Our 3rd Annual Holiday Trip to DL in November - November 22nd - 25th, 2013 Post #3416

[PrincessInOz]

Alison and I must have had a great run on my day at Disney. Lucky for us RSR was running all morning!

Lovely views of the park from MFW. CL really adds a lot to the panoramic Disney views, doesn't it?
I do occasionally like to feel the top of my stomach hit my throat so I've been known to get on the swinging gondola. But yes...I'm not very fond of that feeling.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Alison and I must have had a great run on my day at Disney. Lucky for us RSR was running all morning!

Lovely views of the park from MFW. CL really adds a lot to the panoramic Disney views, doesn't it?
I do occasionally like to feel the top of my stomach hit my throat so I've been known to get on the swinging gondola. But yes...I'm not very fond of that feeling.

You must had a great day with Alison during your trip since RSR wasn't up and running that morning during my trip.

Thank you PiO. If you ever ask me to go with you on the swinging gondola, I would not even go on the swinging gondola. If you want to go on the non-swinging, I would like to go with you.


The next post will be up shortly.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – November 17, 2012 – Part 3​

During my last part of the TR my DA and I were at DCA that morning getting FP’s and going on rides like TSMM and MFW. Now we just got off MFW and about to head on over to our next attraction which was Soarin. The day was quite really nice where it wasn’t that busy around Paradise Pier. TSMM was a walk-on that morning which was really shocking to both of us since TSMM gets a lot of people when the park opens. But with CL opened, most of the people are over at CL instead of PP. It just shows you even the best ride at DCA will be empty first thing in the morning.

We just got off MFW and on our way over to Condor Flats to ride Soarin. I like to ride Soarin when I am at the park with my DA. It’s a good thing that Soarin at DCA is not as long as Soarin over at EPCOT which gets long lines during the day.

While we were walking through PP and we passed TSMM which the line wait time was only 5 minutes. It was a good thing that we were able to ride TSMM on a walk-on that morning.

It was really quiet around the Little Mermaid ride and passed by GRR which everyone was over at CL to ride RSR or something else in the area.

We got to Condor Flats and we head on straight to go non Soarin. Good thing that there was barely anyone in the area so it was going to be another walk-on that morning.

We had to wait only about 5 minutes to get on the ride that morning. The ride is still the same after all these years and it is fun to go on this ride.

When we were seated on the ride we were on the left side of the ride and on the first row. We always wanted the middle side of the ride and top row when we ride Soarin. But we had no problem getting a front row on the left side.

After getting off Soarin, we were back at Condor Flats. It was close to our time to use our FP’s for RSR. So we decided to head on over to RSR and use our FP’s. We were a little concern that day when we were on MFW and saw that there was no one on the ride. We were hoping that it will be up and running when we get there.

This is one of the reasons why I don’t like riding RSR first thing in the morning since it could be down. But it also means a miss opportunity to ride it first thing in the morning when the wait time is low. But through my experience, I would rather wait for this ride than riding first thing in the morning when it is not guarantee that it is not running.

So we head on over to CL but first we passed by BVS on the way over and it was getting a little busy around the area.

A look at the Carthay Circle Theater as we passed by it. We are also having dinner that night so later on I can share you my pictures of the inside of the restaurant.

We were now at CL and it was not that busy as we have thought. But there were quite a lot of people that were getting pictures right at the sign and right at the buildings down Radiator Springs.

I got some more pictures of the Holiday decorations at CL while we were walking on over to RSR

Fillmore Christmas tree

It was getting a little cloudy that morning where it looked like it was going to rain but I always bring my poncho and a umbrella just in case if it rains that morning.

Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree

Passing by the Cozy Cone Motel with the Holiday decorations

Passing by Curios Shop with the Holiday decorations

We just passed by Town Hall with the Rim Christmas tree and there were some people getting pictures around the area.

Now we were at RSR and there were a lot of people standing right at the entrance and I knew that it was down when we got back in the area. The wait time and stand-by times were not up and running. It was a little disappointing to see that RSR was down that morning. Our times for our FP’s were at 8:45am to 9:45am and my DA thought that we can’t use our FP’s since it was down. After hearing from reports that Disney was taking serious of the times of to come back and go through the FP line.

We talked to a CM and asked to see if our FP’s were still good. They said that they were good after the FP’s schedule time so we can come back later that day and use our FP’s. It was a good thing that we are able to use our FP’s later that day since RSR was not running that morning.

We left RSR and took some pictures of the Holiday decorations as we were figuring out what to do next that day. While we were in CL, it was a good opportunity to get some pictures of the Holiday decorations that I have missed or wasn’t bright enough from the other day.

Flo’s V8 Café

Radiator Spring Curios Shop with snow on top of the signs

We head on over to the Cozy Cone Motel area to get some pictures of the Holiday decorations. The one that I wanted to get while it was daytime was the gingerbread house inside the lobby of the Cozy Cone Motel.

Garland cones on top of each cone at the Cozy Cone Motel

While we were at the Cozy Cone Motel, I had to get the souvenir cone cup with the Holiday blue color with snow flakes on the cone. I have seen those the other day and I wanted to get one just in case they don’t run out completely. I was fortunate to get the souvenir cones during the preview and had the opportunity to get the Holiday version for this year. Even though it was early that morning and I shouldn’t got a soda, I just had to have the souvenir cone cup that morning.

We also got Churro Bites at Cozy Cone 1 where we didn’t get any pictures of them. Since we didn’t have breakfast that morning, we needed to eat something that morning. We could have eaten at Flo’s V8 Café for breakfast but I had that during my August trip and it wasn’t that great as I have thought. So we skipped that.

That is it for this post and I will have more from DCA that morning and see what time we got on RSR after it was closed that morning.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I love those cozy-cone gingerbread. They are so cute!

Glad you could use the RSR FP later in the day.

 

[franandaj]

Love the Christmas Skippy cone!

 

[ACDSNY]

Cars Land looks so cute all decorated. I love the gingerbread cones too.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I love those cozy-cone gingerbread. They are so cute!

Glad you could use the RSR FP later in the day.

The Cozy Cone gingerbread house look so neat inside the lobby. There were a lot of neat gingerbread houses around the DLR. I only got this one and the one in the Carthay Circle Theater which will be during another post.

That was great that we were able to use our RSR FP's later since the ride was down that morning.

Cars Land looks so cute all decorated. I love the gingerbread cones too.

All the decorations at Radiators Springs looks amazing. The gingerbread cones looked very neat and it looks exactly like the Cozy Cone Motel.


The next post will be up shortly.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – November 16, 2012 – Part 4​

During my last part of the TR my DA and I were at DCA that morning getting FP’s and going on rides like TSMM, MFW & Soarin. Now we were at Cars Land hoping to see that Radiator Springs Racers is up and running after it wasn’t running this morning. So we were hoping that it would be up during our time. Unfortunately it wasn’t running that morning and the CM’s were not letting people to go through the queue. We were told to come back later during the day if we had FP’s that passed it’s scheduled time. Before we left CL, I had to get the souvenir Holiday cone at the Cozy Cone which was winter blue different from the orange one. Now its time to go back to the trip report and see what we did later that day.

We got the souvenir cup and now we were exiting Cars Land. Since RSR was not running during our schedule time, we went to do something that morning. While we were around CL, we head on over to the Blue Sky Cellar to see the Road to Cars Land featuring the museum of the history of Radiator Springs.

The last time we were in the BSC was before CL was not opened in June where we went during the AP preview.

Most of the pictures and models of Cars Land are the same just like the last time.

We got a seat to watch the next show.

The only difference in the BSC was the movie which was different from the last time we were in there. The show was Cars Toon Time Travel Mater. When a clock lands on Mater’s Engine, he travels back in time to 1909 where he meets Stanley, an ambitious young car on his way to California. With the help of Lightning McQueen, Mater alters history by convincing Stanley to stay and build Radiator Springs. Stanley meets Lizzie and they commemorate the opening of the new courthouse with their wedding.

After watching the Cars Toons at BSC, we head on back towards CL to see if RSR is up and running just in case that they got it up and running after we went the first time. Around CL started to get more and more people around the area so I knew that it was going to be a busy day around Radiator Springs.

When we got over to RSR, it was still down that morning and we were once again told by the CM’s to come back later during the day. They said that we can use our FP’s anytime during the past time. So we can come back later that day and ride RSR through the FP line.

So we head on out of Cars Land and on over to our next destination. I got a few pictures of Cars Land while we were walking on out. When we looked at LFT the wait time was at 30 minutes which was long during that morning. But with RSR down, most of the people head on over to LFT until RSR was up and running that morning.

While exiting CL, my aunt was wondering if we can get another set of FP’s for RSR. I said that it is possible since our time to get FP’s is available after getting FP’s for RSR that morning. So we head on over back to the RSR FP queue and get FP’s again. We got our FP’s for RSR for the 2nd time that day and the time was until later that night at 9:55pm to 10:55pm. We were really lucky to get FP’s for RSR that night. When we exited and passed by the RSR FP queue, the CM’s told all the guests that the FP’s for RSR were all gone. So we were really lucky to get the last FP’s that day. It just shows you that if you get the FP’s early that morning and later on you can get a 2nd FP for RSR.

After getting the FP’s, we decided to head on over to DL and do some of our favorite rides. So we hightailed on over to DL. But first, we head on over to Buena Vista Street to get some pictures of the Holiday decorations. It was past 9:45am that morning which was really early that day.

While we were going through BVS, I had to show my DA the Storyteller’s statue which is the new Hub statue of DCA. First we got a picture of the statue and then we were asked by one of the CM photographers asked if we want to get a picture of us together. So we got a picture together. I barely get any pictures of myself or my DA in a picture and this is one of the rare pictures of us at the DLR.

My DA and I getting a picture of the Storyteller’s statue

After getting our picture at the statue, we started to walk on out of the park. On the way, I had to get a few pictures of the Holiday decorations at BVS. I was looking for all the wreaths, trees, garlands, etc. that is a Holiday decoration.

The BVS Christmas tree

A few pictures of the window display. Since it was daylight time, you can see me through the window.

Looking back at BVS while we were exiting the park

So we head on out of the park and at the esplanade. Now we are on our way over to DL that morning. That’s it for this post and I will have the next post from DL after a fun day at DCA.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice update, Bret.

I hope that you and your DA got on to RSR later that day and I'm looking forward to seeing if you got any nighttime shots on RSR.

That's a great picture of you and your aunt by the Storyteller's statue. I bet it brings back happy memories. Your aunt looks very young and hip! If she's like that in personality, she'll be a great travelling companion for Disney.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Nice update, Bret.

I hope that you and your DA got on to RSR later that day and I'm looking forward to seeing if you got any nighttime shots on RSR.

That's a great picture of you and your aunt by the Storyteller's statue. I bet it brings back happy memories. Your aunt looks very young and hip! If she's like that in personality, she'll be a great travelling companion for Disney.

Thank you PiO.

I'll tell you later on during the trip report. The last time I rode RSR at night was during the preview back in June which we should have ridden it more than a few times during the preview. But we wanted to enjoy the rest of Cars Land during the preview.

It was a very nice picture at Storyteller's Statue. It is rare to have us in a picture together during our Disney trips since she does not like to be in a lot of pictures. She does look good in the picture and enjoys being with me during a Disney trip.

 

[rentayenta]

Bret, I'm sitting here with my 11 y/o son Joshua and told him before we started looking at your pictures to get ready for some awesome ones. He loved them and asked why don't we go? Thank you for sharing such nice pictures. For those of us who don't get to visit very often, it's really such a treat. And the Cozy Cone cup? Very cool. Joshua wants to go and get one. Do you know if they have them year round but with a different design?

 

[mvf-m11c]

Bret, I'm sitting here with my 11 y/o son Joshua and told him before we started looking at your pictures to get ready for some awesome ones. He loved them and asked why don't we go? Thank you for sharing such nice pictures. For those of us who don't get to visit very often, it's really such a treat. And the Cozy Cone cup? Very cool. Joshua wants to go and get one. Do you know if they have them year round but with a different design?

Hi Jenny and Joshua

I'm glad that you and your son are enjoying my Holiday trip report. I know for a fact that you, your son and the rest of your family will want to go back to the DLR during the Holiday season to see the Cars Land and Buena Vista Street decorations. The Holiday season at CL & BVS have been so amazing with all those Christmas decorations.

The Cozy Cone cup is a new souvenir cup at the Cozy Cone Motel. They do have the cone cup year round ever since Cars Land opened during the summer of 2012. I have heard that when CL opened during the summertime that they ran out of the souvenir cups in the middle of the summertime. There were times when they didn't have any in stock. I remember back during my August trip that when I went over to the Cozy Cone to see if they have any cups available and they were sold out. Than during my November trip, they had the snowflake blue souvenir cups which matches the Holiday season which is neat. The shape are still the same as the original one and the Holiday one. There are two sizes which is a small and a large.

Here is my Cozy Cone souvenir cup during my trip in June which is an orange cone while the Holiday version is the snowflake blue. It wouldn't surprise me during specific seasons that they will have the cone in different colors. But as of now of what I have seen and heard, there are only two different designs which is the orange cone and the Christmas cone.

 

[mvf-m11c]

After being a few days away from my computer while I was working at an Anime Convention in Sacramento, it is time for the next update to the trip report. I am also excited since I am only 6 days away till my upcoming trip to DL this Saturday with my aunt, her BF and her DD2 which will be her first time at DL. But before we talk about the upcoming trip, I still have some updates to do before I leave this upcoming Saturday. I will get to the details later on when we leave on Saturday. So let’s get back to the November trip report.

Day 2 – November 16, 2012 – Part 5​

On the last update, my DA and I just left DCA after spending the first 3 hours at DCA waiting in line to get FP’s, ride TSMM, MFW, Soarin, etc. that day. This was an exciting day where we got to do a lot of different things at DCA. It was also wild since we weren’t able to ride RSR that morning. But we are lucky that we can get in the FP line for RSR later that day when it was down this morning. Now we are heading on over to DL to do some of our favorite rides. So let’s get on over to DL that morning.

We left DCA and now we are heading on over to DL that morning. It was just passed 10am and there were some people at the Esplanade to head on over to DCA and DL. But most of them were heading on over to DL. So we knew that it was going to be a little busy that day. This was very interesting that we never go to DCA first thing in the morning in the past while DCA opens about an hour or two later that morning. So we aren’t used to going to DL later that day. I have done this during my August trip with my DB and his GF and it was really strange of going to DCA first thing in the morning over DL. This was going to be interesting to go to DL just when most of the people got up that morning or have breakfast being at the park at the same time.

We passed through the turnstiles and now at DL. I went to DL the other night to watch Believe…In Holiday Magic fireworks and I didn’t get too many pictures that night since it was dark. So the daylight gave me some nice pictures that morning.

When we were in MS TS, I got as many pictures of the Holiday decorations while we were walking down.

It was quite busy while walking down MS. Most of the people are at the park while we just go in.

Now just passing through MS Hub and as always I have to get some pictures of the flowers.

I didn’t get most of them and I will come back later that day for more of the flowers.

Passing by Sleeping Beauty Castle with the Holiday decorations which look great during the Holiday season.

When we passed by SB Castle, we decided to go on over to FL and ride It’s a Small World Holiday which is one of the rides we have to ride during the Holiday season at DL. It is a ride that we always have to go on with the Holiday decorations. It is unique during the Holiday season which the MK version doesn’t have a Holiday version. I just rode IASW at the MK a couple of weeks until this trip and it is fun to be able to ride IASWH.

While we were walking down towards IASWH, the Princess meet and greet right by IASW Plaza was quite long that morning. Good thing that we aren’t going to meet the princesses. But I did realized when we passed by the meet & greet area that I will be meeting the princesses with my aunt, her BF and DD2. So I knew that we have to plan our trip really well so we won’t be in those long lines during the trip.

Now we are at the front of IASWH. The wait time was a walk on that morning which was great since we came to the park 2 hours later when it opened at 8am. So we head on over to ride IASWH.

Walking down the queue over to the loading dock.

We got in the boat and the first picture was the wreath at one of the control stations for IASWH.

Here are pictures from IASWH while we were in the boat. I decided to take pictures with my DSLR instead of videotaping to work on my picture taking.

The 2013 sign which is different every year.

That’s it for this post and I will have more from IASWH.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice shots of IaSW. I really love the look of Christmas at both parks. You're so lucky to be able to go during this time of year!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Nice shots of IaSW. I really love the look of Christmas at both parks. You're so lucky to be able to go during this time of year!

Thank you PiO. Some of the pictures were a little blurry when I taking pictures during IASWH. What setting would you used while on IASWH since some of the pictures that i looked at were blurry? It is one of the best times of the year to go to the DLR to go on IASWH and don't forget about Haunted Mansion Holiday which is decorated for the Halloween and Holiday season. Plus another ride that is unique during the Halloween season is Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy.


The next post will be up shortly.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – November 16, 2012 – Part 6​

We left off at Disneyland where we are riding It’s a Small World Holiday. This is one of our favorite rides during the Holiday season at DL where it is decorated with Holiday decorations. Not just the outside but also the inside of the ride which is decorated. It is so magical during the Holiday season with the holiday decorations. Now we are on the ride going through IASWH.

Now back with more pictures from IASWH.

It is so fun to see the ducks in the background of IASW

That’s it for this post and I will have more from IASWH.

 

[rentayenta]

IASW holiday is one of my favorites, especially at night. I always get teary in Soarin' when it gets to that part.

Fabulous photos as usual!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice update of IaSM.

Thank you PiO. Some of the pictures were a little blurry when I taking pictures during IASWH. What setting would you used while on IASWH since some of the pictures that i looked at were blurry? It is one of the best times of the year to go to the DLR to go on IASWH and don't forget about Haunted Mansion Holiday which is decorated for the Halloween and Holiday season. Plus another ride that is unique during the Halloween season is Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy.


The next post will be up shortly.

Bret - What are the current settings you're using for IaSW? It looks to me like your pictures are a little on the dark side. And the blur could be a combination of movement and/or lower shutter speed.

If you let me know what the settings are, I might be able to help a little. I did try to go looking for these pictures in your flickr account; but got horribly lost.

However, I did go check my settings from the HKDL set; which is the last time I took pictures in IaSW. From the ones I checked, my ISO setting was 1600, f/2.8 and I varied the shutter speed from anywhere from 1/50 sec - 1/250 sec depending on the lighting conditions for that section of IaSW. I know I've also taken some at WDW and I'm pretty sure that my ISO setting there would have been around 800.

 

[mvf-m11c]

IASW holiday is one of my favorites, especially at night. I always get teary in Soarin' when it gets to that part.

Fabulous photos as usual!

Seeing IASWH at night is so amazing and also the show that runs during the nighttime.

Thank you

Nice update of IaSM.



Bret - What are the current settings you're using for IaSW? It looks to me like your pictures are a little on the dark side. And the blur could be a combination of movement and/or lower shutter speed.

If you let me know what the settings are, I might be able to help a little. I did try to go looking for these pictures in your flickr account; but got horribly lost.

However, I did go check my settings from the HKDL set; which is the last time I took pictures in IaSW. From the ones I checked, my ISO setting was 1600, f/2.8 and I varied the shutter speed from anywhere from 1/50 sec - 1/250 sec depending on the lighting conditions for that section of IaSW. I know I've also taken some at WDW and I'm pretty sure that my ISO setting there would have been around 800.

Thank you PiO.

I looked at my settings from IASW and the ISO settings were set at different setting during each different scene. I let is on auto while I left the f/2.8 and the shutter was at 1/30. I look at the settings and I thought that it would be okay if I left it at that. I thought that I left the ISO at a specific speed but it went on auto for each different picture

Here is one of the pictures with the settings.

ISO: 1100 f/2.8 1/30

Thank you for telling what settings you have used when you were on IASW. So it is the ISO which is the biggest one that I need to do.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – November 16, 2012 – Part 7​

We left off at Disneyland where we are riding It’s a Small World Holiday. This is one of our favorite rides during the Holiday season at DL where it is decorated with Holiday decorations. Not just the outside but also the inside of the ride which is decorated. It is so magical during the Holiday season with the holiday decorations. Now we are on the ride going through IASWH.

Now back with more pictures from IASWH again.

That’s it for this post and I will have more from IASWH.