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

[MommyWithDreams]

I picked up some Alien Green Mickey paint swatches from Home Depot today, to identify us as DIS board members while we're at the park. Will I see any more lime green Mickeys while I'm there? Our trip is from 11/29 - 12/3. Here's a picture of my family:

I'm fairly easy to spot with my pink hair. If you see us, please say hello! I REALLY want my husband to know I'm not the only Disneyland fanatic out there.

Jill

Beautiful family Jill. I don't arrive until 12/6 and unfortunately I only get a day. I'll have my LGMH, as I always do but I have never been too lucky to run into other Dis'ers....unless it's during the Diva trip. Have a great time!

 

[Sherry E]

Thank you so much for posting all the beautiful photos! I am getting soooo excited for our trip, and this thread is amplifying it! Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year, and we are surprising our kids with a trip to Disney the first three days of December. I have a feeling I will be crying many tears of holiday joy; just looking at others photos is making me tear up!

My questions are: I have never even heard of candlelight processional, and now i am so worried about increased crowds! we only have two and a half days in the park (1/2 thursday, friday and sat) so I am wondering if we should plan to be in california adventure/world of color the saturday of processional (less crowded?) and do disneyland the thurs and friday previous... Any thoughts are welcome.

Traveling with 3 yr-8 yr old, so we want to pack as much as we can in that 2 1/2 days, without having the kids in horrendous lines (hopefully)

Welcome, exciteddisneyfan2011! I'm so glad you found this thread and joined us.

You know, I've never been to Disneyland on a Candlelight Processional day or weekend - but 2 weeks from today I will be there, right in the thick of things, crowds or no crowds. However, I am actually going to try to see the Processional, if at all possible.

But...based on all the reports I have heard about the crowd levels, I would say that it wouldn't hurt to do all of your other California Adventure stuff on that day/night. If you want to avoid the possible huge crowds, it seems like it would make sense to just go to the other park.

There is some question as to the possible exclusivity of the Processional this year - there have been some rumors that it might not be accessible to the general public, and only open to those who have paid lofty amounts of money to see it. (This has not been confirmed yet, and I tend to doubt that the general public won't be able to stand and watch it if they choose to.) If it is that exclusive, I wonder if the crowds would still be that huge?

 

[I❤MICKEY]

Not quite booked yet... but made reservations for Goofy's for New Years Eve.

 

[tksbaskets]

PatMcDuck -

Don't worry - you're not expected to read the whole thread! We assume that people will drop in late in the game and ask questions - and that's perfectly fine. Don't hesitate to ask away.

Now, as for your question - the answer is, no one can be sure. To be honest, the season does not ordinarily stretch out as far as January 8th so we have nothing to go by, historically. What happens is that the season usually "officially" extends through the first Sunday after New Year's Day...but the thing is, often times the Sunday following NYD is only a day or two later (this year, 2011, for example, the Sunday after NYD was January 2nd). In this upcoming case, the first Sunday after New Year's Day 2012 will be a full week later.

So we cannot be sure how DLR will handle it, decorations-wise. If I were to hazard a guess based on the different stages it takes to put up the decorations, I would think that maybe they will work in stages to take them down.

My personal feeling - and I have no confirmation of this - is that the decorations will start coming down in some areas before January 8, 2012. I think that they will leave enough things up through that date to warrant calling it "the holiday season," but a lot of stuff will be gone because they will want the bulk of the Resort to be holiday-free by January 9th.

I could be wrong - maybe the entire array of holiday decor and merriment will still be going strong right through 1/8/12, but I just have a strong feeling that a lot of it will be removed in the week between 1/1/12 and 1/8/12.

It's a Small World Holiday, however, has been known to stay open until after Martin Luther King Day, because DLR doesn't want to shut it down while Haunted Mansion Holiday is down as well. They remove the overlays in stages.

I'll report back on this as I'll be at DL from December 31- January 7.

TK

 

[DisneyIsMagical]

Great pics!

I miss the old California letters though.

I miss the letters too! But, the new entrance was beautiful at night. I had only seen pics of it as it wasn't completed in June when I was last there.

The Toon Town tree was dissapointing but, everything else was decked out!

IASWH- Daytime

Look what happens when the clock strikes the hour!

IASWH- In all it's colorful glory!- Loved it, inside and out!

IASWH- inside

The Mark Twain- Beautiful!

 

[DisneyIsMagical]

I am so excited to read all the wonderful new reports, holiday tour recaps and see new photos from Holiday Season 2011 at DLR!!! It's hard to believe it's already happening now! Thank you to everyone who is providing us with this vital hot-off-the-press information! (P.S. - I still think that 'new' Toontown tree is terrible.)


Oh - and, I should point out that I won - and subsequently LOST - 4 Park Hoppers for DLR in the course of a few minutes. I entered a daily contest. Within 3 minutes of entering online, the TV station holding the contest called me to tell me that I won the Hoppers....while I was in the bathroom! They won't leave voice mail messages, of course, and they didn't send out e-mails. Basically, you had to be available when they called the first time or else you forfeited your winnings. Since I missed the call, I LOST the 4 Hoppers. I have never won anything, and when I finally won, I lost at the same time. I was planning to give those Hoppers to my out of state friends who are headed this way in 2 weeks, to help them save a bit of money. No such luck.

Keep all the updates and reports and photos rolling in!!! Has anyone noticed anything new this year that wasn't there in previous years at DLR? I know that the DLH was not decorated yet (I assume that's coming on Friday), but was anything up at the GCH?

Hey Sherry- Sad to hear about the loss of the parkhoppers, that would be just my luck too!

Thursday evening I went on a picture taking spree as my Aunt was resting back at the hotel so I was on my own. I watched the holiday fireworks Thursday the 10th and watched it "snow" near ROA afterwards!

Thanks to your advice, we were able to Sail 'Round the World, twice on Friday the 11th -once during the day and once at night, gorgeous!! We also attended the beautiful and tearful Veteran's Day flag retreat.

As you predicted, the GCH was not decorated, but DL was completely decked out and CA had several decorations -even wreaths on the construction walls The Hollywood backlot was not decorated and the Tron equipment was still up. Bug's Land was decorated though.

We met Santa and Christmas Duffy in CA on Saturday, the 12th.

We were able to pretty much enjoy everything that the holidays @ DLR had to offer except watch the Holiday parade (watched Soundsational on 11/11, prior to the flag retreat).

More photos to come, waiting on my photopass cd to show up. If anyone has any questions I'd be glad to answer!

 

[CaliGrrl]

Still wondering about any special holiday merchandise. Specifically wondering if they did a Mickey Snowman lantern like the Mickey Ghost lantern from Halloween. Tell me about the new merch!!!

Thanks!

 

[DisneyIsMagical]

Still wondering about any special holiday merchandise. Specifically wondering if they did a Mickey Snowman lantern like the Mickey Ghost lantern from Halloween. Tell me about the new merch!!!

Thanks!

I did not see a Mickey lantern, but I wasn't looking for one either. Hopefully someone else has spotted one?

 

[nicolispicoli]

Still wondering about any special holiday merchandise. Specifically wondering if they did a Mickey Snowman lantern like the Mickey Ghost lantern from Halloween. Tell me about the new merch!!!

Thanks!

I was shopping a lot while there last week and didn't see anything like this, but we left on the 15th and we were still seeing new merch show up everyday. Can't say that they aren't there now

 

[ballouw]

Will they be having Santa's Roundup this year? If so when does it open we will be going to Disneyland tomorrow and was curious if it would be there.

Thanks

 

[Goofy_Mom]

Will they be having Santa's Roundup this year? If so when does it open we will be going to Disneyland tomorrow and was curious if it would be there.

Thanks

Unless they changed it this year, Santa's Roundup should be up and running the duration of the Christmas season. Not sure if it closes earlier than park closing 'cause it can get a bit dark in that area of the park. I believe, however, that the Roundup runs the entire day. They'll have a few "stage" (more like platform) performances and character apperances. I've seen Pluto with a reindeer headband and Clairabelle Cow there in the past. Farley the Fiddler makes regular apperances, too.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Will they be having Santa's Roundup this year? If so when does it open we will be going to Disneyland tomorrow and was curious if it would be there.

Thanks

Santa's Reindeer-Roundup is opened from 10am to 6pm.

 

[Marlea98]

Jill! I will be there December 1st-4th staying in the DL Hotel. I will be in the park the 2nd and 3rd. I wish I had a picture to put up of me but I dont. I will keep a look out for ya though!

We will be there for 4 days sometime between the 1st and the 6th. Two of those days will be at Knotts and Legoland. It's my first time and I'm so excited already partly due to the wonderful pictures I've seen on this thread - thanks to everyone for sharing.

 

[WDWFigment]

We just returned from Disneyland. Wow. It was absolutely amazing. I cannot thank you all enough (especially Sherry E!) for helping me with all of my questions. I don't have a lot of time now to post all of my impressions, but I thought I'd at least start to repay you with a couple photos:


Believe... In Holiday Magic Fireworks by Tom Bricker (WDWFigment), on Flickr

Sorry, don't know how to embed photos from my website on another page, so here's a link: http://www.disneytouristblog.com/christmas-sleeping-beauty-castle-disney-photo-of-the-day/

 

[deesquared]

WDWFigment - that photo is incredible! WOW!

 

[MommyWithDreams]

What an amazing photo! Absolutely stunning! Glad to hear you had a great trip.

 

[MommyWithDreams]

Does DL, have special Christmas ears? I thought I saw in a picture that there's one that looks like it has Santa's belt buckle on it. Anyone know or have any pictures of any?

 

[WDWFigment]

^Thanks.

Another:

Disneyland Wintertime Enchantment Holiday Lighting by Tom Bricker (WDWFigment), on Flickr

 

[WDWFigment]

and another: http://www.disneytouristblog.com/christmas-disneyland-partners-disney-photo-of-the-day/

 

[KCmike]

We just returned from Disneyland. Wow. It was absolutely amazing. I cannot thank you all enough (especially Sherry E!) for helping me with all of my questions. I don't have a lot of time now to post all of my impressions, but I thought I'd at least start to repay you with a couple photos:


Believe... In Holiday Magic Fireworks by Tom Bricker (WDWFigment), on Flickr

Sorry, don't know how to embed photos from my website on another page, so here's a link: http://www.disneytouristblog.com/christmas-sleeping-beauty-castle-disney-photo-of-the-day/

Nice shot Tom.
I am wondering what you liked more about Disneyland's Christmas over WDW? We went last year for the first time and had a blast as well. Halloween at Disneyland is fun too.