Christmas at the Disneyland Resort 2019

It’s Holiday time at Disneyland! And since no one wants to read a super long intro (AKA I don’t know what to write other than “snow on Mainstreet!” “it’s magical!” “beware the crowds!”), we’re gonna hop right into it because I’m digging up as much info as possible and this is gonna be real long. BUCKLE UP, Y’ALL. 

Holidays at the Disneyland Resort start November 8 and run through January 6. They flip from Halloween to Christmas pretty fast, that giant pumpkin turns into a christmas tree in the blink of an eye. They tend to start putting snow on the castle before Halloween is done with. With the holiday switch up comes a new flood of crowds, events, parades, shows, themes, overlays, and last but certainly not least, food. So let’s jump in.

Crowd Levels

I think I’m asked most about crowd levels during the holidays. No sugar coating, they’re intense. 

If you’re planning a trip, I honestly recommend going right at the beginning of the holiday roll out (as close to November 8th as you can). The closer you get to the actual holidays, the more crowded the parks tend to get. I do not, under any circumstances, recommend going the week between Christmas and New Years. It’s shoulder to shoulder crowds, and you’ll be left frustrated, hungry, and tired. The holidays at Disneyland are pure magic, but there tends to be more magic earlier in November when you can actually ride the rides, move with freedom, and eat where you want with little hassle. 

If you’re going during the holidays or even just during a busier time, it helps to go in with the right mindset. When we go anytime after September 6th (when Halloween rolls out), we prepare ourselves to ride fewer rides and instead immerse ourselves in the decorations, activities, shows, and seasonal food and merch. I recommend creating a priority list with those you’re going with. We always do this at the beginning of our trips. If we figure out our “really really want to-dos” it helps us build out a reasonable day and not over-exert ourselves. 

This is definitely the time to make sure you’re utilizing Maxpass and Magic Mornings/Extra Magic Hour. You’ll be able to do so much more than if you wing-it, I promise. We have posts about how to utilize Maxpass, as well as posts on how to tackle each land in order to do the most (a list of these with links can also be found in my complete guide to Disneyland post), and if you’re a first-timer (or it’s been a while), we also have a post that’s a complete guide to the entire Disneyland Resort. There’s lots of golden posts here for you to dig into, and if you ever have any questions, feel free to reach out and we can help you! 

As a heads up, crowds drastically decline mid-January. Holiday is in the process of being taken down, and this is the time when the entirety of the Disneyland Resort does any maintenance work they’ve been putting off. This is the cheapest time to stay at any of the Disneyland hotels (The Disneyland Hotel, Grand Californian, and Paradise Pier), because of all the construction and work being done. This is generally the time the three of us plan our “fancy” trip of the year. We’ll stay at the Disneyland Hotel and plan a longer trip because we’re cool with the tradeoff. 

Events and Special Tickets

Disneyland:

Castle Lighting Ceremony

Every night, there’s a short ceremony to light up Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. Lights twinkle, music plays, it snows. It’s short but cute! It typically happens at full dark, but check out the times guide or ask a cast member for more precise time info because Disney hasn’t posted this year’s times, yet. 

Tree Lightings

Every evening at sundown, both Disneyland and DCA have tree lighting ceremonies. It’s nothing too overwhelming, but if you’re in the area of either of the big trees, it’s worth it to stop and watch the little ceremony. 

Christmas Fantasy Parade

Don’t come for me BUT this parade could use a new song. And character costumes. And floats. Maybe just overhaul the whole thing. If you are in the category of people who happen to groan at the It’s a Small World song, you want to stay far away from this parade. As a person who LIKES THE IT’S A SMALL WORLD SONG, the Christmas Fantasy Parade song makes me irrationally irritated. 

The Christmas Fantasy Parade is uhhhhh a Christmas themed parade. Pretty straight forward. It’s starts off with Clara from the nutcracker dancing on her own float, followed by a full battalion of toy soldiers and so on and so forth. The parade is truly something I would have thought I’d love. I love Christmas and I love parades and this Christmas parade is underwhelming and a little bit disturbing because it’s very much time to replace some of those characters. 

As you can tell, I’d recommend skipping this parade. If this description sounds like something you’d want to subject yourself to, the Christmas Fantasy Parade is a daytime parade that travels down Main Street. For parade time, check out the times guide on the Disneyland app or grab a paper guide at the entrance to either park. 

The Candlelight Processional 

The Candlelight Processional is something I’ve always wanted to do. It happens only four times over the span of two days. This year the shows will be on Saturday, December 7th, and Sunday, December 8th. I’ve done some research, and in the past, the shows have taken place at 5:20pm and 7:35pm. 

A full orchestra and 600 member choir (holding candles, friggin magical) make their way through the park starting by It’s a Small World and ending at the steps in front of the Main Street Railroad Station. They perform classic Christmas songs and a celebrity performs a retelling of the first Christmas. 

Leans a little religious, but I hear it’s magical regardless. 

Seasonal Fireworks Show

“Believe...in Holiday Magic” will be returning this year as the holiday fireworks show. It’s a little shorty show, running around 15 minutes, typically starting around 9:30pm every night. The fireworks at Disneyland are always magical, but I recommend not waiting for the fireworks show ever, mainly because it’s never guaranteed. If the winds are blowing at a dangerous speed/elevation (which happens frequently), they’ll cancel the show for the safety of everyone and also the state of California which will light itself on fire at the drop of a hat. 

Disneyland tries to hold out as long as possible before cancelling the show altogether. You’ll get a warning that the show may or may not happen about ten minutes before show start, and then they’ll continue to wait out the conditions for about ten minutes after the set start time, before they either go ahead with the show or cancel it altogether. Sometimes, if the show has projections, they’ll announce they’re going forward with the show, but without the “pyrotechnic” portion, meaning no fireworks. This is why I generally don’t recommend to spend precious time (some people start waiting up to an hour before!) waiting for the fireworks. If you’re in the area and they happen to start, there’s always space on Main Street to squeeze in comfortably. 

Holiday Time at the Disneyland Resort Tour

The Holiday Time tour is a peek into how Disneyland creates their holiday magic around the resort. The tour lasts around 2.5 hours and it includes reserved seating for A Christmas Fantasy Parade, a holiday treat, and a pin. It’s a walking tour, so make sure you’re wearing comfy shoes!

I haven't been on this tour, and I don’t know anyone who has, but my friend Lisa recently went on the Halloween themed tour and she said it was disappointing. Their normal tours are generally good, but if you’re interested in a seasonal tour, I’d recommend looking into it more.

The tour is offered daily, starting November 4th. Park admission is not included, but AP holders get 15% off. Call (714) 781-8687 to book your tour reservation. 

Disney California Adventure Park:

Festival of Holidays (DCA)

The Festival of Holidays in California Adventure (DCA) is a multicultural celebration that includes lots of unique food offerings, as well as special event-only entertainment. If you’ve been to the Food and Wine festival in DCA, the set-up of Festival of Holidays will look and feel familiar. Lots of small food huts set up along the pathway in front of Trattoria spanning down by the Jumping Jellyfish. 

Like Food and Wine, there’s a Sip and Savor pass you can purchase for $54 to cut down on sampling costs (there are AP discounts). Each pass comes with eight tabs you can pull off and exchange for food or non-boozy drinks. Since each tab is worth $6.75, make sure you’re using your tabs for food $6.75 or higher to get the most bang for your buck.

If you’re not interested in buying a Sip and Savor, you can still grab a free Tasting Passport to keep track of everything you try (which also might be fun to fill out even if you’re doing Sip and Savor). 

You can buy the Sip and Savor passes at any of the festival merchandise carts (the ones that sell the shirts and cups NOT the food stands), Seaside Souvenirs (the open air merch shop to the right of Goofy’s Sky School), Holiday Central (near Ariel’s Undersea Adventure), Kingswell Camera Shop (the first shop to the right on Buena Vista Street as you enter DCA, to the left of the fruit stand) and Rushin’ River Outfitters (in front of Grizzly Rapid Run). 

If you’re looking for inspiration, both Disney Food Blog, and Disney Hungry do a fairly thorough review of their favorite booths on their respective instagram accounts, and it’s worth checking out if you want some specific recommendations. We also like doing food reviews on our IG, but we’re not as fast as they are! 

Viva Natividad 

Viva Natividad is the Three Caballeros themed street party that takes place in front of Paradise Gardens (across from the Silly Symphony Swings in DCA). There’s live music, dancers, and PUPPETS ( who doesn’t love 12-foot-tall puppets???) all celebrating the holiday traditions of Central and South America. It’s a fun show and I highly recommend checking it out! 

They luckily have a stage they roll-out for some of the performers, and it’s pretty tough to miss a 12-foot-tall puppet, but there are some performers on the ground. If you want to see everything, I recommend showing up 15-20 minutes before the show time to get a good spot. For a schedule of all shows and character meet and greets, there’s a times guide in the Disneyland app, as well as paper times guides at the entrance to both parks. 

Special Meet and Greets 

SANTA!

You can find SANTA (!!!!) and grab a picture with him on the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail (across from Grizzly Rapid Run) in California Adventure. He’s there daily so GO GO GO. 

Fab Five

Not only do the classic fab five (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto) dress up for christmas, Chip and Dale ALSO get in on the festive wear. And not only that, but they have different holiday costumes in each park, the costumes in DCA being reflective of the 1930s theming. 

In Disneyland, the classic Fab Five can typically be found in Town Square on Main Street (in between the railroad station and first Main Street shops). Mickey and Minnie can also be found at their houses in Toontown.

In DCA, the characters are usually along Buena Vista Street, leading up to Carthay Circle. 

You can find the meet and greet times in the times guide, either through the app or the paper version found at the entrances to both parks. 

Ride and Land Overlays

Both parks have big ole Christmas trees, lots of garlands and lights, snow capping on a whole lotta things that have never seen snow, and holiday music to get you immersed in the holiday spirit. Aside from the standard (but also abundant) decorations and theming, the Disneyland Resort makes a few things a little extra special. 

Small World Holiday

It’s a Small World gets a complete rehaul during the holiday seasons and there are a couple things you can’t miss!

The first is the lighting ceremony that happens outside the attraction every day starting at 5:15pm. It’s BONKERS. The outside of It’s a Small World gets covered in lights. Like...COVERED. It’s almost blinding. Every evening they have a ceremony to switch on the lights and it’s so fun to witness. Prioritize this lighting ceremony over all others.

This second thing you can’t miss is riding the actual ride (duh). We tend to love It’s a Small World for the fact that you get to sit down in Disneyland for like 15 minutes straight (a rarity) and because it’s, well, it’s janky. We love it. However! During holidays it’s like we step into a weird parallel universe where time and effort has been put into Small World and everything works and it’s overflowing with lights and decorations. Here at Lost Weekenders we love both a janky ride with a heart of gold and also a good ride that’s well done. 

Haunted Mansion Holiday

Since Haunted Mansion Holiday is Nightmare Before Christmas themed, it gets changed over for Halloween and the theming sticks through Christmas. 

Cars Land

Like during Halloween, Cars Land gets extra theming love during the holidays. All the over-the-top Halloween decorations get swapped out for over-the-top Christmas decorations and two of the three rides get a lil overlay. 

Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree gets switched to Mater’s Jingle Jamboree, and Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters gets switched to Luigi’s Joy to the Whirl. Both overlays are cute, but a little underwhelming in comparison to the other overlays in the resort. There’s some themed decorations and song changes. It’s sweet and if you have time, check it out, but maybe don’t go out of your way to experience them as nothing drastically changes. 

Downtown Disney and Resort Hotels

Be sure to give yourself some time to check out Downtown Disney and the hotels. All the hotels get a big dose of holiday theming, but if I were to prioritize one to check out, it would be the Grand Californian. They always have a HUGE gingerbread house on display (last year’s was 7 ½ feet tall), as well as magical mountain-lodge style decorations, and some fun food stands with things like boozy and regular hot chocolates, hot toddies, cookies and more. 

Holiday Food 

Every year, Disneyland releases its various Foodie Guides, which give breakdowns of the seasonal food offered at the resort. Here are the guides for Disneyland, Festival of Holidays at DCA., and DCA (but not the festival). Get those stretchy pants ready.

✨And that’s it for now! We love the holidays at the Disneyland resort because there’s so much more to take in than just the rides. Which is good news because it’s usually CROWDED. But that lets us enjoy all the seasonal things that much more. We recommend taking in all the experiences, decorations, and food, and take it easy on the rides. You’ll enjoy yourself and the environment even more if you’re not stuck waiting in the line. The rides are always there but all the other touches of magic are fleeting, so slow down and take it all in! And always budget in a nap or two. Happy holidays! ✨