Topolina
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2011
- Messages
- 38
First of all, thank you to all who contribute to these boards! I found answers to every question I had about our trip to Disneyland at Christmas....so much, in fact, that I never had to post a question myself. So onto my (rather long/detailed...sorry) trip report:
We drove from Northern CA to Anaheim on 12/20, arriving at our hotel at 7:45pm. We chose the Best Western Stovall's Inn after the great price I got on lastminutetravel.com (I found a tip on the forum to verify the name of the hotel even before you book). Hotel was exactly as pictured, clean, and updated. We stayed in building 2 on the second floor and we heard no noise from the rooms around us (except for water running....but what are you gonna do....it's a motel). However, if you are a light sleeper, there was a bit of noise from traffic on Katella (our room was 1/2 way down the building), and you can hear WOC when it plays. Beds were on the firm side and the continental breakfast was basic and crowded (especially on 12/24 & 12/25). That said, we were prepared for crowds, both at the hotel and park, so it wasn't a big problem for us. After check-in, we headed to the parks to pick up our tickets. I purchased our tickets over the phone from GetAwayToday and got a reduced price (over those that are posted on their website). The wait at the ticket booth was a little long that evening, as it seemed everyone had an "issue". That said, tickets were picked up after showing my ID, verifying where I had purchased the tickets, and what type of tickets I had purchased (6-Day Park Hoppers). Then we were off!
We entered Disneyland at 10pm on 12/20 (Tues.) and took advantage of the time to get some great nighttime shots of the park. I must say, I've never been to Disneyland at Christmas (this was my 10 & 7 yr. olds first trip EVER)..and it was BEAUTIFUL. After pictures, we headed to Fantasyland and rode Snow White, Pinocchio, and the carousel with no wait. We then headed over to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz and Rockets with no wait, either. After that, it was nearly midnight so we headed back to the hotel. At this point, let me point out that that first night we walked both to and from the park taking a shortcut through the Grand Californian and DTD....it was a lovely 10-15 min walk from Stovall's Inn to the front gate.
The next day, 12/21 (Wed.) was our first full day in the park. We entered the park about 9am after using the ART shuttle. For informational purposes, we bought ART passes from GetAwayToday (2 Adult/2 Child 7-Day passes for $32). We passed quickly through security and entered Disneyland. Ok, let me preface the following by saying that although there were quite a few people in the parks this day, this was by far our most productive day! We rode nearly every ride in Adventureland, Frontierland, and NOS. We used FP's for Indy and BTMRR, and the wait times for most everything else was 15-20min (including HM & POC). We experienced no ride closures or breakdowns that day at all. We left the park at 3pm for a break. At 8pm that night we re-entered the park and immediately got a spot in front of the castle to see the fireworks (last show (?) before the malfunction that cancelled the fireworks for the rest of the week, excluding Christmas day). What a beautiful display!!! The music, the atmosphere....completely magical. Then, at the end, when "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" started playing and the "snow" began falling.....the crowd was completely still and quiet....peaceful. By the way, are we the only ones that noticed that the foam "snow" smelled like cinnamon? Perhaps it was just in our minds? Anyways, after the fireworks we headed toward Tomorrowland and after seeing a 60min wait for Star Tours, I told my boys we'd have to wait to ride when we had FP's. At that moment, a man walked up and handed us FP's to ride ST immediately. I couldn't believe it! After that, we walked around, admired the lights on IASW, rode the train twice around the park, and finally left around 11pm.
The next day, 12/22 (Thurs.), was the day of the crazy cold wind. We spent the day in CA Adventure. Got FP's for Soarin, rode all rides in Bug's Land, rode CA Screamin (with a 15min wait), rode Mickey's Fun Wheel Swinging Cars (don't do this with a young child! my 7 yr. old freaked out) with a 20min wait, and then headed over to TSMM. Ok, this is one of a couple rides that I waited more than 20min to ride. The wait was 60min, but my kids were begging to ride...so we waited. What a great time! Mr. Potato Head (which entertains you while waiting in line) was soooo funny! He was cracking jokes and making fun of everyone in line....great entertainment in itself! After that, we rode Goofy's with a FP, LM had no line and was walk-on, and then we went back to Soarin to use our FP's. After that we watched Muppets 3D, walked on Monsters Inc., and then decided to grab FP's for WOC (just in case it wasn't cancelled because of the wind). At 3pm we got FP's in the blue section for the 9:15pm WOC, but the CM said the show would most likely be cancelled. We walked back towards Aladdin, and at 4pm got in line. We ended up in the orchestra section. Show was incredible and the Genie was AWESOME!! He would ad-lib at every opportunity and the crowd loved it. When we came out of the show it was dark and COLD. We decided to call it day. The wind was still blowing and we had no intention of freezing our butts off.
12/23 (Fri), was a beautiful sunny warm day! We arrived at the parks at 9:30am and entered Disneyland. We grabbed FP's for ST, rode Nemo with a 25min wait, and rode Autotopia with a 15min wait. Walked to IASM, rode with 15min wait, visited Toontown (probably the most crowded part of the park we had encountered until this point). Didn't even bother to ride anything...it was crazy. Waited 20min to see Mickey in his house. At this point, it's fair to mention that although we saw lots of Characters around the park, every time we got in line to meet one, a CM would call "last family" on the family in front of us. It literally happened 6 times on our trip. My husband (not a Disney person), even began to get irritated. However, that didn't ruin our trip at all. After the mess in Toontown, we were happy to escape to the Mark Twain for a ride. I arranged for my boys to ride in the wheelhouse and they loved it!!! Nothing like blowing the horn and ringing the bell! After that, we caught Billy Hill & the Hillbillies (funny...we caught the show twice). At this point, this area of the park began to feel a little crowded...so we grabbed FP's for Indy and headed to Main St. to catch the 2:15pm parade. Got a great spot in front of castle to watch parade and really enjoyed this part of the day. After the parade we left the park for a break. Returned to park at 8:30pm, rode Buzz again (my kids fav), made our way to NOS, waited for 9pm F! to finish and gabbed a spot for the last F! of the night. I have to say, this method worked out perfectly for us. We waited on the bridge above POC for the crowds to move out and as soon as they were thinned out, we swooped in and got front row spots for the show, sitting on the ground, directly at the rail, center. As always F! was incredible. After the show, we rode ST on a FP and then headed back to the hotel.
Christmas eve we entered Disneyland around 10am, I then took our tickets and ran over to CA to get WOC FP's. We got blue section first show. Went back to Disneyland and we really relaxed and took our time. Got SM FP's, watched the Dapper Dans, rode Peter Pan (with a 30min wait), walked on teacups, rode Storybook Canal Boats, walked through Castle, watched show in Tikiroom. Watched Toy Soldier Drummers play outside IASW. At 3pm we headed back to hotel for a break. Had dinner at 6pm and got back to CA at 7:15pm for WOC. Managed to get a decent spot at top of stairs next to disabled section. Although, show was great, many people were rude and there weren't enough CM's to "manage" that amount of people in such a small place. After the show, rode Goofy's Sky School and Silly Symphony Swings with no wait. CA Adventure closed at 9pm that night, so we headed back over to Disneyland. As we were walking in we noticed that all the characters (Mickey & Minnie in PJ's, all the Pooh characters, Toy Story Characters, Princesses/Princes, Pluto, Donald, Goofy, Chip/Dale, etc. etc.) were lined up around the train station giving the traditional Christmas Eve "goodnight". We asked a CM about it and she said they would be doing that at 9:30pm/10:30pm/11:30pm. This CM was also the first one that told us about the fireworks mishap a couple nights before. So we waved goodnight to the characters and headed into the park. We rode Star Tours with a 40min wait, Buzz was a walk-on, Snow White was a walk-on, rode the carousel, and finally Casey Jr. We left at 11:30pm. I forgot to mention that in CA Adventure at closing all the CM's, Managers, Exec's (?) were all lined up on both sides of the path from Soarin' all the way to the front gate wishing everyone a Merry Christmas (very nice touch and most were wearing Mickey "hands").
Ok, Christmas Day! We slept in and didn't get the parks until noon. At that point, after seeing the mass of humanity trying to enter Disneyland, we opted to spend the day in CA Adventure. At the entrance gates there were tons of issues (fake tickets, used tickets, people trying to re-enter without hand stamps). They immediately stamped everyone's hands and warned that the park would probably reach capacity and without a hand stamp and a ticket there would be no re-admittance. We made our way to Bugs again and let the kids ride their favorite rides. Then we went over to ToT and rode with a 15min wait, afterwards we rode the Golden Zepher and the Jelly fish with no wait. Took the kids to Redwood Creek Challenge Trail and let them run off some energy and afterwards did some shopping. At 3:30pm there were still FP's available for the 9:15pm WOC (but skipped this). We decided to ride Soarin again...this time it was a 60min wait. Decided to go ahead and wait and make it our last ride before dinner. At 5pm we exited the park via the Grand Californian through to DTD. Had dinner at Naples at 5:30pm (with no reservation and a 15min wait for a table). At 7pm we had finished dinner and thought that we would re-enter Disneyland....but, upon seeing the crazy insane crowds all the way from DTD to the entrance gates (we're talking shoulder to shoulder), decided to call it a trip and head back to the hotel to pack and prepare to leave the next day.
Monday the 26th we saw masses of people heading to the park early. We prepared to leave, while our friends headed back to the park to upgrade their hoppers to annual passes. When they arrived at the ticket lines, they were told it was a two hour wait in line for tickets (line reached the security checkpoint on the shuttle bus side, and there were CM's monitoring the line). At this point their youngest child was sick and began vomiting in line (sorry) and unable to wait any longer they searched out a manager. Upon hearing their story, the manager took their park hoppers and stapled vouchers to them, giving them permission to "upgrade" at a later date. A relief to know! That said we were off and on our way home.
Overall, a great trip! Without any problems and actually much less crowded (especially early in the week) than we expected. My advice to anyone considering Christmas week and/or Christmas Day in the parks, is to get as much done early in the week as possible and use Christmas Eve & Christmas Day to relax and enjoy the atmosphere. The nights were definitely "magical" and the lights/decorations were gorgeous. Weather was warm in the daytime (short sleeves and jeans/shorts) and chilly in the evenings (jackets/hats/gloves), so pack accordingly.
Hope this helps those considering a trip during Christmastime in Disneyland!
We drove from Northern CA to Anaheim on 12/20, arriving at our hotel at 7:45pm. We chose the Best Western Stovall's Inn after the great price I got on lastminutetravel.com (I found a tip on the forum to verify the name of the hotel even before you book). Hotel was exactly as pictured, clean, and updated. We stayed in building 2 on the second floor and we heard no noise from the rooms around us (except for water running....but what are you gonna do....it's a motel). However, if you are a light sleeper, there was a bit of noise from traffic on Katella (our room was 1/2 way down the building), and you can hear WOC when it plays. Beds were on the firm side and the continental breakfast was basic and crowded (especially on 12/24 & 12/25). That said, we were prepared for crowds, both at the hotel and park, so it wasn't a big problem for us. After check-in, we headed to the parks to pick up our tickets. I purchased our tickets over the phone from GetAwayToday and got a reduced price (over those that are posted on their website). The wait at the ticket booth was a little long that evening, as it seemed everyone had an "issue". That said, tickets were picked up after showing my ID, verifying where I had purchased the tickets, and what type of tickets I had purchased (6-Day Park Hoppers). Then we were off!
We entered Disneyland at 10pm on 12/20 (Tues.) and took advantage of the time to get some great nighttime shots of the park. I must say, I've never been to Disneyland at Christmas (this was my 10 & 7 yr. olds first trip EVER)..and it was BEAUTIFUL. After pictures, we headed to Fantasyland and rode Snow White, Pinocchio, and the carousel with no wait. We then headed over to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz and Rockets with no wait, either. After that, it was nearly midnight so we headed back to the hotel. At this point, let me point out that that first night we walked both to and from the park taking a shortcut through the Grand Californian and DTD....it was a lovely 10-15 min walk from Stovall's Inn to the front gate.
The next day, 12/21 (Wed.) was our first full day in the park. We entered the park about 9am after using the ART shuttle. For informational purposes, we bought ART passes from GetAwayToday (2 Adult/2 Child 7-Day passes for $32). We passed quickly through security and entered Disneyland. Ok, let me preface the following by saying that although there were quite a few people in the parks this day, this was by far our most productive day! We rode nearly every ride in Adventureland, Frontierland, and NOS. We used FP's for Indy and BTMRR, and the wait times for most everything else was 15-20min (including HM & POC). We experienced no ride closures or breakdowns that day at all. We left the park at 3pm for a break. At 8pm that night we re-entered the park and immediately got a spot in front of the castle to see the fireworks (last show (?) before the malfunction that cancelled the fireworks for the rest of the week, excluding Christmas day). What a beautiful display!!! The music, the atmosphere....completely magical. Then, at the end, when "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" started playing and the "snow" began falling.....the crowd was completely still and quiet....peaceful. By the way, are we the only ones that noticed that the foam "snow" smelled like cinnamon? Perhaps it was just in our minds? Anyways, after the fireworks we headed toward Tomorrowland and after seeing a 60min wait for Star Tours, I told my boys we'd have to wait to ride when we had FP's. At that moment, a man walked up and handed us FP's to ride ST immediately. I couldn't believe it! After that, we walked around, admired the lights on IASW, rode the train twice around the park, and finally left around 11pm.
The next day, 12/22 (Thurs.), was the day of the crazy cold wind. We spent the day in CA Adventure. Got FP's for Soarin, rode all rides in Bug's Land, rode CA Screamin (with a 15min wait), rode Mickey's Fun Wheel Swinging Cars (don't do this with a young child! my 7 yr. old freaked out) with a 20min wait, and then headed over to TSMM. Ok, this is one of a couple rides that I waited more than 20min to ride. The wait was 60min, but my kids were begging to ride...so we waited. What a great time! Mr. Potato Head (which entertains you while waiting in line) was soooo funny! He was cracking jokes and making fun of everyone in line....great entertainment in itself! After that, we rode Goofy's with a FP, LM had no line and was walk-on, and then we went back to Soarin to use our FP's. After that we watched Muppets 3D, walked on Monsters Inc., and then decided to grab FP's for WOC (just in case it wasn't cancelled because of the wind). At 3pm we got FP's in the blue section for the 9:15pm WOC, but the CM said the show would most likely be cancelled. We walked back towards Aladdin, and at 4pm got in line. We ended up in the orchestra section. Show was incredible and the Genie was AWESOME!! He would ad-lib at every opportunity and the crowd loved it. When we came out of the show it was dark and COLD. We decided to call it day. The wind was still blowing and we had no intention of freezing our butts off.
12/23 (Fri), was a beautiful sunny warm day! We arrived at the parks at 9:30am and entered Disneyland. We grabbed FP's for ST, rode Nemo with a 25min wait, and rode Autotopia with a 15min wait. Walked to IASM, rode with 15min wait, visited Toontown (probably the most crowded part of the park we had encountered until this point). Didn't even bother to ride anything...it was crazy. Waited 20min to see Mickey in his house. At this point, it's fair to mention that although we saw lots of Characters around the park, every time we got in line to meet one, a CM would call "last family" on the family in front of us. It literally happened 6 times on our trip. My husband (not a Disney person), even began to get irritated. However, that didn't ruin our trip at all. After the mess in Toontown, we were happy to escape to the Mark Twain for a ride. I arranged for my boys to ride in the wheelhouse and they loved it!!! Nothing like blowing the horn and ringing the bell! After that, we caught Billy Hill & the Hillbillies (funny...we caught the show twice). At this point, this area of the park began to feel a little crowded...so we grabbed FP's for Indy and headed to Main St. to catch the 2:15pm parade. Got a great spot in front of castle to watch parade and really enjoyed this part of the day. After the parade we left the park for a break. Returned to park at 8:30pm, rode Buzz again (my kids fav), made our way to NOS, waited for 9pm F! to finish and gabbed a spot for the last F! of the night. I have to say, this method worked out perfectly for us. We waited on the bridge above POC for the crowds to move out and as soon as they were thinned out, we swooped in and got front row spots for the show, sitting on the ground, directly at the rail, center. As always F! was incredible. After the show, we rode ST on a FP and then headed back to the hotel.
Christmas eve we entered Disneyland around 10am, I then took our tickets and ran over to CA to get WOC FP's. We got blue section first show. Went back to Disneyland and we really relaxed and took our time. Got SM FP's, watched the Dapper Dans, rode Peter Pan (with a 30min wait), walked on teacups, rode Storybook Canal Boats, walked through Castle, watched show in Tikiroom. Watched Toy Soldier Drummers play outside IASW. At 3pm we headed back to hotel for a break. Had dinner at 6pm and got back to CA at 7:15pm for WOC. Managed to get a decent spot at top of stairs next to disabled section. Although, show was great, many people were rude and there weren't enough CM's to "manage" that amount of people in such a small place. After the show, rode Goofy's Sky School and Silly Symphony Swings with no wait. CA Adventure closed at 9pm that night, so we headed back over to Disneyland. As we were walking in we noticed that all the characters (Mickey & Minnie in PJ's, all the Pooh characters, Toy Story Characters, Princesses/Princes, Pluto, Donald, Goofy, Chip/Dale, etc. etc.) were lined up around the train station giving the traditional Christmas Eve "goodnight". We asked a CM about it and she said they would be doing that at 9:30pm/10:30pm/11:30pm. This CM was also the first one that told us about the fireworks mishap a couple nights before. So we waved goodnight to the characters and headed into the park. We rode Star Tours with a 40min wait, Buzz was a walk-on, Snow White was a walk-on, rode the carousel, and finally Casey Jr. We left at 11:30pm. I forgot to mention that in CA Adventure at closing all the CM's, Managers, Exec's (?) were all lined up on both sides of the path from Soarin' all the way to the front gate wishing everyone a Merry Christmas (very nice touch and most were wearing Mickey "hands").
Ok, Christmas Day! We slept in and didn't get the parks until noon. At that point, after seeing the mass of humanity trying to enter Disneyland, we opted to spend the day in CA Adventure. At the entrance gates there were tons of issues (fake tickets, used tickets, people trying to re-enter without hand stamps). They immediately stamped everyone's hands and warned that the park would probably reach capacity and without a hand stamp and a ticket there would be no re-admittance. We made our way to Bugs again and let the kids ride their favorite rides. Then we went over to ToT and rode with a 15min wait, afterwards we rode the Golden Zepher and the Jelly fish with no wait. Took the kids to Redwood Creek Challenge Trail and let them run off some energy and afterwards did some shopping. At 3:30pm there were still FP's available for the 9:15pm WOC (but skipped this). We decided to ride Soarin again...this time it was a 60min wait. Decided to go ahead and wait and make it our last ride before dinner. At 5pm we exited the park via the Grand Californian through to DTD. Had dinner at Naples at 5:30pm (with no reservation and a 15min wait for a table). At 7pm we had finished dinner and thought that we would re-enter Disneyland....but, upon seeing the crazy insane crowds all the way from DTD to the entrance gates (we're talking shoulder to shoulder), decided to call it a trip and head back to the hotel to pack and prepare to leave the next day.
Monday the 26th we saw masses of people heading to the park early. We prepared to leave, while our friends headed back to the park to upgrade their hoppers to annual passes. When they arrived at the ticket lines, they were told it was a two hour wait in line for tickets (line reached the security checkpoint on the shuttle bus side, and there were CM's monitoring the line). At this point their youngest child was sick and began vomiting in line (sorry) and unable to wait any longer they searched out a manager. Upon hearing their story, the manager took their park hoppers and stapled vouchers to them, giving them permission to "upgrade" at a later date. A relief to know! That said we were off and on our way home.
Overall, a great trip! Without any problems and actually much less crowded (especially early in the week) than we expected. My advice to anyone considering Christmas week and/or Christmas Day in the parks, is to get as much done early in the week as possible and use Christmas Eve & Christmas Day to relax and enjoy the atmosphere. The nights were definitely "magical" and the lights/decorations were gorgeous. Weather was warm in the daytime (short sleeves and jeans/shorts) and chilly in the evenings (jackets/hats/gloves), so pack accordingly.
Hope this helps those considering a trip during Christmastime in Disneyland!
