disney at christmas

[perlster]

Uh oh!

Who can spot the faux pas in one of the photos?

 

[Sherry E]

Uh oh!

Who can spot the faux pas in one of the photos?

I saw a typo in one of the Reindeer Round-up signs. It said "Staring" when it should have said "Starring." Otherwise, I have no clue what another faux pas would be - and on which page? We have tons of pictures in this thread.

 

[perlster]

You win!

 

[Sherry E]

You win!

Cool! I was afraid it was something else really obvious and huge that I was overlooking!

 

[Sherry E]

Let's bump this up again!

 

[MaiynaMouse]

Sherry - thank you SO MUCH for keeping this thread alive. I was so excited to come to the DIS and see this on the front page. I'm currently planning our return to the land this coming December. CAN'T WAIT. It will have been a year and a half since we've been and it just seems like it's FOREVER.

I do plan to read each and every post from beginning to end. However, can you (or someone) answer a question for me? We are contemplating two weekends...December 1-5 or Dec 8-12. I've heard the Candlelight Processional is the first Saturday in December (though, it's been a while since I read about it so maybe I'm wrong). Does the processional bring huge crowds? Would we be better to wait until the second weekend? When does it typically start to get busy for the holiday?

I know I'll have more questions but since we are setting our dates in the next day or two, I just wanted to throw that out there.
~mm

 

[Sherry E]

Sherry - thank you SO MUCH for keeping this thread alive. I was so excited to come to the DIS and see this on the front page. I'm currently planning our return to the land this coming December. CAN'T WAIT. It will have been a year and a half since we've been and it just seems like it's FOREVER.

I do plan to read each and every post from beginning to end. However, can you (or someone) answer a question for me? We are contemplating two weekends...December 1-5 or Dec 8-12. I've heard the Candlelight Processional is the first Saturday in December (though, it's been a while since I read about it so maybe I'm wrong). Does the processional bring huge crowds? Would we be better to wait until the second weekend? When does it typically start to get busy for the holiday?

I know I'll have more questions but since we are setting our dates in the next day or two, I just wanted to throw that out there.
~mm

You're very welcome, MaiynaMouse! I had been letting this thread sink into the depths of the archives for quite a while but someone on the DIS suggested that people would be starting to plan their DLR holiday trips, so it seemed to make good sense that we keep this alive and prominent, so that we can kind of make it a one-stop shop for all things DLR Christmas time. We are already in April. The holiday season will officially start in November, so that's 7 months away. Lots of folks will want to start making hotel reservations now and beginning their plans. Seven months is not too far away.

Anyway, as long as we can keep the photos and info coming, then this thread should stay visible for a while. We still have lots of territory to cover - we need photos of the Candlelight Processional, for example. It would also be great to get some info and photos of anything that comes with the Holiday Tour, any other special holiday merchandise in DLR, any other food items (like the Christmas apples, for example) we haven't seen yet - there's lots of stuff. We still need to find out if any special meals are served on Christmas Day, too!

Okay, to answer your question - I have not been to DLR for the Candlelight Processional yet (though that is on my list of things to do one of these years at DLR - I would like to see it just once), so I can't give a first-hand account, but from everything I have learned from the wise DIS-ers on this board who have been to DLR during the CP weekend, it is very, very crowded. So, I would guess that the weekend of December 8 - 12 would be a better choice for you. It just seems like that would be the less crowded time of the two weekends you have on the table. BUT, this year is kind of a wild card/question mark in terms of crowds because of World of Color opening, for one thing. Last year, DLR saw the highest attendance for a holiday season in 10 years!! Attendance was up for 2009 by 15% as a whole, but the holiday attendance was the highest since 1999/2000. I was there for only one day in 2009, and the day I was there was over the same exact weekend I had been there in 2008 and 2007, and it was most definitely more crowded than the previous two years - even oppressively so. It had me re-thinking going to DLR over that weekend again this year, and instead trying to do an earlier holiday trip. So with any kind of new attraction open, that has to mean more people descending upon DLR at holiday time.

I think the kind of unwritten rule used to be that the first half of December was reasonable in terms of crowds (with the exception of the CP weekend or the Cast Member party nights). Then, once you reached mid-December, it started to get a bit more crowded up until Christmas. After Christmas and up through the New Year, the crowds have been infamously, notoriously crazy. But now, with the extremely large number of folks with Annual Passes as well as World of Color debut, Captain EO, the new Toy Story Midway Mania games, and the overall allure of the holidays at DLR, I think it may be crazy all throughout the season. I hope I am wrong!

 

[Sherry E]

Bump.

 

[Sherry E]

I must say that this Disney at Christmas super thread is evidently very popular - even if all the people viewing it are not posting and just enjoying the wonderful pictures and info, we have received a lot of views. We are already over 18,000 views - which is waaaaaaaaay more than the poor Halloween at DL super thread in the making, and is waaaaaaaay more than even our Character Meal photo & info thread over in the DL Community forum!!! There is just something extra magical about DLR at Christmastime that draws everyone in!!

 

[iluvdisney]

I am really looking forward to seeing all the decor at DL this year - and then I'll be heading to WDW as a bonus for my Christmas start jump this year!

 

[Sherry E]

I am really looking forward to seeing all the decor at DL this year - and then I'll be heading to WDW as a bonus for my Christmas start jump this year!

Ideally, that would be what I'd like to do - hit both DLR and WDW during the same holiday season. I think that would be great! Both resorts have different things to offer and I would want to experience it all. I could spend weeks on end taking in all the details - and all the holiday details - of all 4 parks and ALL of the hotels at WDW!! But until I can afford that, I will be content with DLR at Christmas. Have you seen DLR in November/December before? In case it's new to you - you'll have a wonderful, magical time at DLR during Christmastime. The gorgeous nighttime facade of It's a Small World Holiday - all aglow in its brilliant, colorful lights - is worth the price of admission alone, not to mention everything else that will be going on all around DLR.

 

[Queen Elisabeth]

I love checking in on this thread! Thanks for keeping it going. I am sooo looking forward to my first holiday trip to DL, and looking over this thread is helping to get me through this looong year.

 

[Sherry E]

I love checking in on this thread! Thanks for keeping it going. I am sooo looking forward to my first holiday trip to DL, and looking over this thread is helping to get me through this looong year.

Thanks for staying tuned in - and for giving the thread a nice bump! I believe it had sunk to page 2! I also enjoy scrolling through the entire thread - I go back to the beginning and start looking at all the pictures - for the same reasons. It helps to get through the long year (or a long week, or a long day) and it helps build my excitement for the holiday season at DLR!!

Eventually we will get some more folks posting their lovely photos. I guess we have to keep bumping it for enough people to see it and join in!!

 

[specialks]

Okay, new question about Christmas. Did anyone see the GC Villas during Christmas 2009? Anything special there? Does the GCV share the lobby with the GCH?

Also, did Aussietravellers (or does anyone have photos) ever post pictures of the DVP stocking? Didn't see them anywhere...

 

[Sherry E]

Okay, new question about Christmas. Did anyone see the GC Villas during Christmas 2009? Anything special there? Does the GCV share the lobby with the GCH?

Also, did Aussietravellers (or does anyone have photos) ever post pictures of the DVP stocking? Didn't see them anywhere...

Oooh...good questions about the GCV during Christmas.

I don't see a DVP stocking photo from Aussietravellers at a glance, unless I skipped past it. The adorable DVP mini-tree pictures are on Page 14 of this thread (post #204) - I just love that tree - but I don't think we have seen the stocking. I bet it's adorable as well! That would be great to see.

Also - the question is still out there for RDJ who asked last week or so: are there any special meals served exclusively on Christmas eve or Christmas day? Or is it pretty much the same holiday fare that is served throughout the season? Did the DLH have a Christmas buffet?

ETA: Yikes! I see that Disneylvrforever's wonderful photos from the previous page have disapeared!!

 

[smiley_face2]

Apples in Pooh Corner....

One of the many beautiful light post decorations in New Orleans Square

the stage show during the Reindeer Roundup Barbecue dinner, they were really good!

not a great pic of the "tree" in the haunted mansion...I love this thing!

 

[RDJ]

Just wanted to pop in and say thanks for all of the Christmas news and photos. I'm already getting really excited about our December holiday. I'm finding it extremely hard because this trip is a secret for now so I have to keep quiet. This thread is saving me!

Sherry thanks a lot for keeping my question alive too! ....Jody

"Also - the question is still out there for the RDJ who asked it last week or so: are there any special meals served exclusively on Christmas eve or Christmas day? Or is it pretty much the same holiday fare that is served throughout the season? Did the DLH have a Christmas buffet?"

 

[Sherry E]

Just wanted to pop in and say thanks for all of the Christmas news and photos. I'm already getting really excited about our December holiday. I'm finding it extremely hard because this trip is a secret for now so I have to keep quiet. This thread is saving me!

Sherry thanks a lot for keeping my question alive too! ....Jody

"Also - the question is still out there for the RDJ who asked it last week or so: are there any special meals served exclusively on Christmas eve or Christmas day? Or is it pretty much the same holiday fare that is served throughout the season? Did the DLH have a Christmas buffet?"

Oh you are welcome! No problem at all - initially I had phrased it "the question is still out there for the previous poster (PP)..." or something like that. Then I thought, No. I want to address the person by name and not just "PP." I was trying to change it to "the question is still out there for RDJ..." but I was distracted at the exact moment I was correcting myself and didn't edit the sentence thoroughly, so I had you as "the RDJ"! I didn't mean to refer to you as a 'the'!!!

Anyway, it's a very, very good and important question to have an answer to - if we can get an answer eventually. I am sure that those folks who are planning on being at DLR on the actual holiday would like to know if there are any special meals at any of the restaurants. I wonder if that buffet is still being held in the DLH banquet room.

There are lots of photos yet to be seen and questions to be answered, so we have to keep this thread alive so the folks who can provide those photos and answers see it and contribute. (I wonder if Disneylvrforever knows that her photos disappeared!! They were a great addition to this thread.)

Smiley_face2 - fabulous photos, as always!! I am not even a candy apple fan, necessarily, but those apples are very tempting!! And I love the close-up of the light post in NOS - just beautiful.

That's a perfect example of how the holiday decorations in DLR are so specific to each land/area. The ones in NOS are not really red and green as you would expect for Christmas. Instead, there is lots of purple and gold Mardi Gras-type colors and beads hanging everywhere. So wherever you go in DLR, it's like you are experiencing a taste of different kinds of holidays in those 'themes,' based on the specific type of holiday music playing (Western Christmas carols in Frontierland and calypso-type stuff in Adventureland, and jazz-influenced Christmas carols in NOS, for example) and the specific decorations. It's not like any one area or land is celebrating the holiday season in exactly the same way. What you find in terms of holiday decorations in ToonTown will not be what you find in NOS or Frontierland or Adventureland or A Bug's Land, or Critter Country, etc., and those will be different from what you find in Downtown Disney or at the GCH or in Paradise Pier in DCA, etc.

 

[gethane]

I really appreciate those contributing to this thread. I'm getting really excited about our Xmas trip even though we're going twice before hand (this is probably the one year we will have a AP so we're trying to hit as many holiday seasons as we can)

 

[Sherry E]

I really appreciate those contributing to this thread. I'm getting really excited about our Xmas trip even though we're going twice before hand (this is probably the one year we will have a AP so we're trying to hit as many holiday seasons as we can)

This is a particularly happy, festive, colorful thread, isn't it? And it really helps build excitement for DLR holiday trips, I think. It's definitely my favorite one. And, yes, with an AP you need to squeeze in as many trips as possible in case it is the only AP you have for a while! I only wish I had been able to get more trips in when I had my AP, but hopefully I will be able to get another one in the future and try it again!!

I am going to try to keep this thread alive - not only for those who are just starting to plan their holiday DLR trips but for those who may have any photos and info they would like to share here as well. There are still many things we need answers to and pictures of!

I also really appreciate everyone who is contrbuting their valuable info and pictures for us all to learn from and enjoy!