Disneyland vs Disney World: Christmas Showdown!

Merry Christmas from 3 Dis Kids! I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, filled with wonderful experiences with family and friends!

A couple weeks ago we got to visit Disneyland in California for the first time! As you can imagine I have a lot to share, but today I want to stick (or candy cane) to to subject at hand, Christmas, or more specifically how Disneyland compares to Disney World at Christmastime.

Round 1: Merriment 
It is hard to imagine a more merry place than a Disney Park during the holidays. Christmas music playing, characters dressed for Christmas cheer, Christmas trees that reach to the sky, and resorts decorated to the nines! If you can't get into the spirit at Disney, you should see your doctor about a serious yule tide deficiency.

Both resorts overflow with Christmas cheer.

Round 1 is a push

Round 2: Decorations in Disneyland Park vs. Magic Kingdom
Just like in round 1, both resorts do a wonderful job of decorating for Christmas. Walking down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom, or Disneyland Park there will never be a time when you forget what time of year it is. Wreaths hung on the light posts with care, display windows, the before mentioned music, and the smells exuding from the bakeries... When the sun goes down, the lights on the castles glow like ice palaces! Let's just say you won't confuse it with Earth Day!

After leaving Main Street is where the parks begin to separate themselves from each other....

For years I had heard how much better Disneyland decorates for Christmas, and before seeing it with my own eyes, I wondered how it was possible, but it is true. All of Disneyland is maxed out for Christmas! The level of attention that is paid to decorations is amazing! Even the miniature castles and villages of the Storybook Land Canal are decorated with tiny wreaths, Christmas trees, and poinsettias. The only place where I was surprised to see no decorations was on the Jungle Cruise.

Unfortunately once to get off of Main Street at the Magic Kingdom, there are very few signs of it being Christmastime.

Round 2 goes to Disneyland

Round 3: Resort Decorations
Once again if you are staying at or visiting any of the Disney Resort hotels at Christmas, you know it. Giant trees themed to match the theme of the resort, special music, chocolate carousels and gigantic gingerbread houses are just a few of the things you mights see when you stroll through the various lobbies.

Disney World has more resort hotels on property, but Disneyland does a great job of keeping up with their three on site resorts. Quantity does not necessarily trump quality, as they all match up very closely. This category was just too close to call...

Round 3 is a push

Round 4: Holiday Extras & Special Events
If you are visiting either Disneyland or Disney World there are special offerings just for the Christmas season. Tours of the decorations are offered, special treats are cooked up, and special performances are well performed...

From early November to a few days before Christmas you can purchase tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. The party is offered a few times a week, and from 7:00-Midnight you get to be a part of a special hard ticket party, and enjoy the park with a much smaller crowd. There are special fireworks, stage shows, hot chocolate and cookies, and the Once Upon a Christmastime parade runs twice. It is a very festive evening, but you usually have to pay between $50-70 dollars to experience it. For people who aren't visiting right around Christmas Day, this is your only opportunity to see Holiday Wishes or the Christmas parade, but if you are there after the 21st, you get it as a part of your regular park admission.

The other parks at Disney World also get in the spirit. Every night Hollywood Studios lights up the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, with lights dancing to popular Christmas songs. Animal Kingdom has a special Christmas parade called the Jingle Jungle Parade. Epcot offers Christmas storytelling at many of the country pavilions, and also the Candlelight Processional, where a celebrity host reads the story of Christmas, while an enormous choir sings songs from the season. This is hugely popular, so line up early to catch it!  

Disneyland does not offer a hard ticket event like MVMCP, but instead gives it to you with your regular park admission. In addition they have a Jingle Jangle Jubilee that takes up the Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland. Here you get to see Hillbillies sing Christmas carols, color holiday pages, and decorate Christmas cookies ($6 per kit). Characters dressed in their Christmas best stroll around for pictures, and you can get your picture taken with Santa too! Depending on the day, the parade, A Christmas Fantasy, runs once or twice, and the nightly fireworks are the Believe... In Holiday Magic fireworks.

In addition there are special holiday overlays of It's A Small World, and Haunted Mansion. During the holidays these attractions are transformed into almost completely different experiences. It's A Small World turns into a Christmas carol filled cruise around the world. They outside of the attraction is covered in Christmas lights and there is a special little show that goes on around every 15 minutes. The Haunted Mansion is given a Nightmare Before Christmas makeover, and Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King takes over. Both attractions are amazing, and should not be missed if you are there during the holidays!

Disneyland also has a Candlelight Processional, shown at Town Square. It is also very popular, and there is limited area to watch to pick out a place early!

California Adventure doesn't offer much more than special decorations, and a special opening Prep and Landing section in World of Color. But even with that...

Round 4 goes to Disneyland

Round 5: Christmas Parade
Normally I am more of a fireworks/nighttime spectacular type of person, but Christmas is when I really love a parade, and nobody does a Christmas parade better than Disney. Comparing Disney World's Once Upon a Christmastime parade to Disneyland's A Christmas Fantasy is like comparing red apples to green apples, it's just a personal preference. Both have great floats, classic and new characters, and most importantly, they both have my favorite, the Tin Soldier Marching Band. But for me there can be only one winner for best Christmas Parade...

Round 5.... Disney World  

So after 5 rounds who wins the Christmas Showdown?

Disneyland! 

Disneyland pretty much ran away with this one, but Disney World held it's own. Each resort offers a lot for Christmas, but Disneyland just does it better all around. Disney World has a lot more to offer for Christmas, but Disneyland just envelops the entire resort in Christmas! Honestly, I can't think of two more magical places to spend the holidays! 

***Sorry for the lack of Christmas pictures from Disney World... They are stuck on a laptop that I can't access....***  

My Disney Wish List

As we get closer and closer to the holiday season (I'm sure in Target stores back in the USA it is already in full bloom), the 3 Dis Kids are already working on their "lists", so I thought that I would share some of my Disney Wishes. These are things that I have not experienced yet in the immense Disney Universe, but hope to soon! Some people might call this a "bucket list", but I find that term highly morbid, and prefer not to participate in such list making. Besides, I much prefer to name my list after a fireworks spectacular! Here they are in no particular order, well except for how they pop into my head as I write this!

Adventures by Disney Vacation

I can't think of a better way to vacation in some of the great places in this world. Getting to visit amazing locations in the "Disney bubble" is how I want to travel! Specifically the ABD tour I want to do first is the Hollywood Family Vacation. While the destination is not as exotic as some of their other tours (Galapagos Islands, Egypt, or

Greece), the things that you get to see are a Disney geek's dream! Backstage at Disneyland, and a tour of Imagineering are just a couple of things you get to experience on this tour. Plus I have heard/read several wonderful trip reports about it! I am really hoping to do this trip in the next couple of years, and I would also be able to check off another item on my list...

Visit Disneyland

I feel really inadequate as a Disney geek because of the fact I have never visited the original Disney Park. To make matters worse I have twice had the opportunity and not done it! The first time was with my parents when I was in 3rd grade, and we didn't go because of the weather, but the second time was completely my fault... Back when we only had one kid, and before we were a Dis family, we visited Southern California, and we had a red eye flight back to the East Coast. On our last day my wife asked if I wanted to go to Disneyland on our last day, and I said I would rather not. This could have changed my future! Would I have become a Disney geek even sooner? It all sounds very Back to the Future huh? Well with those regrets weighing heavily on me, I know that I need to get there. Similar people have described going to Disneyland as getting to walk where Walt walked, and saying that it just feels special. I'll find out soon enough.

Backstage Magic Tour

This is one of those things that the first time I heard about it, I knew I needed to do it. I am a person that loves to see how things happen behind the scenes, and this tour lets you do that at all four of the Disney World parks. It's expensive ($229 pp), and it is 7+ hours, so it will have to be done on one of those DisKidless trips, but I look forward to the day I get to experience going backstage, and exploring the Utilidors!

Concierge Level

What an indulgence this would be! I would just love to stay Concierge Level at one of the deluxe resorts! I've heard that there is no way to justify the extra money that it costs to do it, but let me find out! Concierge Level allows you access to a special lounge with complimentary drinks and snacks, and-depending on which resort you are at-spectacular views. At the top of this list would have to be one of the monorail resorts, probably the Contemporary. Maybe I could justify this better as research for a future post...

Alaska Cruise

Even before we started cruising I thought that an Alaska cruise would be a cool experience. When Disney announced that they would be doing Alaska sailings, my desire grew to enormous proportions! I am by no means a wildlife person, but Alaska has always intrigued me. After seeing pictures and trip reports from the inaugural season this year, it just looks amazing! As an added bonus you can purchase an Adventures by Disney add on to the Alaska sailings. This one will probably be a tough sell to the wife, who prefers her cruises with sandy beaches and sunny vistas, but she has shown some interest. So there is hope...

So that's it for now. I'm sure that I'll think of more as time goes on, and when I do I'll share them here. I'll also share how they were as I cross them off the list!