When to go in November?

[stich626]

Help! my family has finally agreed to go to DL after many trips to WDW. Our two options are Nov 7-14 or Nov 14-21! We wold like to be there for some of the Christmas decorations and activities! Haven't been in 10 years. Mom hasn't been in 50.

 

[gottalovepluto]

10 & 50 years? You'll both be in for some new treats! Nov 12-15 are listed online as Avengers marathon weekend so you'll hit that no matter what but less with the later choice. This year the festivities didn't officially kick off until Nov 13 so if you want the best shot at seeing the most Christmas decorations go the later week understanding you may see some crowd increases in locals checking out the decor early but it shouldn't be bad. The holiday crowds will start moving in the Sat before Thanksgiving (Nov 21 2015).

 

[stich626]

I was leaning towards going the later week. Was worried about pre turkey day visitors.

Good thing I have about a year to plan. I forgot DL does themarvel characters. My 5 year old niece is just getting unto super heroes.

 

[figment_jii]

I would also vote for the later of the two choices (the full week before Thanksgiving). I was there at that time this year and the crowds were (for the most part) manageable. The weekends (Fri) were fairly busy, but the weekdays (Mon-Thu) were not bad. As mentioned by gottalovepluto, the holiday season went into full swing on 11/13 (Thu) this year. Some things had already opened by that point (e.g., IaSWH), but other things did not start until the 13th (e.g., Jingle Cruise). There is no guarantee that next year will be like this year, so I would aim to go as late into the month as you can so you stand the best chance of having the holidays in full swing.

 

[GatorChris]

We went in the latter week you mentioned just last month. It was pretty good until the weekend (Fri-Sun). Then it was unbelievable how crowded it was. But all the Christmas decorations were up. The week before would be a split stay where part would be normal Disney and part would be Christmas Disney.

 

[chickapin parterre]

parade filming is also an important consideration. Didn't happen this year and may never happen as The Main Street Christmas tree is placed after the parade filming. So maybe parade filming will never happen again because of the extensive decor in the park and time to create Main street.

Your Friday before Thanksgiving week will be crowded as folks are arriving on cheap Thursday night flights

 

[stich626]

Thanks! I think we will go the later week too. Avoid the parks the last few days we are there. My niece is already planning who she's going to sit next to on the plane.

 

[Sherry E]

Thanks! I think we will go the later week too. Avoid the parks the last few days we are there. My niece is already planning who she's going to sit next to on the plane.

If you get a chance, join us in the Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread -- HERE - as we will be discussing and reporting on news, rumors and details of the Holidays all year long, and we talk a lot about which things open earlier or later in the season. Any time any little bit of news or info comes in about the season -- even if it is months in advance -- we report on it in the thread (sometimes before it gets out to the rest of the forum!). The whole first page of the Superthread has lots of info for you about important dates to keep in mind, food, seasonal activities for each park, shopping, hotel holiday activities, etc. -- but you can always just jump in and join us anytime and ask questions or say hello.

As everyone has already stated, the second set of your possible dates is better in terms of decorations and activities.

Disneyland's 60th anniversary is taking place in 2015, and -- though the details of the new entertainment have not been officially released just yet -- there is a good chance that they will somehow impact the array of seasonal offerings. Some things could be added in (maybe a hard ticket party of some sort??). Some things could be removed (such as the Christmas Fantasy Parade and the Believe in Holiday Magic fireworks). The holiday season could start a little later than usual -- especially if Halloween Time ends a little later than usual. There may not be a Christmas parade taping (just as there was not one this year) but there may be a taping of some sort.

Even though the majority of the in-park decorations will probably be up by 11/6 -- and much of the seasonal entertainment was already in effect at that point this year (on a soft-launch basis) -- as figment_jii said, there is no guarantee that what happened this year or last year will repeat in 2015. So the later in November you can go, the better, if the decorations and activities are of interest to you.

If you go during the Nov 14-21 time frame, the holiday season will officially begin at some point right around that time (maybe on 11/13, but it's anyone's guess) and everything in the parks will be in full swing -- but you could, possibly, maybe, miss seeing some of the decorations (and Santa Claus) at the 3 Disney hotels.

This year and last year, the hotels' Christmas trees began to appear about 9 days before Thanksgiving, so you are likely to see those but it's not guaranteed. In the past the hotels have been decorated much closer to Thanksgiving, and this year the giant Grand Californian Hotel lobby gingerbread house did not officially 'open for business' (whatever that means, as there were no items actually being sold from the house itself) until Thanksgiving day, though it appeared in its pre- and mid-assembly stage not long after the GCH Christmas tree went up.

Santa and the carolers don't appear at the hotels until Thanksgiving as well, and the other (smaller) gingerbread houses at the GCH did not appear in their respective restaurants until Thanksgiving and beyond.

 

[stich626]

Thank you! I will totally join in that discussion. I would love it if they did a Xmas party. Its the one thing I will miss by not going Wdw!

 

[SMD]

This year they started running the Christmas parade and fireworks 8 days before the "official" start of holidays in the parks, on one of the filming days for the televised Christmas day parade. As PP said, if you pick the first week the only thing missing will be the tree during the early part of the week, due to the parade filming. That's assuming they follow the same schedule, which is of course not a guarantee. If it were me, I'd rather start on the earlier week and have the race crowds show up when I'm winding down my week then start on a holiday weekend and wait for them to trickle down for the end of my trip.

 

[Sherry E]

stich626 --


I look forward to your joining us over in the Superthread! We're a fun, informative group of folks!

I really think that if decorations and the full array of holiday activities (with the exception of, possibly, some of the hotel fun) are most important to you for the duration of your trip, the later dates are best.

If avoiding some of the pre-Thanksgiving crowds is most important, even at the risk of missing some things that might not have begun yet -- or having to cram a bunch of stuff into one day because it all opened on the official season start date near the end of your trip (such as Jingle Cruise, Santa in the parks, Jingle Jangle Jamboree, Viva Navidad, Winter Dreams, the ice rink in Downtown Disney, etc.) -- then the earlier dates would be better for you.