I almost forgot to reply!
I'm learning from the best - you! I'm obsessing over our trip and have read this thread in its entirety (and many of the links provided on the first page). And I'm excited & sad at the same time to say that in exactly 6 months we will be on the plane somewhere over the great state of California on our way home from our Christmas DL trip, lol
egritz --
Thank you!
I'm so glad that the thread has not only been of interest to you, but has also been of help. I am doubly impressed and happy that you have made mental (or actual written) notes of a lot of the details you've read throughout the thread -- like, for example, when it is less or more crowded, when the hotels are decorated, etc.
I certainly don't expect anyone to put in the time to read an entire thread -- especially a thread that has crossed a certain page number -- unless he/she wants to do that, of course, but the first page and the last couple of pages of a thread are usually a good indicator of what is being discussed, general info, etc.
I have had some stumbles along the way with creating the posts on Page 1 -- for a couple of reasons. One reason is that Photobucket's ridiculous website/format changes this year have somehow interfered with my being able to resize photos. I try to create smaller sizes to put in the posts on Page 1, and the edited photos either don't save, or they come out in a gigantic size, which is exactly the opposite of what I am trying to achieve!
The other hurdle I encountered when putting together all of the info for the various posts on Page 1 is that -- after I first typed up the text and saved all of the links in MS Word, then copied and pasted all of that into the posts here in this thread -- when going into the individual posts to edit them (like to add a link, remove a link, change some of the wording around a bit, add info, etc.), there is some wacky glitch that causes punctuation to either disappear or change to something else. For example, a "..." could change to "&" for no apparent reason, or all of the apostrophes, hyphens, and even some capital letters suddenly disappear or change. It only happens when
editing a post, and it only happens with text that I initially typed, saved in and copied from MS Word. The same crazy punctuation glitch thing also happened in my Trip Report in the past, and I noticed that it happens in other folks' TRs from time to time too.
Of course, if I had typed all of the info directly into a post here rather than copying it and pasting it from MS Word I probably wouldn't have the issue, but as you can see, there is a
lot of information on Page 1, spread out over 9 posts, so I had to type it up in increments as I gathered /organized links and things, and save it in Word. Anyway, when I noticed that the punctuation was going haywire in some of the posts on Page 1 after I edited them, I fixed some of it but not all of it. I was so annoyed that it was happening again, after all of my work, that I just couldn't bear to try to fix it. And even if I do fix it, there is no guarantee that the glitch won't happen again when I edit.
So my point is that I really, really, realllllly appreciate that you (or anyone) take the time to bother glancing, skimming, reading or making note of any of the information that has been compiled -- because it really has been quite the project on my end (to say the least)!!!
Thank you again!
I know what you mean about that excited/sad feeling in regards to your DLR trip. When you think about how quickly the past 6 months have gone by, it is not unreasonable to think that this next 6 months will appear to fly by too. All of the planning will be fun and interesting for you, and you will set yourself up for a wonderful holiday trip -- only to realize it will be over in just a few days after you arrive. The time seems to go by so quickly once you are at DLR as well! Suddenly you will realize it's your last day at DLR for this trip, and all of the months of planning have led to that moment...when it's time to go home!
Really, December will be here before we realize it. To put it in a different context --
Halloween merchandise and treats will begin hitting the shelves in exactly
2 months (at least in my area of town that's how it goes). My grocery store will begin to get its yearly supply of holiday Dreyer's Peppermint Stick ice cream in stock in only 3 months. So, really, there will be signs of Halloween and the holidays creeping up in a
very short time -- which is almost scary to ponder!
I don't really mind the early appearance of those things because I
adore both Halloween and Christmas and can't get enough of either of them, but when I see those items on the shelves it just makes me realize that everything in life seems to be sort of 'accelerated' nowadays, and that the holiday season will be here and gone in the blink of an eye! No matter how far in advance the signs of the holidays seem to appear, the season (and any plans we make that are part of the season) is really over before we know it! I know that some folks find that to be a relief. I am usually sad to see the holidays go.
As soon as I see the first packages of M&M's white chocolate candy corn and Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins on the shelf in 8 weeks, I know that the holidays are a-comin' at lightning speed!!
Good to hear about the crowds. It would be nice to see the hotels done up, but since we've never seen the parks done up in their holiday glory, that will be more than enough for this trip.
RichP1269 --
You'll have a great time. There is a lot to look at and take in just in
Disneyland alone, but the Cars Land decor in DCA is quite impressive too. A couple of years ago, California Adventure was beginning to look pretty pitiful (translation: sparse) around the holidays, and the bulk of Christmas time fun was in Disneyland. The hotel decor was almost necessary to kind of fill things out a bit. At least now it feels like both parks are involved in the season in their own ways (though Disneyland probably still has the edge in terms of sheer volume of decor and merriment).
I always try to remember to mention the lack of hotel decor (prior to Thanksgiving) to people --
just in case it makes a difference. A lot of people won't care if the hotels are decorated and full of holiday cheer or not. Some folks simply cannot plan to be at the parks post-Thanksgiving (when the hotels are decorated) because of schedules. And then there are those who want the full holiday experience, and the full array of decorations, hotel Santas, carolers, etc., so they want to plan to be at DLR when the hotels are in the holiday swing too. I know that I absolutely love the Christmas tree in the Paradise Pier Hotel and the whole festive environment of the Grand Californian Hotel lobby, so I would feel like something was missing if I didn't get to see those on my holiday trips.
One thing we don't know yet is what is happening with Downtown Disney this year. DTD used to have a big Christmas tree every year. Last year, in place of the tree we got an ice skating rink in conjunction with the Tinker Bell movie that was playing in theaters. The rink went up in October and stayed there until the end of the season this past January. There were also some little Christmas kiosks (the so called "Christmas village") selling treats and merchandise near the rink, but only post-Thanksgiving.
Now that the Tinker Bell movie is long gone, I wonder if the rink will return or if we will once again get a tree!
And if we get a rink again, will it go up in October, or not until November? I like the idea of a rink for those who want to skate. I really like the idea of a Christmas Village if it is done right and actually seems village-y. But I have to admit that I missed the big Christmas tree in DTD last year.
I had planned to do Friday 12/6 - Thursday 12/12, but the Friday flight was much more expensive. So we're arriving Thursday 12/5 and getting 4 day tickets, so we'll probably go Fri, Sat, Sunday, take a day off Monday, and go back on Tuesday when it's less crowded.
I hope he wants to go to the Halloween party -- it kind of fills in the gaps of the Halloween Time season a bit more, and if he likes fireworks he should love Halloween Screams. Plus, it's fun to see all of the different costumes that people come up with (even though there are a lot of non-costumed folks there too). And it's great fun to trick-or-treat and collect enormous amounts of candy, as well as see the characters in Halloween outfits.
It's a nice feeling to have it all taken care of. Well, you're basically all set then, right? All you have to do is sit back and wait for the news and information on the season to come in. Did you get the gift cards you were planning to get at Target? 
It sounds like it's going to be an action-packed Fall for you. Those Southwest flights are probably going to contribute to a lot of folks planning sudden trips!
) . One of them is almost obsessed with IASW and to be completely honest, from what I remember as a child and the photos I have seen, WDW does not even come close, especially with regard to the exterior and then the added factor of the exterior at Christmas time. 
