My Epic Disneyland Christmastime Photos and Trip Report
It’s hard to beat the spectacle of Disneyland Resort during the holidays. Giant Christmas trees, lights and garlands everywhere, and seasonal food and flair all blend into an extra-magical atmosphere. Below are a few of my favorite Disneyland Christmastime photos, as well as some top tips from this trip. To see more of the album, along with my discussion about the trip, be sure to hop over to this live Facebook video.
These are the show notes for Go Informed Podcast episode 78. Click below to listen, or find it on your favorite podcast app, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.
Want some quick Disneyland advice? Here’s ten things to know before you go.
Go Informed Podcast episode 78: Disneyland Christmastime trip report
These photos are from my November 2022 trip to Disneyland. The holiday season was in full swing, officially starting in the middle of November each year.
We spent 4 days at Disneyland, staying in the Grand Californian Hotel. Here are a few things I highly recommend, based on our experience on this trip.
As always, we made a few blunders on this trip, which you’ll hear me discuss on the podcast. A couple of them even made my top ten park touring mistakes list here. If you want to know what NOT to do, be sure to check it out.
Stay in a Disneyland hotel
The hotels
The Disney-operated hotels at Disneyland are:
Early theme park entry every day
Guests staying in one of the three Disney-operated hotels receive a 30 minute early-entry into the parks every day. Even though it doesn’t seem like much time, it’s actually a huge advantage.
We were able to leverage early admission to get a double rope drop each day. This gave us a head-start on Radiator Springs Racers and Rise of the Resistance, even though these two headliners are not included in Disneyland’s early entry. Find out how we did it here.
Convenience
The Disneyland hotels are all within easy walking distance to both the Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks. Disney’s Grand Californian hotel is the closest to both parks and even has its own entrance into California Adventure.
Fly into John Wayne/Santa Ana airport
The closest airport to Disneyland is John Wayne/Santa Ana (SNA), less than 30 minutes from the resort. If your trip is only to Disneyland you won’t even need to rent a car, just catch a quick Uber or Lyft ride, then do everything on foot.
How far apart is everything at Disneyland? Check out this post for maps and common Disneyland walking distances.
Use Genie+ at Disneyland
Genie+ is Disney’s new version of FastPass. It allows guests to reserve time slots to skip long attraction wait times (this is called Lightning Lane). It’s not free, and you’ll have a less-than-simple app to deal with, but it really does make Disneyland touring much easier.
The first day of our trip was during a holiday weekend but we still had no problem reserving Lightning Lanes for top attractions. You can add Genie+ to your Disney vacation package so it’ll be activated automatically on every day of your trip.
At Disneyland, Genie+ also includes unlimited PhotoPass photos, which includes ride photos and those taken by the PhotoPass photographers around the parks.
Quick start guide to Genie+ and Lightning Lane
Disneyland Christmastime photos
Here are photos of some of the locations and Disneyland Christmas decorations mentioned in this podcast episode.
The Disneyland Christmas tree
Disneyland’s Main Street USA at Christmastime
The Disneyland castle during Christmastime
Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Holiday
BTW, Halloween is also an amazing time to visit Disneyland. Here are 13 reasons why you should consider visiting Disneyland during Halloween season, from my newsletter.
The spectacular holiday lights on It’s a Small World
The Disneyland castle Christmas lights
Trader Sam’s Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel
Disneyland’s Blue Bayou restaurant
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel lobby Christmas tree
Giant gingerbread house in the Grand Californian Hotel
Christmastime in California Adventure’s Cars Land
Disney’s California Adventure Festival of the Holidays
Early theme park entry for Disneyland hotel guests
More theme park touring tips
Here on GoInformed.net, and on the Go Informed Podcast, you’ll find tons of tips for your trip to Disney and Universal. Here are a few of the most popular posts:
- Top ten all-time Disneyland tips
- All about Avengers Campus at Disneyland
- Disneyland walking distances and training tips
- How Universal Studios Hollywood compares to Universal Orlando
- How to rope drop
- 8 Disney park reservation quick tips
Join the mailing list for twice-monthly bonus tips
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Catch my weekly live Disney parks discussions on Facebook
This post and podcast episode were originally shared in a live Facebook chat. Tune in to my @goinformednet Facebook page Thursdays at 11am Pacific to join the conversation!
Thank you Joey McGirr, also known as The Disney Hack, for joining me in the live discussion. You can find more of Joey at TheDisneyHack.com.
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