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

[DBL101]

'07-'12 Click the Pics for larger versions.

 

[Luisa]

I've realised I'm severely lacking in IASW and FL holiday pictures, will have to remedy that this year.



There isn't anything 'Christmassy' in this one, but it is FL and was taken last December so...

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[dolphingirl47]

That is such a shame that they don't really decorate Fantasyland. I tried to remember if Fantasyland was decorated at Walt Disney World last year and cannot remember anything at all so I assume probably not. I remember Main Street in all its glory and the wonderful decorations at Epcot and Animal Kingdom, but I remember very little about the rest of Magic Kingdom. I have been at Disneyland Paris during the holiday season a few times and there they go all out with decorations at Fantasyland and the highlight for me has always been Belle's Christmas Village, which is a traditional Christmas Market.

I have to say after the first Theme Week I had wondered if I would be disappointed in the holiday season at Disneyland especially as we will probably be there before the decorations at the hotels will be up. I just did not feel the magic. Still I absolutely love Haunted Mansion Holiday and figured it would be worth going just for this. I loved all the decorations at New Orleans Square and It's A Small World Holiday has just blown me away so now I am really looking forward to this trip again.

Corinna

 

[mom2rtk]

I LOVE this week's theme. I think seeing IASW in person will be one of my favorite events from this trip.



Janet- hooray!!!! So happy to hear you have dates and a room booked! I am hopeful that SM will be open if BTMRR does indeed stay closed. Regardless it will be an amazing trip!

Thanks Wendy! And it looks like if we stick with our new dates we'll overlap trips by a couple days. We'll have to meet up and say hi!

My favorites include:
What's this?
This is Halloween
and Sally's Song.

The music in the film is really well done but I think you have to like the movie to enjoy the whole soundtrack. It will be very interesting seeing your take on the dark ride.

SHERRY E

Your probably right on the Fantasyland rides. BTW I loved all your photos for this week.

Thanks Mike! I know I have "What's This?" on one CD. I'll have to look for the others.

On the subject of FL...... WDW doesn't decorate back in FL either. It's a shame too. It's such a quaint area. I'd love if they'd do something with it for the holidays.

You'll be okay riding it during the weekdays. We didn't see bad waits for it during the weekdays, maybe 10 minutes or so max... the weekends were when things got crazy though, and the line would get pretty long!

Just expect the crowds to be a bit busy on the weekend, but otherwise you're in for a great trip!

That's very encouraging! We are planning on coming in on Wed 12/4, hitting the parks hard for 2 days, then taking Saturday off and going back Sunday through Tuesday. I know that's the Candlelight Processional weekend so I do expect it to be pretty busy.

 

[egritz]

Totally just woke up early to a "nightmare" (not really, more like a very stressful dream) of running around the house trying to pack and ended up missing our flight and not getting on one for 12 hours later, meaning an 11pm flight and no legal way to get to the hotel (we need a carseat). Not a fun way to start my day!

 

[mom2rtk]

Totally just woke up early to a "nightmare" (not really, more like a very stressful dream) of running around the house trying to pack and ended up missing our flight and not getting on one for 12 hours later, meaning an 11pm flight and no legal way to get to the hotel (we need a carseat). Not a fun way to start my day!

LOL. My Disney nightmare involves being in the park without my camera. No matter how hard I try I can't get back to the room to get it.

 

[egritz]

LOL. My Disney nightmare involves being in the park without my camera. No matter how hard I try I can't get back to the room to get it.

For any vacation it is the packing that stresses me out. I have a list that I update every trip and I check off everything as I lay it out on the bed to be packed but for some reason it just always stresses me out. Now that I have a kid I think it is worse. And I can rarely sleep well for the last few nights before we fly out. I don't think I've ever had a panic dream like this so early though - I just looked and we have 3 months & 3 weeks until our trip, lol!!!

 

[ksromack]

Thanks Wendy! And it looks like if we stick with our new dates we'll overlap trips by a couple days. We'll have to meet up and say hi!




Thanks Mike! I know I have "What's This?" on one CD. I'll have to look for the others.

On the subject of FL...... WDW doesn't decorate back in FL either. It's a shame too. It's such a quaint area. I'd love if they'd do something with it for the holidays.



That's very encouraging! We are planning on coming in on Wed 12/4, hitting the parks hard for 2 days, then taking Saturday off and going back Sunday through Tuesday. I know that's the Candlelight Processional weekend so I do expect it to be pretty busy.

What hotel did you decide on? We'll overlap many of our days too!

 

[tamiandryan]

For any vacation it is the packing that stresses me out. I have a list that I update every trip and I check off everything as I lay it out on the bed to be packed but for some reason it just always stresses me out. Now that I have a kid I think it is worse. And I can rarely sleep well for the last few nights before we fly out. I don't think I've ever had a panic dream like this so early though - I just looked and we have 3 months & 3 weeks until our trip, lol!!!

The benefit of going to DLR is that it's not a 3rd world country. If you forget something, there is always a Wal-Mart, Target, or Mall close enough

 

[mom2rtk]

What hotel did you decide on? We'll overlap many of our days too!

I'd still like to pull it together to stay at PPH. But for now we are booked at Fairfield Inn. I'm really hoping for a discount of some sort to PPH. And I'm going to continue thinking on it.

I'd love to be able to catch up in the parks!

 

[Sherry E]

I woke up to find that another wave of gorgeous photos had come in from Bret, pattyduke34, DBL101 and Luisa since I last checked. Everyone has received another entry into the random draw!

​

KCmike --

Thank you for the compliment about the photos. There are just not enough holiday touches in FL to work with for photos (outside of IASWH, of course), so it comes down to getting creative and focusing on the horticulture or the FL side of the Castle !

​

That is such a shame that they don't really decorate Fantasyland. I tried to remember if Fantasyland was decorated at Walt Disney World last year and cannot remember anything at all so I assume probably not. I remember Main Street in all its glory and the wonderful decorations at Epcot and Animal Kingdom, but I remember very little about the rest of Magic Kingdom. I have been at Disneyland Paris during the holiday season a few times and there they go all out with decorations at Fantasyland and the highlight for me has always been Belle's Christmas Village, which is a traditional Christmas Market.

I have to say after the first Theme Week I had wondered if I would be disappointed in the holiday season at Disneyland especially as we will probably be there before the decorations at the hotels will be up. I just did not feel the magic. Still I absolutely love Haunted Mansion Holiday and figured it would be worth going just for this. I loved all the decorations at New Orleans Square and It's A Small World Holiday has just blown me away so now I am really looking forward to this trip again.

Corinna

Corinna --

Have you had a chance to sneak in a viewing of that Candlelight Ceremony video link I posted from YouTube without your DH looking at you strangely?

It could be due to a lack of space in our FL that Disney doesn't put up some sort of mini-Christmas market/fair/village. Last year they made a feeble attempt to put up a Christmas village in Downtown Disney, but I don't think it really was all that "village-y," because DTD doesn't exactly have a European feel. I think that the European Christmas market theme would work very well in DL's Fantasyland -- at least just by setting up some kiosks here and there -- but I would bet that the idea is even more perfect at DLP!

As I was saying to KCmike yesterday, if the Christmas market idea couldn't work in DL I really think Disney could put up some mini-trees themed to the stories/characters in FL's dark rides. The dark rides are too short to put any trees in the rides, but Disney could put up very small trees somewhere outside of the rides. I think it would be a cool way to bring more decor into Fantasyland in a very 'Disney' sort of way.

The fact is, even though there are adorable tiny decorations on the cottages of the Storybook Land ride, a lot of people won't see them because they may not choose to go on that ride. It's not exactly like Disney advertises decorations on the SBL canal boat ride. The people who would be going on that ride anyway are the ones who will see the decorations, but a lot of people choose to skip it.

So you didn't like the Christmas Trees/Wreaths Theme Week (week 1) but you liked last week's New Orleans Square/Haunted Mansion Holiday theme and you like this week's IASWH/FL theme? And it seems like Janet (mom2rtk) didn't like last week's NOS/HMH theme at all, but liked Week 1 and she likes this week. Interesting!

I can already see that I have got people wondering why they don't have more photos of New Orleans Square (which has wonderfully unique decorations totally separate from Haunted Mansion Holiday) and more photos of Fantasyland and/or IASWH, and probably also why they don't notice more of the interesting Christmas trees around DLR. So my mission is to inform and inspire and highlight certain overlooked details -- and I am succeeding in that mission!

I think that even without the hotel decorations you will have a good time at DLR. DLR is not going to be on the same scale as the WDW decorations and festivities, of course (smaller resort overall), but I think there will be enough to see to keep you interested.

We've got 17 more themes to go after this one, so you will see that there is a lot to enjoy and take in!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Corinna --

Have you had a chance to sneak in a viewing of that Candlelight Ceremony video link I posted from YouTube without your DH looking at you strangely?

It could be due to a lack of space in our FL that Disney doesn't put up some sort of mini-Christmas market/fair/village. Last year they made a feeble attempt to put up a Christmas village in Downtown Disney, but I don't think it really was all that "village-y," because DTD doesn't exactly have a European feel. I think that the European Christmas market theme would work very well in DL's Fantasyland -- at least just by setting up some kiosks here and there -- but I would bet that the idea is even more perfect at DLP!

As I was saying to KCmike yesterday, if the Christmas market idea couldn't work in DL I really think Disney could put up some mini-trees themed to the stories/characters in FL's dark rides. The dark rides are too short to put any trees in the rides, but Disney could put up very small trees somewhere outside of the rides. I think it would be a cool way to bring more decor into Fantasyland in a very 'Disney' sort of way.

The fact is, even though there are adorable tiny decorations on the cottages of the Storybook Land ride, a lot of people won't see them because they may not choose to go on that ride. It's not exactly like Disney advertises decorations on the SBL canal boat ride. The people who would be going on that ride anyway are the ones who will see the decorations, but a lot of people choose to skip it.

So you didn't like the Christmas Trees/Wreaths Theme Week (week 1) but you liked last week's New Orleans Square/Haunted Mansion Holiday theme and you like this week's IASWH/FL theme? And it seems like Janet (mom2rtk) didn't like last week's NOS/HMH theme at all, but liked Week 1 and she likes this week. Interesting!

I can already see that I have got people wondering why they don't have more photos of New Orleans Square (which has wonderfully unique decorations totally separate from Haunted Mansion Holiday) and more photos of Fantasyland and/or IASWH, and probably also why they don't notice more of the interesting Christmas trees around DLR. So my mission is to inform and inspire and highlight certain overlooked details -- and I am succeeding in that mission!

I think that even without the hotel decorations you will have a good time at DLR. DLR is not going to be on the same scale as the WDW decorations and festivities, of course (smaller resort overall), but I think there will be enough to see to keep you interested.

We've got 17 more themes to go after this one, so you will see that there is a lot to enjoy and take in!

Yes, I have had a chance now to watch the video. It is very moving. I still prefer the German version from Epcot, but I suppose I am biased.

I thought most of the Christmas trees in week one looked a bit generic. I loved the Carsland ones, but most of the others would not have felt out of place in a shopping mall. Weeks two and three are different. I love New Orleans Square anyway and translating a Mardi Gras theme into Christmas decorations just had me bowled over. I just love all the photos from It's A Small World Holiday.

I love the idea with the character trees and would love to see this. I have seen this done in two different places and I always have love them. At Disneyland Paris they used to have character trees at the hub. At Animal Kingdom, they have all kinds of character trees at Camp Minnie-Mickey. I think the rides at Fantasyland would provide loads of inspiration for character trees. I can just picture a Mad Hatter's tree outside the Alice in Wonderland ride.

Corinna

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I would love to see FL done with more decorations and I agree small tress would be a great addition. It's sad that it's a neglected area in that respect.

 

[Sherry E]

I have been a long time lurker and finally decided to register!

I am going to Disneyland first and second week of December. I am so disappointed to here that CP has been reduced down to 2 nights! I was looking into booking the Ultimate Holiday Tour for this year just for the CP seating and the Parade seats!

Now I see that SM may be down too! That really bites big time! My fiance and I are huge Disney fanatics and were looking forward to all of that!

Oh well, at least we get to see Disney with all the Christmas decorations! I still cant wait (although my balloon just popped a little).

GizMo123 --

I neglected to say welcome to you, so I'm glad that Kathy said it! Every now and then, if the thread is moving fast and I am busy, I will only have time to read new posts but not reply to some of them. Your original post got lost in one of those waves of activity.

Anyway, I'm glad you came out of lurkdom and joined us!

Originally, the CP last year was supposed to offer dinner packages with seats. That is what was posted in the Parks Blog. Eventually, the Parks Blog revealed that there would not be any dinner packages -- with seats or without them.

So I wonder if the CP was even included in the Ultimate Holiday Tour after all? Do you know of anyone who did the Ultimate Holiday Tour and actually got seats for the CP last year? Or was it just talked about that the seats would be included in the Ultimate package at first?

To be honest, though -- if Disney were repeating the 20-night schedule of CP nights from 2012, and they were holding it in Town Square again, you probably could just get seats by walking up to the right spot at the right time. I did that twice last year. And my seats (especially on the first night I went) were really good. But including the CP in with the tour and the parade is a good package idea, for sure!

I would imagine that what we will be seeing in the future is the Ultimate package that includes the parade and a hard ticket Christmas party. I suspect that the CP will move to DCA, or if it stays in DL it will move to FL and the party will go to DCA.

In any event, I think you will love the holidays at DLR! You'll be there when everything is in full swing -- hotel decorations and carolers and all. If you happen to be at DLR on 12/7 or 12/8 you can still stand and watch the CP.

​

I'd still like to pull it together to stay at PPH....

I'd love to be able to catch up in the parks!

Janet --

As I mentioned to you a while back, if all goes as planned I should be at DLR on 12/8 (and into 12/9, though I will be busy for a few hours on 12/9). I know I'm going to be on one of my usual solo photo extravaganzas/sprees, but at some point during the day -- especially if you and Kathy are both there in the parks -- we'll all have to meet up and say hello!

Yes, I have had a chance now to watch the video. It is very moving. I still prefer the German version from Epcot, but I suppose I am biased.

I thought most of the Christmas trees in week one looked a bit generic. I loved the Carsland ones, but most of the others would not have felt out of place in a shopping mall. Weeks two and three are different. I love New Orleans Square anyway and translating a Mardi Gras theme into Christmas decorations just had me bowled over. I just love all the photos from It's A Small World Holiday.

I love the idea with the character trees and would love to see this. I have seen this done in two different places and I always have love them. At Disneyland Paris they used to have character trees at the hub. At Animal Kingdom, they have all kinds of character trees at Camp Minnie-Mickey. I think the rides at Fantasyland would provide loads of inspiration for character trees. I can just picture a Mad Hatter's tree outside the Alice in Wonderland ride.

Corinna

I would love to see FL done with more decorations and I agree small tress would be a great addition. It's sad that it's a neglected area in that respect.

Corinna & Jamie --

A Mad Hatter tree would be awesome (good idea, Corinna!)!! Disney does other whimsical/wacky trees -- not only Cars Land, but also the Goofy's Kitchen tree, the small "Nightmare Before Christmas" tree in World of Disney and the original Toontown tree (not the current "ugly plastic tree," to use Bret's words, that went up in 2011) -- so it seems like it would be almost a given that the creative masterminds could come up with cool trees for the FL dark rides, and especially for the Alice ride. There is sooooo much potential there.

I think that in place of the ride vehicle photo spots near the Toad ride and others they could put the small 'dark ride trees.' And if they didn't have space outside the ride they could put the trees somewhere inside the building or along the queues, before boarding the ride.

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Sorry, lost most of the holiday photos from 2012 when my hard drive crashed, some survived:

 

[PHXscuba]

I go away for 24 hours and the thread jumps four pages!! Awesome photos from all!!

Here is my one lonely picture of Storybook Canals ... it's hard to take non-blurry pictures on a moving boat!

Inside IASWH:

I love this little gopher, especially with a Santa hat!

My BFF and I on the Holiday Tour (you can see the receivers around our necks and the headphones ... I highly recommend the tour!

And more outside:

PHXscuba

 

[ksromack]

Very excited here......I booked the room only and canceled the vacation package. The CM I spoke with today was soooo much more helpful than the other 2 I've spoken with regarding my switch. The earlier gal told me I would have to book my room only through AAA then call the Disney number to give them my new confirmation number....and that they could then just transfer my previous down payment and 5 disney gift cards to the package booked through AAA. Well, I went to AAA website and the days I needed were "sold out". I didn't want to do this anyway because then if an AP rate came up I wouldn't be able to use it......so I decided it would just be best to hang up the phone and call in hopes I got a different CM....which I did!

Chris helped me make a new reservation AND he gave me an AP rate for that room as it exists right now. He added the APs to my reservation then mentioned that if I ended up canceling the APs I would be back to rack rate for the room.....which is awesome! Now if an better AP rate exists it shouldn't be a problem to get it on my room. So now, if good AP rates come out for my week I'll need someone to tell me so I can call them

I will have to wait for them to credit my gift cards and credit card, though. I'm curious how long that will take.

Loving all the IASW pictures as I already mentioned it's my favorite ride at WDW (and I know DL version is better). I'm thinking I never noticed christmas decorations in Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom either, but the decorations at all the resorts sort of made up for it We visited Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, Yacht Club/Beach Club, Boardwalk, Grand Floridian, Contemporary, and our own resort, Port Orleans Riverside. No Santas though.

 

[Sherry E]

ElkGroveChris & PHX --

You've each got another entry into the random draw! Wonderful photos!

PHX, you're one of the few who even has any photos from the SBL ride. Not many people do.

And ElkGroveChris - I can certainly relate to a hard drive crash that wipes out thousands of photos, so I know the agony of that.

​

Very excited here......I booked the room only and canceled the vacation package. The CM I spoke with today was soooo much more helpful than the other 2 I've spoken with regarding my switch. The earlier gal told me I would have to book my room only through AAA then call the Disney number to give them my new confirmation number....and that they could then just transfer my previous down payment and 5 disney gift cards to the package booked through AAA. Well, I went to AAA website and the days I needed were "sold out". I didn't want to do this anyway because then if an AP rate came up I wouldn't be able to use it......so I decided it would just be best to hang up the phone and call in hopes I got a different CM....which I did!

Chris helped me make a new reservation AND he gave me an AP rate for that room as it exists right now. He added the APs to my reservation then mentioned that if I ended up canceling the APs I would be back to rack rate for the room.....which is awesome! Now if an better AP rate exists it shouldn't be a problem to get it on my room. So now, if good AP rates come out for my week I'll need someone to tell me so I can call them

I will have to wait for them to credit my gift cards and credit card, though. I'm curious how long that will take.

Loving all the IASW pictures as I already mentioned it's my favorite ride at WDW (and I know DL version is better). I'm thinking I never noticed christmas decorations in Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom either, but the decorations at all the resorts sort of made up for it We visited Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, Yacht Club/Beach Club, Boardwalk, Grand Floridian, Contemporary, and our own resort, Port Orleans Riverside. No Santas though.

Kathy --

I'm so glad for you that the room-only reservation is going to work out. Did you book the PPH or the DLH?

All of the hotels are easily walkable so you can see all of them. At that point they all should also have the schedules for when Santa is coming and when the carolers come to perform.

Yes, that's exactly how the reservations CMs do it with room-only -- you can use your AP 10% discount now when you book. When you check in at the hotel, you show them your AP to prove that you have it and the rate stays as is. If you don't have and AP then they charge the rack rate -- exactly as Chris explained to you.

I will certainly be looking out for discounts better than that 10% because I would be arriving on 12/8 if it all worked out. So I will definitely be keeping watch and will let you know as soon as anything pops up, if it pops up!

Also, there may be some sort of public (non-AP exclusive) discount that comes out as well, so you could also use that if a better AP rate doesn't come along.

You can even hold your existing room only booking and switch hotels if you suddenly decided to stay at the DLH or something. I have switched dates, hotels and types of discounts under one room only reservation!

The great thing with having an AP (aside from park admission) is that you can get the food discounts and merchandise discounts, as well as hotel discounts. If you decided to do the holiday tour you could get a discount on that as well.

I would love to take a full few days and just explore all of the WDW hotels during the holiday season -- every last one of them, from the budget hotels all the way to the Grand Floridian. I just love the WDW hotel decorations, from all that I have seen in photos. I wish that we could get some of those wonderful 'edible' displays at DLR that can be found at so many of the WDW hotels -- the elaborate ones made from marzipan and other things. We do have cute little gingerbread houses, but nothing elaborate and detailed like those WDW decorations!

 

[GizMo123]

GizMo123 --

I neglected to say welcome to you, so I'm glad that Kathy said it! Every now and then, if the thread is moving fast and I am busy, I will only have time to read new posts but not reply to some of them. Your original post got lost in one of those waves of activity.

Anyway, I'm glad you came out of lurkdom and joined us!

Originally, the CP last year was supposed to offer dinner packages with seats. That is what was posted in the Parks Blog. Eventually, the Parks Blog revealed that there would not be any dinner packages -- with seats or without them.

So I wonder if the CP was even included in the Ultimate Holiday Tour after all? Do you know of anyone who did the Ultimate Holiday Tour and actually got seats for the CP last year? Or was it just talked about that the seats would be included in the Ultimate package at first?

To be honest, though -- if Disney were repeating the 20-night schedule of CP nights from 2012, and they were holding it in Town Square again, you probably could just get seats by walking up to the right spot at the right time. I did that twice last year. And my seats (especially on the first night I went) were really good. But including the CP in with the tour and the parade is a good package idea, for sure!

I would imagine that what we will be seeing in the future is the Ultimate package that includes the parade and a hard ticket Christmas party. I suspect that the CP will move to DCA, or if it stays in DL it will move to FL and the party will go to DCA.

In any event, I think you will love the holidays at DLR! You'll be there when everything is in full swing -- hotel decorations and carolers and all. If you happen to be at DLR on 12/7 or 12/8 you can still stand and watch the CP.

​

Thank you very much Sherry! From what I read from peoples TR, while it didnt include dinner, it did include a reserved seat. Of course, it was only for select days (I think first week or weekend) but they did offer it.

Unfortunately for me, I will not be there on 12/7 & 12/8 as I have other plans (Las Vegas!). I was trying to figure out a way to wiggle out 12/7 into the plans but since everything is already planned out and we are meeting people in Vegas, we cant hold it off.

I am hoping they extend CP for at least a week (finalizing what days we will be in DL but I think its Dec 4-6 & 11-12). That way I can still see CP!

I guess its okay though. I know I will take a bunch of pictures and will enjoy the winter decorations for sure! Guess I will try to get the regular holiday tour so I can enjoy the parade without having to jockey for a seat.

Still so excited though (Maybe not as much as my Fiance. Every other word from her is about this Disney trip). Cant wait!!

 

[mom2rtk]

Janet --

As I mentioned to you a while back, if all goes as planned I should be at DLR on 12/8 (and into 12/9, though I will be busy for a few hours on 12/9). I know I'm going to be on one of my usual solo photo extravaganzas/sprees, but at some point during the day -- especially if you and Kathy are both there in the parks -- we'll all have to meet up and say hello!

I think it would be great to have a DIS meet!

p!

Also, there may be some sort of public (non-AP exclusive) discount that comes out as well, so you could also use that if a better AP rate doesn't come along.

I would love it if you post here if there is any sort of discount offered. We booked at FFI just as a backup plan. I really am still wanting to stay at PPH.

Maybe you can tell me...... I was considering buying our tickets from Orbitz with the ebates deal. But I know at WDW some of the discount deals require that you also buy your park tickets as part of a package. Does DLR ever do deals that require ticket purchase? I've been holding off wanting to keep all of my options open.

My understanding though is that there were no discounts during this time last year, so not to get my hopes up.