Christmas at the Disneyland Resort

The magic of Christmas at the Disneyland Resort

My favorite time of the year is Christmas at the Disneyland Resort! There is so much to see and do during this season! From decorations to Christmas meet and greets to ride overlays to fun treats, the list is endless. Each park has it’s own celebration.

Classic Christmas at Disneyland Park

Christmas at Disneyland Park is so magical! I get the feeling of a classic Christmas when I am there. Disneyland Park is the place for ride overlays, the most popular being the Haunted Mansion Holiday. Jack Skellington and his friends take over the mansion in this (in my opinion) less scary and more festive version of the ride. The Jungle Cruise becomes the Jingle Cruise and is full of Christmas. Christmas decorations and Christmas puns fill this fun boat ride. I have a toddler so my absolute favorite overlay is “it’s a small world” holiday. Celebrate the season with children around the world and sing along to a fun rendition of “Jingle Bells”. My favorite parade is during this time, is A Christmas Fantasy Parade. I could watch it over and over again.

Disneyland Park has the best decorations around. I love the huge Christmas tree on Main Street U.S.A. and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is just breathtaking! The wreaths by “it’s a small world” holiday are so festive. Disneyland Park is known for their famous candy canes. They sell out so quickly that I have never gotten one before they sold out! I also love holiday character meet and greets with characters in their best holiday attire. Here we are with the main cheese himself.

Festive Food Fun at Disney California Adventure

I love Christmas and I love food which makes me really love the Disney Festival of Holidays event. At the festival, you can try, holiday themed and unique dishes at 14 marketplace kiosks. We tried holiday Swedish meatballs, turkey pot pie that looks like it was all cooked in a biscuit and berry holiday punch. My husband who is a huge eggnog fan, really enjoyed the spiked eggnog drink. What was also cool is that nearby the food kiosks, they also had kids craft stations. Oliver seemed still a bit young for those but we saw some of the crafts and they looked fun. The Festival of Holidays also had an annual passholder area with crafts and a PhotoPass photographer to take pictures with the below sign.

While celebrating Christmas at the Disneyland Resort, we knew that we wanted to take our toddler to see Santa and this year at Disney California Adventure, they had Santa somewhere new, at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. The set up was so cute and the Santa was the sweetest! My son and I also really enjoyed the Disney Viva Navidad Street Party.