haunted retains its overlay and I actually liked it better than the regular ride. I think this is the first year DCA has any ride overlays, so know idea when or how long those will take to remove. We loved going those dates last year!

 

[whitneyebz]

Thank you so much for your reply! That's just what I was hoping for...a little of both. I expect about a 2 day closure for SM. From what I'm reading, the DCA rides might not need closures? (considering the Guardians ride is just getting a new music/video sequence, I think). Anyway, sounds fun and we can't wait!