Top 5 reasons to go to Disneyland Park at Christmastime!

Christmastime at the Disneyland Resort is my absolute favorite! The music, the decor, the food, it’s all so amazing! We were blessed and had a cast member friend get us into Disneyland Park this last weekend. There are so much fun things to see and do, it’s hard to do it all in one day! I wanted to share my top 5 reasons to go to Disneyland Park at Christmastime:

1.     Haunted Mansion Holiday - it’s been a few years since I’ve been on this since my older son was afraid. My son is still afraid but my friend and I took my 1 year old on it. The decor and the effects of this ride are out of this world. My favorite part is how the singing busts turn into singing Jack O Lanterns! Oh and the gingerbread house gets better every year. It feels like you are really immersed in Halloweentown while still riding the Haunted Mansion.

Haunted Mansion Holiday - Photo Credit: Allison Peale

2.     The characters and the photo ops! The tree is magnificent and such a good backdrop for a picture that I think I’m going to use for our Christmas cards! The castle is also decorated and provides a great backdrop for a sweet family picture. The lines of both of these were rather long but the PhotoPass photographers were so efficient, the line moved so fast but while you were taking pictures, it still felt like you had one on one attention and weren’t rushed! I can’t talk about photo ops without talking about characters! The characters are donning their festive winter wear and they look so cute! We had a hard time catching the characters but got a great pic with Chip and Dale. I feel for the cast members manning these lines because there was a lot of people that they had to turn away. I’m bummed we missed Mickey but we will be back one more time before the season is up!

3.     The food! Soooo many fun and yummy options! I had to decide what I was going to try ahead of time since I knew it was going to be busy. I really wanted to try the Santa Hat Macaroon from Jolly Holiday Bakery. Christmas and peppermint just go together to me and so a chocolate peppermint macaroon was the way to go! Let me tell you, it was everything I dreamed it would be. It had just the right amount of chocolate and peppermint. My friend got the Chile Rellano from Rancho del Zocalo. We were so hungry that we forgot to take a picture of it before she ate most of it! She said there was a bit too much sauce but it was still quite tasty!

4.     The decor! Now I may be biased because my friend works in this department but I think the decor is like no other. From the details on the signs and lights to huge Christmas tree, there is no stone not decorated. Even just looking at it makes me happy! Along with the decorations is the amazing music! Christmas carols and music everywhere in the theme of the land, music box music on Main Street USA, western sounding music in Frontierland. That is one of the things I love about Disney the most, you get the full experience every time!

5.     And my final and favorite reason to visit Disneyland Park at Christmastime is (drum roll please)…”it’s a small world holiday”! With little kids, we frequent “it’s a small world” A LOT and it has a special meaning in our family as my mom went on it at the New York World’s Fair. However, during Christmastime, if possible, it becomes even better! Christmas decorations everywhere, Jingle Bells in different languages and traditions all represented in this short ride. I am never organized enough but I’d love to do some of these traditions from other countries with my kids. I’m really going to try to pull it off this year. I will for sure be blogging about it if I do!

There you have it, my top 5 reasons for visit Disneyland Park during Christmastime. This is not a comprehensive list, there are many other reasons why you should visit! What is your favorite part of Christmas at Disney?