A number of years ago I had a coworker who would regularly visit Disneyland for the holidays. His description of the decorations, shows, and in particular snow over Main Street had stuck with us and we’d always wanted to experience this ourselves. We decided last year that 2024 would be the year to make it a reality and planned a trip for the week of our anniversary in November. While our anniversary is the 11th the full switch to Christmas in Disneyland occurred on the 15th this year so we scheduled our trip for the 12th through the 17th with three days in the Disney parks (13th, 15th, & 16th) and one at Universal Studios (14th). Our most recent visit had been during July 2006 so there were a number of new and updated rides that we were looking forward to checking out as well.
The weather here in Oregon has been fairly wet since our last hike in October to Marilyn and Betty Lakes (post) leading us to stay off the trails for the three plus weeks before flying out. We were happy to see that the forecast for the parks was for mostly sunny skies with highs beginning in the mid 70s and dropping to the upper 60s by the end of our visit. Chilly for the native Californians but perfect for us Oregonians.
We flew in Tuesday morning with our son Dominique and his friend Russell and after checking into our motel spent the afternoon in Downtown Disney.
The Star Wars Trading post was a must stop for us.
I had to get a picture of this butterfly to help it feel more like a hike.
Unfortunately, the Lego store was closed for refurbishment while we were there.
We ended up having a late lunch/early dinner at Black Tap Craft Burgers and Shakes before turning in early in preparation for our first day in the park.
We spent Wednesday in Disneyland with our first ride being Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
A couple of the areas in the park were closing early in preparation for the reopening of the former Splash Mountain ride as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure on Friday.
Some of the Christmas decorations were already up.
Rise of the Resistance entrance.
First Order troops.
We spent the rest of the day hitting as many rides as possible before the park closed at 10pm. While it wasn’t a hike, we did get plenty of walking in through a variety of scenery.
The Millennium Falcon
Big Thunder Mountain
Rivers of America
Jungle Cruise
Thursday was our day at Universal Studios which began with a ride through LA’s morning rush hour traffic and ended with an even longer drive back to our motel through the evening traffic. In between the car rides we enjoyed our time at Universal riding most of the rides, some multiple times, and taking in the WaterWorld Stunt Show.
Construction of what looked like it will be an amazing Fast and the Furious roller coaster was ongoing (expected to open in 2026).
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
We were the first ones on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.
View from Universal Studios.
WaterWorld
The only bummer at Universal was that Jurassic Park: The Ride was closed for refurbishment. The ride lines at Universal were significantly shorter than at Disney so even though the park closed at 6pm we still managed to get plenty of rides in.
Thursday we had park hopper passes which meant that after 11am we could switch between California Adventure and Disneyland. We had to pick which park we wanted to start the day in and chose California Adventure since this was the only day we planned on spending in that park. We wound up spending nearly the entire day here with Heather and I only hopping over to Disneyland near 10pm when California would be closing. Disneyland was open until midnight Friday and Saturday, so this gave us an extra couple of hours to get a few more Disneyland rides in.
The highlights of Thursday were the Incredicoster, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission Breakout! and the World of Color Season of Light water show.
The Incredicoaster
Overcast sky over Cars Land. The clouds broke up and gave way to blue sky.
There were some really cool cacti and other plants around the Radiator Springs Racers ride (the ride was really fun too).
Grizzly Peak
I am Groot
Another highlight was a holiday story from Deadpool.
We hadn’t expected to see a unicorn on this trip.
Our first Wolverine sighting.
The Guardians tower and Avengers Headquarters all lit up.
The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail was a good proxy for a hike.
Waterfall along the challenge trail.
We snuck a few rides in at Disneyland after leaving California Adventure.
It’s a Small World was really lit up.
The back side of Cinderella’s Castle.
Our primary goals for Saturday were to get into the virtual queue for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and watch the parade and fireworks from Main Street that night. We were able to get into group 2 when the first virtual queue opened at 7am so our first goal was accomplished before we arrived at the park.
Walking through the queue for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
View of the final drop from the ride.
We took it a little slower on this day, mostly because our feet were not happy campers at this point. Standing in 20-30 minute lines had taken its toll over the previous three days, but we still managed to get a number of rides in.
One of the rides was It’s a Small World which was impressively decorated inside for the holidays.
We wound up in the right place at the right time for the parade and ended up with a bench to sit on.
Santa!
The Matterhorn from the Alice in Wonderland ride.
The first snow fall over Main Street after the lighting of Cinderella’s Castle.
Part of the fireworks show.
Heather and I decided to call it a night after the fireworks show. There would have been time for one or two more rides, but ending with the fireworks, Christmas music, and snow seemed appropriate. We hobbled back to our motel which was a little over three quarters of a mile from the park and turned in. We flew home Sunday morning and were greeted with the appropriate amount of drizzle and gray sky to remind us that we’re Oregonians.
This was a fun trip, but it was quite a shock to our systems having spent all our recent vacations either backpacking or staying in small towns and hiking trails with few to no people. While the crowds were at times almost overwhelming the wait times for the rides were shorter than they had been back in 2006 when we’d last visited. It was clear that the changes they have implemented since then have helped with that part at least.
We plan to resume our typical off-season hiking schedule of at least one outing a month now that our trip is over. Until then, Happy Trails!
Flickr: Disneyland and Universal Studios
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