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

[Nonsuch]

Anyone else getting concerned about how they are going to do the parade with CP at night too?? They don't have the parade up on the calendar (Dec 1-3 is up) yet... but they do have PPP up... I am wondering if they will have to do afternoon only so as not to interfere with evening CP? Any guesses on this?

A Christmas Fantasy Parade will take place in the afternoon

 

[tksbaskets]

2009

Paradise Pier:

2011/2012

BBQ:

A moving tree counts right?

Mainstreet tree:

Obligatory 'self portrait'

GCH:

LOVE this tree:

White Water Snacks:

 

[kswm30b]

I may end up being at DLR sort of in that same time frame too, but I'll know for sure within the next week, I think. If I get the dates I was eyeing, I'd be there from 12/2 - 12/5, but we'll see.

Our trips would overlap so maybe we'd see each other in the parks

And I am hoping for anything BUT nice, warm weather! December is for bundling up. Christmas time should not be warm. As a SoCal resident, I have been praying and wishing for cooler weather for months. Whenever it drops down to a nice 68 degrees, it then soars back up to 90 or some crazy thing within a couple of days, and I am just hoping that the weather finally settles into a cooler pattern in late November and sticks with it for a while.

As a northeast girl....noooo to cold weather. I hate the cold, last winter was awesome here since it wasn't too cold & we got hardly any snow. I know this year will be the opposite. It was awful when I was at WDW a few Decembers ago when it was the coldest Dec in florida in the last 30 years, we had windchill in the teens some days! It should not be colder at Disney than it is at home, just no! I'll take 60s or 70s.

I am planning on being at DLR on either 11/11 or 11/12, to scope out the holiday merriment on Buena Vista Street and in Cars Land. I'll be planning to post some photos after I return, so if you all don't want to see them and want to be surprised, you will have to avert your eyes!

Can you scope out where the characters dressed for the holidays will be, too?

 

[JediMasterNerd]

Has anyone mentioned over here the Costco park hopper thread for the 4-day park hopper? Since they are valid over the holidays it definitely applies to the Christmas season! Because of these tickets I've added another night to our stay and we'll also be in the park our last day for a short while before heading out! Find out more in this thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3007336

J.

 

[dadzgirl70]

Hello all! I'm so excited to announce my husband is treating me to a couple (no kids) trip to DL for my birthday! We'll arrive November 30th and stay through December 3rd. This thread is extremely informative, but is there anything specific I should think about scheduling or reserving during that timeframe? I'm getting lost with all the information.... But still super excited!!!!! Christmas time at DL.....gives me goosebumps

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

Hey everyone. I booked a reservation for Big Thunder Mountain BBQ for December 20th at 6pm. I am used to WDW having the park hours out about 6 months in advance, so I have no idea if the 6pm time slot for the BBQ was a good choice or not? This will be our 4th day in the parks so we will have had time to see many of the parades and shows, however I don't want to miss out on anything either. Can anyone advise me if I should keep the 6pm reservation or move it up a bit?

 

[JediMasterNerd]

How frustrating that Disney has posted limited information regarding the holiday time when we can start booking things now. Apparently some of it is set - or the CM is just assuming it all remains the same.

Called to make Christmas Dinner reservations at Carthay Circle Restaurant. The menu is apparently set, a 3-course meal with the entrees being Cioppino with mussells, clams, etc... Or Prime Rib. Cost is $70. They are very helpful but talk too fast to get all the information down.

I asked about WoC and she said that WoC comes with any 2-course (or greater) dining option so we should get them. She said with ressies between 4:30 and 7pm we would go see the 9pm show and after 7pm you would go see the 10:15 show... So standard show times.

J.

 

[disneyobsessed808]

I wish they had some Christmas decorations up this weekend. I really want to see Carsland and Buena Vista Street decked out in holiday style

 

[jkh1978]

I guess we don't get to see Fantasmic this year. It's not on the calendar on the days we are going to be in the park. Kind of sad. Oh well I guess we will do the tour instead!

Shannon

Looks like they aren't listing all the DL entertainment yet in December except for the fireworks. Probably still working out the CP impact.

 

[coaches24]

Hey everyone. I booked a reservation for Big Thunder Mountain BBQ for December 20th at 6pm. I am used to WDW having the park hours out about 6 months in advance, so I have no idea if the 6pm time slot for the BBQ was a good choice or not? This will be our 4th day in the parks so we will have had time to see many of the parades and shows, however I don't want to miss out on anything either. Can anyone advise me if I should keep the 6pm reservation or move it up a bit?

6 PM is a good time to eat IMO. I havent been to DL during the holiday time yet but I have eaten at BTMBBQ around 6PM in other times of the year. I have had good luck with walking up to the BBQ. Have never made a res and have never waited more than 15 minutes for a table.

 

[JediMasterNerd]

I decided I wanted more information in regards to the Christmas Eve/Day dining options and called back and did a slightly better job at jotting some notes down... Regular menu items are available plus the following (other places have other items, I didn't talk about all of them)...

Carthay Circle Restaurant
3 course meal - $70

1. Starting with Spinach and Goat Cheese Tarts and baby artichokes
2. Entrees either
   
   
   

   • Mediterranean black mussels, scallops, snow crab claws in a roasted tomato broth (Cioppino)
   • Prime Rib of free range veal, ragout of coastal mushrooms, smoked bacon, pearl onions, fingerling potatoes
3. chocolate crunch mouse with raspberry port sauce.

Wine Country Trattoria
Pistachio crusted Colorado Lamb Chop, Potato Leak Puree, sautéed veggies - $29.99

Blue Bayou
Horse radish crusted prime rib, truffle infused Yorkshire pudding, blue bayou potatoes and seasonal vegetables - $39.99

Steakhouse 55
3-course meal, $50
Entree: Grilled herbed marinated quail, mixed green salad, bacon wrapped something or other (didn’t get/hear all of the details)


Hopefully this helps someone...

J.

 

[lurpee]

How frustrating that Disney has posted limited information regarding the holiday time when we can start booking things now. Apparently some of it is set - or the CM is just assuming it all remains the same.

Called to make Christmas Dinner reservations at Carthay Circle Restaurant. The menu is apparently set, a 3-course meal with the entrees being Cioppino with mussells, clams, etc... Or Prime Rib. Cost is $70. They are very helpful but talk too fast to get all the information down.

I asked about WoC and she said that WoC comes with any 2-course (or greater) dining option so we should get them. She said with ressies between 4:30 and 7pm we would go see the 9pm show and after 7pm you would go see the 10:15 show... So standard show times.

J.

Thanks for posting this! It got me up and making reservations! I booked BBB for the 24th which is DD's 5th b-day, lunch at Ariel's' Grotto and still need to figure out dinner that day. Thinking BB. I booked Steakhouse 55 for breakfast and Carthay Circle for an early dinner Christmas Day.

I have to suggest that everyone ask for Neil when making dining reservations! He's not in a hurry and loves Disneyland and Walt!
Kerri

 

[cpster]

Ah...all the pictures of the lovely trees has really gotten me into the holiday spirit today! Thank you all for sharing.

So we are still waiting for the calendar to be published, but will be going sometime between the week after Thanksgiving and the first two weeks of December and staying at the Grand Californian. I am thinking about packing these matching holiday dresses for the girls, a nice dress for me, and dress slacks and shirt for DH. Would it be too strange for us to get dressed up to take photos with Santa downstairs? We are using Photopass+ on this trip so hoping that there is a Photopass photographer there.

Thanks!

 

[kaci]

Ah...all the pictures of the lovely trees has really gotten me into the holiday spirit today! Thank you all for sharing.

So we are still waiting for the calendar to be published, but will be going sometime between the week after Thanksgiving and the first two weeks of December and staying at the Grand Californian. I am thinking about packing these matching holiday dresses for the girls, a nice dress for me, and dress slacks and shirt for DH. Would it be too strange for us to get dressed up to take photos with Santa downstairs? We are using Photopass+ on this trip so hoping that there is a Photopass photographer there.

Thanks!

I hope it's not weird because we totally have the same plan! Color coordinated grown-ups and matching kids for getting some nice Christmas pictures.

 

[coaches24]

We are going down Jan 1 and will be in the parks 2-5. First time to see the Christmas decorations (though we did see IASW Christmas edition in mid Jan 2010. )

 

[ociana]

I decided I wanted more information in regards to the Christmas Eve/Day dining options and called back and did a slightly better job at jotting some notes down... Regular menu items are available plus the following (other places have other items, I didn't talk about all of them)...

Carthay Circle Restaurant
3 course meal - $70

1. Starting with Spinach and Goat Cheese Tarts and baby artichokes
2. Entrees either
   
   
   

   • Mediterranean black mussels, scallops, snow crab claws in a roasted tomato broth (Cioppino)
   • Prime Rib of free range veal, ragout of coastal mushrooms, smoked bacon, pearl onions, fingerling potatoes
3. chocolate crunch mouse with raspberry port sauce.

Wine Country Trattoria
Pistachio crusted Colorado Lamb Chop, Potato Leak Puree, sautéed veggies - $29.99

Blue Bayou
Horse radish crusted prime rib, truffle infused Yorkshire pudding, blue bayou potatoes and seasonal vegetables - $39.99

Steakhouse 55
3-course meal, $50
Entree: Grilled herbed marinated quail, mixed green salad, bacon wrapped something or other (didn’t get/hear all of the details)


Hopefully this helps someone...

J.

Thank you, that is VERY helpful! My hubby did our reservation for Carthay Circle this morning (Christmas Lunch) and he got no details about the menu. I booked Blue Bayou lunch on Christmas Eve yesterday and neglected to ask if there was a special menu item...mainly because I am salivating over the monte cristo that I will be eating.

 

[lurpee]

Thank you, that is VERY helpful! My hubby did our reservation for Carthay Circle this morning (Christmas Lunch) and he got no details about the menu. I booked Blue Bayou lunch on Christmas Eve yesterday and neglected to ask if there was a special menu item...mainly because I am salivating over the monte cristo that I will be eating.

I booked Carthay Circle dinner Christmas and have decided to do BB for Christmas Eve dinner!

 

[JediMasterNerd]

I booked Carthay Circle dinner Christmas and have decided to do BB for Christmas Eve dinner!

Same with us! We'll be at CCR on Christmas at 4:50pm and at BB on Christmas Eve at 8pm... I was salivating talking to Disney Dining about their offerings!!

J.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Taken from the Disney Parks Blog :

We’ve got big news to share with you today regarding the expanded schedule for the 2012 Disneyland Candlelight Ceremony and Processional. As we first told you in August, Candlelight is being extended to a total of 20 nights at Disneyland park this year, for the first time in its history, with two performances each night. Below is the list of currently scheduled narrators for shows from December 1-20:

Dec. 1-2: Dennis Haysbert (actor)*
Dec. 3-5: Kurt Russell (actor and Disney Legend)
Dec. 6-8: TBA
Dec. 9-11: Lou Diamond Phillips (actor)
Dec. 12-13: Dick Van Dyke (actor and Disney Legend)
Dec. 14: Marcia Gay Harden (actress)
Dec. 15-16: Patricia Heaton (actress)
Dec. 17-19: Molly Ringwald (actress)
Dec. 20: Dennis Haysbert (actor)

Please note that narrators are subject to change without notice.

*December 1-2 performances are by invitation only, as they have been since 1958, when Walt Disney first held these private celebrations to thank partners in the community for their support throughout the year.

 

[lurpee]

I love Dennis Haysbert! I hope I can get tix for the 20th!