A Day at the Walt Disney Studios and Archives and Disneyland - 5/3/13 to 5/5/13 #2850

[sassy*girl]

Originally Posted by Sherry E

Gorgeous WoC pictures, Bret! I love the colors.


Did you receive your copy of that "special edition commemorative paperback book" that Disneyland Annual Passport is sending out to AP holders? It's called "A Celebration of a Wish Come True," and they claim to be sending it out instead of the usual Backstage Pass magazine. It's made of different paper and they mail it out in a white envelope. If you haven't gotten yours yet, you will.

Of course, my mailman pushed my copy into the mailbox and bent it, which makes me mad.

What I wonder is, are they sending these books out to all AP holders, or just the Deluxe-Premium-Premier AP holders? At first I thought they were sending me something to lure me into renewing my AP for another year, but it's just a book that they're sending to AP people.

ETA: I just had a chance to look through the book thoroughly - and some of the pictures in it are stunning! There are a lot of photos of supposed "guests" (who may or may not be real guests, or Disney-planted guests), but some of the scenic/landscape pictures are fantastic! Even the balloon shot on the back cover is amazing. The book reminds me of the old souvenir guide books that were sold in the parks every year in the old days - they were long and horizontal in shape, and they had a section for each land in Disneyland. I used to get one on each DL trip when I was a kid. This AP book is like that - it breaks down all the lands in both parks, except the photos are 100 times better than they used to be when I was a kid!

Hi, sherry I can confirm that they are not planted guest in the pics. We went to Disneyland the week of cars land opening. My great niece is in two pics in the book. A large group of photographers hired out of new York took the pictures. My niece had to sign release forms for the pics.

We live in northern California and have not gotten the book. Our friend who lives in LA got it. We hoping to get one or will have to buy them on eBay.


My niece gracie is the one in front of the castle with the cotton candy. We ran into the photo group again in cars land a few days later. She is in a pink tutu watching the cars zoom by in radar springs.

They told my niece they would be sending her all kinds of free stuff but she hasn't gotten anything yet.

If anybody can tell us how to get copies of the book please let us know.

Thanks, crystal

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by sassy*girl

Hi, sherry I can confirm that they are not planted guest in the pics. We went to Disneyland the week of cars land opening. My great niece is in two pics in the book. A large group of photographers hired out of new York took the pictures. My niece had to sign release forms for the pics.

We live in northern California and have not gotten the book. Our friend who lives in LA got it. We hoping to get one or will have to buy them on eBay.


My niece gracie is the one in front of the castle with the cotton candy. We ran into the photo group again in cars land a few days later. She is in a pink tutu watching the cars zoom by in radar springs.

They told my niece they would be sending her all kinds of free stuff but she hasn't gotten anything yet.

If anybody can tell us how to get copies of the book please let us know.

Thanks, crystal

Oooooh! Thanks, Crystal, for telling me that. I'm going to get my book out again and look for your niece. I'm in Los Angeles - maybe they hit the L.A. people first? It sounds like the books are being slowly rolled out to people, but I would imagine that everyone with an AP of at least the Deluxe level will get them (anyone who would ordinarily get the Backstage Pass magazine with their AP should get the book).

Sorry for the hijack, Bret...back to your TR!

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – August 14, 2012– Part 27

We left off at PP watching the 9pm World of Color which is part way through the show. Now we are in the “Brave” scene and watching it for the first time. Now more pictures from WoC that night.

More from the Brave Segment


































The new Brave segment of WoC is a great addition to the show which didn’t take another scene of the show. Mostly after Aladdin scene, it goes to the Fantasia 2000 scene. So Brave was put in the middle of the show.

Fantasia 2000 scenes
















That’s it for this post and I will have more from WoC again. There must have been over 5 posts with pictures of WoC and I am half way through.

[sassy*girl]

Originally Posted by Sherry E

Oooooh! Thanks, Crystal, for telling me that. I'm going to get my book out again and look for your niece. I'm in Los Angeles - maybe they hit the L.A. people first? It sounds like the books are being slowly rolled out to people, but I would imagine that everyone with an AP of at least the Deluxe level will get them (anyone would ordinarily get the Backstage Pass magazine with their AP should get the book).

Sorry for the hijack, Bret...back to your TR!

Yes sorry about the high jack post. My niece sent the link and I didn't realize it was a trip report until after I posted it.

I did take pics of the people taking the pics her. Lol

[ACDSNY]

Originally Posted by mvf-m11c

Thank you Angela. The Genie scene of the show is one of my favorite parts of the show.

I always like to watch WoC in front of the fire hydrant at the blue section. Even if I do get a chance at a front railing at the viewing area right by the lagoon, I will always go with the fire hydrant as my spot to watch WoC. I was going to ask you more about your experience at the CCR viewing area during WoC?


The next post will be up shortly.

We enjoyed our dinner at CCR as it was nice to get a relaxing break from the park activities and have a real sit down dinner. CCR is very beautiful and the food was very good. By the time we got to the viewing area the railing was already taken so I had a hard time seeing the show.

[Sherry E]

Bret -

it looks like you picked a good year to not do a DLR Halloween trip. I think you're better off at WDW for Halloween this year. Even though there is this "Carnival" thing at DLR, it looks like a lot of the decorations at the Round-Up are not there this year. The pumpkin carving area has been moved to a much less festive spot. Each person can only meet one Villain at a time in the tent where they are. The Carnival is the only place where any characters will be seen in their Halloween costumes this year outside of the MHP (in other words, they are no longer in costume in Town Square). And...there is no floral Masked Mickey at the entrance to DL! The flowers at the Hub don't even look Fall-like. Main Street looks exactly the same but we've seen that 100 times.


Seriously? They couldn't put the masked floral Mickey at the DL entrance again?

Why do I have a nagging feeling that when Cars Land and Buena Vista Street get their extensive decorations this year, some other land or area in DLR will suddenly lose its decorations (like A Bug's Land)? It seems like DLR cannot add in anything to the holiday decorations without taking something else away from another spot. (Well, they are taking away the CM parties.) You know as well as I do how true that is!

And according to Al Lutz's latest article, supposedly the AP prices are due to go up again by Winter, and by 2013 or 2014 (at the latest), the holiday fireworks, parade and the Candlelight Processional will all become part of a Christmas party (which we all saw coming, didn't we?). DLR is testing the waters with the CP this year to see if it is a success over so many nights before making it a part of the party. So I guess that we should enjoy those things this year, as this may be the last year we can see them without having to pay for a party ticket. I probably would not pay for an extra ticket to see the parade or the fireworks again...but if that is the only way to see the snow on Main Street, I will be very disappointed.

Did you read all of that on MiceAge/MiceChat today?

[mvf-m11c]

Originally Posted by ACDSNY

We enjoyed our dinner at CCR as it was nice to get a relaxing break from the park activities and have a real sit down dinner. CCR is very beautiful and the food was very good. By the time we got to the viewing area the railing was already taken so I had a hard time seeing the show.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the dinner at CCR. I will be looking forward to eating at CCR next month with my DA.

asdfI need to make my reservations tomorrow morning. I am wondering what time I should make my reservation at CCR. I was thinking of going during lunch or dinner, but I also want to try the CCR viewing area since I haven't done it since the opening weekend in 2010. It's been a long time since I been in the preferred area and I should consider it. If I do, I know that I will be in the waiting queue to get the front railing spot.

Originally Posted by Sherry E

Bret -

it looks like you picked a good year to not do a DLR Halloween trip. I think you're better off at WDW for Halloween this year. Even though there is this "Carnival" thing at DLR, it looks like a lot of the decorations at the Round-Up are not there this year. The pumpkin carving area has been moved to a much less festive spot. Each person can only meet one Villain at a time in the tent where they are. The Carnival is the only place where any characters will be seen in their Halloween costumes this year outside of the MHP (in other words, they are no longer in costume in Town Square). And...there is no floral Masked Mickey at the entrance to DL! The flowers at the Hub don't even look Fall-like. Main Street looks exactly the same but we've seen that 100 times.


Seriously? They couldn't put the masked floral Mickey at the DL entrance again?

Why do I have a nagging feeling that when Cars Land and Buena Vista Street get their extensive decorations this year, some other land or area in DLR will suddenly lose its decorations (like A Bug's Land)? It seems like DLR cannot add in anything to the holiday decorations without taking something else away from another spot. (Well, they are taking away the CM parties.) You know as well as I do how true that is!

And according to Al Lutz's latest article, supposedly the AP prices are due to go up again by Winter, and by 2013 or 2014 (at the latest), the holiday fireworks, parade and the Candlelight Processional will all become part of a Christmas party (which we all saw coming, didn't we?). DLR is testing the waters with the CP this year to see if it is a success over so many nights before making it a part of the party. So I guess that we should enjoy those things this year, as this may be the last year we can see them without having to pay for a party ticket. I probably would not pay for an extra ticket to see the parade or the fireworks again...but if that is the only way to see the snow on Main Street, I will be very disappointed.

Did you read all of that on MiceAge/MiceChat today?

I read the Dateline Disneyland and Mouseplanet articles yesterday and I was kind of shock at first to hear about the changes to the DLR during the Halloween season. Since this is my first time going to WDW during the Halloween season, I am in uncharted territory. I will be looking forward to the Halloween decorations at WDW. Looks like I will have to get a lot of pictures of the pumpkins on the buildings of MS just like DL. I wonder which parks have the most carved pumpkins?

The Halloween Carnival at BTR did look very interesting at first when I heard about it. Later on when I read the articles, I didn't like the location of the pumpkin carving station and the character meet and greet area. I can understand that Disney wants to use the BTR Jamboree area to draw some of the guests over t that area, but it is not the same where they move the carving and character meet & greet to another location which the guests are to know where are. I can't believe they aren't going to have the characters on MS with their costumes. The floral Masked Mickey was shocking to hear as well as the flowers around the Hub. I am still wondering what TDA is thinking and not putting much effort into the Halloween season like in the past.

I do have a feeling that some land at the DLR will get less decorations this year than in the past. I am hoping that is not the case, but with everything going on during the Halloween season we just don't know what is going to happen. I don't think that ABL Christmas decorations will be going anytime soon unless they torn it down. Where would those decorations go to if they don't put them in ABL? I was shock to hear that Disneyland is canceling the CM Christmas Party which has been a tradition at DL. Since I don't go during the CM parties, I don't know what it is like on a shorten day.

After hearing that the AP prices are possibly going to go up, I said to myself that is ridiculous after the price increase before Cars Land opened this summer. Now they want to increase the AP before the Christmas season which is crazy. We knew that Disneyland wants to follow WDW with MVMCP and make the fireworks, parade and CP as part of the party. We are all hoping that they will not do that and leave it as is like in the past. I really don't like changes at DL and this is the one that I don't want them to change the most. I just can't imagine not seeing the fireworks or parade with my regular admission to Disneyland with my AP. I would be really disappointing, but I can't control what Disney is going to do. If they do the party at DL next year or 2014, I might just do one party and that will be it. I have seen "A Christmas Fantasy" parade and "Believe...In Holiday Magic" fireworks a lot during the Holiday season and will be sad if they are part of a exclusive party.


I did read the Al Lutz report this morning. I should know that he is not part of Disney and gets his info from these sources. Most of his reports are not true while some of them are true. But I don't believe in anything unless I hear it from the Disney Company themselves before I believe it. Sometimes I don't even want to read his report and hear the good news or bad news.

[tksbaskets]

I have to keep the faith that Disney knows what they are doing for the long-term success of their business and parks. I guess even Mickey has to budget.

I know from my holiday trips to DL at Christmas that changes are made. While I miss the great decorations at New Orleans square, if I was a new visitor to DL I wouldn't know the difference and would just think 'Hey, nice decorations'.

WDW does have a Christmas parade even when it isn't party day. I think they do have 'special' parades and fireworks on party day but since I've never been to MVMCP there I can't state for a fact.

Change is good, right? (Says the woman who really doesn't embrace change). Makes our pictures of Halloween past that much more special.

That said, I sure hope they put up Christmas decorations on BVS this year...

[mvf-m11c]

Originally Posted by tksbaskets

I have to keep the faith that Disney knows what they are doing for the long-term success of their business and parks. I guess even Mickey has to budget.

I know from my holiday trips to DL at Christmas that changes are made. While I miss the great decorations at New Orleans square, if I was a new visitor to DL I wouldn't know the difference and would just think 'Hey, nice decorations'.

WDW does have a Christmas parade even when it isn't party day. I think they do have 'special' parades and fireworks on party day but since I've never been to MVMCP there I can't state for a fact.

Change is good, right? (Says the woman who really doesn't embrace change). Makes our pictures of Halloween past that much more special.

That said, I sure hope they put up Christmas decorations on BVS this year...

We are hoping that the Disney Company does the right thing for the long-term at there parks, but it doesn't look to me like that. Not with Al Lutz articles and the changes to DL this Halloween season.

THe DLR is always going to have new decorations and take out old ones for new ones or even use very bad decorations like the fake Christmas trees at MTT. For people that have been going to DL a lot during the Halloween/Christmas season, it does make a big difference. Just as you said TK that new visitors would not know the difference.

I know for a fact that the MK doesn't have a Christmas parade during the non MVMCP. When I went to the MK the last two years, they were running "Celebrate a Dream Come True" parade. During MVMCP they have "Holiday Wishes: Celebrate the Spirit of the Season" Fireworks and "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime" Parade which are part of the party. Just like during MNSSHP, the "Happy HalloWishes" Fireworks and Mickey's Boo-to-You Halloween Parade are only available during the party.

Change is good, but not this one. I still don't like DL to make "A Christmas Fantasy" parade and "Believe...In Holiday Magic" fireworks part of a separate admission to see. Those two shows have been part of DL during the Christmas seasons for years and would be sad if they are only available during a party day.

Disney better put up some Christmas decorations in BVS this year with the price hike and everything they have been doing. I still don't like to believe anything that Al Lutz said in his yesterday article.

[tksbaskets]

Originally Posted by mvf-m11c

We are hoping that the Disney Company does the right thing for the long-term at there parks, but it doesn't look to me like that. Not with Al Lutz articles and the changes to DL this Halloween season.

THe DLR is always going to have new decorations and take out old ones for new ones or even use very bad decorations like the fake Christmas trees at MTT. For people that have been going to DL a lot during the Halloween/Christmas season, it does make a big difference. Just as you said TK that new visitors would not know the difference.

I know for a fact that the MK doesn't have a Christmas parade during the non MVMCP. When I went to the MK the last two years, they were running "Celebrate a Dream Come True" parade. During MVMCP they have "Holiday Wishes: Celebrate the Spirit of the Season" Fireworks and "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime" Parade which are part of the party. Just like during MNSSHP, the "Happy HalloWishes" Fireworks and Mickey's Boo-to-You Halloween Parade are only available during the party.

Change is good, but not this one. I still don't like DL to make "A Christmas Fantasy" parade and "Believe...In Holiday Magic" fireworks part of a separate admission to see. Those two shows have been part of DL during the Christmas seasons for years and would be sad if they are only available during a party day.

Disney better put up some Christmas decorations in BVS this year with the price hike and everything they have been doing. I still don't like to believe anything that Al Lutz said in his yesterday article.

I agree with you Bret. The changes that are described in the Al Lutz article are disappointing to say the least especially in the face of the hike in the AP price! Let's keep our fingers crossed that some changes are not inacted.

TK

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – August 14, 2012– Part 28

We left off at PP watching the 9pm World of Color which is part way through the show. Now we are in the “Brave” scene and watching it for the first time. Now more pictures from WoC that night.

Pocahontas scenes














A Bug’s Life scenes






Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides scenes. I also noticed during the POTC scenes that they took part of the scenes away from this part of the show which they didn’t show the mermaids. To accommodate the new Brave segment as part of WoC, they took part of POTC out to make it 30 minutes to watch WoC.














Jack Sparrow: “Did everyone see that because I will not be doing that again”






Lion King scene






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

[tksbaskets]

Hi Bret,
Do you get these great pictures with your video recorder or your camera and tripod?

Thanks for sharing.

[Sherry E]

It's true that new people who visit DLR will not know the difference in which decorations were there last year or not there, but it's not only new people who visit. DLR gets a lot of repeat visitors - people who come back every year for both the Halloween and holiday seasons (especially the holiday season) - and these are people from all over.

I'm sure that some of the decisions that Disney makes are for the greater good of the parks and the company. Other decisions are premature and are just for the sake of getting more money from guests.

With the recent huge price hikes in AP's and Hoppers (as well as hotel rates), the very last thing I want to see is a stripped down Halloween Time. In my mind, that doesn't compute! More money paid = fewer Halloween decorations and fewer characters out in the daytime? It shouldn't be that way.

I don't like the idea of taking the same exact holiday parade and holiday fireworks that have been around for years and making them part of a paid party. If those two things had only been available for a year or two, then maybe I could see it. But they have become longtime traditions at DLR for many, many guests. Plus, not everyone will be interested in the Candlelight Processional because of its religious tones. I think it would be a much smarter move on Disney's part to add a whole new holiday parade and a new holiday fireworks show to a paid party, or start a holiday party in DCA first and then eventually move it to DL.

I think DLR is jumping the gun and trying to be too much like WDW, when, in reality, DLR is a much smaller resort than WDW and what works at one place will not necessarily work at the other resort.

I don't think we have to worry about BVS and CL being decorated. Someone even mentioned a week or so ago that a friend reported seeing "Fillmore's Christmas Tree" going down the highway in a truck.

I just don't want to see a fully decked out BVS and CL - only to discover that A Bug's Land is no longer decorated, or that New Orleans Square has been stripped down even more, or that Toon Town has only 50% of the decorations it had last year. In other words, I don't want Disney tricking me into thinking, "Wow - they have added so many things," when in other areas of DLR they have taken everything away. I want full immersion during these seasons and they are definitely making it very difficult to be immersed in Halloween Time!


Bret - more awesome WoC photos!

[mvf-m11c]

Originally Posted by tksbaskets

Hi Bret,
Do you get these great pictures with your video recorder or your camera and tripod?

Thanks for sharing.

Both. The pictures from WoC during this TR are from my DSLR camera. Mostly the nighttime pictures of the shows are from my video camera which I crop. With the lens that I bought a few months ago, I wanted to try the DSLR for the nighttime show and I still videotaped WoC that night while I had my camera in my hands.

Thank you TK.

Originally Posted by Sherry E

It's true that new people who visit DLR will not know the difference in which decorations were there last year or not there, but it's not only new people who visit. DLR gets a lot of repeat visitors - people who come back every year for both the Halloween and holiday seasons (especially the holiday season) - and these are people from all over.

I'm sure that some of the decisions that Disney makes are for the greater good of the parks and the company. Other decisions are premature and are just for the sake of getting more money from guests.

With the recent huge price hikes in AP's and Hoppers (as well as hotel rates), the very last thing I want to see is a stripped down Halloween Time. In my mind, that doesn't compute! More money paid = fewer Halloween decorations and fewer characters out in the daytime? It shouldn't be that way.

I don't like the idea of taking the same exact holiday parade and holiday fireworks that have been around for years and making them part of a paid party. If those two things had only been available for a year or two, then maybe I could see it. But they have become longtime traditions at DLR for many, many guests. Plus, not everyone will be interested in the Candlelight Processional because of its religious tones. I think it would be a much smarter move on Disney's part to add a whole new holiday parade and a new holiday fireworks show to a paid party, or start a holiday party in DCA first and then eventually move it to DL.

I think DLR is jumping the gun and trying to be too much like WDW, when, in reality, DLR is a much smaller resort than WDW and what works at one place will not necessarily work at the other resort.

I don't think we have to worry about BVS and CL being decorated. Someone even mentioned a week or so ago that a friend reported seeing "Fillmore's Christmas Tree" going down the highway in a truck.

I just don't want to see a fully decked out BVS and CL - only to discover that A Bug's Land is no longer decorated, or that New Orleans Square has been stripped down even more, or that Toon Town has only 50% of the decorations it had last year. In other words, I don't want Disney tricking me into thinking, "Wow - they have added so many things," when in other areas of DLR they have taken everything away. I want full immersion during these seasons and they are definitely making it very difficult to be immersed in Halloween Time!


Bret - more awesome WoC photos!

You are absolutely right about that and new people would not know the difference with the decorations at the DLR during the Halloween or Holiday season. That's why I like going to those seasons which we don't see during mid January to September. It's always fun to see the parks decorated during the Halloween and Holiday season.

Disney does make good decisions for the parks and the company, but just as you said that they do some premature moves like getting more money out of us and other guests.

With the price increase, they should at least add more decorations to the parks. I thought that they would add some Halloween decorations to BVS and CL, but looks like that is not the case for this year.

It is not right for DL to take "A Christmas Fantasy" parade and "Believe...In Holiday Magic" fireworks and make it a part of a paid party which they have been running those two shows for years at DL which is part of the admission. If DL does a new parade and fireworks, I can understand that point of view. But I can't accept that they would take those two shows and make guests to see it on a party event. It is a tradition of the Holiday season at DL and it would get a lot of negative reviews if they do that. If DL does a new parade and fireworks, I can understand that people would pay to see it just like Halloween Screams fireworks which is now part of MHP during the Halloween season. I believe it is now three years old this year when it debut in 2009. This park is not WDW where it is 150 times the size of DL. It would be better for Disney to do a new parade and fireworks so guests can have a reason to come back and attend the party. But if they have the old parade and fireworks as part of the party, there will be a lot of people that would not even go to that party since they have seen it. It would be neat to have a party at DCA which would be a great idea.

The DLR is trying to jump the gun and try to do too much just like WDW. They are not as big as WDW with property size and they should have leave it as the way it is. Those people at WDW are trying to ruin DL and trying to make it like WDW. After reading that the CM parties are being canceled this year at DL which is sad, but I think that I read on Lutz article that the people from WDW want to cancel it if I do recall.

I am not worried about BVS and CL being decorated, the only thing I am concern about those two lands is how much will they decorate them. Will they put up a lot of decorations like MS, MTT, NOS, etc. But with everything going on these last few years, I just don't know what is going t happen.

Thank you Sherry.

[PrincessInOz]

Catching up.

You really have a nice set of pictures from WoC. Looking forward to more.