December trip advice

Started by justlikewedreamedit-xo, August 25, 2014, 06:44:30 PM

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justlikewedreamedit-xo

Hi everyone,

I am new to this so hello!

My boyfriend and I are planning a trip to dlp soon and were toying with a few days the week commencing December 8th. Does anyone have any experience with Christmas season? Is it overly busy, or is the week I am thinking of fairly reasonable because it is before the Christmas holidays?

Thank you i advance :') xx

DisneyManiac

I haven't been for the Christmas Season for some time but I hear it is the most magical time of the year...

EDIT: Oh and a Hello to you too!

captain rocket

If you go early December expect the park to be fairly quiet on week days but busier on weekends. Christmas is a fabulous time to visit the park with the decorations etc. The only drawback this year is the rumour that there won't be Disney Magic on parade each day,  to me, this is unthinkable but I am guessing that the Christmas Cavalcade may be upgraded to a more major parade which would be fabulous! You will have a fabulous time and see Disneyland Paris at it's best.

smudgepuss

My last two trips have been in December (Sunday-Thursday), and I've always had great trips.

Pros:
Very quiet during the week, both in the parks and the hotels (I'm now ruined for any other time of year as I think a 15 minute queue is long!)
The Christmassy themeing is lovely
Hotels much cheaper

Cons:
The weather's unreliable (although the cold is reliable - pack thermals and waterproofs!)
Rides may be under repair (although on a four-day trip, there's never been anything closed the whole time)
Not all of the restaurants are open every day
Shows/parades/tours/rides not necessarily as frequent as other times of the year (eg I think they only had one train running per day so the wait times were longer, Pirates sometimes ran two boats at a time rather than 4)

The shorter opening hours could go on the cons list, but I found that as you can fit so much in in a day it didn't really matter.

I'm not sure I'd go at any other time of year any more, unless there was a special event :)


Paris: 1997, 2003, 2008, 2012 (Santa Fe), 2013, 2014 (Cheyenne)
Tokyo: 2009, 2015

justlikewedreamedit-xo

Thanks for the feedback guys :')

I definitely think that Christmas would be SUCH a magical/special time to visit! It was between December this year or June next year, a) December is nearer and b) I have never visited the parks at Christmas time before so I will be even more excited than usual (if that is even physically possible!) I won't be overly disappointed if Disney Magic on Parade isn't on daily as I usually only watch it once or twice each trip anyway :)

I had also considered shorter opening hours as a con, BUT I did think that if it was overly cold then going back to the hotel or popping to the Disney Village for a hot drink in the early evening wouldn't be that bad I guess! Plus I am really wanting to go back to Buffalo Bill's this year (I haven't been since I was about 7, and that was before Mickey and friends were involved in it, eek!) so at least I won't feel like I am missing out on precious park time by doing so :)

Thanks so much for your advice, I have just been pricing it all up and I am so excited I have got tummy ache <3 xx




littlebitofpixiedust

Hey I'd definatley choose December over June. Like many of us here I'm a frequent visitor I've got every month apart from July/August as I'm too afraid it'll be madness!
We always go march and sept/oct every year and have done this for 6 years now. But occasionally have a 3rd visit in this year we too are going dec 14th :) very exited as havnt done Christmas season in 3 years. Like mentioned above aslong as you go prepared you'll both have the most magical time.
The atmosphere is incredible! And I'm sure dreams will be amazing in dec too. Enjoy!

vampira

I was in Disneyland early December 2012 and it was even more beautiful than I had imagined! Christmas is my favourite holiday so I really enjoyed the music, decorations, Christmas trees and the overall atmosphere.
It was really cold that year, but I wore thermal clothing so it didn't bother me that much.
We went for one weekend but it wasn't really crowded even in the weekend so I think you will have a wonderful time if you are going in December.  ;)
"If you can dream it, you can do it." - Walt Disney"

itslizi

I would love to to Disneyland Paris when the Christmas season is in full swing.

As for the disadvantages what smudgepuss brought to light, I don't think "Rides may be under repair" and
"Not all of the restaurants are open every day" can even be counted as a disadvantage as it's something you get all year round as I will be returning in September and PotC will be closed and I've checked the schedule for restaurants and Walts is only open for two of the four days, whilst others will be closed for the entirety of the our trip.

My only advice would be to make sure you have layers to keep you warm.

SUTHEL3

I'm going in the last week of November and very excited as I've never been at Christmas time before. Disney have updated their website with a little insight into what we can expect this year:

http://www.disneylandparis.co.uk/seasons-and-events/christmas.html

Looks very good :D Also, in the Videoapolis Theatre the Jingle Bell Boys will be playing with Mickey Mouse. I youtubed videos and they're a jazz band that do christmas songs.