Christmas Day - Chance of getting back into DL if we leave?

[lauramckenna]

We will be at Disneyland on Christmas Day. We plan to start the day at DL (probably using Early Entry, I'm forgetting the precise term, forgive me). We'd like to take a break midday and have booked both Lamplight Lounge at 11:00 and Afternoon Tea at 12:25 (planning to make a final decision by Thanksgiving about which one we'll actually keep). I'm starting to worry, though, that whichever one we do, we risk not being able to get back into DL once we leave. Any thoughts? We also have 6:30 reservations for dinner at Carthay Circle, so I'd ultimately need to be back in DCA that evening.

Thanks!

 

[smartlabelprint]

We will be at Disneyland on Christmas Day. We plan to start the day at DL (probably using Early Entry, I'm forgetting the precise term, forgive me). We'd like to take a break midday and have booked both Lamplight Lounge at 11:00 and Afternoon Tea at 12:25 (planning to make a final decision by Thanksgiving about which one we'll actually keep). I'm starting to worry, though, that whichever one we do, we risk not being able to get back into DL once we leave. Any thoughts? We also have 6:30 reservations for dinner at Carthay Circle, so I'd ultimately need to be back in DCA that evening.

Thanks!

On a regular day we usually switch to dca after lunch just because it’s so busy in dL. I imagine it will be crazy over there and do you even want to be in that mass of people? Haha!

 

[lauramckenna]

On a regular day we usually switch to dca after lunch just because it’s so busy in dL. I imagine it will be crazy over there and do you even want to be in that mass of people? Haha!

Good point! I hadn't thought of that. I imagine DCA won't have hit capacity by the time of our lunch reservations at Lamplight Lounge, even on Christmas Day?

 

[Malcon10t]

DCA likely won't hit capacity. As for Disneyland hitting capacity, if it does, it should open back up shortly after the first parade.

 

[TINA BAILEY]

I cant speak to the 25th but we have frequently gone the from the 26th to 30th. We have never been locked out of either park when we left during the afternoon , which we frequently do, and returned in the early evening. During that time they have hit capacity in Disneyland but we generally use the strategy of opening the park, leaving from 1 to 5ish when park is busiest and coming back in for dinner when some of the families bail for the day.

 

[lauramckenna]

DCA likely won't hit capacity. As for Disneyland hitting capacity, if it does, it should open back up shortly after the first parade.

This is very helpful! And it makes a lot of sense too.

 

[lauramckenna]

I cant speak to the 25th but we have frequently gone the from the 26th to 30th. We have never been locked out of either park when we left during the afternoon , which we frequently do, and returned in the early evening. During that time they have hit capacity in Disneyland but we generally use the strategy of opening the park, leaving from 1 to 5ish when park is busiest and coming back in for dinner when some of the families bail for the day.

Good strategy! That’s what we’re doing for the rest of the days on our trip (21-26) but I wasn’t sure if 12/25 would be a greater level of pandemonium. I expect 12/26 to be nuts, but we’ll likely have done pretty much everything we want to have done by then so we’re planning to just be very flexible that day.

 

[katyringo]

We went the 27-29 last year where they hit capacity all those days and we left and came back without any issue. A couple tips.

Ask a CM before you leave. When they hit capacity its usually just for a few hours.

There are different levels. One is only admiting current and previous guests of the day so even if you plan to start the day at DCA and have hoppers- go start your day by getting scanned in a Disneyland.

We had one day-the 27th where they were only letting people in with dinning reservations. Lucky for us we had BB fantasmic reservations. The poor CM has a huge binder filled with all the reservations. Luckily I had printed off our sheet from the website and showed it to him “he has relief in his eyes and said -works for me!” And In we went.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

If you have hearty eaters in your group, you might want to keep both reservations! When we do the afternoon tea at S55, we either eat something before or plan something for afterward because the tea is usually not enough to hold DH as a regular meal. You could easily do lunch at Lamplight, then head for tea as a kind of super nice dessert.

 

[lauramckenna]

If you have hearty eaters in your group, you might want to keep both reservations! When we do the afternoon tea at S55, we either eat something before or plan something for afterward because the tea is usually not enough to hold DH as a regular meal. You could easily do lunch at Lamplight, then head for tea as a kind of super nice dessert.

Ha, my sister actually has a severely reduced stomach capacity due to weight loss surgery, so it's the opposite! I am leaning away from the tea for that very reason, even though I absolutely adore afternoon teas. We can't afford to do both, particularly since we are also doing Napa Rose Chef's Table the night before AND Carthay Circle that night. If we do Afternoon Tea we would likely do a quick service "brunch" (ie, just try to hit up a quick service at an off hour when they might be less crowded).

 

[lauramckenna]

We went the 27-29 last year where they hit capacity all those days and we left and came back without any issue. A couple tips.

Ask a CM before you leave. When they hit capacity its usually just for a few hours.

There are different levels. One is only admiting current and previous guests of the day so even if you plan to start the day at DCA and have hoppers- go start your day by getting scanned in a Disneyland.

We had one day-the 27th where they were only letting people in with dinning reservations. Lucky for us we had BB fantasmic reservations. The poor CM has a huge binder filled with all the reservations. Luckily I had printed off our sheet from the website and showed it to him “he has relief in his eyes and said -works for me!” And In we went.

Thank you, this is super helpful! I will definitely be sure to have a printed list of our reservations with us!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Ha, my sister actually has a severely reduced stomach capacity due to weight loss surgery, so it's the opposite!..

Then sharing food at Lamplight might work well for your sister. We just ate there last night, shared an appetizer and an entree and a dessert, and walked out full (not bursting, but very satisfied).