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

[PHXscuba]

My guess is that it largely has to do with the visitors. WDW is composed primarily of tourists, where as DLR depends heavily on locals. Locals are less likely to purchase a package because they aren't going to stay onsite or for multiple consecutive days. For the tourists, they might be willing to purchase a package, but there probably aren't enough of them to justify the cost of managing a system like the one at WDW. Also, I think it has to do with the fact there are far fewer restaurants at DLR compared to WDW.

And having heard how the dining pans have "dumbed down" WDW food, I'm glad we don't have a dining plan like theirs. Most people who want to pre-pay for food buy gift cards. The general consensus seems to be that DLR has better QS food to satisfy the locals, but lacks in TS food choices. I think the restaurants DLR has are good, just not as many.

I also must admit I have not seen NBC. Is that even a movie that my 4 and 7 year old would like? Or is it too scary?

We showed our DS4 the NBC movie before our trip that year with the HMH overlay. He really liked it (especially Zero the ghost dog) and 4 years later still calls the Haunted mansion "Jack's House." I thought the overlay without knowing a little bit about the movie might be bizarre for the kids.

PHXscuba

 

[figment_jii]

And having heard how the dining pans have "dumbed down" WDW food, I'm glad we don't have a dining plan like theirs.

I think it's a matter of perspective and cost...I like the food at WDW and think that there are plenty of options for foods that aren't "dumbed down". They have been going towards more streamlined menus, which can be interpreted as "dumbing down" the options. However, they still have plenty of very good restaurants, which have a wide variety of food choices.

I think to some extend that people are unhappy with the food at WDW because of the cost. It's on par with the Blue Bayou and Carthay Circle, which is more expensive than your local chain restaurant. A lot of people seem to go to WDW with the mind set that the food should be markedly better because of the cost; they tend to forget that everything is more expensive at the parks. That's why you get a lot of people saying whichever restaurant they're talking about it not "worth the cost" because they're comparing it with places at home. I think the dining plan has had some effect, but I think there are other factors in play as well (the economy, people's food tastes/interests, etc.).

Overall, the food at WDW is still very good. There are gems and duds at WDW, just like there are at DLR.

Sorry for going off topic for a moment here Sherry E. As a fan of both WDW and DLR food, I don't want DLR folks to get the sense that WDW's food is bad or that everything is "dumbed down".

 

[PHXscuba]

I think it's a matter of perspective and cost...I like the food at WDW and think that there are plenty of options for foods that aren't "dumbed down". They have been going towards more streamlined menus, which can be interpreted as "dumbing down" the options. However, they still have plenty of very good restaurants, which have a wide variety of food choices.

I think to some extend that people are unhappy with the food at WDW because of the cost. It's on par with the Blue Bayou and Carthay Circle, which is more expensive than your local chain restaurant. A lot of people seem to go to WDW with the mind set that the food should be markedly better because of the cost; they tend to forget that everything is more expensive at the parks. That's why you get a lot of people saying whichever restaurant they're talking about it not "worth the cost" because they're comparing it with places at home. I think the dining plan has had some effect, but I think there are other factors in play as well (the economy, people's food tastes/interests, etc.).

Overall, the food at WDW is still very good. There are gems and duds at WDW, just like there are at DLR.

Sorry for going off topic for a moment here Sherry E. As a fan of both WDW and DLR food, I don't want DLR folks to get the sense that WDW's food is bad or that everything is "dumbed down".

I agree with what you've said, especially the bold parts. WDW is definitely playing to a different market than DLR and the food is one of the big differences. I think the dining plans have a big effect on how and what people eat and what WDW serves, and I'm glad DLR has a little more freedom to have some interesting, unique foods and venues. I would certainly love to have WDW's variety!

Back to Christmas; I'm looking forward to the fun food offerings. (psst Sherry, can food be a theme week?!)

PHXscuba

 

[Sherry E]

No worries, figment_jii! If the whole thread went off-topic for many pages or something, that would be a different story. But it's fine to post an occasional off-topic comment or brief off-topic discussion!

​

Back to Christmas; I'm looking forward to the fun food offerings. (psst Sherry, can food be a theme week?!)

PHXscuba

PHX --

Stay tuned!

As I have previously mentioned in this thread, I've got all the bases covered for Theme Weeks! This is the 3rd year of Theme Weeks, and there are 17 more themes to go in this one. I wish everyone would trust me that I know what I am doing with this and sit back and enjoy the ride!!! Everything that anyone could possibly want to see in terms of holiday merriment at DLR will be coming up in one theme or another -- sometimes more than one theme!

 

[Orbitron]

I'm sorry for hijacking the thread, but our vacation countdown changed from three to two digits today! Only 99 days to go, that's so exciting!

 

[lucysmom]

I am gathering ideas for our trip this December. On our first trip last year we caught some highlights, Fantasmic Dessert Party and Holiday Tour with Christmas Parade seating, and we definitely want to do both again. We weren't impressed with WOC, but this year it will be different. I was reading about an afternoon show where Goofy conducts the WOC water show in the afternoon. Does this occur during the holidays? Also, I read about a CA afternoon parade. Does this still happen during the holidays? Are there any other specials we should catch?

 

[egritz]

I am gathering ideas for our trip this December. On our first trip last year we caught some highlights, Fantasmic Dessert Party and Holiday Tour with Christmas Parade seating, and we definitely want to do both again. We weren't impressed with WOC, but this year it will be different. I was reading about an afternoon show where Goofy conducts the WOC water show in the afternoon. Does this occur during the holidays? Also, I read about a CA afternoon parade. Does this still happen during the holidays? Are there any other specials we should catch?

We weren't impressed by WOC either, and I don't think a Holiday themed one will be any better so we are skipping that for our trip.
Not sure about Goofy, but that sounds fun if we can time it right.
On the first page Sherry has tons of links - search for the previous years park hours & the links show the previous years special events as well - fireworks/WOC times as well as parade times and show times. According to these, the parades do happen. I have the tentative times from 2012 put into my planning spreadsheet for our trip.

 

[Cheshirecatty]

I am gathering ideas for our trip this December. On our first trip last year we caught some highlights, Fantasmic Dessert Party and Holiday Tour with Christmas Parade seating, and we definitely want to do both again. We weren't impressed with WOC, but this year it will be different. I was reading about an afternoon show where Goofy conducts the WOC water show in the afternoon. Does this occur during the holidays? Also, I read about a CA afternoon parade. Does this still happen during the holidays? Are there any other specials we should catch?

"Yes"! Instant Concert, Just add Water will most likely be going during the Holidays.

It is a cute little show, about 10 minutes long, where Goofy conducts a classical song, while the fountains shoot/sway behind him.

It's fun to watch--no need to come too early --there are plenty of benches and viewing spots to watch from.

We enjoy taking a break while watching--very relaxing!

 

[Orbitron]

I was reading about an afternoon show where Goofy conducts the WOC water show in the afternoon. Does this occur during the holidays?

Here is Goofy conducting the water fountains, it's a cute little show and I think it will be there during the holidays!

 

[donnsuz]

The answer to this is probably somewhere but I'm being too impatient, I guess, and can't find it. I know that HMH flows into the Christmas decoration season but do the overall park Halloween decorations ever overlap with the Christmas decorations sometime in November? I'm trying to help my DS and his bride plan their first anniversary trip...

 

[ksromack]

And having heard how the dining pans have "dumbed down" WDW food, I'm glad we don't have a dining plan like theirs. Most people who want to pre-pay for food buy gift cards. The general consensus seems to be that DLR has better QS food to satisfy the locals, but lacks in TS food choices. I think the restaurants DLR has are good, just not as many.

We showed our DS4 the NBC movie before our trip that year with the HMH overlay. He really liked it (especially Zero the ghost dog) and 4 years later still calls the Haunted mansion "Jack's House." I thought the overlay without knowing a little bit about the movie might be bizarre for the kids.

PHXscuba

NBC is next on my list for our Disney Movie Club! Now that we have that huge plasma tv in our bedroom I get as many 3D movies as possible....so what if almost all of them are Disney movies. Is that wrong that I'm 51 years old without grandchildren and most of my movies are Disney?

Food. Food played a huge part in our WDW vacation last December. It also "ruled" us, so to speak. We had amazing food, and I mean amazing.....but we also ate when we weren't hungry because being on the Deluxe Dining Plan meant I wanted to get my money's worth out of the every meal. We ate ONE counter service meal the entire trip because we had table service credits for 3 meals a day. I didn't want to waste a table credit on some mediocre counter service. So, this trip I am really looking forward to eating when we are hungry only....and I'm so happy to learn that DL and DCA are loaded with wonderful counter service food!

I agree with what you've said, especially the bold parts. WDW is definitely playing to a different market than DLR and the food is one of the big differences. I think the dining plans have a big effect on how and what people eat and what WDW serves, and I'm glad DLR has a little more freedom to have some interesting, unique foods and venues. I would certainly love to have WDW's variety!

Back to Christmas; I'm looking forward to the fun food offerings. (psst Sherry, can food be a theme week?!)

PHXscuba

Sigh. I love to talk about food.

I'm sorry for hijacking the thread, but our vacation countdown changed from three to two digits today! Only 99 days to go, that's so exciting!

Oh, how exciting! I don't know how close we are.....I'm going to have to check!

We weren't impressed by WOC either, and I don't think a Holiday themed one will be any better so we are skipping that for our trip.
Not sure about Goofy, but that sounds fun if we can time it right.
On the first page Sherry has tons of links - search for the previous years park hours & the links show the previous years special events as well - fireworks/WOC times as well as parade times and show times. According to these, the parades do happen. I have the tentative times from 2012 put into my planning spreadsheet for our trip.

Spreadsheets are my friend, too! I haven't made one yet but I am typing things into my iPhone calendar when I need to call for reservations for various things.

 

[Sherry E]

The answer to this is probably somewhere but I'm being too impatient, I guess, and can't find it. I know that HMH flows into the Christmas decoration season but do the overall park Halloween decorations ever overlap with the Christmas decorations sometime in November? I'm trying to help my DS and his bride plan their first anniversary trip...

donnsuz --

If your DS is there late October and early November, he will see a bit of crossover decorations but not get the full Christmas/holiday experience. If he is there in November only, it is possible that the Halloween stuff could be completely down.

Halloween Time (the season) ends immediately after 10/31 is over. Sometime before 10/31 rolls around, Disney has to slowly begin putting up the holiday decorations because the holiday decorations are much, much more involved and extensive than Halloween Time's decorations and it takes a while to complete. Since the holiday season is supposedly beginning on 11/12, the 2 parks' decorations will be up on or before that date.

There are not too many Halloween decorations to take down, really, but there are probably still a few pumpkins in place on November 1st -- maybe on Main Street or in Frontierland. However, I would not expect any Halloween decorations to be up too far past 11/2 or 11/3 because Disneyland will be transitioning into the holidays by that time.

Also, Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy will close immediately after 10/31.

So your DS will likely see what's left of Halloween Time and the very beginning of the Christmas decorations as they begin to go up, little by little, if he is there in the first couple of days of November. And he will be able to ride Haunted Mansion Holiday.

The bulk of the holiday entertainment, however, will not begin until at least the second weekend in November, though, if not on 11/12. The Halloween party and fireworks end after 10/31.

The good news is that in between the end of Halloween Time and the start of the holidays the crowds will probably be lower.

 

[KCmike]

Not sure if this has been covered or not but here is more information regarding the Christmas overlay of World of Color courtesy of stitchkingdom...

http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disney...duce-virtual-choir-disneys-world-color-65142/

Here is part of the story:
As we previously reported, beginning November 15, 2013, Disney California Adventure will present a new holiday version of its World of Color nighttime show, dubbed World of Color  Winter Dreams. The show  which will be hosted by Olaf from Disneys Frozen  will introduce new special effects along to a brand new cut of the show which will feature animation from Frozen as well as winter scenes from beloved Disney animated classics such as Bambi, Fantasia and Toy Story.

The news on the show, however, was far from over. Earlier this month, Steven Davison, Vice President, Parades and Spectaculars for Walt Disney Creative Entertainment, chimed in from Abbey Road Studios where the orchestration for the show is being recorded. According to Davison, there are more surprises in store and more announcements soon about the new World of Color show will be made.

That said, due to recent domain registrations, we began connecting some dots and believe one of the surprises that may be in store for guests at the Disneyland Resort this holiday season is the addition of a choir  in particular, a virtual choir, due mostly to the registration of worldofcolorwinterdreamsvirtualchoir.com (not yet active). When it comes to virtual choirs, the eligible field of conductors is noticeably limited primarily to Grammy award winning artist Eric Whitacre, who has produced four virtual choirs to date, the latest being VC4: Fly to Paradise which features 8,409 videos submitted by 5905 performers across 101 countries. Performers record their own individual videos and submit them to Whitacre who chooses soloists and arranges and combines them to form the final product, as seen embedded below.

From what we can gather, it appears that Whitacre will soon be putting out a call for submissions for the special edition of the virtual choir (perhaps featuring music from Disneys Frozen?) and guests watching World of Color  Winter Dreams this holiday season can look forward to a special virtual choir projected onto the shows water screens.

Fueling the speculation, Whitacre actually recently visited Disney California Adventure where he posted an instagram video from the finale of the current production of the show.

More recently, an additional domain name of worldofcolorhonorchoir.com (not active) was also registered, again suggesting a choir of some type would be added to the show.

Special thanks to disneycruiselineblog.com who contributed to portions of this article.

Read more: Speculation: Eric Whitacre to Produce Virtual Choir for Disney's 'World of Color' - Disney News by StitchKingdom.com

 

[viaggiamo]

I would love to know if there are posts or threads just about Disneyland Christmas food...

I have done all sorts of searches and read the blog posts on the first page, but would love to chat about and see each Christmas treat/ specialty.

We are coming from Australia and it will be so much fun to see Christmas in

Winter but also from an American and Disney perspective. We are very excited and food is a very big part of it!

Also, we are debating whether to book the Holiday Tour but I amust admit that the blog review (linked from first page) has seriously put me off. It would be nice to have seats for the parade, but for $65pp+ I think we can stand up!

 

[ksromack]

Not sure if this has been covered or not but here is more information regarding the Christmas overlay of World of Color courtesy of stitchkingdom...

http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disney...duce-virtual-choir-disneys-world-color-65142/

Here is part of the story:
From what we can gather, it appears that Whitacre will soon be putting out a call for submissions for the special edition of the virtual choir (perhaps featuring music from Disneys Frozen?) and guests watching World of Color  Winter Dreams this holiday season can look forward to a special virtual choir projected onto the shows water screens.

Fueling the speculation, Whitacre actually recently visited Disney California Adventure where he posted an instagram video from the finale of the current production of the show.

More recently, an additional domain name of worldofcolorhonorchoir.com (not active) was also registered, again suggesting a choir of some type would be added to the show.

Special thanks to disneycruiselineblog.com who contributed to portions of this article.

Read more: Speculation: Eric Whitacre to Produce Virtual Choir for Disney's 'World of Color' - Disney News by StitchKingdom.com

He's going to have to work pretty fast to pull this together! Very interesting read and video!

 

[Sherry E]

Thanks for that info, Mike! Winter Dreams sounds very interesting! A virtual choir? I'm curious.

​

I would love to know if there are posts or threads just about Disneyland Christmas food...

I have done all sorts of searches and read the blog posts on the first page, but would love to chat about and see each Christmas treat/ specialty.

We are coming from Australia and it will be so much fun to see Christmas in

Winter but also from an American and Disney perspective. We are very excited and food is a very big part of it!

Also, we are debating whether to book the Holiday Tour but I amust admit that the blog review (linked from first page) has seriously put me off. It would be nice to have seats for the parade, but for $65pp+ I think we can stand up!

viaggiamo --

If you looked at the first page, then you saw the separate post dedicated to nothing but holiday food and treats. You did a lot of reading if you went through every single one of those links! In fact, if you followed some of those linked blogs over to other sites, like the Disney Food Blog, you could probably find even more (with photos). But there's really a lot of info -- blogs about beignets, blogs about tamales, blogs about treats, blogs about candy canes, etc. I mean, it's really all there in that Food post on page 1. That's a fairly complete picture, short of going to the parks and seeing it for yourself.

You can also follow the link on page 1 to the previous Christmas Superthread (#2), and scroll down the first page of that thread to see some previous years' treat options listed.

And in the Call-In show that I linked to (from December of last year), Nancy is talking about all the different Christmas meal options.

There have been holiday treats/food threads in the past, but the reason I added in a whole section about food on Page 1 here is to cut down on the number of extra threads that pop up on the board. That's what most of the Superthreads on this board are for -- to kind of eliminate the need for so many extra threads about certain topics (such as World of Color, Fantasmic, etc.). I'll see if I can find one of the old, old threads about holiday treats from a while back -- but that info in the Food post on page 1 is really more recent and complete, I think.

Otherwise, we'll get around to food in the Theme Week Countdown, eventually.

 

[Luisa]

I would love to know if there are posts or threads just about Disneyland Christmas food...

I have done all sorts of searches and read the blog posts on the first page, but would love to chat about and see each Christmas treat/ specialty.

We are coming from Australia and it will be so much fun to see Christmas in

Winter but also from an American and Disney perspective. We are very excited and food is a very big part of it!

Also, we are debating whether to book the Holiday Tour but I amust admit that the blog review (linked from first page) has seriously put me off. It would be nice to have seats for the parade, but for $65pp+ I think we can stand up!

As well as the fabulous links Sherry has put on page 1, you could have a look at http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/ although its more WDW focused, you can search for DLR and there is great pictures and reviews of holiday treats.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Sherry E]

As well as the fabulous links Sherry has put on page 1, you could have a look at http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/ although its more WDW focused, you can search for DLR and there is great pictures and reviews of holiday treats.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Luisa --

Several of the fabulous links in the Food post on page 1 go directly to the Disney Food Blog! That's why I was saying in my post above yours that viaggiamo did a lot of reading because I put a lot of links in that one post, and they all lead to a lot of info (and photos) of holiday treats, etc. (some of which are on the Food Blog).

Typically, on this board we post links for our own Unplugged blogs and anything that comes from an official Disney source. The Food Blog is not an official Disney source, but I included links to some of the DFB's blogs in that Food/Treats/Dining post on page 1 because they had some good info and photos!

 

[Luisa]

Luisa --

Several of the fabulous links in the Food post on page 1 go directly to the Disney Food Blog! That's why I was saying in my post above yours that viaggiamo did a lot of reading because I put a lot of links in that one post, and they all lead to a lot of info (and photos) of holiday treats, etc. (some of which are on the Food Blog).

Typically, on this board we post links for our own Unplugged blogs and anything that comes from an official Disney source. The Food Blog is not an official Disney source, but I included links to some of the DFB's blogs in that Food/Treats/Dining post on page 1 because they had some good info and photos!

Oh good grief! I am having a very vague day! I never noticed those links, just the official ones when I was rereading through some of them the other day. I think I should take my fuzzy head off to visit with the coffee machine! Just ignore me for the rest of the day....

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Sherry E]

Oh good grief! I am having a very vague day! I never noticed those links, just the official ones when I was rereading through some of them the other day. I think I should take my fuzzy head off to visit with the coffee machine! Just ignore me for the rest of the day....

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Luisa --

No problem! I think that many times people don't realize exactly how much information I actually put in the posts on Page 1 (but I always tend to lean on the side of giving a lot info instead of not enough info if it is at all possible). Sometimes folks may only glance over one post and not beyond that post to the subsequent posts, or sometimes they glance at one post but overlook a lot of what I put in it.

I really tried to make the food/treats/dining post as thorough as possible when I assembled links, pulling up old threads I remembered and scouring the Internet for other holiday food-related blogs (like on The Disney Food Blog). I knew -- and know -- that people are very interested in any kind of special seasonal food and that it is a very important part of any holiday (or Halloween Time) trip to DLR!

Anyway, in a few minutes I am off to work on tomorrow's new theme for the week!