Planning 2018 Trip. Halloween and Christmas party in one trip?

[adear11]

I'm in the early, early stages of planning a trip in 2018. We usually take a big WDW trip every other year. My family prefers to go less often and have a big, long trip rather than going more often for a shorter amount of time. My wife seems to think that there are other places that we should spend our vacation money on. I don't get it, but whatever....

Anyway, I digress.

To my question. In the past, we have always gone in late spring/early summer. We've never been during the fall or winter when the parks are all decorated. We usually go for 9 or 10 days. My question to you all is, is it feasible to be able to plan the trip such that we could catch both the Halloween/Fall decorations and the Halloween Party and the Christmas/Winter decorations and Christmas party?

Going off of the 2016 schedule for both of these, it looks like we'd be able to do it if we were to have arrived on Oct. 30 and stayed through Nov. 8. This would be a 9 day trip.

How long does it take Disney to turn over the parks from Halloween decor to Christmas? Is this a reasonable thing to try to do, or would we be better off using two trips to do both parties (the financial impact of doing two parties in one trip notwithstanding).

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this and would especially like to hear from anyone that may have done this.

Thanks.

 

[katt789]

I haven't done it, but I have lived in FL at that time of year, and know that it is DEFINITELY do able!!

I'd say, arrive the day before the last Halloween party (be aware that if it is the one ON Oct 31st, that it may be crazy crowded) there's also sometimes one post real halloween in November. And depart the day after the first Xmas party (unless that works out to be right away)

The day after the last Halloween party they will start to change things over OVERNIGHT, park closes, Halloween goes away, park opens, it's Xmas. Some things, like the big tree, might not be up right away, and things like the first official castle lighting might happen later, but once the parties hit it's USUALLY all done (tree being the big thing. We did an early Dec trip a few years back and because of the parade filming it was not up yet)

 

[RachaelA]

We did it this year! Got there 10/28 and did the 10/30 Halloween party and left 11/8 the morning after we did the 11/7 Christmas party.

Mk was decorated on the 1st I think. We went on the 2nd and saw it decorated along with the first castle lighting. Big mk Tree was up by the first Christmas party but I thought that was unusual since it used to happen after the parade taping.

We LOVED going this week and we're doing it again next year minus staying until the actual first Christmas party just because we don't want our oldest to miss more then 5 days of Kindergarten.

 

[RachaelA]

Just know that nowhere other then mk will be decorated for Christmas. If you want all the Christmas stuff everywhere I'd do two trips.

 

[adear11]

Just know that nowhere other then mk will be decorated for Christmas. If you want all the Christmas stuff everywhere I'd do two trips.

MK is the main one I'm really excited to see. I know the other parks and resorts do eventually get decorated, but, to me at least, MK is the one the we "must see" decorated if for no other reasons than the castle.

We're still quite a long way out (we won't even reach the 499 day point to reserve a room until June of 2017). I just want to make sure I'm not having an "eyes bigger than my stomach" moment with trying to do both parties in one trip.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Do it! I did something similar at DLR in 2012, and it was awesome. We had even longer to wait, two full weeks between the Oct 31 party and the start of the Christmas season with the holiday parade and did some other SoCal things in between. So the WDW spread seems very do-able.
With one trip, you only need one set of park tickets. ;-)

 

[StirlingSilver83]

My sons friend at school did that I think 2 years ago and they said it was awesome. I don't think they did the christmas party but they did the halloween party on the last day and then they still got to see all the christmas decorations and said it was really really cool. I would personally love to do that when my kids are a little older. Right now Halloween is seriously their FAVORITE holiday and they love going from house to house collecting candy, lol. I don't think I could take that away from them just yet, lol, not even to go to Disney. Maybe when they get a little older and the Halloween phase wears down a bit then we will try for that because it sounds like a ton of fun!

 

[scrapquitler]

I'm in the early, early stages of planning a trip in 2018. We usually take a big WDW trip every other year. My family prefers to go less often and have a big, long trip rather than going more often for a shorter amount of time. My wife seems to think that there are other places that we should spend our vacation money on. I don't get it, but whatever....

Anyway, I digress.

To my question. In the past, we have always gone in late spring/early summer. We've never been during the fall or winter when the parks are all decorated. We usually go for 9 or 10 days. My question to you all is, is it feasible to be able to plan the trip such that we could catch both the Halloween/Fall decorations and the Halloween Party and the Christmas/Winter decorations and Christmas party?

Going off of the 2016 schedule for both of these, it looks like we'd be able to do it if we were to have arrived on Oct. 30 and stayed through Nov. 8. This would be a 9 day trip.

How long does it take Disney to turn over the parks from Halloween decor to Christmas? Is this a reasonable thing to try to do, or would we be better off using two trips to do both parties (the financial impact of doing two parties in one trip notwithstanding).

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this and would especially like to hear from anyone that may have done this.

Thanks.

We did exactly that in 2015 (and we did it back in 2006 or so, as well). We arrived on 10/31, attended the Halloween Party on 11/1 and then did the first Christmas Party, which I think was the 7th? and stayed until November 11th.

 

[Jenna319]

Yes, we did this last year, arrived on 10/31, went to the 11/1 Halloween Party, stayed through 11/10, and went to the 11/8 Xmas Party. Xmas decorations at MK were up overnight and I was surprised to be able to see the big Xmas tree at MK! That goes up depending on when they film the ABC Christmas special. It was a really fun trip, but it was Jersey week, which is a week where all the New Jersey schools are off, so the crowds were much higher than I expected!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

I was there this year 10/28 - 11/8 with this same plan. Enjoyed the Halloween party. However, in the middle of the trip I got sick, and was too ill to get to the Christmas party. I may try this again in 2018 (hopefully without getting sick).

OP, I'm curious, what other vacation destinations does your wife like?

 

[adear11]

thanks everyone for all the input. I think is definitely something we are going to try to do! I can't wait.

 

[DougEMG]

We did both the Halloween party and Christmas party on the same trip last year. Would definitely do it again as it was neat to experience both holidays.

 

[DisneynBison]

This is on our list to do, one of the other docs in my office did it this year and my sister did it this year. They loved it. We were thinking of doing it next year then they started talking about "polar vortex" and my wife came home one day and said book Disney for 10 days in January and get us out of the cold.

 

[kells0233]

I am planning this exact trip. We have always been to Disney in the Spring and we have made a couple Summer trips as well, but never during this time of year. For work and school reasons I am hoping to only have to stay 8 days maybe, but we will see when the schedule comes out.
Some questions- 1. What are the crowds like on the very last night of the Halloween party and the very first night of the Christmas party? Was considering only going to one of the holidays at the park so I could choose a less crowded time, but then I read about people doing both parties and it sounded like a great idea but only if crowds aren't terrible!!!
2. Would it be better to just choose and focus on one party, for example, Christmas and be there for the TV taping of the Christmas Special and then do Halloween the following year?
3. Is there more to do at Halloween or Christmas, or are they both the same?

 

[LuvMyEAR]

Oct 31 is the first MNSSHP to sell out annually, but I am not sure if Nov 1 parties (when there is one) sell out, so if crowds are a big concern, this is probably not the date you'd want to attend. People will also be coming into town around that time for the FOod & Wine Half Marathon weekend, which follows Halloween. While we have found that earlier MVMCPs seem less crowded, the first one may be an exception.

Also, if you really love the Christmas decorations all around WDW, wait until after the Thanksgiving crowd. MK is decked for the holidays by the first party, but the resorts and other parks follow more slowly. Last year, we were there from Nov 9 - 17 and we would see new things appearing daily, but many shows and the full effect just weren't there. WE missed the DS drone show by days, and I would have loved to have seen that.

This year, we are smack in that middle time, arriving on Oct 29 and leaving on Nov 9. Sounds like poor planning according to what I said but we had selected those dates specifically for participating in the race weekend. Unfortunately, that won't happen and we were not able to switch up our dates. Oh well, I will rejoice in seeing two holiday seasons at MK.

The party format is similar for both....special parade, special fireworks, special effects/decorations. Character M&Gs, trick or treating (loads of goodies if you are interested) and holiday treat stops for cookies and cocoa. Both are fun. If money was no object, I would be hoping party dates would allow us to do both this year, but between the veering increasing prices and poor exchange rate, I will be lucky if we go to one. Again, NOT complaining! I will be in WDW with my family and having a wonderful time every single day, no matter what we do.

IF I was planning now for the following year, I would travel in late Oct one year, and early Dec another. Have been in the parks when Holiday tapings are on. It isn't terribly inconveniencing, but not really interesting either, unless you are a big fan of one or more of the acts. Personally, I couldn't stand anywhere long to watch that kind of thing, but then I am only young at heart, not physically.

 

[siskaren]

Oct 31 is the first MNSSHP to sell out annually, but I am not sure if Nov 1 parties (when there is one) sell out

They do, but I wouldn't expect there to be one this year since Nov 1 is a Wednesday, and Wednesdays aren't party days, except when Halloween falls on Wednesday.