disney at christmas

[Queen Elisabeth]

We're going Dec 17-23 and I'm still trying to decide between HoJo and Desert Inn and Suites. Does anyone know if HoJo has historically offered Entertainment rates during the week before Christmas? At this point I'm leaning more toward Desert Inn and having a spa in our room for cold and aching winter feet, but if the Entertainment rate is available I might not be able to pass it up.

 

[Sherry E]

Sherry,
Glad you are feeling better!

TK

Thank you, TK!

Although...I had to put this disclaimer in the Halloween at DL thread too - anyone who happens to be scrolling through this thread and comes across the pages with what would normally be my photos, you will see the Photobucket 'bandwidth exceeeded message'. But it will cycle out eventually. I think Photobucket restores the photos by a certain date or so automatically, so I just have to wait it out until they magically reappear. It's so strange - I haven't added anything new to Photobucket lately, and yet they tell me my bandwidth has been exceeded!!?? This has happened to other DIS-ers, inexplicably, too. I guess it was my turn on the Photobucket hit list!

We're going Dec 17-23 and I'm still trying to decide between HoJo and Desert Inn and Suites. Does anyone know if HoJo has historically offered Entertainment rates during the week before Christmas? At this point I'm leaning more toward Desert Inn and having a spa in our room for cold and aching winter feet, but if the Entertainment rate is available I might not be able to pass it up.

That's a good question, Queen Elisabeth - I have not yet stayed at HoJo's or DI&S, so I cannot address that. It seems like the week before Christmas may be cutting it close for an actual Entertainment Rate, but I could be very wrong on that because I have no clue. Hopefully one of our seasoned HoJo's guests in this thread can answer that for you. If nothing else, at least you can get the 15% DISboards discount, I think.

I guess if they can have manly characters (like the Queen of Hearts), they can have Santas who look like - or are - women!!

 

[MattsPrincess]

quick question (and a bump to get us up off of page 2! lol)

about the cocoa they have throughout the park, does anyone know how they make it? do they do it with milk? if they do, can you ask for it to be made with water instead? i'm lactose intolerant, but i dont want to miss out on disney cocoa.

also, we're gonna book the holiday tour which says it includes a cup of cocoa. any way i could request for that to be non dairy? or maybe a coffee or cider instead? if not, no big. DH will get and extra cup and i'll still get to keep the mug!

 

[aussietravellers]

quick question (and a bump to get us up off of page 2! lol)

about the cocoa they have throughout the park, does anyone know how they make it? do they do it with milk? if they do, can you ask for it to be made with water instead? i'm lactose intolerant, but i dont want to miss out on disney cocoa.

also, we're gonna book the holiday tour which says it includes a cup of cocoa. any way i could request for that to be non dairy? or maybe a coffee or cider instead? if not, no big. DH will get and extra cup and i'll still get to keep the mug!

I am sorry, I can not remember if the Hot Chocolate (or Cocoa as it's called in the US I think) is made from milk or water but I did have it on the holiday tour and it was delicious. We picked it up (along with a gingerbread man) at Toontown. I would think that once you have made your holiday tour reservation and you go and check in at the tour area that you could mention your allergy. When we went to Fantasmic, I have a severe, life threatening nut/peanut allergy, so I was told to go to Guest Services on the morning of our fantasmic night and let them know. It was all organised and they were absolutely wonderful, not only did I get the regular tray of Fantasmic dessert but another full dessert tray full of different fruits. I ended up sharing it with the rest or our row as it was too large for me to eat.

So I would ask about the Hot Chocolate when you make the reservation for the tour and then on the morning of your tour go up to the tour counter window and ask then mention it again when you go to that same tour counter to check in for your tour and they might be able to call over to the Toontown place and request an alternative if it is made on milk and not water.

 

[sierranevada]

quick question (and a bump to get us up off of page 2! lol)

about the cocoa they have throughout the park, does anyone know how they make it? do they do it with milk? if they do, can you ask for it to be made with water instead? i'm lactose intolerant, but i dont want to miss out on disney cocoa.

also, we're gonna book the holiday tour which says it includes a cup of cocoa. any way i could request for that to be non dairy? or maybe a coffee or cider instead? if not, no big. DH will get and extra cup and i'll still get to keep the mug!

Also not sure if it is make with milk but I have asked in the past to substitute either hot cider or cold milk for the cocoa for my son and was told they could not do it. I believe that can give you a bottled water but that is not as fun!

 

[tksbaskets]

We did the tour 12/27/09. I guess a few days too late to get the holiday edition of the mug but we were happy DISers

This is the special ONLY on the tour Mickey Gingerbread cookie - DOUBLE YUM

Thanks for bumping us from page 2

 

[Sherry E]

Oh, I see...so the 'Holiday version" of the Mickey gingerbread man cookie (with the red ears and green buttons) is the one that is exclusively given out on the tour? Of course, those cookies (the regular kind without the green and red) are sold all over DLR, but I had seen a photo of the green and red one before and wondered why I never saw that specific one in the parks! Now I know why!!

I would really like to do that holiday tour at some point - for one, I would be much more interested in seeing the parade if I had great seats for it! Secondly, I would like to get in the fast line for HMH and IASW Holiday, without the long wait. I also would like to have the special pin that they give you on the tour. I like the idea of randomly strolling through DL and singing Christmas carols (I have heard that some people do that on the tour)! I would be interested in hearing all the different holiday-related info the guide conveys on the tour. And I want that green and red Mickey gingerbread man!! I love those cookies anyway, but a holiday version of them is too good to pass up!!

 

[Sherry E]

Sunday Bump!

 

[myhouseofmouse]

all this christmas talk, making me miss Xmas at disney...the hot cocco, the decorations, the lights, just the feeling you get when you walk in the parks..

 

[Sherry E]

all this christmas talk, making me miss Xmas at disney...the hot cocco, the decorations, the lights, just the feeling you get when you walk in the parks..

Myhouseofmouse - It is so wonderful, isn't it? It is an overall feeling you get, just as you said. The whole experience is so immersive and all-encompassing. Will you be getting back to DLR for Christmas any time soon?

I hope you have had a chance to kind of scroll back through this thread and just look at the beautiful photos provided by everyone (my pictures are not appearing at the moment because Photobucket is holding them hostage in Bandwidth Jail)! I think this thread has inspired more than a couple of DLR holiday trips!! I know that as the months pass, I am itching to get back to DLR during the season. The holiday season cannot come soon enough for me!!

Stay tuned here for details and news as it comes in, and we can all plan together!!

 

[Sherry E]

 

[Sherry E]

Time to bump!

 

[Kayla's Mom]

More parade pics!

 

[bbangel]

I'm so glad this thread is still going. It was so helpful in planning last years trip. I'm taking my mom to the Rose Bowl Parade and since we are going to be so close we may as well take a side trip to Disney right? So we will be there in the dreaded between Christmas and New Years period but we won't mind. We did the holiday tour last year and it was wonderful to have a seat for the parade and to have the hot chocolate and cookie to munch while we waited. Oooh and the fudge tasting that felt like a bonus lol.
Not sure what extra thing to plan this year. I wish they had hours and other scheduling info out sooner for us uber planners.

 

[Lostgirlz]

Hello everyone,
hubby and I are thinking of suprising the crumb catchers with a trip to disneyland over christmas, never having traveled over christmas at all, I just wanted some opinions what is the park like, is it worth it that kinda thing

thanks

Worth EVERY minute. I was just there last Christmas, and you couldn't help, but just get into the spirit. I even went alone one day, and while at first I thought bummer i'm alone, but then all the awesome decorations, the snow in the evening along with the lighting of all the lights there's no doubt i'm thinking of not doing the Christmas maddness this year, and this be there one HUGE gift a week there.

 

[Christina-B-Na]

I love this thread!! A little over 6 months till my trip and I can hardly stand it!! The smells, the decorations, the music........etc. Doesn't get much better than that!

Here are a few older photos. These are from 2005.

 

[Sherry E]

I love every single photo by everyone!! With each photo I see, I am all the more encouraged and excited to get back to DLR for a holiday trip. (And the season starts in 6 months, which seems like an eternity.) I am so happy that people are still taking the time to contribute - and that they still have photos left to contribute - to this thread!! It will be a while before we actually get the official info (or even rumors) with dates and a schedule for this coming DLR holiday season, so it really helps to keep the photos coming in and the discussion rolling along.

I have a strong hunch that when the DLR HalloweenTime plans get ironed out and things get under way, the combo of the Halloween season mixed in with the World of Color crowds will likely be a good indicator of what DLR will do and how things will be handled for the holiday season. Right now, there are probably plans for the holidays that are semi-cemented. But if the focus on WoC while trying to celebrate Halloweentime presents any new, unexpected challenges or issues, etc., this will probably impact how DLR handles its Christmas agenda...because, as we all know, the Christmas season is a much bigger spectacle than Halloweentime.


Oooohhhh...goody! It looks like Photobucket finally let all my photos out of Bandwidth Jail!! Woo hoo! I hated having so many photos in various threads around the board, and they all had that ominous "Bandwidth Exceeded" stamp on them in place of the actual images. I felt like such a criminal! But it looks like they are back!!

 

[tksbaskets]

I love every single photo by everyone!! With each photo I see, I am all the more encouraged and excited to get back to DLR for a holiday trip. (And the season starts in 6 months, which seems like an eternity.) I am so happy that people are still taking the time to contribute - and that they still have photos left to contribute - to this thread!! It will be a while before we actually get the official info (or even rumors) with dates and a schedule for this coming DLR holiday season, so it really helps to keep the photos coming in and the discussion rolling along.

I have a strong hunch that when the DLR HalloweenTime plans get ironed out and things get under way, the combo of the Halloween season mixed in with the World of Color crowds will likely be a good indicator of what DLR will do and how things will be handled for the holiday season. Right now, there are probably plans for the holidays that are semi-cemented. But if the focus on WoC while trying to celebrate Halloweentime presents any new, unexpected challenges or issues, etc., this will probably impact how DLR handles its Christmas agenda...because, as we all know, the Christmas season is a much bigger spectacle than Halloweentime.


Oooohhhh...goody! It looks like Photobucket finally let all my photos out of Bandwidth Jail!! Woo hoo! I hated having so many photos in various threads around the board, and they all had that ominous "Bandwidth Exceeded" stamp on them in place of the actual images. I felt like such a criminal! But it looks like they are back!!

Glad you made it out of Photobucket jail too I have mixed feelings about being at WDW for Christmas this year...Time for a DL add on for our DVC

 

[Sherry E]

Glad you made it out of Photobucket jail too I have mixed feelings about being at WDW for Christmas this year...Time for a DL add on for our DVC

You know, I wonder...is there anything similar to this Disney at Christmas thread over on the WDW side of the DIS? I don't go to the WDW forums too terribly often (though I do peek in on some threads here and there). It all seems so overwhelming and until I actually know that a WDW trip is in the cards for me, I don't need to be overwhelmed yet! But I would love love love love to see a WDW holiday thread - just like this one we have here - that solely focuses on photos and info about holiday stuff, because there is so much ground to cover over in WDW. The holiday-related photos must be endless! There must be one somewhere, but is it as active as this one is here, and in what forum would it be located? If there isn't one, maybe we should start one over there...somewhere....and see what anyone has to post.

It seems like whenever I use the Search feature and try to look for a particular subject - like the other day I was trying to find threads with ONLY pictures of the Flower & Garden Festival at WDW - I either come up with threads that are 2 pages long and have no photos, or I find a thread that has all information and only 2 photos!! I figured that someone, somewhere, must have started a photo thread on the Flower festival, but if they did, I coudn't find it. I wanted to see pictures of everything - all of the topiaries, all of the flowers, etc. I did find other pictures on DISboards, but not the threads I was hoping to find.

Anyway, my point in bringing that up is because, Tksbaskets, you were mentioning being at WDW for Christmas. I would love to go to WDW during the holidays one time, but I would want to make sure I saw all that there was to see and that I didn't miss anything in case I never got back there. And it just seems like there is soooooo much ground to cover, and so much time is spent waiting to get from Point A to Point B, unlike here at DLR. I would kind of want to know beforehand exactly what to look for so I didn't miss a thing, so a thread like this for WDW's holiday season would be priceless.

There are some folks who have been to WDW in December and then came back, saying they missed DLR!! So, even though WDW is so much bigger and grander, and thus, the holiday stuff is much more spectacular (like the Osborne Family thing), there may be something more appealing about the DLR holiday celebration experience. That smaller, more intimate feel of DLR may lend itself a little better to the holiday feeling. Just as folks say that DL has more rides and attractions packed into it per square foot than any of the individual parks in WDW have packed in, I think that would also mean that there is more Christmasy magic packed into a smaller space in DL & DLR. Wouldn't that make sense?

So by that reasoning, I almost wonder if DLR feels a bit more magical and immersive in November and December than WDW does?

 

[FlameGirl]