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View Full Version : How soon do Christmas Decorations/ parades start in November?



losaitkens
05-29-2005, 03:05 PM
I am trying to plan a trip to DL with my family in November. I love Disneyland during Christmas but we have to go before Thanksgiving as my husband works in retail and it is impossible to get time off after "black friday". I am wondering how soon they typically start Holiday parades/ decorations/ food menus (I love their holiday cinnamon apple cider drink :) ) Would a trip the week of November 7th be too soon to see the holiday stuff? Also, does anyone know if they will still have a different fireworks show this holiday? I tried to get info on the Disneyland website but I could not find anything and have always gotten great information from this site.

sdfilmcritic
05-29-2005, 03:08 PM
Let's see here. Thanksgiving always lands on a Thursday. So I would say on Friday, the very next day, the decorations go up. They always go up right after Thanksgiving. In some cases the park gets a little head start by decorating one of the lands a little bit early.

JeffG
05-29-2005, 03:17 PM
Let's see here. Thanksgiving always lands on a Thursday. So I would say on Friday, the very next day, the decorations go up. They always go up right after Thanksgiving. In some cases the park gets a little head start by decorating one of the lands a little bit early.

That hasn't been true for about the last 5 or 6 years (and even before that, all the decorations were up by Thanksgiving Day). Ever since they started decorating Small World for the holidays, they have been putting all of the christmas decorations up by the first weekend in November. One year, they even had them up by Halloween, although they received quite a bit of criticism for that and have avoided getting them up quite that early.

The Christmas Parade is generally the last element to start and it typically debuts a few days before Thanksgiving.

-Jeff

sierranevada
05-29-2005, 03:46 PM
We have gone the last two years in December and I can confirm that Holiday decorations are up by the first weekend of November. But, as Jeff said, the Holiday parade generally starts closer to Thanksgiving. This year, however, rumor has it that they will continue the Parade of Dreams and "may" put the holiday parade in DCA. So to answer your question, yes, you should be able to see all the holiday decorations the week of 11/7.

losaitkens
05-29-2005, 04:03 PM
We have gone the last two years in December and I can confirm that Holiday decorations are up by the first weekend of November.

Cool. That is what I thought. You wouldn't happen to remember if holiday menu items and other holiday merchandise were being sold this early (1st or 2nd week November) ? Obviously this detail will not make or break my trip but it would be nice. I thought the parade might be later but that is not a big deal as I have not seen the 50th parade or fireworks yet.

EandCDad
05-29-2005, 04:22 PM
Cool. That is what I thought. You wouldn't happen to remember if holiday menu items and other holiday merchandise were being sold this early (1st or 2nd week November) ? Obviously this detail will not make or break my trip but it would be nice. I thought the parade might be later but that is not a big deal as I have not seen the 50th parade or fireworks yet.

Generally the food items come out the same time as the decorations and it would be very surprising if they both weren't out by 11/4. Last year the Christmas parade started 11/19, but as has been mentioned, with the new 50th parade going, it's anyone's guess at this point.

MommyTo3Boys1Girl
05-29-2005, 10:39 PM
You can count on the decorations, tree and most other holiday decorations including iasw holiday to be up by November 4th. The parade starts later in the month. We have an annual trip planned for the first week in November for this specific reason.

sleepyjeff
05-29-2005, 10:43 PM
Yes, I was there last November as early as the 6th and the Parks were fully(so it seemed to me anyway) decorated for the Holidays. The Hilton Hotel where we stayed, however, was not.

sdfilmcritic
05-29-2005, 11:38 PM
That hasn't been true for about the last 5 or 6 years (and even before that, all the decorations were up by Thanksgiving Day). Ever since they started decorating Small World for the holidays, they have been putting all of the christmas decorations up by the first weekend in November. Sorry about that. I was getting my holiday weekends mixed up. You are correct in saying it's right after Holloween and not right after Thanksgiving like my original post has stated. I was a mixed up in my dates. Sorry about that.

losaitkens
05-30-2005, 07:00 AM
You can count on the decorations, tree and most other holiday decorations including iasw holiday to be up by November 4th. The parade starts later in the month. We have an annual trip planned for the first week in November for this specific reason.

Looks like we will see you there! My husband's birthday is 11/3 and my youngest daughter turns 1 later in the month so all this plus the decorations and the 50th celebration make me really excited to start planning our trip! Thanks to everyone for the info. I knew I would find what I needed on this site.

pisces
05-30-2005, 09:29 AM
I'm not sure about the Christmas Tree in the GCH.

It seemed to me that the GCH doesn't put up their decorations till December.

Could somebody clarify that?

I think the hotels might be on a separate decorating track from the actual Park.

Something else to keep in mind:

The Carolers in the Fantasy Land Theater: Even I didn't get to see that during my special week, there.

I think the Carolers are only there around Dec. 23-24ish.

losaitkens
05-30-2005, 11:59 AM
I'm not sure about the Christmas Tree in the GCH.

It seemed to me that the GCH doesn't put up their decorations till December.

Could somebody clarify that?

I think the hotels might be on a separate decorating track from the actual Park.



Yes, I would be curious if anyone knows the answer to that as we will be staying at the GCH as a special treat this time and really hope their decorations are up early too.

Disneyland Freak
05-30-2005, 12:30 PM
Let's see here. Thanksgiving always lands on a Thursday. So I would say on Friday, the very next day, the decorations go up. They always go up right after Thanksgiving. In some cases the park gets a little head start by decorating one of the lands a little bit early.


I have been there on Thanksgiving and it's been set for Christmas. I have even been there on Vertrans day and had it ready for Chrsitmas, and we watched the Christmas Parade.

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