Christmas Time in Anaheim

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright!

This post is sponsored by Visit Anaheim, but all opinions and photos are mine.

Southern California is a prime location all year long, but even more so at Christmas time and especially in the city of Anaheim. We recently did a staycation at the Hyatt House near Disneyland and the Anaheim Convention center, which you can read about HERE, and it allowed us to check out all the fun holiday activities in the area. Here is a re-cap of our 2-night, 3 day adventure of Christmas time in Anaheim…

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Christmas at the parks: Disneyland and California Adventure. You know we LOVE Disneyland and it’s even more magical at Christmas time. It really is my favorite time of year to visit. The lights, the music, the special entertainment, even the holiday themed food, it is all so wonderful. Some of our must-do’s while you are there…

Disneyland

*Christmas Parade 3:15 & 5:30 (we love watching it on Main Street, but by ‘it’s a small world’ is a good option too, I suggest looking for a spot about an hour prior).

*Dapper Dans singing Christmas carols on Main Street 11:20, 12:10, 1:20, 2:20, 4:00, 5:05, 6:20.

*The Dickens Yuletide Band on Main Street 2:20, 4:45, 6:40, 7:35, 8:30.

*Photo in front of…

• The Castle
• The Tree
• Santa in Critter Country
• ‘it’s a small world’
• Characters all dressed for the holiday (you can find them around the train station and town square)

*Tree Lighting/’it’s a small world’ Lighting 5:15 for both (you have to pick one if you are only there one night).

*Wintertime Enchantment (Castle Lighting) 7:30 & 8:15 (if you stand looking at the castle, stand a little further back near the center hub then you can also see the snow fall).

*Believe…In Holiday Magic Fireworks 9:00 (I suggest not waiting for a spot in front of the castle unless you want to wait over 2 hours, you can see just as good on Main Street or at Small World about 30 min prior to the show).

California Adventure

*Disney Viva Navidad Street Party near Paradise Gardens Park 1:45, 2:25, 3:45, 5:15, 6:16, 7:15.

*Holiday Toy Drummers near Paradise Gardens Park 10:30, 11:30, 2:30, 3:30.

*Mickey’s Happy Holidays dances near the Ariel ride to the center fountain of Buena Vista Street 12:30, 4:15.

*Tree Lighting on Buena Vista Street 5:30.

*Festival of Holiday’s Stage: lots of different performances throughout the day and night.

*Redwood Creek Challenge Trail: Go on a scavenger hunt to unlock a question by picking up a brochure as you walk in, fly with reindeer, hear jingle bells as you climb the ropes course and of course you can meet Santa.

*Photo in front of…

• The Tree
• Characters all dressed up (we like to find them either around the front fountain at Buena Vista Street or back in Paradise Gardens)
• Cars Land (the sign changes for Halloween and Christmas)
• Santa at the Red Wood Creek Challenge Trail

Ice Skating at The Rinks. The perfect holiday activity to bundle up when it may be hot outside! The kids have tried ice skating, but it was quite a while ago, so this felt like their first time. We all loved the little dolphins that were an option for beginners. They could either sit on them or push them to better find their balance and keep from falling so much (I secretly loved them too).

I also like that it didn’t feel too crowded so you weren’t getting plowed over with tons of skaters. You need to reserve a time slot ahead of arrival and you can do so by visiting their website. We booked an hour and a half time slot and it was the perfect amount of time, the kids (and adults) were toast afterwards. LOL. General admission is $12 and skate rental is an additional $5. It was super close to the Disneyland area, only taking us about 10ish minutes from our hotel.

Shopping at South Coast Plaza is THE place to shop this Christmas. Technically it is located in the city of Costa Mesa, but the drive from our Anaheim hotel was only 15 minutes. The decorations, the music, the reindeer carousel are all just perfection. We loved the train station set up that they had, it was literally from floor to ceiling, we were all in complete awe.

The tree in the center of the mall was breathtaking, there were so many lights, not just on the tree, but on the ceiling too. The kids loved the reindeer carousel and went for a ride ($2). 

We snuck a peak at Santa’s Village, which will be open for visits starting November 18th. 

There will also be a Christmas train that kids can actually ride on as well, which is also starting November 18th. We plan to make another trip so we can visit Santa and ride the train. And of course there are plenty of stores to do some Christmas shopping, our kids only wanted to go into the Lego store, can you blame them?!?

These are just some of the fun holiday activities that you can do with your family in and around Anaheim this Christmas. Have you ever been? Which activity do you think your family would love the best? I honestly can’t think of a better gift to give this season, than one of time spent together doing something your family will always remember!