Candlelight & Cannonballs! (MANY MARDI GRAS MASK PICS!) Dec. 2012- Start Pg.235/#3524

[mvf-m11c]

Very nice photos from the Round Up and the merchandise. Looks like I got a lot of picture taking tomorrow. Once again, great photos and your one day trip gives me an idea of what to take at DL tomorrow.

[kaoden39]

Whats funny is those look like the same basic things in the windows like maybe they are just changing the characters and the seasonal changes. But, the big things like the bicycle are still there.

I love Halloween, to me that is my favorite holiday. If I bough every decoration I wanted we would be broke and there would be no room for any decorations. And throw in Christmas, well you get it. Our storage shed in our yard is filled with holiday decorations literally. We have enough ornaments we could decorate three or four trees.

Making the scarecrow was a lot of fun. I sewed clothe leaves onto it and I used hay and corn husks. It was fun indeed!!

[tksbaskets]

I love Halloween and the merchandise is great this year! Probably a good thing for my purse that I'm just visiting virtually this year.

Not continue to read each installment?? Are you kidding?? I'm enjoying your whirlwind trip to DL immensely.

I did have to find a spot of time to post a couple of pictures on the Christmas thread in between reading!

[WDWJonasGirl]

I love the merchandise!!

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by mvf-m11c

Very nice photos from the Round Up and the merchandise. Looks like I got a lot of picture taking tomorrow. Once again, great photos and your one day trip gives me an idea of what to take at DL tomorrow.

Bret -

Thank you! But I know you are not reading this right now because you are at DLR, enjoying the Halloween Time festivities!

I know you'll take a lot of great photos - you'll probably find some cool things that the rest of us haven't found yet!

Originally Posted by kaoden39

Whats funny is those look like the same basic things in the windows like maybe they are just changing the characters and the seasonal changes. But, the big things like the bicycle are still there.

I love Halloween, to me that is my favorite holiday. If I bough every decoration I wanted we would be broke and there would be no room for any decorations. And throw in Christmas, well you get it. Our storage shed in our yard is filled with holiday decorations literally. We have enough ornaments we could decorate three or four trees.

Making the scarecrow was a lot of fun. I sewed clothe leaves onto it and I used hay and corn husks. It was fun indeed!!

Michele -

You're absolutely right. There are some basic items in the DL window displays that stay there year-round, and I guess the window designers/window dressers (or whatever DLR calls them - I'm sure they have some clever Disney-fied name for it) just swap out the seasonal touches and colors.

I'm not sure why the sewing machine baffled me this year. As I was saying to deej earlier in the week, I think I was thrown off because I am so used to seeing photos of that pesky sewing machine in her TR's (for different seasons), or at night on my own trips (like last December, I got a photo of the holiday sewing machine display, in the evening). But I am not used to really paying attention to it in broad daylight, during Halloween Time, in person, right in front of me.

So when I looked at the sewing machine last week, it didn't seem to me to be in the same location that it was in when I made my December trip...although I am sure it was in the same exact place! I didn't recall going up to that exact same window, in that same location, and taking the nighttime Christmas sewing machine photo...although I am certain I did! It just appeared to be out of place, but, logically, I know it wasn't!

You said Halloween is your favorite holiday. I know a few people feel that same way and prefer it over Christmas (like Beth, for example, and funatdisney/liza). I'm always curious to know why certain holidays are favorites for people - like, if someone says Thanksgiving is their favorite, I always wonder why.

Are you one of the people who prefers Halloween to Christmas because there is no real pressure involved (other than getting candy for the trick or treaters), like there is with Thanksgiving or Christmas? That seems to be a huge reason why more people are loving Halloween these days - less pressure. Christmas time and Thanksgiving seem to evoke a lot of anxiety in people, and pressure to spend money, buy gifts, cook huge meals, etc.

Or, do you just prefer Halloween because you like the colors, the kind of 'scary' aspect to it, the pumpkins, etc.?

I love both Halloween and Christmas for different reasons because they are such different types of holidays, and they conjure up different types of feelings in each person, I think.

I guess the reason Christmas has the edge for me and wins out is because of the beauty of it. I don't have the same pressures other people have to buy gifts (no family = no gifts!), and I don't have to cook any enormous meals, so I can just kind of sit back or stroll around the neighborhood and enjoy the aesthetic appeal of the holiday season. I think I like it on a sensory level - the colors, the lights, the wide range of textures and types of decor, the music, the aromas, the goodies, etc. I like it for all sorts of superficial reasons more than the actual religious reasons/origins.

Plus, back when I had money I used to love love love giving gifts to friends! I loved making gifts, buying them, wrapping them, picking just the right things that people wanted or would like, etc.

Then again, Halloween is definitely my 'other' favorite holiday because of the whimsical nature of it, and how it can switch from being fun and festive to scary and blood-curdling! It has two sides to it! It's like a split personality holiday! Who doesn't love "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"? At the same time, it's so much fun to watch all the 'scary' TV specials too, about haunted houses and evil monsters and all that.

Plus, I love the Hallmark "Boo Bazaar," which used to sell all kinds of Halloween decor and lapel pins, etc.

Now if I had to pick a third favorite holiday, hmmmm...what would it be? Easter, I suppose. Gotta love the Easter Bunny, egg hunts, the pastel colors, Easter baskets, etc.

What would be your second and third favorite holidays, Michele?

Originally Posted by tksbaskets

I love Halloween and the merchandise is great this year! Probably a good thing for my purse that I'm just visiting virtually this year.

Not continue to read each installment?? Are you kidding?? I'm enjoying your whirlwind trip to DL immensely.

I did have to find a spot of time to post a couple of pictures on the Christmas thread in between reading!

TK -

I'm glad you've been following along! I haven't really posted all that much to read - mainly just photos more than anything. It was a whirlwind trip - one that was planned way in advance and kept a secret! But seeing that I don't get to DLR very often and am not able to do TR's very often, I need all the support I can get!

If I had more than one day (or 3/4 of a day), and was staying for a few nights, I could have really gotten into the photos and come up with some more stuff. But I'm glad I got what I was able to get in a short period of time, and now I have the Herculean task of the holidays ahead of me - and how I can top myself after last year's 1600-photo bonanza!!

Originally Posted by WDWJonasGirl

I love the merchandise!!

Kaitlin -

They do make some really cute Halloween merchandise, don't they? I didn't see some things this year that I have seen other years for Halloween Time, so the main thing to remember is that if you spot something you like while you are at DLR, get it right away or it could be gone!!!

[DizNee Luver]

Love all the fall colors.....everything looks beautiful & comforting!!! The carved pumpkins are just amazing!!! Wish I was that talented to create some of those!! I've seen pics of the pumpkins around the partner's statue, but had never seen the Roger Rabbit one!!

After catching up on your report, I have a craving for pumpkin cookies!!!!

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by DizNee Luver

Love all the fall colors.....everything looks beautiful & comforting!!! The carved pumpkins are just amazing!!! Wish I was that talented to create some of those!! I've seen pics of the pumpkins around the partner's statue, but had never seen the Roger Rabbit one!!

After catching up on your report, I have a craving for pumpkin cookies!!!!

Hi, Laurie!

"Comforting" is an excellent word to describe Fall, now that you mention it! When I think about it, there is something very comforting about Fall colors, Fall food, etc. There seem to be quite a few Fall-colored flower arrangements around DLR, whether in big flower beds or small planters, and even though some of them are artificial (shhhh! Don't tell anyone that!), they still greatly enhance the overall feeling of the season.

I know I am not talented enough to carve out a pumpkin like what they have at the Round-Up. My hands are just not steady enough, and my lines would be too sloppy, I think. But it's amazing to see what those pumpkin artists can do.

You know, in the past I had walked around the Partners statue and looked at the pumpkins representing each land, but I never took photos of them for some odd reason. (What I was I thinking?) So when I actually took the time to get some pictures, some of the pumpkins looked less familiar to me than others. I kind of wish they had a better 'mascot' on the pumpkin that represents Adventureland. I guess it has to be Tarzan because of Tarzan's Treehouse, though. I just wish it were Baloo or someone from another animated, 'adventure-ish' feature (like Simba or Baloo, for example). They could represent the theme of the land rather than representing an attraction in the land.

And now I am going to say something controversial......I kinda sorta wish there was someone other than Tinkerbell on the Fantasyland pumpkin!

I know - I should turn in my 'Disney fan for life' membership card for uttering such blasphemy! I just think that if we are going to be representing rides in a particular land on a pumpkin, it would be more interesting to have Snow White or Pinocchio or Mr. Toad.

I'm sort of craving pumpkin cookies myself! Oddly enough, I am not a huge pumpkin pie fan. I don't hate it. I don't even dislike it, really. But I could take it or leave it. I don't even really care for pumpkin-flavored things too much. If I were going to sit down and eat pie, it would not be pumpkin. However, being at DLR gives me a whole new interest in some things, I suppose, and when I was there on the 16th, I found myself actually considering ordering pumpkin pie at the Plaza Inn! I didn't end up getting it, but I was thinking about it!

Being at Disneyland during Halloween Time makes me want to eat pumpkin-flavored goodies, just like being there during the holiday season makes me want to eat gingerbread and peppermint more than I would in 'real life'! They cast a spell on us at DLR, I tell you! They work some sort of magic that gets us all wanting to eat and buy things we would not normally think too much about!

Anyway, am trying to fumble with Photobucket to get the next installment up.

[Sherry E]

The Return of the Masked Mouse and His Diabolical Twin - September 16, 2011 - Part 12

When I left off in Part 11, I was making my way out of New Orleans Square and back to Main Street, stopping to check out some merchandise along the way. I was mainly trying to focus on finding Halloween merchandise for the sake of getting photos to post in the Superthread, but it's easy to get sidetracked by the various colors, designs and variety of the other year-round souvenirs too.

I must say - I am one of those folks who loves a super-sized mug! I don't like small, wimpy mugs. I like the hearty, giant-sized mugs that can not only hold beverages but also servings of soup, chili, cereal, ice cream, etc. In the old, old days I used to collect mugs, but they were all the small, wimpy ones. Now it seems like everything is oversized! I don't know if I could find a tiny mug at Disneyland even if I wanted it!

Yes, it may seem like the Christmas merchandise was put out a little early, but to be fair, the China Closet on Main Street always has a section devoted to Christmas stuff (year-round), and these items were in that section. So when you look at it that way, I guess it was normal. These are basically the standard DLR holiday fare, but not really the new items for 2011, I don't think (every year DLR comes out with something new and extra-clever).










I think these are beautiful ornaments.











Some festive Mickey pumpkin and ghost antenna toppers for Michele (I know you love a good antenna topper!!)...
























Franken-Mickey!






Love these!

Stay tuned for Part 13, which will feature...the seasonal Sewing Machine Display, as well as the seasonal cake!

[DizNee Luver]

I actually agree on the Tinkerbell pumpkin.....Dumbo, Mr Toad, Alice, etc would all be good choices!! I favor Dumbo myself....that's actually the first thing I think of when someone says Fantasyland.

I love all the Halloween merchandise, especially the shot glasses near the bottom of the post!! (the ornament is awesome too!!!)

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by DizNee Luver

I actually agree on the Tinkerbell pumpkin.....Dumbo, Mr Toad, Alice, etc would all be good choices!! I favor Dumbo myself....that's actually the first thing I think of when someone says Fantasyland.

I love all the Halloween merchandise, especially the shot glasses near the bottom of the post!! (the ornament is awesome too!!!)

Dumbo would be great, Laurie! When I was thinking of other characters who could be on a pumpkin representing Fantasyland, I forgot all about Dumbo! That's actually a really, really good idea. Tinkerbell just seems so....expected, I guess.

They did have some cute Halloween shot glasses this year, didn't they? There were a couple of different types. I'm not sure if I have noticed holiday or Halloween shot glasses at DLR in the past. That's not to say they didn't exist. I just never saw them.


Okay, I'm gathering up photos for the next installment. I don't have too much more to go - I am almost done. I think everyone would rather see Bret's Halloween photos anyway (which he will be posting today), so it's probably for the best that I am about done!

[tksbaskets]

Originally Posted by Sherry E

Dumbo would be great, Laurie! When I was thinking of other characters who could be on a pumpkin representing Fantasyland, I forgot all about Dumbo! That's actually a really, really good idea. Tinkerbell just seems so....expected, I guess.

They did have some cute Halloween shot glasses this year, didn't they? There were a couple of different types. I'm not sure if I have noticed holiday or Halloween shot glasses at DLR in the past. That's not to say they didn't exist. I just never saw them.


Okay, I'm gathering up photos for the next installment. I don't have too much more to go - I am almost done. I think everyone would rather see Bret's Halloween photos anyway (which he will be posting today), so it's probably for the best that I am about done!

NOOoooo I don't want your trip to be almost done....I like looking at both your photos and Bret's. A wonderful one-two treat!

[Sherry E]

The Return of the Masked Mouse and His Diabolical Twin - September 16, 2011 - Part 13

As Michele (kaoden39) was saying earlier, many of the window displays along Main Street feature certain items to convey a theme (bicycles, sewing machines, etc.) which stay there all year long, and the Disney window designer people just swap out the seasonal colors and accessories surrounding these items as the months go on.

This ends up being rather amusing, in a way. It's fun to kind of see the evolution of these displays over the course of the year, and to see the holiday accents change. Its like the displays are very similar...and, yet, different. Our very own DIS'er deejdigsdis has a few photos of one particular window display featuring an ever-present sewing machine in her TR, and her photos span a few different variations of the same display over a few different trips to DLR.


So you might find, for example, a window display featuring a cake...

Here is the Christmas season cake:







And the Halloween Time version of the cake:

...Or a sewing machine...

Christmas season sewing machine display:









Halloween Time sewing machine:

...Or other assorted baked goods...

Other random holiday cake:







Other random Halloween cake:







Christmas cupcakes:







Halloween cupcakes:

...Or the same window, different holiday...

General holiday window display:













General Halloween window display:

Anyway, you get the idea! I don't have any Easter time photos, but would love to have them for the comparison. I have, however, seen the Valentine's Day displays in some photos and they are oddly similar to the Christmas displays! I think those sneaky Disney people just replaced a couple of items but basically left the holiday stuff intact. Christmas and Valentine's Day share a common thread of the color red, so it's easy to reuse some of the same props and decorations (and it's less expensive that way, I suppose)



Moving on with my Halloween window display fun 'n' games....You can see I encountered the dreaded reflections and glares that can be a problem with window displays. I got lucky in December and was able to avoid a lot of that glare/reflection nonsense by taking the pictures at night! Not this time, though.

But that's okay - I don't edit my photos before posting them here in the TR (except to block out a face or two or to rotate the picture). I don't only show you the ones I consider to be 'good' pictures. If I only showed you the ones that I thought were any good, well this TR would have very few pictures in it, not to mention it would take me 10 years to get through one single Trip Report!!

I show them all - great shots or not, blurry messes or not...it's all here (unless the photo is just soooooo blurry you can't tell what the subject is). Sometimes I get lucky - those photos from Dia de los Muertos and the outdoor portion of the Halloween Round-Up came out pretty decent. The colors in the Dia de los Muertos display were exactly like that in person...no enhancement on this end. I was just lucky it translated on camera. And sometimes I fail miserably and take a bad photo. But that's okay because we all do that.

I think it's fellow DIS'er KCMike that said on this forum once to just keep shooting and eventually something will come out great!! It's so true! Just take hundreds or thousands of photos and there will be a few gems in the bunch - believe me!

We are nearing the end, folks. There is not too much more to come! By my calculations, it looks like I only have about 2 more posts full of photos (assuming I use the 25-image limit we are allotted per post) and that will be it for this trip. I did as much as I could do with a 3/4 day trip and about 4.75 hours of solo time.

I do have the Halloween party coming up, but I don't hold out much hope for my camera to take great nighttime shots so you may not see too many pictures from that adventure. We'll see what happens!! I know I could take the time to fiddle with the settings to get the best night shots possible, but I don't know if I will have the time for that this week.


Anyway, Parts 14 and 15 - the final Halloween frontier - are coming up today!!

[JH87]

Sherry I am loving your photos and TR! I just got back from DLR and I didn't take as many photos as you did, so it's fun to re-see all the Halloween stuff. Especially the window displays

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by tksbaskets

NOOoooo I don't want your trip to be almost done....I like looking at both your photos and Bret's. A wonderful one-two treat!

It's almost done, TK! So you won't have much more from me. I have about 2 more posts left - unless I spread out the photos and stretch them to 3 posts. I've already gotten to the sewing machine display and it's all downhill from there! ...Except for that I have to explain where "Diabolical Twin" came from, which is not really all that entertaining.

Strangely, I cannot get into Bret's TR to post comments or view his photos IN the actual TR, because his photos are large and my computer will just not load the pages. I have tried repeatedly to get in there and post a comment, but if it's on a page with many photos...my PC (which is failing, as we all know) will lock up and I have to reboot. I had similar problems with deej's TR at times - she posts the big, colorful photos, which are great to look at but horrible for my PC.

I even have trouble in my very own TR when I need to go back to an older page for some reason, and in the early days of this TR is when I was posting bigger photos. My pages will not load and my PC locks up.

The only way I seem to be able to view Bret's pictures is when I get the e-mail notification that he has posted. I can click on the separate photo links in the e-mail and see them that way. But I cannot comment on anything in the TR because I can't get the TR pages to load when there are photos! No one else has these problems, so I know it's just a problem with my stupid computer!

Originally Posted by JH87

Sherry I am loving your photos and TR! I just got back from DLR and I didn't take as many photos as you did, so it's fun to re-see all the Halloween stuff. Especially the window displays

Welcome back, Jillian!! I'm so glad to see you here again! Thank you! I thought of you the other day - I remembered you said you were going to be at DLR this past week and I wondered if you would come back with any photos. You were there for a couple of days, weren't you?

It is very hard to get a lot of photos of window displays and lots things at the Round-Up and all that when you have people with you, isn't it? It's definitely something that is better left for solo park time! Although...there were other people who had window displays in mind when I was there because I actually had people standing behind me, waiting to get photos of random displays too! The window displays are catching on!

I never made it back to the Villains photo spot in Fantasyland! My time was so brief, and I really wanted to mainly concentrate on Main Street, merchandise, the Round-Up and Dia de los Muertos. So I didn't get to see which Villains were out, but now I am hearing that there were some different ones from previous years (the less common ones, I suppose). Who did you see?


Will you be posting your photos anywhere? I'd love to see them!

[mvf-m11c]

I enjoyed seeing all your halloween photos from the window displays. Most of the windows displays were the same as the ones that you took. I did take some pics of the window displays, but I didn't get very close pics of the displays like you did. I liked all the photos of the merchandise that you took.

When I post more of the pics on my TR, I will shrink them down so you can see them with no problem. I didn't know that you had a problem viewing my TR, so the next post will be for you so you can view them.