Questions for quick 3 day trip

[JadeDarkstar]

Alright so I have to fit in a quick three day trip to DL now, thank you 60th anniversary


I am thinking of two different time frames. Early Sep/Late Sep

And Dec time (late nov to early dec) Before my dream wdw trip.

Questions are as followed.

1.What is the best end of summer dates. Would early sep be at end of summer crowds when most kids are back in school?

2. Would sep be less likely to have fireworks canceled because of wind and weather (like my early nov last year did) I do not want to miss the FW this time.

3. Is F the same? Is anything new? I have seen the DL F so many times that if there's nothing new (bedsides the FP section thing) then I'll wait and just see wdw F like I planed , for comparison.

4. If we chose the late Nov early dec time- do you think any of he Christmas decorations will mess up the 60th celebration decorations? (I want see the diamond castle and CC. Looks so pretty.

5. When will Halloween Decorations start going up (like HM?)

Thank you for every ones help. My heads spinning. Yesterday at this time I was making a long trip to WDW, now I have cut it down to fit a 3 day trip to DL in lol. Man I'm nuts.

 

[gottalovepluto]

4. No way to know, personally I think the planned decorations will enhance the Xmas decorations found throughout the parks, like a Christmas with more glitz. They may take a pass on some things (like an icicle overlay over the diamond overlay sounds like overkill) while still putting things like the famous Christmas trees and ride overlays up.

 

[figment_jii]

1.What is the best end of summer dates. Would early sep be at end of summer crowds when most kids are back in school?

It depends a lot on what you are looking for in the parks. After Labor Day is usually a safe bet in terms of schools, but HM and potentially Space will be down. The operating hours will also likely be shorter, with reduced internment (although, anything is possible with the 60th this year).

2. Would sep be less likely to have fireworks canceled because of wind and weather (like my early nov last year did) I do not want to miss the FW this time.

I've been in Sept, Oct, Nov, and Dec and experienced fireworks cancellations in all four months. I think summer is the least likely to experience cancellations due to wind, but September and November don't seem markedly different to me.

3. Is F the same? Is anything new? I have seen the DL F so many times that if there's nothing new (bedsides the FP section thing) then I'll wait and just see wdw F like I planed , for comparison.

What is "F"? If it's fireworks, then DLR just announced that they will debut a new show in honor of the 60th anniversary. It looks impressive, but no one has seen it yet to be able to compare it to Wishes. Personally, I've like the fireworks shows at DLR better than WDW, so I would make a point to see them at DLR if you have the chance.

4. If we chose the late Nov early dec time- do you think any of he Christmas decorations will mess up the 60th celebration decorations? (I want see the diamond castle and CC. Looks so pretty.

Yes and no...I think there will still be a fair amount of Christmas/Holiday decor up throughout the parks. I don't know if the castle will change (I'm guess no), but other parts of the parks will be decorated for the holidays. I have read that in honor of the 60th there will be some new/old holiday decor added to the parks (e.g., the star on the Matterhorn). So I still think going during the holidays would be fun.

5. When will Halloween Decorations start going up (like HM?)

HM usually goes down in the end of August, so that it has time to re-open for the start of HalloweenTime. It's not entirely clear when HalloweenTime will start this year. The normal guess would have been 9/11 (based on previous year schedules), but given the significance of the date, it seems unlikely that Disney would opt to start it on that day. I'm guess a 9/12 kick-off (or there about), which means HM will likely close around August 24 or so. Space usually closes for the 5 days before HalloweenTime starts to have it's overlay installed (so I would guess the day after Labor Day this year).

 

[JadeDarkstar]

Thank you Both of you. I do love DL at Christmas time, and have also heard I could get a Photo pass that was for both parks if I went so close together. Any one here used that whats it called or the advance price?

 

[Sherry E]

As for when the Halloween Time season will begin (which is when Haunted Mansion Holiday would most likely go up) -- we can't be sure. My guess is that it should begin somewhere between 9/10 and 9/14, but because Disney seems to be focusing on the Diamond Celebration it could mean an earlier-than-usual start to Halloween Time, or a later-than-usual start.

I've said many times (in the Halloween Superthread) that I have a strong feeling that Halloween Time will not begin on 9/11 -- it's just a bad day on the calendar to start a festive season. (Notice that the holiday season never officially starts on Veterans Day either.) The season could start before or after 9/11, but I don't think 9/11 will be the official start date of Halloween Time this year.

I am guessing that Halloween Time will be in full swing by late September, though I don't know exactly what they'd have up in terms of decorations in Disneyland. Pumpkins and diamonds do not exactly blend as well together as holiday decorations and diamonds would blend, so we'll see. I think that this could be the year that DCA sees a big surge of Halloween fun.

I've gone into detail about my thoughts in other threads, but I think that the holiday season decorations will probably be scaled back in some areas, and will be more or less the same as every holiday season in other areas.

Disney is really putting a lot of focus on the Diamond Celebration, but the holiday season is also hugely popular. They have to strike a good balance between Diamond Celebration décor/entertainment and holiday season décor/entertainment.

 

[figment_jii]

Thank you Both of you. I do love DL at Christmas time, and have also heard I could get a Photo pass that was for both parks if I went so close together. Any one here used that whats it called or the advance price?

You can pre-purchase Photopass for Disneyland. It's good for 14-days from when you pick up the lanyard.
http://disneyphotopass.com/specialoffers/dlrppp.htm

I would contact Disney or see if anyone can answer more definitively, but WDW had moved to Memory Maker. It seems similar to PhotoPass, but I don't know if they're interchangeable anymore. I know that when I viewed my Memory Maker photos from WDW it was on a different website than the one I used for PP+ at DLR.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

Sherry E- Do you think the Diamonds on CC and castle, and the new woc show will still be shown at Christmas time? I know it says parades and fire work more likely will be shown though out the year.

 

[Sherry E]

Sherry E- Do you think the Diamonds on CC and castle, and the new woc show will still be shown at Christmas time? I know it says parades and fire work more likely will be shown though out the year.

My guess is that the diamond décor is going to stay on CC and on the Castle through the duration of this Diamond Celebration, which will end sometime in 2016.

All 3 of the new nighttime shows -- Disneyland Forever, Paint the Night and World of Color - Celebrate are supposedly lined up to run until at least the end of this year (which means through Halloween Time and through the holidays), and will almost certainly extend into 2016.

There isn't going to be a Believe in Holiday Magic fireworks show or a World of Color - Winter Dreams this year, and supposedly there isn't going to be a Christmas Fantasy Parade this year either (though I wonder if it will be removed from the daytime too).

 

[sharonabe]

We went the Wed-Fri of Labor Day week last year and had a blast. Crowds were definitely manageable; we didn't feel like it was crowded, but this was our first trip to DL and have nothing to compare. Wishes and F! only show on Fri-Sun, so you'll need to plan accordingly.

If wait times help you with crowd levels, RSR was consistently at 45 min - 1 hour. We used the single rider line and rode about 3 times in one hour. I don't think we waited for more than 20 min for anything else.

Haunted Mansion was already closed for it's Halloween overlay, but Space Mtn was still up.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

Alright Thank you all of you. I think doing the two at time trip would be so fun so the plan as of this afternoon is
Gray hound to DL and then fly from DL to Wdw and Fly from Wdw home. My son is so excited. When i said lets maybe do summer Dl trip he said noo. It would be so cool to do one and then the other right after. So I'm going with nov dec time line.

Now I need find out about a super shuttle or magical express from DL to Lax, or some way to get there.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

Now it looks more like we may do DL this year and Wdw next year.
Pros to waiting for wdw
1. Have longer time at dl to catch all the new stuff in case one or two nights is rained out or windy.
2. Be able to save for two years for Wdw instead of just one. Meaning we can do longer trip there and not be as tight.
3. We can still have a good time in DL and maybe go to Universal for a day or two.
These are all still just ideas and up in the air but just trying fit in both can make both trips really tight.
I hate waiting another year for wdw, but DL is our favorite home away from home.