Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread #2 (Closed)

[mommy2mrb]

Our family Christmas trip to see Mickey has turned into a "mommy & me" Christmas trip. DH and DD1 are staying home (DD1 is saving her money to go to NYC in February).

Now that it will just be me and DD2 we'll be able to spend as much time as we want taking pictures So I'm looking for photo scavenger hunt ideas/themes. Here's what I have so far:

Trees--how many are there?
Wreaths--how many are there?
Santa
Holiday treats
Characters in holiday attire

Anyone have some other ideas for us? DD is 16 and loves unusual angles or photo ideas. Thanks so much

Hi, what a fun idea... Megan and I would love to do this too! fun idea Cheryl, getting so excited to see you two!

 

[rentayenta]

Sherry, during this snowy freezing weekend we've watched, Chistmas Vacation, Elf, and 3 of the Rankin/Bass. Chloe is currently sitting in her candy cane striped American Girl pjs with her light up reindeer Build A Bear. The holiday spirit runneth over in my crib.

 

[2prettyprincesses]

Does anyone think that you can see the lighting of the castle, fireworks, and WOC possible?? We saw WOC, fireworks and F! all in one night but that was when the dragon was premiring and it was delayed. There's just so much I want to do and we have only 3 days! Plus my girls are dying to see the P&F parade and the memories thing. Ahhh!!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Does anyone think that you can see the lighting of the castle, fireworks, and WOC possible?? We saw WOC, fireworks and F! all in one night but that was when the dragon was premiring and it was delayed. There's just so much I want to do and we have only 3 days! Plus my girls are dying to see the P&F parade and the memories thing. Ahhh!!

I don't think it is possible to see all three shows all in one night. Since WoC starts at 8pm and 9:15pm while the fireworks start at 8:45pm. Sleeping Beauty Winter Castle show which is the lighting of the castle will be before the fireworks and will run two shows before the fireworks. I can't see seeing all three shows in one night. If WoC was starting at 9pm and 10:30pm, it is highly possible to see all three in one night. The best way to see all three is to do them separate night since it is not possible to see all three shows. I would do SB Winter Castle and Believe...In Holiday Magic fireworks first since you don't know if DL will cancel the fireworks due to the weather.

 

[LauraBee]

Hello all, this is my first post here ever so I hope I do everything right. I'm visiting Disneyland for Christmastime on December 14th (or possibly the 15th, but we're planning for the 14th right now). It will also be me and my boyfriend's first anniversary so I want everything to be perfectly special. Disneyland is my favorite place in the word, Christmas is my favorite time of all, and my boyfriend is my favorite person so everything is looking good. I know this gets asked a ton around here, but do you have any idea what the crowds will look like on the 14th? Thanks.

Unfortunately, we are on a pretty strict budget as we are both unemployed full time college students. I want to do some decent dining though while we are there though. No Blue Bayou or anything like that. I'm thinking we will do New Orleans Cafe for lunch (do you need a reservation?) and the Plaza Inn for dinner. Plus tons of snacking all day long, of course.

I'm a little worried that since I've seen a bunch of pictures of Disney at Christmas it won't be as surprising. I haven't ever been at Christmastime so I'm wondering if actually seeing them in person is a whole different experience? I certainly hope so.

I have a list of things that we are doing for sure because I really want to maximize our one day there. We are going to try pretty much all the rides (it's been done before, haha!) and watching the fireworks and hopefully the parade. Last time we went (during the summer) we watched the parade from the Plaza Inn while eating dinner. That was pretty awesome, I hope to do that again. We are going to take pictures in front of the tree (and probably everywhere else, I'm a bit of a photo monster) and meet a couple characters. I'm really a sucker for anything sweet and romantic though, does anybody have any ideas of things we can do that are pretty cheap? Drinking is not an option either - we are 19 currently. We don't have a hopper pass either so going to CA is sadly not an option. I really wanted to take a look at the Grand Californian and go to the Phineas and Ferb parade.

We're planning on watching Tangled at his house the night before we leave because we haven't seen it yet to get in the mood. I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. I think we'll have to add Nightmare Before Christmas to our movie marathon though to get completely in the Christmas mood.

Does anybody have any ideas about weather? I'm already planning my outfit - I bought a short sleeved v-neck from Target that has Minnie Mouse in a Santa hat on it that I thought would be perfect to wear. I'm planning on pairing that with some shorts and a pair of tights and bringing a pair of jeans for nighttime just in case. And my Mickey ears, of course. I have a decent tolerance for cold so hopefully I won't freeze.

Are there any for sure park hours out for December yet? I'm pretty sure I found them but I don't want to be wrong. I just want the park to be open until 12 on the day I go - last time we stayed from like 10 in the morning to 12 at night. It was quite exhausting but I loved every second.

I can't even explain how excited I am for the Haunted Mansion - Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my absolute favorite movies and I can't wait to see it for real. I've always been a total Christmas Town girl so hopefully they show lots of Christmassy scenes. I've tried to avoid looking at pictures of Holiday Haunted Mansion to make it a surprise.

Anyway, I'm honestly just freaking out over how excited I am and I knew nobody would understand it like you all. Sorry if all of this came out as word vomit but I am just so happy that it's only like 38 days away!! Thank you

 

[wdwmickey]

Hi, what a fun idea... Megan and I would love to do this too! fun idea Cheryl, getting so excited to see you two!

Maybe we could put together a special scavenger hunt for the girls while we're together--with a special "prize" depending on how many items they find What do you think?

 

[Sherry E]

It's Monday, and you know what that means.....



Time for the Weekly Monday Countdown!!!

...Only 7 Days Until the
Holiday Season Begins at Disneyland Resort!!!!​

And with the new week comes a new Disneyland Resort holiday theme!!

As you know, I’ve been showcasing a particular area of interest of DLR's holiday season festivities each week, up until the 2011 merriment officially begins on Monday, November 14!! It is a good way to keep the photos rolling in on a regular basis and build anticipation for 11/14! Also, it's a way to display the different aspects and details of the holidays at DLR that may be totally new to some people...or previously unnoticed/undiscovered by others.

We began with the rustic, down home appeal of Santa’s Reindeer Round-Up ten weeks ago. We soaked in the small town American charm of Main Street. The next theme was the mysterious, mystical, musical allure of New Orleans Square. We then caught a glimpse of the Hotels of the Disneyland Resort and their special decorations. Six weeks ago we celebrated holidays around the world with the children of It’s a Small World Holiday. We followed that up with a visit to the playful, colorful, wacky city of Mickey’s Toontown. We reveled in the pageantry of A Christmas Fantasy Parade and Believe…In Holiday Magic Fireworks. We got a glimpse of some tempting Holiday Treats and Treasures to eat and purchase. We enjoyed the season, cowboy & critter-style, in Frontierland and Critter Country. And last week we joined Jack Skellington and the characters of “Nightmare Before Christmas” for a spooky, Halloween-esque Christmas spectacular in the Haunted Mansion Holiday.

Including today’s theme, there are 8 themes to come over the next week: a weekly Monday countdown for 11/7, six “mini-themes” – one each day, from 11/8-11/13, and then the final weekly theme on Monday, 11/14, which is the starting day of the holiday season.
.

So, that said….

In the Spotlight this Week......

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE (INCLUDING A BUG’S LAND)!!!​

Just across the Esplanade from Disneyland Park you will find a totally different kind of theme park. For the past decade, Disney California Adventure has been a place to enjoy a sort of overall ‘snapshot experience’ of the Golden State of California, all in one place.

As everyone knows, the landscape of Disney California Adventure has been evolving and dramatically transforming over the last few years…and so have the seasonal offerings. We’ve seen quite a few holiday highlights come and go, such as: the red & white-striped CALIFORNIA letters at the entrance to the park; Santa’s Beach Blast; the bells, candy canes and other garland shapes that hung from the various posts in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot area; the majestic Golden Gate Bridge, which glowed in Christmas splendor after dark, etc. Even the park’s Christmas tree has been relocated a couple of times here and there.

The residents of A Bug’s Land, however, continue to string their jumbo-sized lights and set out their enormous ornaments for photo ops as soon as November rolls around.

We can’t really be sure what further additions or subtractions there may be to future Yuletide celebrations in California Adventure, but we know that by the end of 2012 a whole new chapter will have begun - and with that comes more exciting possibilities for different ways to soak in the holiday spirit.





Please feel free to post your holiday photos of California Adventure all this week!!!!!

​

 

[mommy2mrb]

Maybe we could put together a special scavenger hunt for the girls while we're together--with a special "prize" depending on how many items they find What do you think?

definately! I will go look on the DISigns threads to see if anyone has some samples!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Nice theme today Sherry since we are only a week away till the Holiday season at the DLR. Hope you got to check out Dateline Disneyland today since there were some additional decorations in NOS, but it isn't completely all deck out yet. So we hope that it will be great next week.

Here are some of my pics of DCA during the Holiday season. There are some old ones that aren't there anymore and some that will be there during the Holiday season.

Former CALIFORNIA Sign

Former Golden Gate Bridge

PP Christmas Tree where the Red Light Tower is today

Old Hollywood Pictures Backlot Sign with some Wreaths

Hollywood Pictures Backlot with some Holiday decorations before Electronica

PP Christmas Tree

A Bug’s Land with Holiday decorations

Pacific Wharf w/Holiday decorations

Former Mission Tortilla Factory with a Holiday garland

 

[GrandBob]

Ooh, ooh, the CALIFORNIA sign at Christmas - one of my favorite pics.

 

[Sherry E]

Bret & Bob - Thank you so much for posting your wonderful photos! There's going to be a new theme each day this week, so stay tuned! (But the DCA theme can still go on all week, if people have photos to share.)

Okay, Bret just pointed me in the direction of Dateline Disneyland on MiceChat, which was posted on that site early this morning. There are lots of pictures of the decorations going up in both DL and DCA (the Pan Pacific-themed entrance of DCA looks great!).


Am I going to be the first one to say it? Do I dare?

All right...here goes...

The new Toontown trees are BAD! Boooooooooo........

What in the heck is DLR thinking with those Toontown trees? They look tacky and cheap - and they only draw attention to the fact that they are fake. The old trees were not only better than these new ones, BUT they were actually good trees! The old Toontown tree - the main one with the large ornaments - was one of my favorite trees of all the trees in DLR.

What was wrong with the old trees that they had to replace them with these new ones?

I am disappointed.

 

[Goofy_Mom]

I have one!!!

 

[areweindisneyyet]

Hi Laura

The hours for the 14th are on the DL site and DL will be open until midnight. Don't worry about seeing the photos, they provide just a small taste of the real thing. Clothing wise something warm for the evenings when the sun goes down will be a plan.

Have a great time.

Hello all, this is my first post here ever so I hope I do everything right. I'm visiting Disneyland for Christmastime on December 14th (or possibly the 15th, but we're planning for the 14th right now). It will also be me and my boyfriend's first anniversary so I want everything to be perfectly special. Disneyland is my favorite place in the word, Christmas is my favorite time of all, and my boyfriend is my favorite person so everything is looking good. I know this gets asked a ton around here, but do you have any idea what the crowds will look like on the 14th.

Unfortunately, we are on a pretty strict budget as we are both unemployed full time college students. I want to do some decent dining though while we are there though. No Blue Bayou or anything like that. I'm thinking we will do New Orleans Cafe for lunch (do you need a reservation?) and the Plaza Inn for dinner. Plus tons of snacking all day long, of course.

I'm a little worried that since I've seen a bunch of pictures of Disney at Christmas it won't be as surprising. I haven't ever been at Christmastime so I'm wondering if actually seeing them in person is a whole different experience? I certainly hope so.

I have a list of things that we are doing for sure because I really want to maximize our one day there. We are going to try pretty much all the rides (it's been done before, haha!) and watching the fireworks and hopefully the parade. Last time we went (during the summer) we watched the parade from the Plaza Inn while eating dinner. That was pretty awesome, I hope to do that again. We are going to take pictures in front of the tree (and probably everywhere else, I'm a bit of a photo monster) and meet a couple characters. I'm really a sucker for anything sweet and romantic though, does anybody have any ideas of things we can do that are pretty cheap? Drinking is not an option either - we are 19 currently. We don't have a hopper pass either so going to CA is sadly not an option. I really wanted to take a look at the Grand Californian and go to the Phineas and Ferb parade.

We're planning on watching Tangled at his house the night before we leave because we haven't seen it yet to get in the mood. I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. I think we'll have to add Nightmare Before Christmas to our movie marathon though to get completely in the Christmas mood.

Does anybody have any ideas about weather? I'm already planning my outfit - I bought a short sleeved v-neck from Target that has Minnie Mouse in a Santa hat on it that I thought would be perfect to wear. I'm planning on pairing that with some shorts and a pair of tights and bringing a pair of jeans for nighttime just in case. And my Mickey ears, of course. I have a decent tolerance for cold so hopefully I won't freeze.

Are there any for sure park hours out for December yet? I'm pretty sure I found them but I don't want to be wrong. I just want the park to be open until 12 on the day I go - last time we stayed from like 10 in the morning to 12 at night. It was quite exhausting but I loved every second.

I can't even explain how excited I am for the Haunted Mansion - Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my absolute favorite movies and I can't wait to see it for real. I've always been a total Christmas Town girl so hopefully they show lots of Christmassy scenes. I've tried to avoid looking at pictures of Holiday Haunted Mansion to make it a surprise.

Anyway, I'm honestly just freaking out over how excited I am and I knew nobody would understand it like you all. Sorry if all of this came out as word vomit but I am just so happy that it's only like 38 days away!! Thank you

 

[areweindisneyyet]

Bret & Bob - Thank you so much for posting your wonderful photos! There's going to be a new theme each day this week, so stay tuned! (But the DCA theme can still go on all week, if people have photos to share.)

Okay, Bret just pointed me in the direction of Dateline Disneyland on MiceChat, which was posted on that site early this morning. There are lots of pictures of the decorations going up in both DL and DCA (the Pan Pacific-themed entrance of DCA looks great!).


Am I going to be the first one to say it? Do I dare?

All right...here goes...

The new Toontown trees are BAD! Boooooooooo........

What in the heck is DLR thinking with those Toontown trees? They look tacky and cheap - and they only draw attention to the fact that they are fake. The old trees were not only better than these new ones, BUT they were actually good trees! The old Toontown tree - the main one with the large ornaments - was one of my favorite trees of all the trees in DLR.

What was wrong with the old trees that they had to replace them with these new ones?

I am disappointed.

Oh no, I was excited... On a brighter note my first day of Disney now has park hours

Sherry your day of Christmas movies sounds wonderful.

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Bret & Bob - Thank you so much for posting your wonderful photos! There's going to be a new theme each day this week, so stay tuned! (But the DCA theme can still go on all week, if people have photos to share.)

Okay, Bret just pointed me in the direction of Dateline Disneyland on MiceChat, which was posted on that site early this morning. There are lots of pictures of the decorations going up in both DL and DCA (the Pan Pacific-themed entrance of DCA looks great!).


Am I going to be the first one to say it? Do I dare?

All right...here goes...

The new Toontown trees are BAD! Boooooooooo........

What in the heck is DLR thinking with those Toontown trees? They look tacky and cheap - and they only draw attention to the fact that they are fake. The old trees were not only better than these new ones, BUT they were actually good trees! The old Toontown tree - the main one with the large ornaments - was one of my favorite trees of all the trees in DLR.

What was wrong with the old trees that they had to replace them with these new ones?

I am disappointed.

OMG!!! They're so ugly!!!! Give us back OUR trees!!!!! They had such better detail!! And the snow on the trees but NO snow throughout ToonTown!!!! And they're so skinny!!! and under decorated!!! NOPE!!!! Protest!!!!!

 

[Sherry E]

OMG!!! They're so ugly!!!! Give us back OUR trees!!!!! They had such better detail!! And the snow on the trees but NO snow throughout ToonTown!!!! And they're so skinny!!! and under decorated!!! NOPE!!!! Protest!!!!!

Yes, exactly! See what I mean? I knew that someone else would agree. What are they thinking at DLR? What happened to the old Toontown trees? Where did those trees go? Did they remove the ornaments and put the trees somewhere else? The tree that they used to have - with the great big red, yellow, green and blue ornaments - was so cool and colorful. How could they think these new ones look better? They don't even look like good fake trees. They look like plastic trees, which is exactly what they are.

I wonder if, perhaps, the older trees were tampered with by some eager children and DLR decided it was safer to remove them. I just cannot think of any reason why they would have messed with a good thing, unless they were destroyed!

 

[Niebz]

Yes, exactly! See what I mean? I knew that someone else would agree. What are they thinking at DLR? What happened to the old Toontown trees? Where did those trees go? Did they remove the ornaments and put the trees somewhere else? The tree that they used to have - with the great big red, yellow, green and blue ornaments - was so cool and colorful. How could they think these new ones look better? They don't even look like good fake trees. They look like plastic trees, which is exactly what they are.

I wonder if, perhaps, the older trees were tampered with by some eager children and DLR decided it was safer to remove them. I just cannot think of any reason why they would have messed with a good thing, unless they were destroyed!

I agree! Granted I've never seen either tree in person but judging by the pictures I've seen the new trees are awful! Too bad. I was really looking forward to decked out Toontown.

 

[DisneyIsMagical]

Here are my contributions for DCA, I am soooooo glad this theme came up before I left for my trip!

I am getting so excited! I am all packed and ready to hop on the plane Wednesday morning. I probably won't be on much tomorrow, but if anyone wants to know any "early" season info, post your questions here and I will try to repond as soon as possible! Thank you all for your photos and information

 

[mvf-m11c]

Bret & Bob - Thank you so much for posting your wonderful photos! There's going to be a new theme each day this week, so stay tuned! (But the DCA theme can still go on all week, if people have photos to share.)

Okay, Bret just pointed me in the direction of Dateline Disneyland on MiceChat, which was posted on that site early this morning. There are lots of pictures of the decorations going up in both DL and DCA (the Pan Pacific-themed entrance of DCA looks great!).


Am I going to be the first one to say it? Do I dare?

All right...here goes...

The new Toontown trees are BAD! Boooooooooo........

What in the heck is DLR thinking with those Toontown trees? They look tacky and cheap - and they only draw attention to the fact that they are fake. The old trees were not only better than these new ones, BUT they were actually good trees! The old Toontown tree - the main one with the large ornaments - was one of my favorite trees of all the trees in DLR.

What was wrong with the old trees that they had to replace them with these new ones?

I am disappointed.

I said the same thing this morning when I first saw Toontown trees. What is DL thinking of showing cheap trees in Toontown. I don't know why the DLR brought these trees from the former Mickey's Toontown Fair at the MK, but they aren't the trees at Toontown that we had in the past.

I am very disappointed. Its almost like they are tuning everything down at DL this year. It is nice for the new BVS entrance decorated for the Holiday season.

 

[Goofy_Mom]

I am getting so excited! I am all packed and ready to hop on the plane Wednesday morning. I probably won't be on much tomorrow, but if anyone wants to know any "early" season info, post your questions here and I will try to repond as soon as possible! Thank you all for your photos and information

I heard that elecTRONica is coming down for Mad T Party. I'm so hopeing that means all the grid bars are coming down, I never cared for it. I'd love to see how the Hollywood Backlot area is decorated this year.