Review of the Holiday Time at Disneyland Tour

[the_princess]

First of all, thank you so much for all the nice words. I'm so happy to share this experience with you. It was truly magical. I hope it can help answering some of the questions about this trip.

Yay!! I loved reading your report! We are taking the tour on the 28th but I'm a little nervous about the sound and my daughter's bone anchored hearing aids. What was your experience with the sound like? Staticky? Just fine?

The sound quality was good. Better then I expected.

Does anyone know the dates for the tour? Does it stop after Christmas? We are going Jan 2-4. We've done many of the other tours, and this one looks great!

It runs to the 6th of Jan. So you have time

Stephanie --

Thank you for the great, detailed report on the tour (and I'm very glad your trip went well)! This is exactly the sort of thing that many people who come to the Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread would like to read, based on the questions that come in all the time.

It's lucky that I happened to catch this separate thread, so I will be able to link it in the Holiday Tour section on page 1 of the Superthread. If it had been an extra-busy week for me and I only had time to go straight to the Superthread and not to any other threads, I would have had no clue that you posted such a wonderful TR review.

About that angel on the DLH tree -- now I am wildly curious about which tree it is! I was just roaming all around the DLH (for hours) last week, and I went into every tower and got up-close photos of many ornaments on the different trees. The trees in the Fantasy Tower are a little more basic and the ornaments are not that interesting, while the Adventure and Frontier Towers have wonderful themed ornaments and trees. Currently my photos are trapped on my memory card, so I cannot download them and view them in a larger window -- but I am itching to get to my DLH tree photos to see if I can spot the angel!

Oh, and by the way -- your tour cookies are different than the usual gingerbread cookies with ears!. They are so cute! They have faces on them, and bow ties too! The regular cookies have ears dipped in chocolate and chocolate buttons, but they are faceless.

I was told by a CM at Trolley Treats that the gingerbread/ears cookies had been temporarily discontinued and she/they didn't think they would get anymore in for this holiday season...and then suddenly they got some in stock. She is not sure if the cookies will be back for next year's holiday season, or if this is the last we'll see of them. I am actually now wondering if Disney is hoping to slowly stop selling the gingerbread/ears cookies (despite their popularity) and make them exclusive to the holiday tour. I can picture something like that happening, which would be great for the tour folks and bad for the rest of us!

I completely forgot that I wanted to link to this in the super thread, thanks for reminding me. I know some people only read there and I know there has been a lot of questions about this tour (From me as well)
I really hope that this can help answering some of the questions.
Regarding the cookies, these were really cute and very good, but I'm not good at judging them because I love all kind of ginger bread cookies. I had so many during this trip because you can't get them in Denmark. So I know what I'm baking for Christmas.

 

[longhorns2]

I signed up for this one on the 29th. Can't wait- thanks for the great report! I figured it was worth the money for the ride experiences alone! This is our first trip as a family for the holidays, and I know the crowds are pretty bad. Riding the 3 Christmas themed rides without spending an hour + in line is a win for me! Plus I simply LOVE tours at Disney! They do them so well.

I'm thinking about adding the Welcome to Disneyland tour just for the FP and rides included, but I know it's reported as very basic for people like us. but you know... $20.

 

[larina]

We loved our tour on Christmas Eve. Our tour guide, Donny, was wonderful. The OP did an excellent job reviewing the tour, so I don't have a lot to add, but I just wanted to chime in about what a wonderful experience this was for our family. I was worried, after some comments about the tour on the Dis boards, that the kids might be bored, but everyone in our group loved it. We are 64, 19 & 5 year old males and 62, 39, 20, 20, and 10 year old females. We all enjoyed it, even my young son and mama who skipped Haunted Holiday Mansion.

 

[jennyturin]

Hi!

Thank you so much for your detailed post! Nowhere else have I seen this kind of information about what's included in the tour! I have booked the tour for my family for this upcoming Sunday and was wondering about how much time you got for your break last year at Jingle Jangle Jamboree. Was it enough for kiddos to check out some of the games/experiences or should I plan for a separate trip to Big Thunder Ranch for them to get some playtime? I ask because the tour is over after the parade at which point the Jingle Jangle Jamboree will be over for the day so we won't be able to go back post tour. If we need to see more of it we'll have to go before the tour. Thanks so much!

 

[the_princess]

Hi!

Thank you so much for your detailed post! Nowhere else have I seen this kind of information about what's included in the tour! I have booked the tour for my family for this upcoming Sunday and was wondering about how much time you got for your break last year at Jingle Jangle Jamboree. Was it enough for kiddos to check out some of the games/experiences or should I plan for a separate trip to Big Thunder Ranch for them to get some playtime? I ask because the tour is over after the parade at which point the Jingle Jangle Jamboree will be over for the day so we won't be able to go back post tour. If we need to see more of it we'll have to go before the tour. Thanks so much!

Hi, How exciting that you are going on the tour. It's absolutely amazing, I still think about it as my greatest Disneyland experience. I made this post because I was kind of missing similar information about the tour when I was planning my trip. About the break, it's only a very short one, 10 min if I remember correct. So I wouldn't say that there are time for games or anything like that. Enjoy the tour and let me know what you think

 

[sharksfinatic17]

Hi!

Thank you so much for your detailed post! Nowhere else have I seen this kind of information about what's included in the tour! I have booked the tour for my family for this upcoming Sunday and was wondering about how much time you got for your break last year at Jingle Jangle Jamboree. Was it enough for kiddos to check out some of the games/experiences or should I plan for a separate trip to Big Thunder Ranch for them to get some playtime? I ask because the tour is over after the parade at which point the Jingle Jangle Jamboree will be over for the day so we won't be able to go back post tour. If we need to see more of it we'll have to go before the tour. Thanks so much!

We did this tour last year. We loved it. I believe the time we spent at the Jingle Jangle Jamboree was actually a bathroom break. Those that didn't need to use the facilities could look around, but that was about it.

 

[momrek06]

Wonderful report and wonderful pictures!

 

[krispin41]

I agree, great report! And pictures! I too, booked for this year! So excited!!!