We have a little family drama that I need to sort out for the winter holidays time.
In reality, I think the heart of the issue is that one of the family members takes it as a badge of honor that he’s not a Disney person (fine don’t be magical). However, so that I can present the facts, I’m doing the research.
We have a group of 9 people for a trip between Christmas and New Years. 6 adults (grandparents, two sets of adults 40ish) and 3 kids, 9, 6, and 6.
Disney Cruise was the favored option. However, Disneyland go thrown in the mix. We’re all east of the Mississippi.
One big question I have is whether or not Disneyland is the circus that WDW is during the holidays? We’ve never been to DL, and I would never tell someone to do their first trip to any of the Orlando parks during holiday season.
I love cruising and I love Disneyland. Hard to choose.
You will definitely have a better crowd situation on DCL. And it will be easier to organize a larger group on a ship than at the park. For non-Disney people I think the ship is “safer.” But for the Disney lovers DLR at Christmas would be ultra magical.
Is it ok to say I don’t think you can make a wrong decision?
No wrong decision does make me feel better. Is DLR not insane at holidays? I’ve heard all the things about it just being more chill in general compared to the the Orlando parks.
If it wasn’t that week I would say DLR hands down; I’ve never been on a cruise and don’t really have any desire to go on one.
I think DL will be nuts that week. DL attendance is more influenced by local school and work schedules; more so than WDW. That week schools will be out and many people take the week off from work - not to mention other people like you who are considering it as a vacation destination for the Holidays. One factor in your favor is that DL has numerous AP black-out dates, and I believe that entire weeks is a blackout, so that may reduce some of the local population.
When I lived on the West coast I went virtually every year during the Christmas “season” - usually in early December after all of the decorations are up - but never on the week between Christmas and New Years. I unwittingly went during Easter week once, and I got onto maybe 3 rides (none of the “E-ticket”) and left in frustration mid afternoon.
DL is my favorite of the 6 domestic parks and seeing it decorated for Christmas is truly “magical” (to use that clichéd term), but I think the crowds would take away some of that magic, and I would not recommend it for a first time visit. But it’s been a long time since I’ve been there at Christmas, so others may have more current information.
I would ordinarily say Disneyland, hands down, but I am not a cruise lover. I’ve been on a couple and enjoyed them, but like the parks better. However, I have no idea how bad the crowds will be that week. I’ve never gone at Christmas week or Thanksgiving week. I have gone Easter week more than once and it is a mad-house but we still enjoyed ourselves. I LOVE DL at Christmas! I just usually go much earlier in the season.
Yep! But I’ve gone to DLR usually the first week of December.
Not quite sure what you mean by this. For me, part of the appeal of DL is its compact size and stone’s throw from CA Adventure. But the compactness can give it a very crowded feel most of the day that I’ve only experienced at MK after fireworks.
Two hours ago, I was still getting my beauty sleep!
I’ve never been to DLR (nor WDW for that matter) the week between Christmas and New Year. But I know people who have been to DLR that week: wall to wall of people such that it was hard to walk. One friend asked for a refund of her ticket.
I also have never been on a cruise and probably never will ( Thanks to the movie The Poseidon Adventure) Disneyland during Christmas time is most beautiful. Small World overlay is amazing. I love Haunted Mansion holiday too. Christmas week I want to say isn’t as packed as New Year’s eve and day has been in recent years.
I’ve been to Disneyland 24 hr nite and that was the most packed ever. 2nd most packed was when Paint the Night parade first arrived. So packed we had to do the Penguin shuffle in some areas. I’d still vote Disneyland though.
That week is one of the busiest travel days of the year - especially a couple of days before Christmas and after New Years. Crowded airports, long TSA lines, over-booked flights, long car rental lines, etc. But these will be issues if you have to fly to either the port location or to LA. If you can drive to the port city, that would make things logistically much easier.
In LA, car services may be difficult to book at that time of year to get you from LAX to DLR if you choose that option (and on a good day it’s a 20 minute drive; it’s taken me as long as 90 minutes with traffic).
Not exactly sure what you’re asking in the 2nd question - maybe I answered it for you?
I agree with this. I think you need to do some solid research into how much each option would cost; that alone could be your deciding factor. Just doing some approximate math in my head, without looking up specific prices, either option will cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, and I suspect the DCL will be the more expensive (although easier and less stress to manage) of the two.
I have been to Disneyland many, many times but never during that week. It will be crazy crowded most places in the parks (like the hub after Fireworks at WDW) and not what I would think would be ideal for a larger groups first visit. If you haven’t been there before, it can be hard to understand just how packed it can be.
Most AP’s are blocked that week, but that just means lines are at their worst (especially the LL lines) as most visitors will not be APs (who rarely buy LLs and often just go for food and atmosphere) and most people will have LL.
I think a cruise sounds way better, although I can’t imagine the cost, or if there is even availability this close to sail date.
I love DLR a whole lot, and if you could go the first or second week of December I would vote for that. But that week…….
I love both the parks, DLR, WDW and really, really love the cruises now that the parks are more crowded/higher priced with less entertainment offerings, less hours. So I prefer the cruise product. But I definitely still love the parks and still find ways to see them as often as budget will allow.
You’ve had a lot of good discussion/input already and I very much agree that pricing will be a factor. Unless you already had the cruise booked, the price now with 7 months to go is going to be a lot. I have been pricing options for a cruise between Oct this year and May next year to see if there is any possibility to sneak in a cruise over a period of time my kids will miss minimal school and the last cruise I was looking at was over the winter holidays (with NY included) and for the cheapest/smallest inside room on one of the cheaper sailings over New Year’s it was $5,569.57 (for 2 adults, 1 kid). That was for 5 nights out of Galveston on the Magic going to Cozumel & Progreso, Mexico. That is a lot for the itinerary, ship & stateroom type. If you wanted a higher room category, or to sail out of a Florida port or any newer of a ship the cost will be more.
But I do agree the travel costs to Southern California will also be high. The hotel situation around DLR is limited and so if you don’t book out 9-12 months in advance it can be costly, and on high tourist weekends, even fully sold out at anything within walking distance (we have stayed farther away & driven in when it’s been that kind of situation and maybe being used to WDW you wouldn’t be opposed to it, but with how walkable and close scale DLR is, I get hives thinking about trying to add steps for transportation to the parks beyond crossing the street to the park).
But to your
I would not recommend a first visit to DLR over the winter break. The vibe of the park is generally a lot more relaxed & chill because of the local/regular visitor vibe who have come frequently and will again and who don’t feel the same pressure to do it all. The big majority of those locals are going to be pass holders/Magic Keys. There is no longer a Magic Key for DLR that includes winter holidays so they all blocked.
So that leaves you a park of mostly all tourists. There may be a small percentage of regulars/locals/pass holders who chose to purchase additional ticket media on top of their pass to be there that week or so they are blocked, but overall there will be a lot more of mentality to “get the most” that I feel contributes to why WDW feels less chill compared to DLR.
I’ve not been to WDW the week of Christmas so I cannot compare, and the one time I have been to DLR was before they blocked out the passholders.
I have done many crowds at DLR (the 24 hr day with the first opening of PTN, and a few other times that the park closed to capacity) and while the parks were never closed to capacity the time we went over the winter holidays, it was one of our two hardest trips crowd-wise because every single day was crowds wall to wall and the longest lines we’ve ever waited in for things. And we knew how to use the FPs (this was back in 2014 before there was a paid or even digital option in DLR). But I remember coming home from that trip and realizing we got about 1/3 done of what we normally do on a 4 day trip.
Now that they so heavily block the regular crowds, I’m guessing it improves the crowding. But, the lines (at least from watching at home on the app the many years we’ve done it over Winter Break) are still the longest they get all year (because you have more people willing to wait to do what they can in their limited time at DLR).
So, I would definitely weigh against the parks, but definitely price both out and if the parks are significantly less, consider if you’re willing to be among the crowds. And if you ultimately go with DLR, be prepared with lots of patience, definitely get and use LLMP and park hoppers. If onsite is in budget, that’s another tool you can use to get the 30 min early entry to try and be a tiny bit ahead to get more things done early (coming from an Eastern or even Central time it will be easier to be up and at 'em to make the most of those mornings).
Oh, and if you have any cruise questions, definitely ask away! We’ve quickly become major fans of cruising, and so far it’s all been DCL so happy to answer any DCL questions you may have!
Is the trip for this year (2025)? If so, I’ll point out that the cruises are highly likely to already be sold out. Cruising in general, not just DCL, is having a moment and many cruises are booking up a year out or more.
While I always recommend booking as early as possible because the pricing just goes up and up and up, even if available. DCL hasn’t had anything that’s a more vanilla itinerary sell out that quickly. I’m literally in the middle of pricing out a list of 20 or so options for DCL sailings to see if any are feasible to squeeze in a sailing sometime between Oct 2025 and May 2026 and so far every cruise that I’ve looked at has had some kind (even if limited) availability for my family of 6 that needs 2 staterooms.
Now if it’s a reasonable price is another question. So far I think we will not be squeezing in a cruise in that time based on the pricing I’ve been pulling up.
Y’all this is all so helpful. We likely aren’t thinking this year. Family is just thinking about what holidays might look like in the coming years if we decide to do a trip instead of everyone traveling to one person’s home. Super helpful info to think about planning timelines and what the west coast park looks like at holiday time.
I’m late chiming in but I would give the following points for consideration:
If Disney Cruise, what port(s) could you sail from, and what would be the itineraries? If sailing from Florida, I would definitely recommend DCL to avoid holiday crowds at Disneyland. They will be brutal and the space is small.
If you’re sailing from San Diego, I would recommend a longer sailing so that Ensenada is not your only port of call. It doesn’t have much going for it.
I love Disneyland and it is a great option for families who don’t otherwise like Disney parks since it is compact and easy to navigate and complete in 2-3 days. But I would never subject myself, let alone Disney-skeptic relatives to any Disney park between Christmas and New Years. Just my preference.
