Thanks Sherry for your feedback. I will be keeping my eyes out for any new info on Christmas. My wife called DL last night and the operator she talked to couldn't imagine them charging for special fireworks and parades etc. I told my wife she must not know about the HAlloween stuff
We are in the debating phase of whether its worth it or not to take the kids this Christmas. After our ANniversary (one day quickie to DL) trip we came back and told the kids how much fun we had. They immediately wanted to hop the plane back to Cali. My first wild idea was to go three times within a calendar year (Christmas this year, Summer next year, and Halloween the following) to get the most out of a cost of an annual pass. But after studying the costs I'm not sure if thats the best deal for me. In the summer next year we plan on driving out west so we won't have to deal with the cost of plane tickets which would considerable lighten our load and let us see other natural wonders on the way out. I then starting thinking though that maybe three times in one calendar year might be overdoing it. Crazy thinking right? Next year will probably be our last Disney park for 3-4 years as we are buckling down for the kids and helping them pay for college as best as we can. So here I am crunching the numbers and trying to figure out what is the best for us. So much money up front for an annual pass is a big road block. A monthly payment plan would be ideal and really help but thats not going to happen. Next year we also want to finally (yes finally see Catalina). I also would like to visit the Walt Disney Museum in San Fran among other things. It would be our last hoorah for Calif for sometime. Gotta go out with a bang for as cheap as possible. ANyways thanks for the time and cosideration in helping with my Disney habit. Talk to you soon.
Mike -
I was laughing at your comment about Halloween! You are so correct - DLR will certainly charge for special fireworks and parades!
See, with the Halloween Screams fireworks, those had only been shown to the general public for one year, so it wasn't like it was a longstanding Halloween tradition that was suddenly becoming a paid party exclusive.
But the holiday season party - IF and when there is one - will be much trickier to handle IF they do it in DL because the fireworks, parade and snow have been long, long, longstanding traditions. To have any of those things suddenly taken away and made paid exclusives would be very controversial, I think....which is why having a party in DCA at first would make more sense, unless DLR adds in something new to the holiday agenda just for a party!
I'm so glad to hear that Catalina is on the agenda for next year!
I don't know when exactly you would be getting there, but remember that Catalina Express is having their 'get a free round trip boat ticket on your birthday' deal through the end of April 2012 (it's like the Disney 'get in free on your birthday' deal from 2 years ago). Just in case anyone's birthday happens to fall during the time of your big trip, you may be able to take advantage of that deal!
You've got a lot of thinking and numbers crunching to do. It sounds like your trip to California will be wonderful, full of so many great experiences. The Walt Disney Family Museum, I've heard, is just amazing.
On the one hand I can see how 3 times at DLR over the year may be excessive, especially with the ghastly prices of the AP's. On the other hand, I can see why it's good to really think it through, as you could be away from all Disney parks for 3 - 4 years and getting in a few trips before stepping away from it would be a nice way to go out with a bang. It will be very exciting and interesting to see how DCA takes shape next year as the final pieces of the transformation puzzle fall into place.
I wish you luck with planning! I am guessing the DLR holiday season start date of 11/14 this year may have thrown your plan off course a bit?
How do we know what days they make the candy canes? I read the link but didn't see anything on that.
and Ho ho ho!
rentayenta - Sorry it took me so long to reply.
The MousePlanet piece with the 2010 Candy Cane Dates for last year (I posted the link on the first page, post #3) seems to have been posted on 11/18/10.
Similarly, the blog about the Candy Canes with dates from
The Disney Food Blog posted on 11/23 last year.
I am guessing that the full schedule probably came out officially a few days after the holiday season began, which last year was 11/12/10. And MousePlanet picked up on it for their 11/18 article.
I remember there were some eager people waiting and waiting for those darn candy cane dates to be released last year and it was taking forever to find out.
The candy kitchen phone number that I posted on the first page is supposed to be updated after each season ends. So at the end of the Summer season the candy kitchen number should have been updated with the HalloweenTime information, and at the end of HalloweenTime they should update it with holiday stuff. So the candy cane date announcements should either be right at the beginning of September, at the earliest, or right after HalloweenTime ends, in early November. Sometimes they run behind schedule in making the changes to the recording on the candy kitchen hotline!
If I recall correctly, one of our DIS'ers - lapdwife - was checking the Candy Palace on Main Street for candy cane dates on the second day of the season, and she didn't see more than one or two dates at that time. The rest of the dates were revealed as November progressed!
So if the candy kitchen doesn't update their phone line with new info in time for the holiday season start date of 11/14 this year, most likely the dates will be released a few days after that.
Oh my heck Sherry, your pics on page 35, post 523 make me so happy.
rentayenta - Thank you so much!
I couldn't recall which photos I had posted, so I had to go back and look after you posted! When I got to that page, I recalled all the trouble I was having with my stupid PC at that point - especially on Photobucket - just trying to copy the links to the pictures in post 523 and in post 525 or whatever the next one is, so I could paste them here in a post.
I'm glad you like them! They make me pretty happy, too! Then again, this thread (and its predecessor) has always been a pretty wonderful thread full of wonderful photos from everyone, so it's easy to be happy!
I was just about to post that! We won't be waking every day to observe the un-Holiday-ing of 
but I cannot wait until Christmastime at the DLR! 
