Why You Should Take Your Teens to Celebrate the Holidays at Disneyland

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The Holidays at Disneyland are filled with music, amazing treats, traditions from around the globe, entertainment and more! A lot of families make it a tradition to go during the holidays, and some just happen to go since the family has some time off. Whether you’re going for the first time, or go every year during the holidays, it’s a GREAT time to visit with the entire family – including the teens! We visited as part of a partnership with Disneyland and came up with some amazing reasons to go with your teens this season.

Why You Should Take Your Teens to Celebrate the Holidays at Disneyland

As a mom of teens, I am all about figuring out ways to connect as a family and spend time together. If you’re looking to plan a trip this Fall/Winter or wondering if it’s worth taking your family with teenagers to Disneyland, here are some reasons why you should take your teens to celebrate the holidays at Disneyland.

The Food – there are some AMAZING treats out for the holidays! From apples to cakes, macarons, and more. Not only can you find treats around both parks but you can also find all sorts of food and drinks for the Festival of Holidays at Disney California Adventure Park. When you visit you can grab a Disney Festival of Holidays Tasting Passport that will guide you to all the holiday treats around the parks. You can also purchase a Sip and Savor pass which allows you to get one food or non-alcoholic beverage item at each of the Festival Foods Marketplace locations. Check out ALL the details here or visit my friend over at A Night Owl Blog to read the best things to eat and drink during the festival. No matter what you decide to do, your teens won’t be lacking in food choices! My teens loved these reuben potato tots!
The Reuben Potato Tots with Russian dressing and rye toast are part of the delicious food offerings during Disney Festival of Holidays. Available November 8 – January 6, this item can be be purchased at A Twist on Tradition marketplace in Disney California Adventure.
(Disneyland Resort)

The Holiday Ice Cream Sandwich is part of the limited-time holiday treats at The Disneyland Resort. Available November 8 – January 6, this treat can be be purchased at The Golden Horseshoe in Disneyland Park.
(Disneyland Resort)
Entertainment – Whether it’s the Dapper Dan’s singing holiday favorites, ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party, The World of Color, “Believe… in Holiday Magic” Fireworks, or even live music in Downtown Disney, your teens will never be bored even when they aren’t running from attraction to attraction. Check out everything that’s going on for the holidays here.
The Disneyland Resort transforms for the holiday season, Nov. 8, 2019, through Jan. 6, 2020. Among the merriment at Disney California Adventure Park, guests can dance and sing along during the all-new character celebration, “Mickey’s Happy Holidays.” Mickey is joined by favorite Disney and Pixar characters as they dance along to high-energy music, led by the merry rhythms of the Holiday Toy Drummers. Mickey, Minnie, Chip n’ Dale, Goofy and Clarabelle all don new Festival of Holidays attire. (Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort)

The Disneyland Resort transforms into the Merriest Place on Earth for the holiday season, Nov. 8, 2019, through Jan. 6, 2020. Among the merriment at Disney California Adventure Park, guests will be dazzled by the return of “World of Color – Season of Light,” a holiday-themed production of this nighttime spectacular that features lights, lasers, water, fire and hundreds of fountains bringing animation to life. (Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort)
Decor/General Ambiance – There’s something about walking down Main Street USA all decorated for Christmas that even the teens can’t deny. The big trees in both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will make anyone smile. This house of teens though especially loves Cars Land! They have holiday decor with really fun and incredible detail. Always peek inside the Cozy Cone Motel to see what they have set up in there for the holidays. Don’t miss the holiday ride layovers at It’s a Small World and Haunted Mansion Holiday! The Haunted Mansion is celebrating it’s 50th Anniversary so it’s the perfect year to check it out. The Haunted Mansion Holiday is a family favorite.
The Haunted Mansion transforms into Haunted Mansion Holiday for Halloween Time and the holiday season, inspired by the Walt Disney Pictures classic “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.” As part of the transformation, a gingerbread house sits on the dining table in the Grand Hall as the scent of tasty gingerbread fills the air. This year, the nearly 10-foot tall centerpiece celebrates the Haunted Mansion’s 50th anniversary, complete with 15 spirited Haunted Mansion residents made of gingerbread cookies. (David Nguyen/Disneyland Resort)
Family Time – For me, the holidays are all about family and being all together at Disneyland allows for some fantastic family time. Even if the teens go off to do a few things on their own, there’s always plenty of family time on a Disney vacation. We do most things together and even loved hanging around the Grand Californian while they were putting up the big gingerbread house.
Nostalgia – whether you’ve been to Disneyland or not, you can’t deny the feeling of nostalgia. My teenagers love talking about their favorite movies when they were kids or how much they were obsessed with different Star Wars characters at different times.
Christmas Card Photo – you can take advantage of everyone being together and having a great time to get that elusive Christmas Card photo! I told mine that was the only photo I wanted to make sure to get. One photo of all of us in front of a Christmas tree. If you get MaxPass (which we highly recommend) all your PhotoPass photos are included so you don’t even need to hand your photo over to someone to get a high-resolution Christmas card photo.

Disneyland will be celebrating the holidays through January 6th!

Discount Tickets for the Holidays at Disneyland

Get Away Today is my favorite place to get discounted Disneyland tickets. They have amazing service and are launching their Black Friday early!

Here are the details:

Adults at Kids’ Prices on 3-Day and longer this post about bonding with your teens – that’s up to a $20 savings per ticket!
No blackout dates – valid for travel through 12/31/2020
Valid on Park Hopper and 1-Park per Day Tickets with or without MaxPass
Can be combined with their Extra Night Free Hotel stays and up to 25% off at the Disneyland Resort Hotels (select dates)!

Check out their website for more, if you have some time they have a great layaway plan too that makes planning that much easier. You don’t need a code or anything for the special pricing! It should all automatically apply.

Thinking of heading to Walt Disney World instead? I love this post about bonding with your teens at Walt Disney World!