Just Press Go Travel

Disney is magical all year – but there is something special about visiting Disney November – the first week of January. Both Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort pull out all the stops decorating and celebrating the holidays. It is extra magical.

My family and I have visited one of the US Disney resorts during the holiday four of the last five years, twice at Walt Disney World in Florida and now twice at Disneyland in California. One of each was with my son who is not quite two now.

I’m not going to super cover the differences between Disneyland and Disney World in this blog post or get into the differences of how the resorts celebrate the holidays, that probably deserves its own blog post or posts.

Keep reading for a DETAILED recap of our trip. (Literally the most detailed post I’ve ever done, three gold stars for making it all the way through.)

As always, none of these links are commission – just information and vibes.

What is at Disneyland Resort?

• 2 Theme Parks: Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure Park
• Downtown Disney, a shopping and dining district
• 3 Official Disney Hotels: Disney’s Grand Californian Resort, Disneyland Hotel, and Pixar Place Hotel
• These three hotels get onsite perks such as 30 minute early entry to one park a day (check schedule), private entrances into California Adventure, and have first dibs at some of popular hotel dining locations
• 4 Character Dining Experiences

Why this time of year?

I love to go to Disney in the two weeks after Thanksgiving, but before schools (including colleges) start getting out for the holidays. This is one of the slower times for both US resorts crowd wise. Keep in mind – Disney is always busy, but these tend to be a bit more manageable, especially in the holiday season. The absolute busiest time of year at both parks are the weeks surrounding Christmas, which are some of the only times in the year that the parks reach capacity.

Where We Stayed

We stayed at the Fairfield Anaheim Resort on Harbor Blvd. Walking from the hotel it took about 10 minutes to reach security for the parks. The Fairfield Anaheim Resort is a Disney Good Neighbor Hotel, meaning that it is available for booking on the Disneyland website, and you can book packages with the hotel. This hotel does not offer early entry into Disneyland – only the 3 Disney owned hotels get that perk. 

I will be very honest that this hotel is just “fine.”  Here is my pro and con list:

Pros:

• 10-minute walk to the park entrance
• Always able to find a parking spot
• Marriott hotel, can get points for stay
• Situated behind McDonald’s and Panera to be able to grab snacks or a meal easily outside the park without having to drive anywhere
• Great filtered water stations in the lobby along with a market and gift shop
• Great staff
• Great water pressure
• Can provide pack n plays, and also provided a little bag with travel size baby shampoo, lotion, dish detergent, and a rubber ducky!
• Small fridge, more like a beverage cooler, with tiny freezer (large enough to freeze an ice pack)

Cons

• Cost for parking is not cheap
• Can hear the fireworks, cannot necessarily see the fireworks
• Needs updates. Badly. Our bathroom was less than desirable. The furniture showed its wear.
• Thin-ish walls

This was our third time staying at this hotel. Is it the best I’ve stayed in? Absolutely not. But the convenience can’t be beat, so I’m sure we’ll stay again.

What We Did

Day One: Non-Park Day

My little one has been struggling a bit when we travel the first night somewhere, and the first day so we planned to take it easy.

• Woke up and went on a Target run for snacks once we confirmed the fridge situation. There is a Target on Harbor Blvd about 1.5 miles south of Disneyland Resort. 
• Grabbed breakfast at Denny’s. It was convenient, knew the kid would eat it, and we were due for an early nap.
• Nap time/break time back at the room.
• Walked over to Downtown Disney to shop and snack
• 4:40 pm Dinner reservations at Goofy’s Kitchen, a character dining experience
  • This is the only character dining experience available outside of breakfast time. Goofy, Pluto, Minnie Mouse, Chip, and Dale are the typical characters. 90-minute buffet dining experience.We loved it. The characters and staff were amazing. Only downside – we didn’t love the lighting trying to get pictures with the characters. Peoples’ love of food is subjective. We are not foodies, but we did enjoy the food, especially the prime rib.
  • Walk-ups are potentially available for early dining, but otherwise reservations will be required.
• Walked a bit more through Downtown Disney to see the entertainment and activities.
• Back to the hotel for an early night while the kid got used to the time change. 2 hours behind our home clock has been the most difficult time change we’ve experienced (we have only traveled domestically since having a kid).

Day Two: Park Day #1

Woke up essentially before the sun to get to the parks. We were too excited to sleep!

• Left our hotel room at 7:15 am to walk over to Disneyland Park for our park reservation.
• Got to security around 7:30 and were in the park waiting on Main Street around 7:45 am for rope drop (when the cast members literally tie up the rope that’s been holding all of the guests on Main Street to signify the park is open).
• While waiting for the park to officially open, I snagged our first Lightning Lane Multi Pass for Haunted Mansion Holiday. This was a priority for us as we love Haunted Mansion, and the holiday overlay is only in California.
• We went for Peter Pan’s Flight in Fantasyland first as this typically has one of the longest lines and there is no LLMP offered. This was a HUGE mistake. After being in line for 30 minutes (which is already crazy for being first thing in the morning), the ride experienced technical difficulties and shut down. We waited 15 minutes before abandoning the line to go find something else to do. Honestly – this set us up for a really rough morning with my toddler.
• Next was Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, a dark ride that typically has shorter waits. We waited maybe 10 minutes, but my toddler doesn’t know Pinocchio, so he was indifferent.
• Next door to Pinocchio is the Snow White dark ride that tells the story of Snow White, waited around 15 minutes, but again my son didn’t know the IP, so it was more of checking a box (for what it’s worth, I enjoyed it).
• My son was obsessed with the carousel, so rode that next. 5-10 minute wait for this too, which he seemed to enjoy.
• Last up for us in Fantasyland was Dumbo. This ride is cute and the water feature below off on this classic Disney ride. We waited around 25 minutes even though the posted standby wait was 15 minutes – remember that the posted wait times are always estimated and not guaranteed. This ride was toddler approved.
• We made our way to Haunted Mansion Holiday to use our LLMP. My son was scared of the queue but did well once we were on the ride. I will say – walking in the building and to the stretch room was DARK. I struggled to see where I was going, so I could see why my toddler was on edge. This ride was so worth it though. 10/10. Would do over and over if I could.
• After scanning in on Haunted Mansion Holiday, I quickly made another LLMP reservation for Pirates of the Caribbean while we waited to board the ride.
• Our Pirates LLMP was not for a bit, so we detoured to Galaxy’s Edge to walk around Batuu and grab a blue milk from the Milk Stand.
• Kid started crashing at this point, but we made our way to Pirates for our LLMP where we waited about 15 minutes to get on the ride, which had a standby posted of around 40 minutes. Loading and unloading on this ride is slow – but if you’re a Disney World regular, do not sleep on this version. I honestly have decided I like it better than the Florida version.
• We mobile ordered lunch from Stage Door Café which is primarily chicken tender meals – they were fine. 
• Headed back to the hotel where mom and toddler took naps. While we were gone we continued to make LLMP reservations every two hours. We snagged Toy Story Mania and Under the Sea with the Little Mermaid.
• Around 3 we made our way back to the parks, but went over to California Adventure.
• Little Mermaid was down for us to use our LLMP but it hadn’t switched over to a multi-use pass yet, so I just swapped it out for the Monster’s Inc ride.
• Went on Monster’s Inc. Grabbed another LLMP for Little Mermaid.
• Watched Disney’s Philharmagic, a 10 minute movie on Sunset Blvd featuring classic Disney characters and songs.
• Headed back to Pixar Pier, rode the Critter Carousel.
• Waited in like about 15 minutes for Woody and Jesse to come out for a meet and greet outside Toy Story Mania. TOTALLY WORTH THE WAIT. Woody was so patient with my Buzz obsessed little boy. Cast Members are truly one of a kind.
• Rode Toy Story Mania, a crossover between a ride and playing arcade/video games. We love this ride…but it could totally use a refurbishment. This is one ride where the Walt Disney World version is better.
• Mobile ordered dinner from Aunt Cass’s Café in San Fransokyo Square.
• We  went over to Cars Land and got in line to meet Lightning McQueen, we were next in line when they held us to swap out Lightning McQueen and Mater…which we were totally fine with. Mater even had on a Santa hat! These two are out most of the day in front of the Cozy Cone Motel and seem to swap about every 30 minutes.
• Rode the Mater ride. It currently has a holiday overlay that has Mater/Larry the Cable Guy singing car versions of holiday classics. Please go enjoy this underrated ride.
• Park hopped back to Disneyland Park and used a LLMP for Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin and Autopia.
• Found a holiday dance party going on with Goofy and Pluto, and later they swapped out and it was Stitch! Disneyland has characters everywhere and it’s awesome.
• The clock struck 8 and my kid was done, walked back to the hotel.

Day Three: Park Day #2

• Left our hotel room closer to 7:30 and got stuck in long security and entry lines, but somehow still made it on Main Street for official park opening at 8 am.
• Prioritized Jungle Cruise in Adventureland as there is no LLMP offered, and the line can be long, slow, and tight. We were able to literally walk on to a boat for this ride as most people go to Indiana Jones, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, or Peter Pan’s Flight first.
• While on the ride, got a LLMP for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and placed an 11 am mobile order pickup for Jolly Holiday Café.
• After Jungle Cruise, we stopped to take some pictures in front of a basically empty castle, and then headed back to Mickey’s Toontown.
• Grabbed a picture with Donald Duck who was walking around, and then met Mickey Mouse in his movie studio. Minnie Mouse was not meeting while we were back there.
• Rode Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. The queue for this version is top notch, and far superior than the Disney World version.
• Next door is Roger Rabbit’s Spin ride. This was our first time on it…it was odd. If you have time, great, if not, it’s totally skippable.
• Left Toontown for It’s a Small World LLMP. Took about 10 minutes to get on a boat. This ride has a Christmas overlay that is cute.
• We were not efficient with our plan this day, and decided a Dole Whip was in order so we headed back to Adventureland to snack and relax.
• Grabbed a LLMP for Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin again as it was a hit with the toddler – waited maybe 5 minutes to get on the ride.
• Picked up our Jolly Holiday Café lunch mobile order and enjoyed.
• Kid fell asleep after this which kicked off an afternoon of exploring for mom and dad.
• Walked around Galaxy’s Edge, grabbed another blue milk, saw some characters, took some pictures.
• Walked around shops on Main Street. Bought the kid a surprise present while he slept.
• Decided to park hop to California Adventure.
• Walked through more shops on Buena Vista St.
• Got drinks in Avenger’s Campus and found a shady, quiet-ish spot in the Sanctum area.
• Took more pictures, saw more characters.
• Walked through Cars Land, got some more snacks and beverages on the border of Cars Land/San Fransokyo Square.
• After about 3 hours the kid finally woke up, and we went and used our Toy Story Mania LLMP.
• Got another LLMP for Monsters Inc, rode that next.
• Park hopped back to Disneyland to get a spot for the 5:30 pm holiday parade. We were seated at 4:30…but I recommend getting there earlier if possible. Mobile Ordered dinner from the Refreshment Shop while we waited to pick up after the parade.
• The parade is amazing. Two Words: Dancing Reindeer.
• Ate dinner, then rode Winnie the Pooh in Critter Country.
• Even though the kiddo took an awesome nap, he was crashing around 7 pm. Lines for everything we wanted to do again were pretty long, and either LLMP was too late for return times, or we had already used them. We had done everything on our priority list and all that was left was fireworks that weren’t until 9:30 pm. We ultimately decided that it’d be best to call it a night.

Things We Missed (That We Normally Do)

Disneyland Park

• Fireworks show during the holidays is nightly at 9:30 pm. With the time difference and having a toddler, we just never stayed out that late.
• Matterhorn Bobsleds
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
• Smuggler’s Run (Star Wars)
• Alice in Wonderland
• Mad Hatter Tea Cups
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
• Big Thunder Mountain (Closed for Refurbishment)
• Star Tours
• Space Mountain

Disney’s California Adventure Park

• World of Color nighttime show
• Radiator Springs Racer
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout
• Grizzly River Run
• Soarin’
• Incredicoaster

Questions? Interested in Booking?

Reach out to melanie@simplyperfectvacations with any questions, comments, or help booking your next vacation!