Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread #3!- HOLIDAYS BEGIN 11/12/13!!

[Aussie Princess]

Aussie Princess -

Refresh my memory (because I'm old and feeble and I need to be reminded) -- was it two years ago when you did a Thanksgiving DLR visit? Wasn't that the trip when you were staying in L.A. (not far from where I am, actually), and then you took one of those inexpensive tour buses from the hotel down to Anaheim? Or have I completely lost my mind (finally) and imagined a trip that you never took? I could be thinking that it was you, only to find out I am actually remembering someone else's trip! I recall that you -- or whoever I am remembering -- were asking me questions about where to eat Thanksgiving dining near The Grove/Farmers Market.

Anyway, the reason I brought up that random memory was because I don't think I ever found out how the Thanksgiving meal was, and where it was. I know that the list was narrowed down to a few choices, but I don't think I ever found out which restaurant was picked for a Thanksgiving meal.

(Now is the time when you post and say that I've lost my marbles and am totally thinking of someone else! I'm bracing myself for it....)

Also, I was going to say that IF I am remembering correctly in that your last Christmas time/holiday trip was that Thanksgiving trip, it makes sense that the hours would have been longer. Earlier November trips, however, have some days with shorter hours, even though it's the holiday season. Even the first week or two of December can have some days that are a little shorter, while the hours are longer the closer to Christmas it gets.

I am guessing that IF Disney starts in with this paid Christmas party, they would hold it on nights when the park would already be closing a wee bit earlier anyway -- not the midnight closing days (well, except for maybe Fridays could be party days). The midnight closings are usually reserved for days when they expect tons of people anyway, and they can't afford to close Disneyland early for a party (like Saturdays and Sundays, for example).

So that may be a bit of a bright spot -- you might not have to have many of your days cut too short.

You will likely miss the wonderful hotels' decorations, Santas and Carolers, though. I think that the very late Thanksgiving this year is going to throw off their schedule, and the hotel decor may go up a few days early -- but probably not that early.

Also, one thing I am wondering about is -- will there or won't there be an ice rink in DTD again this year? It was hard for me to even really tell if that rink was a 'success.' I don't know if it would be worth bringing it back. Last year it was directly tied in to the Tinkerbell movie. This year, there may not be a need for the rink and the (coughcoughcough) "Christmas Village" that went along with it. Maybe, just maybe, this year we will see a return of the large DTD tree. DTD had no big tree last year and it was disappointing!

.

Hi sherry

My last holiday visit 2 yrs ago were around the same dates we have never done a thanksgiving trip ( would be nice thanksgiving is around my bday 24th) but airfares from australia go up as its a classed as peak season.

The park hours the whole week of the holiday time starting were 8-12am *** Veterans Day was also in the mix of that week.
We have also always started at hojos so you have def losing your mind (lol)
I am hoping there is some sort of Santa while we are there will save me the expensive cost of Santa photos when I get home

 

[Sherry E]

Sherry E how could I ever not thank you?!? Your my Halloween, Christmas, Catalina, and all around Disneyland guru! I hope not to lurk too much this year. Thanks again for all the kind words!

You're welcome, Mike! And thank you, as well! I just wanted to make sure that you saw that you were appreciated by me as well the rest of your fans!

Hi sherry

My last holiday visit 2 yrs ago were around the same dates we have never done a thanksgiving trip ( would be nice thanksgiving is around my bday 24th) but airfares from australia go up as its a classed as peak season.

The park hours the whole week of the holiday time starting were 8-12am *** Veterans Day was also in the mix of that week.
We have also always started at hojos so you have def losing your mind (lol)
I am hoping there is some sort of Santa while we are there will save me the expensive cost of Santa photos when I get home

Aussie Princess -

Drat! I knew I would lose my mind sooner or later. It was inevitable! I had the Thanksgiving trip scenario in my head, and it was between you and one other person as to who actually went on that trip -- I guess it was the other person I was thinking of! (I think she stayed at HoJo's too, but she came up to L.A. and then went back down to DLR -- in some order like that.)

You said your last day at DLR this year is November 20th, correct? You will definitely see the two Santas (and carolers/Bell Ringers) in the parks when the season officially begins, but you will miss the hotel holiday action -- that is, unless Disney finally gets with the program and starts decorating the hotels early too. As I mentioned earlier, the late Thanksgiving this year might force some earlier decorating of the GCH, DLH and the PPH -- but I don't think any of the hotel Santas or carolers would be out until Thanksgiving ends. And I don't think the hotels would be decorated as early as November 20.


These were the park hours & entertainment schedules for November 2011 and November 2012.

And, just for kicks, December 2011 and December 2012.

I am guessing that, with the exception of possible Friday night parties, some of those nights you will notice that closed between 8 p.m.-10 p.m. would be the sorts of nights Disney would target this year for parties, so the closures would only lop off a few hours and wouldn't make as much of a dent.

 

[egritz]

Okay I just read tksbaskets trip report from Christmas 2011...she saw Jack Skellington but I wasn't totally clear on where. Was he still seen last year? It will be a mission of ours to find him - believe it or not DD2 loves Nightmare Before Christmas (last trip she got the Jack & Sally dolls) and she will LOVE meeting him probably just as much as she loved meeting Sulley last month (which was a lot!) eta: I told DH & he emailed me a link to a youtube video showing Sally too....oh my that would be so fantastic!

Also she wrote that the Disney Visa card holder can choose ANY character picture from the day with the voucher? Is that still the case? Also if anyone knows, if DH & both have our Disney Visa cards (same account) does that get us 2 vouchers or 1 (we didn't even think about showing both last trip, just the one). We actually will have a total of FOUR cards between my parents and us (2 separate accounts).

 

[Sherry E]

Okay I just read tksbaskets trip report from Christmas 2011...she saw Jack Skellington but I wasn't totally clear on where. Was he still seen last year? It will be a mission of ours to find him - believe it or not DD2 loves Nightmare Before Christmas (last trip she got the Jack & Sally dolls) and she will LOVE meeting him probably just as much as she loved meeting Sulley last month (which was a lot!) eta: I told DH & he emailed me a link to a youtube video showing Sally too....oh my that would be so fantastic!

Also she wrote that the Disney Visa card holder can choose ANY character picture from the day with the voucher? Is that still the case? Also if anyone knows, if DH & both have our Disney Visa cards (same account) does that get us 2 vouchers or 1 (we didn't even think about showing both last trip, just the one). We actually will have a total of FOUR cards between my parents and us (2 separate accounts).

egritz -

Hopefully TK will be back here soon to answer the rest of your questions but I just wanted to tell you that Jack Skellington was, indeed, out again last year. I saw him on a random weekday in December. In fact, I saw him with Sally at their meet/photo spot in New Orleans Square. They begin appearing during Halloween Time and hang around until January, I guess -- I've seen at least Jack during Halloween Time as well.

I have a Disney Visa but I have never taken advantage of the photo, believe it or not. So I will defer to TK on that one!

TK.........where have you gone?

 

[egritz]

egritz -

Hopefully TK will be back here soon to answer the rest of your questions but I just wanted to tell you that Jack Skellington was, indeed, out again last year. I saw him on a random weekday in December. In fact, I saw him with Sally at their meet/photo spot in New Orleans Square. They begin appearing during Halloween Time and hang around until January, I guess -- I've seen at least Jack during Halloween Time as well.

I have a Disney Visa but I have never taken advantage of the photo, believe it or not. So I will defer to TK on that one!

TK.........where have you gone?

Thank you, this trip is just getting more and more exciting, it is going to be hard waiting another 6 1/2 months! Coincidentally a former co-worker is also going so I'm helping her plan too since she hasn't been in ages.

Last trip was the first time we ever took advantage of the Visa Meet n Greet (before it just never worked out with timing...plus with 10-13 people it is hard to corral everyone). Anyway we did it only once this last trip but it was nice, we actually went twice on the same morning to see both Minnie & Stitch and it was great - short wait, and we did not feel rushed at all. And getting the photo was easy...will DH was at Lost & Found retrieving his cell phone I went over and within 10 minutes (there was no line) I had the picture chosen & printed. It was fun getting a preview of our PP+ pics too.

 

[tksbaskets]

I'm here, I'm here! Just got back from a wedding reception. Sherry you are so right about those particular shots by Deej. Love them! She's the reason I take pictures of light posts.

Now you my friend are why I look for unusual points of view for iconic features. I will always be impressed with your picture from the DL Hotel looking up into the spiral hat. Spectacular!

Thanks for the link to the other picture thread. I can't get enough of DL!

Okay I just read tksbaskets trip report from Christmas 2011...she saw Jack Skellington but I wasn't totally clear on where. Was he still seen last year? It will be a mission of ours to find him - believe it or not DD2 loves Nightmare Before Christmas (last trip she got the Jack & Sally dolls) and she will LOVE meeting him probably just as much as she loved meeting Sulley last month (which was a lot!) eta: I told DH & he emailed me a link to a youtube video showing Sally too....oh my that would be so fantastic!

Also she wrote that the Disney Visa card holder can choose ANY character picture from the day with the voucher? Is that still the case? Also if anyone knows, if DH & both have our Disney Visa cards (same account) does that get us 2 vouchers or 1 (we didn't even think about showing both last trip, just the one). We actually will have a total of FOUR cards between my parents and us (2 separate accounts).

First off - THANK YOU for reading my trip report

Here is the answer to the easy one. YES you can get a different free 5 x 7's for each ACCOUNT. If you have 2 different Visa accounts you get two vouchers. It sounds like you have four cards for two accounts so you'll get 2 free pictures! DH and I each have our own account so we got 2 vouchers. Plus you can pick from any character picture from that day!

As for where we found Jack - he was in NOS. On the map it is back between the "I" and the "K" where they have the phones. As I recall it's by the big staircase. Nice little tile fountain wall and Jack was there. It's one of my favorite pics of my DS that year as Jack was very chatty and talked with him about making proper 'scarey hands'. "That's not scarey!!" in a perfect Jack voice We didn't see Sally at all.

Here DS got it right!

 

[mvf-m11c]

I have missed a lot these last two days.

Thank you Sherry and TK. The two Superthreads (Halloween and Christmas) have a lot of great information and it my pleasure to contribute to the threads as much as possible (even though I haven't been on the threads lately due to work). I know that we talked about the possibility of a exclusive party event at DL these last few years. And I still hope that they won't make Believe...In Holiday Magic fireworks and A Christmas Fantasy parade a separate paid admission where these two shows are part of the Holiday season. There is no way I will ever pay for a ticket to see Believe fireworks and Christmas Fantasy parade since I have seen it over the years and has been a tradition to DL during the Holiday season. I will have no problem if they have an exclusive party at DCA but not DL. If they have an exclusive WoC Holiday version instead of the Prep and Landing segment of the original WoC show, I would have no problem paying the admission to see it. I have seen a lot of different variations of WoC ever since it debut in the summer of 2010 and I am always looking forward to seeing new variations of the show.

Every time I see the POTD thread and all the amazing pictures from the DISers, it just makes me want to be a better photographer. When I still think of you when I am at DL during the Holiday season is all the Christmas trees, wreaths and garlands for the quests. These last few years since you have started the quests is something that I have enjoy. Deej still gets me to take pictures of the flowers at DL or DCA during my trips.

 

[Sherry E]

I was going to reply to TK's last post after I got home from running errands, and then I saw Bret's post come through.

Before I leave the house I wanted to pop in and give a plug for Bret's (mvf-m11c's) TRs. I have links to the most recent holiday TRs from Bret in the specific TR post on Page 1 (it's post #8, I think), but he actually has all of his TRs in one thread (which is what I do as well -- put them all in one thread), and his trips cover a wide range of DLR trips over the last few years, from all seasons, year-round.

Bret takes a lot of photos, so his TRs are photo-heavy. His entire TR thread is also one of the most viewed TR threads in the entire Disneyland Trip Report forum (I think TK is the one who has commented the most in his thread too!). If you have never been to DLR before and want a sort of photographic tour of the parks, Bret's TR is the way to go. His fireworks photos are outstanding as well.

Bret is also one of the main contributors when we do the Theme Week Countdown in this thread, which will start in just over 2 months or so. If you choose to not peek in on his TR thread now, you are in for a pleasant surprise when the Theme Week Countdown takes place from early August to November!!!

 

[Halloweenqueen]

It is always a difficult decision when trying to decide if we are going to do a Halloween or Christmas trip. Though my heart is always for Halloween, it is busy season here for our household, so we are heading to DL in November!

Just made our hotel reservations for the 11th-15th. Hopefully those dates will open for our flights soon, so I can start with some more detailed planning.

I'll have to catch up on the latest on the thread. Sherry's threads are the BEST and I have so much fun looking over everyone's contributions.

Happy planning everyone!

 

[KCmike]

It is always a difficult decision when trying to decide if we are going to do a Halloween or Christmas trip. Though my heart is always for Halloween, it is busy season here for our household, so we are heading to DL in November!

Just made our hotel reservations for the 11th-15th. Hopefully those dates will open for our flights soon, so I can start with some more detailed planning.

I'll have to catch up on the latest on the thread. Sherry's threads are the BEST and I have so much fun looking over everyone's contributions.

Happy planning everyone!

We've done both and Christmas has to win hands down for us. Just so much Festivus! (Seinfeld reference)

 

[Halloweenqueen]

We've done both and Christmas has to win hands down for us. Just so much Festivus! (Seinfeld reference)

We know Festivus here! We even have a Festivus Pole!

We have always switched back and forth between the holidays. Halloween time at WDW was a must do for my family when we lived on the east coast. We create a Halloween display and walkthrough haunted house for Halloween night. What was just for a few friends has grown to visitors by the hundreds. Too much to do and plan to make a Halloween trip this year.

Luckily Haunted Mansion Holiday will still be up and I will get to see my favorite attraction of the year, It's a Small World Holiday. Double happiness!

I love these threads, but subscribing to them year round can lead to an overloaded email box. I always make sure to resubscribe as soon as our dates are set!

 

[Sherry E]

Thank you, this trip is just getting more and more exciting, it is going to be hard waiting another 6 1/2 months! Coincidentally a former co-worker is also going so I'm helping her plan too since she hasn't been in ages.

Last trip was the first time we ever took advantage of the Visa Meet n Greet (before it just never worked out with timing...plus with 10-13 people it is hard to corral everyone). Anyway we did it only once this last trip but it was nice, we actually went twice on the same morning to see both Minnie & Stitch and it was great - short wait, and we did not feel rushed at all. And getting the photo was easy...will DH was at Lost & Found retrieving his cell phone I went over and within 10 minutes (there was no line) I had the picture chosen & printed. It was fun getting a preview of our PP+ pics too.

egritz --

One of these days I will have to take advantage of the Visa photo before Disney takes it away as an option! I think that, just like you said about your trips, it never works out with timing for some reason. I would have to actually make a point of fitting it into the schedule. I need to do that.

...Now you my friend are why I look for unusual points of view for iconic features. I will always be impressed with your picture from the DL Hotel looking up into the spiral hat. Spectacular!

Thanks for the link to the other picture thread. I can't get enough of DL!

TK --

Thank you! Ah, yes, the spiral/hat photo. At that point in time I'd never seen a photo like it, though there may have been some floating around out there that escaped me. Now, I am on a constant search to find other interesting subjects or get in-depth with certain things. One thing I will say for myself is that I seem to have created a lot of good Facebook Timeline cover photos, without realizing it! Even before I knew what a Facebook Timeline cover was, I was apparently taking a lot of photos that were destined to become covers. When I look at the thumbnails of my Timeline Covers album on FB, I see a wide array of colors, patterns and scenes. It's interesting.

That Point & Shoot thread I linked you to is not all Disney parks photos, though there are many Disney parks photos scattered throughout. It's got a lot of P&S photos of all types, and they are quite impressive. It's amazing to see what can be done with certain P&S cameras!

I have missed a lot these last two days.

Thank you Sherry and TK. The two Superthreads (Halloween and Christmas) have a lot of great information and it my pleasure to contribute to the threads as much as possible (even though I haven't been on the threads lately due to work). I know that we talked about the possibility of a exclusive party event at DL these last few years. And I still hope that they won't make Believe...In Holiday Magic fireworks and A Christmas Fantasy parade a separate paid admission where these two shows are part of the Holiday season. There is no way I will ever pay for a ticket to see Believe fireworks and Christmas Fantasy parade since I have seen it over the years and has been a tradition to DL during the Holiday season. I will have no problem if they have an exclusive party at DCA but not DL. If they have an exclusive WoC Holiday version instead of the Prep and Landing segment of the original WoC show, I would have no problem paying the admission to see it. I have seen a lot of different variations of WoC ever since it debut in the summer of 2010 and I am always looking forward to seeing new variations of the show.

Every time I see the POTD thread and all the amazing pictures from the DISers, it just makes me want to be a better photographer. When I still think of you when I am at DL during the Holiday season is all the Christmas trees, wreaths and garlands for the quests. These last few years since you have started the quests is something that I have enjoy. Deej still gets me to take pictures of the flowers at DL or DCA during my trips.

Hello, Bret!

Thank you for being such a loyal and great contributor to the Superthreads!

I figured you had been really busy with work and hadn't been able to join in the conversations.

Yes, there has been a lot of discussion happening in this thread over the past week, first because of the CP being cut back down to 2 nights (from 20 nights last year), and then, of course, the MiceAge article about the holiday WoC and the possible party. All of a sudden we have been getting all of this info coming in, whether it is official or unofficial, and it has kept the thread hoppin'!

You're exactly the type of visitor I am referring to when I talk about the regular holiday guests who have already seen Christmas Fantasy Parade and Believe in Holiday Magic repeatedly, for years. There is a whole segment of the "Disney holiday guest population" like you, Bret -- people who make a point of going to DLR for the holidays every year and catching the parade and fireworks every time. To now include those longstanding events in a paid party would alienate most of those people, I think. Parents may now have to pay for their kids to see the snow fall on Main Street when it was previously "free" for so long, and that just seems wrong. And it's not even like Disney would sell very few tickets so the park would be empty. They'd end up over-selling it, just like with the Halloween parties.

The quests are always fun -- and it's a good way to sort of chart the progress of the decorations, trees, etc. over time and see if they change or disappear.

The Theme Week Countdown will be a lot of fun this year, too. It's always fun, but there will be a couple of new elements involved to mix things up a bit.

It is always a difficult decision when trying to decide if we are going to do a Halloween or Christmas trip. Though my heart is always for Halloween, it is busy season here for our household, so we are heading to DL in November!

Just made our hotel reservations for the 11th-15th. Hopefully those dates will open for our flights soon, so I can start with some more detailed planning.

I'll have to catch up on the latest on the thread. Sherry's threads are the BEST and I have so much fun looking over everyone's contributions.

Happy planning everyone!

Welcome back, Halloweenqueen!

Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoy the threads! You'll notice that Page 1 (the first 9 posts) of this thread is much more involved than my previous threads' Page 1!

I know you'd always prefer to do a Halloween DLR trip, but you'e so involved in Halloween at home that it is too tough to pull off!

You'll be in the parks for the start of the season (11/12), but you will miss the hotel holiday festivities, sadly. I don't know why Disney cannot get the 3 hotels decorated when the parks are decorated.

...I love these threads, but subscribing to them year round can lead to an overloaded email box. I always make sure to resubscribe as soon as our dates are set!

I wish I would actually get that many email alerts from the DIS! It seems that unless I reply to every single post that comes in, I will stop getting regular alerts. There are times when I am busier than others, and I would like to be able to get an email each time someone posts so I can keep up to date on what is being discussed without having to scroll through the pages when I get back to the thread. But after the first couple of email alerts, if I don't post in the thread then the alerts stop coming! I might get one email alert and by the time I sign in here I see that 10 more posts have come in!

So I think that if you want to stay subscribed to something (any thread) but you don't want to receive email alerts you can stop posting and they won't fill up your inbox until you start posting again. You might get a random email here and there, but not many. Also, we have had a wave of activity here in the last couple of weeks but these Superthreads tend to quiet down for long chunks of time.

 

[egritz]

So I think that if you want to stay subscribed to something (any thread) but you don't want to receive email alerts you can stop posting and they won't fill up your inbox until you start posting again. You might get a random email here and there, but not many. Also, we have had a wave of activity here in the last couple of weeks but these Superthreads tend to quiet down for long chunks of time.

When I subscribe, I do "instant email notification" but I do not get another email from disboards on that thread until I've logged in & visited the thread.

This last trip we spent A LOT of time at the Monster's Inc ride since it is one of the few movies DD2 knows. She loved meeting Sulley, I just wish they also had Mike, but I can understand the challenges of staffing his character!

 

[mom2rtk]

We leave next week Janet. And we are sooo not ready.

Have an awesome trip Mike! Can't wait to see more photos when you get back!

 

[KCmike]

Have an awesome trip Mike! Can't wait to see more photos when you get back!

You as well Janet! We leave tomorrow morning. Just the wife and I while the kids leave the next day on their big motor coach band trip. Sure glad we aren't the one chaperoning. I can't wait to see your photos too!

Since we're driving this time around I plan on taking the tripod with me. What do you use for your settings with the tripod for great mainstreet shots? I want those lights to pop and get good clarity! Really would love your insight.

 

[mom2rtk]

You as well Janet! We leave tomorrow morning. Just the wife and I while the kids leave the next day on their big motor coach band trip. Sure glad we aren't the one chaperoning. I can't wait to see your photos too!

Since we're driving this time around I plan on taking the tripod with me. What do you use for your settings with the tripod for great mainstreet shots? I want those lights to pop and get good clarity! Really would love your insight.

Thanks Mike. Our WDW stop will be crazy brief (one evening in the MK) but it should be enough to get my by until we do DLR up right in December!

Mostly I'm looking forward to some unstructured family time. And I bet you are too!

 

[KCmike]

Thanks Mike. Our WDW stop will be crazy brief (one evening in the MK) but it should be enough to get my by until we do DLR up right in December!

Mostly I'm looking forward to some unstructured family time. And I bet you are too!

What about those settings?

 

[mom2rtk]

What about those settings?

Sorry, trying to do too many things at once!

On a tripod at night you want to go with your lowest ISO for the best IQ. You really only need the higher ISOs for handholding shots and attaining faster shutter speed. With a tripod, you don't need that.

I would probably use aperture priority around f11 and let the camera choose the shutter speed. (At f11 you'll get great depth of field but not lose too much image quality. The closer you get to f22 the more IQ you lose.) But watch any bright lights in your shot carefully (lamp posts on Main Street?). You could end up blowing those out when the camera meters for the mostly dark scene. So maybe I'd dial back the exposure compensation just a little to balance that out.

If you want to be sure you get it right, you could try to bracket your shots so it shoots one with the settings you choose and one a stop underexposed and one a stop overexposed.

I'm hoping to take a few night shots myself but it depends on how things go. With only one evening, there's a lot to balance.

 

[KCmike]

Sorry, trying to do too many things at once!

On a tripod at night you want to go with your lowest ISO for the best IQ. You really only need the higher ISOs for handholding shots and attaining faster shutter speed. With a tripod, you don't need that.

I would probably use aperture priority around f11 and let the camera choose the shutter speed. (At f11 you'll get great depth of field but not lose too much image quality. The closer you get to f22 the more IQ you lose.) But watch any bright lights in your shot carefully (lamp posts on Main Street?). You could end up blowing those out when the camera meters for the mostly dark scene. So maybe I'd dial back the exposure compensation just a little to balance that out.

If you want to be sure you get it right, you could try to bracket your shots so it shoots one with the settings you choose and one a stop underexposed and one a stop overexposed.

I'm hoping to take a few night shots myself but it depends on how things go. With only one evening, there's a lot to balance.

Thanks Janet! Now back to your local programming.

 

[Sherry E]

When I subscribe, I do "instant email notification" but I do not get another email from disboards on that thread until I've logged in & visited the thread.

This last trip we spent A LOT of time at the Monster's Inc ride since it is one of the few movies DD2 knows. She loved meeting Sulley, I just wish they also had Mike, but I can understand the challenges of staffing his character!

egritz --

Those instant email notifications are a bit askew. I would think that a good way to set them up would be if someone is not active in a particular thread for, say, 2 or 3 weeks or so, then he/she stops getting the email notifications. That would make more sense to me. The way it seems to be set up now is that if the system detects a lull in activity for just a half-day (meaning that several posts go by and we don't join in to post something too), we stop getting the emails! At least, that's how it works for me. I could be active in this thread for a long stretch of time and then suddenly not post for a few hours and I later find out that I missed a lot of email alerts about posts! (For example, I didn't get any alerts for those last few posts between Mike and Janet.)

Also, sometimes if I post in another thread and not this one, then I will suddenly get email alerts for this thread again -- once or twice, until they stop.

And then I will occasionally get an email alert for a thread that I haven't posted in for two years! It's very odd.

Basically, I think the general rule should be that the more time that passes without being active in a thread, the fewer email notices the person should get -- but this should play out over weeks or months, not just a few hours in a day! Madness!

It's interesting that you mention the challenges with staffing the Mike character. I was wondering if he was going to be out and about in the parks this year because of the whole Monstrous Summer thing. (By the way, am I the only one who is even a little bit happy about the idea of a mini-Monstropolis coming to DCA? I know it won't fit in with the existing Hollywood theme, necessarily, but I don't mind because I have always wanted more Pixar in the park! I want a Toy Land too!)

I could be wrong, but I think I have seen Mike at one of the Halloween parties in the past, with Sulley. Maybe Halloweenqueen can confirm or deny that, if she remembers. I might have been imagining it, and instead am simply remembering Mike's appearance in the Pixar Play Parade.

Sulley has some challenges too, because of that heavy, furry costume! The poor guy can't stay out in the sun for very long on hot days, as he will roast or melt into a big, blue blob. His handlers have to shuffle him away after a short while so he can cool off!

I only have one photo with Sulley, and my friend's husband took the picture of us from a distance. I would like to get a shot that is a little more close-up.


The Cars characters pose interesting challenges for photos too. Yes, of course, McQueen and Mater "talk" to the guests in Cars Land. Mater even has his own Christmas-y banter and Santa hat during the holidays. But they can't really "pose" with you. They can't hug you. They can't put their arms around you. They can't interact in the same way that the walking characters can. I watch people try to figure out how to pose with them and it always looks a little awkward to me. I noticed it at the Snowy the Snow Car photo spot too. I know that back when McQueen and Mater were set up in Condor Flats (pre-Cars Land), my friends and I didn't know really how or where to stand with these cars. I thought it was just us, until I saw others struggling with the same scenarios at the various photo spots in Cars Land.