Planning 2015 Christmas Trip

[TAngel84]

I live in Florida and my nieces & nephew have been to WDW several times at 4, 6, & 8 but I am trying to plan a surprise trip for Christmas next year and instead of doing the World again I am going to surprise them with a trip to California & Disneyland!!

Any tips to help with this process would be highly appreciated. I am aware they are very different experiences and know the ins & outs of extra magic of WDW but I have never been to Disneyland.

 

[Sherry E]

Hello!

HydroGuy has an excellent thread called "A DLR Guide for WDW Vets" -- it can be found HERE.

If you have time, come and join us in the "Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread" -- HERE. It's a year-round planning/information/photo thread, and we discuss the holiday season at DLR any time of the year. If news breaks; if rumors trickle out about seasonal activities; if certain scenarios occur that could impact the season, we discuss all of it, even if it is months and months before the season starts, or a month after the season has begun, etc.

The posts on the first page of the Superthread will get you started, and you can choose what -- if anything -- you want to read up on or see photos of. There are categories for Dates to Remember, food-related blogs and articles, hotel holiday fun, Downtown Disney, in-park holiday fun, links to photos, etc. If you don't want to read anything, or don't know where you should start or what to read first, feel free to just pop in, join us and ask questions anytime!

The current Superthread was just started a couple of weeks ago and will take us through 2015. Since it was begun in the middle of the holiday season that is taking place now, people have already been reporting back with recaps and photos from their recent trips.

 

[jina]

If you go during the Xmas/New Years school break time. be aware DL may do as what they did this year which is have Magic Morning and Early Entry every day instead of alternating parks each day. Had I known that we may have tried to stay on site at least one night as that extra hour could really make a difference and you can check in at 6am to get early entry even if your room is not ready until 4pm. Instead we stayed at HoJo's (which we love) were at our park of choice 8am each day for regular opening and got as much done as we could by 10:30am. By 10:30 DL was packed- DCA was packed a little after lunchtime.

We did things like tiki room, tom sawyer's island, canoeing and redwood creek challenge trail during the crazy times.

 

[TAngel84]

Thank you both. I will definitely check those threads out. I'm very excited about this trip and it is going to be VERY hard to keep it a secret until next Christmas! We are doing Disney World this spring for bdays bc we have passes but this will be a new exciting experience for them.

 

[TheDoleWhipper]

For less crowds, avoid the last two weeks of december, as that is the absolute busiest time of the year. The holiday decorations usually come up around November 12th, and last until the beginning of January. November is generally an uncrowded month of the year (excluding thanksgiving week), or you can go the first two weeks of December, for minimal crowds (even though that time has gotten progressively busier).

Also, stay onsite if you can afford it, as it will really complete your vacation. Although it is less important to do so at DLR than at WDW, the three onsite hotels are awesome, and if it is a once in a lifetime experience, why not splurge and do disneyland the right way?

DLR requires way less planning than WDW. You still have lots of time until you go, and dining ressies can only be made 60 days in advance, but even then, you will probably be fine reserving them a couple days in advance.

One more thing: do not dismiss a ride just becuase you rode it at WDW. Ride all of them if you can, just to compare the differences. Some of them are better at WDW, but most, in fact are better at DLR!

Enjoy Walt's park!

 

[Sherry E]

I look forward to you joining us in the Superthread, TAngel84.

I just wanted to expand on what that TheDoleWhipper said about when the decorations go up -- the decorations actually begin to slowly go up before Halloween, a little at a time, because they generally have to be in place for an ABC parade taping in early November. On that same taping weekend, many things (holiday activities and entertainment) will "soft open" or soft launch -- so it will be about one week before the holiday season officially begins that the taping and the soft launches kick in.

In 2015, it is expected that some of the seasonal entertainment (specifically, the Christmas parade, the holiday fireworks and the Winter Castle Enchantment Lighting) could be interrupted or limited due to the events of the 60th anniversary.

The holiday season generally begins (officially) after Veterans Day, in mid-November, and it has begun on Mondays, a Tuesday, a Thursday and many Fridays. It is expected that the start date will be somewhere between 11/12 and 11/16 in 2015 -- and that is also the weekend for the Avengers Half-Marathon, which will be busy.

The decorations at the 3 hotels go up after the season has officially begun. The hotels' Christmas trees may not go up until about 9 days before Thanksgiving, or later. The assorted gingerbread houses, large and small, will go up after that (the smaller houses at the Grand Californian Hotel did not go up until Thanksgiving and beyond).

Santa Claus will be at the 2 parks when the season officially begins, but he will not be at the 3 hotels until Thanksgiving (and on through Christmas Eve). The carolers at the hotels are only there from Thanksgiving through Christmas as well.

The first two weeks of December are better, crowd-wise, because they're right after Thanksgiving break and too early for Christmas break, but they are not as light in terms of crowds as they used to be, sadly. A lot of people have caught on to that being a better time frame, and the parks are busier.

It's true that the last 2 weeks of December are very crowded, but people visit for Christmas all the time and enjoy it, so it is manageable with the right planning.

All of this info that I have mentioned is part of what we discuss in the Superthread that I told you about, and I will be updating the first page of that thread as new info comes out. In this Dates to Remember post, you can get a sense of when everything started opening or appearing this year and last year, and when the holiday season has taken place, historically.

The holidays typically last through Three Kings Day and end around January 6th-ish (give or take a day), but this time around there are some things that are staying open a bit longer (Haunted Mansion Holiday is scheduled to remain open a few days longer than usual, and the Ice Rink and Winter Village in Downtown Disney will be open through 2/22/15), so there's no telling what will remain open in January of 2016.

 

[abookworm]

If you really want to be there for Christmas break, I highly recommend going the few days or week PRIOR to Christmas. It is still busy of course, but slightly less so than the week after Christmas.
And yes, definitely take advantage of the early entry or at least the rope drop. Your best chance for most highly popular rides is in that first hour or 2 and then the lines are just crazy unless you get fast passes (which I highly recommend also)

Enjoy your planning, I think that's half the fun

 

[TAngel84]

I don't think going earlier will be an option because of custody situation with the oldest and also I plan for it to be their Christmas present. Although I think I may get them something small-ish like maybe new purses for the girls and something similar for the lil boy with a Disney gift card on Christmas and then when I wake them up the following morning have a big box with their suitcases and stuff and announce that we will be going to Disney LAND! lol Cannot wait to see their reaction! Thank you to everyone for all the information and tips so far. I really do appreciate it!