Talk to me about Disneyland

[Bombaypotatoes]

Thinking of taking DC this December before the eldest turns 7 and I have to pay for her am I mad? Has anyone been around Christmas, I'm guessing it's busier than normal.
We would be going Thursday-Monday, probably be staying at Santa Fe or hotel Cheyenne. Anyone need are they any good?
Any hidden costs? Like can we take our own pics with the characters or do we have to pay for the professional ones?
Is the Wild West show worth the price? Any other tips?

Sounds lovely, I'm looking at booking the same.

We went in January last year and stayed at Santa Fe. It was fine, a lovely walk down the river to the parks. Breakfast was an absolute scrum unless you got there at 7am, though I bet it's not like that anymore since it's no longer included free. Our son loved the hotel as he's a big cars fan. I appreciated the Disney toiletries which I kept and won't let anyone use!

I think it will be busy if you're going in school holidays, unless you go first half of Dec which will be quiet(er).

Didn't do the Wild West show so can't comment, however I think it's too much money for what it is.

We were planning to go the first two weeks of December. I've been before at Easter and I was bearable so hoping it will be the same.
Apparently the breakfast is continetal? We were thinking of just taking our own f that's the case-crossaints, cereal (DC'a prefer it without milk), cereal bars etc and then we can use them as snacks as well.

Christmas time at dlp is packed! But there is the fastpass option for most things. Santa fe is an okay hotel if you are using it juat for sleeping in you will get a shuttle to the park. You are able to take your own photos with the characters and most of the cast members are happy to use your phone/camera to take the photo for you. There arent that many character encounters that have a professional photographer other than princess pavillion and minnie mouse we havent encountered any. The wild west show os brilliant we really enjoyed it so yes i would say worth the money for the show but the food is non plus. Hope that helps. We go to dlp every year so i like to think of myself as a professional now!

We stayed in Cheyenne and our boys loved it - Wild West themed. It was very basic but we didn't actually spend much time in the room so it was fine. The Wild West show was brilliant. Yes it's overpriced but so are most things at Disney. The food wasn't bad, I was quite pleasantly surprised actually, and we all really enjoyed the show.
Different characters came to the hotel reception each morning so we took our own pics of the kids with them.
One thing I would really recommend is doing a character breakfast (or dinner) at Cafe Mickey. Great buffet food and all the main characters come to your table while you eat.