Celebrating the holidays at Disney not on the actual holiday

[KBLovedDisney]

I am actually somewhat curious and somewhat of a holiday purest, meaning holidays are meant for their specific days. That said (please no hate), I don't get the hype about celebrating Halloween in August. Never have. I feel like that would actually ruin Halloween for me. Same goes for Christmas. My question to you who have or are going to celebrate the holidays 'pre-holiday day' season at Disney is does it ruin the holidays for you?

 

[eliza61nyc]

lol I guess you can tell what I voted. I hate rushing the days. time flies fast enough without commerce pushing it along. No I do not want to Christmas shop in August.

I remember the Christmas season could not start until you saw Santa at the end of the Macy's thanksgiving day parade

 

[KBLovedDisney]

View attachment 320459


lol I guess you can tell what I voted. I hate rushing the days. time flies fast enough without commerce pushing it along. No I do not want to Christmas shop in August.

I remember the Christmas season could not start until you saw Santa at the end of the Macy's thanksgiving day parade

I never got to see that parade in person, but remember many times watching it on tv at my grandma's house with the family. Never got to see much of it because the men in the family would always switch the tv channel to a football game.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I am actually somewhat curious and somewhat of a holiday purest, meaning holidays are meant for their specific days. That said (please no hate), I don't get the hype about celebrating Halloween in August. Never have. I feel like that would actually ruin Halloween for me. Same goes for Christmas. My question to you who have or are going to celebrate the holidays 'pre-holiday day' season at Disney is does it ruin the holidays for you?

I agree, but in the opposite direction.

Christmas at WDW in November doesn't ruin Christmas, it ruins WDW in November. When I go to Disney, I want to be at Disney. I want Disney sights, sounds, and smells. I want to hear the Animal Kingdom background music that I know and love, not an African rendition of We Three Kings.

It also makes a difference that I live in New England and there's a very specific cadence to the way Autumn progresses. Football, playoff baseball, yard work, apple picking, pumpkin picking, turkey eating, different candle scents, stacking firewood, etc. all have a specific progression. Disney in the fall is jarring enough with the change in temperature. Adding Christmas decorations to the mix causes complete cognitive dissonance.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

I agree, but in the opposite direction.

Christmas at WDW in November doesn't ruin Christmas, it ruins WDW in November. When I go to Disney, I want to be at Disney. I want Disney sights, sounds, and smells. I want to hear the Animal Kingdom background music that I know and love, not an African rendition of We Three Kings.

It also makes a difference that I live in New England and there's a very specific cadence to the way Autumn progresses. Football, playoff baseball, yard work, apple picking, pumpkin picking, turkey eating, different candle scents, stacking firewood, etc. all have a specific progression. Disney in the fall is jarring enough with the change in temperature. Adding Christmas decorations to the mix causes complete cognitive dissonance.

Agreed. The afternoon my hubby and I were leaving Disney on our honeymoon, they started playing Christmas music. I had sudden flashbacks of working in retail and having to listen to constant holiday music for months...

That was scary.

 

[Prince-1]

Love Xmas in November.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

Love Xmas in November.

But what about Turkey day?

 

[Prince-1]

But what about Turkey day?

I like Thanksgiving during the summer.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Visiting prior to Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, seeing the decorations, hearing the music, taking part in holiday events, just puts us in the perfect mood to return home to celebrate the day. Theres nothing wrong with getting into the festive mood, being pleasant to everyone, and feeling joyful ahead of time. And I love being able to do my Christmas gift shopping at Disney!!! It takes the pressure off of doing it when I get home. Disneys the perfect place to be before the holidays, they do it better than anyone else.

 

[KCheatle]

I'm sort of biased when it comes to which holidays I'm okay with celebrating early. I love everything about Christmas, so I'm super okay with getting into the holiday spirit before the month of December, but I usually try to soak up that "fall" feeling at least thru Thanksgiving . Fall is my favorite season, so I like to celebrate just "fall" as much as I can. With Halloween, I really only get into it once October hits because I want all of September to be just "fall." When we've gone to WDW in September in past years, I felt a bit rushed to already be thinking about Halloween. I'd wished we had gone in October.

 

[Minnie Mum]

Do I want Halloween decorations and pumpkin spiced everything before Labour Day even rolls around? Oh hell no. Do I want Xmas decorations, jingle bells and candy canes 24/7 starting the day after Halloween? Ho ho NO. And Disney wouldn't be doing it that early either if they weren't raking in the $$$ from the parties.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I'm surprised WDW doesn't do more holidays as seasonal. E.g., They could do New Years for all of January. They could do American Independence (4th of July) for all of July. As much as I hate hate the secular version of Easter (Easter bunny and eggs), I'm still surprised, tho, that WDW doesn't make all of April into Secular Easter.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

It depends how early. We often go the first week in December for a birthday, and it’s nice to see the decorations. Since we were just there early in the month, and I’m not @Tuvalu , I probably won’t turn around and go right back again before the holiday.

And it doesn’t seem out of place because a lot of people have decorated by then.

But Halloween in August before Labor Day is hard to reconcile.

 

[doombuggy1983]

It’s been many years, but we used to go just before Christmas. Being there at that time just made us even more excited about the holiday. Instead of being bummed about having to leave WDW, we were excited about getting home for Christmas.

If you’ll permit me, I joined here in 2002, & have read the forums via emailed updates ever since. We haven’t been in a long time. Back then our daughter went to Rollins College, which gave us the perfect excuse to go to WDW 3 times in 3 years. It’s been fun reading about all the changes since we last went. Thanks for keeping me updated all these years!

 

[Mista C]

I have no issue with Disney's holiday decoration schedule. We put up our Fall decorations in early September and leave them up until the week before Thanksgiving. Then we decorate for Christmas. We go on our annual holiday Disney trip every year in early/mid November and since it's already decorated for Christmas we call it our holiday kick-off trip. Once we get home we are pretty much in full Christmas mode. I will admit that I do not like seeing Fall/Halloween decorations in August though.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

Not sure of anyone else here, but I had a grandma who took pride in leaving up Christmas decorations + 3, yes 3 Christmas trees in her living room (not to mention the creepy A** Halloween tree she kept upstairs). At first I thought they were pretty but the older I got, the creepier it seemed. We would visit my grandma in spring and her living room was lit up like the Osborne Lights. On top of that, one of her lit Christmas trees played Christmas tunes constantly.

This could possibly be where I have obtained a stigma against having decorations up before the holidays.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

I worked in retail management for 30+ years...the last chain I worked at (the LARGEST dollar chain), used to kill us in July...summer goods, back to school, Halloween, the start of Thanksgiving mdse. AND the packaways from Christmas ALL going up at the same time!!! Hallmark stores have their Christmas ornament reveal in July...their channels have Christmas movies in July as well...Sirius/XM starts their Christmas music channels in late October/early November, so that's the way it is now...but to add my two cents, the holidays are great, and since many of us can't make it to the parks in close proximity to the actual holiday, I think it's great! After all, the MK DOES have a Christmas store open all year 'round...

 

[BoarderPhreak]

IMO, the property looks its most charming during the holiday season and perhaps most pervasive. I'm all for it. I actually go in between Thanksgiving and Christmas when it's quieter, yet the decorations are up already.

 

[Dr. Ludwig von Drake]

We're planning on a short visit in mid November and are looking forward to the Christmas decorations.

I have no problem with Christmas anytime in November or December. October seems a bit early, though.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

What's funny...I've actually preferred our November trips to the Disney parks over our December trips. I generally hold off on watching Christmas specials and listening to Christmas music non-stop until Nov 15th (no decorating until after Thanksgiving), but being at the Disney parks during this time is a neat transition into this period. Seeing all of the decor go up in November adds to our excitement and anticipation for the holidays at home...like it's a treat to jump the gun a bit. By December, so much of the US has decked their halls that it's been less impactful for our family. I mean, once you hit Thanksgiving, you sort of expect to see everything covered in garland and light...no matter where you are. So, while Disney knows how to decorate, I never seem to get that holiday wow from our December trips since we've already had so much decorating overload everywhere we go. Now, anything before early November is too much. I like my Halloween stuff