Which dates would you choose?

[ChanMom]

I planned not to take any more vacations this year. However, flying back from our Spring Break cruise, we volunteered to get bumped from our flight, so now we have enough free airfare to fly to California (we're in NJ). I've been dying to go to Disneyland almost as much as Tokyo Disney (airline doesn't fly there) I really wanted to go Christmas week, but I have reluctantly accepted that those kinds of crowds are not for a family in which three out of four are introverts.
I don't really want to wait until Easter week next week, but that would make it in under the 1 year we have to use the airline vouchers, and we all have 10 days off. The two options I'm weighing most seriously are July 31 - August 8 or November 4-10. The upside to summer is more time, and the 70th anniversary stuff will be going on. The upside to November is low crowds and lower cost. The downside to summer is that it's really soon, and I imagine the crowds will be on the higher side. The downside to November is that we miss everything special (70th anniversary, Halloween, and Christmas). We plan to spend 3-4 days at Disney Parks, 1 day at Universal, and 1-2 days seeing some Hollywood sights. We have never been to California before, I'm sure we'll go again someday, but probably not before at least 1 of my kids is grown (2 boys, 11 and 15).
WWYD

 

[LKing]

My vote would be for July. You get better weather and longer days for all of your activities. Plus, you get the 70th entertainment.

For the rest of your trip, there is a forum for people planning excursions outside of Disneyland. You might check it out to see if there are pointers about Universal and other destinations in the LA area. https://www.disboards.com/forums/california-the-west.131/

 

[joseph821]

My vote is for July.

 

[maleficent55]

July for sure

 

[RainyDayPixie]

Ditto July. I was there last week during sort of a between seasons dead zone and missed all the entertainment offerings. July will be great with the 70th!! And not as busy as you think