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

[czmom]

Just to clarify- does the snow fall in the general seated area of Fantasmic or only the reserved dessert area?? Thanks!

My question got lost a few pages ago, so I wanted to ask again.

 

[laurasvwee]

I had it in my notes but now I can't find it.....how much is the Fantasmic Dessert Party? Congrats on all you getting to make dinner reservations.....that's half of the fun for me...that and gazing upon my spreadsheet. lol! I made mainly late lunch reservations on many of our days. I learned from WDW last December to NEVER eat 3 sit down meals in a day. We'll probably do cs dinners whenever we can fit them in....I'm resisting the urge to schedule all our meals this trip......I'm such a commando!

It's $60.00 for people 10 and over not sure how much it is for 9 and under since my DS is 10

 

[julieheyer]

Now you've got me thinking about making dining reservations.... Didn't know which park we'd be I until the schedule came out, but I can try to change them later I guess...

 

[planningjollyholiday]

It's $60.00 for people 10 and over not sure how much it is for 9 and under since my DS is 10

It's the same price for everybody no matter your age

 

[pattyduke34]

Just back from 5 days in the park...it was great to see just a little snow on the castle on Tuesday and then all the tops on the castle covered on Wednesday! Saw a lot of Christmas stuff out on the shelves already! Going back in 27days and can not wait!!
Now for pics for theme week!

 

[tksbaskets]

Great pictures pattyduke34! I think we'd better watch Cars before we go in December. The first one, not the second

 

[JediMasterNerd]

Wow, looking back at the photos I took last year, I'm SHOCKED and DISMAYED with myself that I didn't get more actual holiday decoration photos!! Lots of general photos, but very few holiday photos. Here's what I found from Cars Land that had some decoration in them or the background...

J.

 

[julieheyer]

Ok! I booked a late lunch at CO on the 12th!!! Really excited to finally get to dine there!! Planning to split the monte Christo w/ dd(13) and of course the pomme frites for my girls...and onion soup for me!!! 7 weeks from today, actually!! I'm so excited!!! :bananas:

 

[ksromack]

Great pictures pattyduke34! I think we'd better watch Cars before we go in December. The first one, not the second

I just watched that one again.....but haven't seen Cars2 yet. I have it in 3d and plan to watch it as soon as the World Series is over....or maybe even tonight since there isn't a game!

Ok! I booked a late lunch at CO on the 12th!!! Really excited to finally get to dine there!! Planning to split the monte Christo w/ dd(13) and of course the pomme frites for my girls...and onion soup for me!!! 7 weeks from today, actually!! I'm so excited!!! :bananas:

We've discussed his as well. We plan on doing the same.....and maybe a cup of gumbo, too! So many food choices, so little time.

 

[lucysmom]

My husband has been in and out of the hospital for two weeks. He spent five days in intensive care. My Christmas joy has been hijacked. It is hard to be excited about the holidays when you are not sure he will make it to Christmas. Well, last night he turned a good corner and we can finally see some light at the end of this long, dark tunnel. And......I saw your ice cream at the market!! So, now I need to get our tour, Fantasmic, and dinner reservations....and I am late in doing that. Oh, I hope everything is not all booked up. We really need to celebrate this year!

 

[tksbaskets]

My husband has been in and out of the hospital for two weeks. He spent five days in intensive care. My Christmas joy has been hijacked. It is hard to be excited about the holidays when you are not sure he will make it to Christmas. Well, last night he turned a good corner and we can finally see some light at the end of this long, dark tunnel. And......I saw your ice cream at the market!! So, now I need to get our tour, Fantasmic, and dinner reservations....and I am late in doing that. Oh, I hope everything is not all booked up. We really need to celebrate this year!

Pixie dust coming your way! Indeed you need a little Christmas. I hope your planning goes well and you all can enjoy a healthy holiday.

Oh, and get that ice cream. It will be like frozen pixie dust

 

[crystal1313]

My question got lost a few pages ago, so I wanted to ask again.

My son and I watched Fantasmic and then the fireworks last year near the loading area for tom Sawyer Island and it was snowing there and all around the ROA if I remember correctly......so it doesn't only snow at the reserved F! area. It was actually a perfect spot to watch the two shows!

 

[tksbaskets]

Imposter!

I'm sure the people around me wondered why I was taking a picture in the freezer case....

Might I add this was the ONLY peppermint in the case this morning. Still looking....

 

[Phoenixrising]

You are indeed evil to show me the much praised Peppermint ice cream, which I can't get up here in the great white north. At this point I'd be happy with the Slow Churned, if it means that I could get a taste of it. Safe to say it's on my to do list once I get to DL. I have checked out all the major grocery chains in my city and have come up empty handed GRUMBLE!! It's proven as elusive as the 2GB memory card that I wanted for my older digital camera so that the kids could take pics on the Edmonton trip. Apparently that went extinct 6 weeks ago, and are now impossible to find, but I've got a store that's willing to see if they can find one for me, so we'll see how that goes. Now I'm debating if I want to get another 4GB card for the camera, but have decided to wait until closer to the trip before making the decision. I'm officially 30 days out and can't wait to go!! Since the kids have a Pro D ( or as we call it Peroggie day, yes we're weird!) today it's off to find pumpkins and candy for Halloween.

 

[beckykarstetter]

My husband has been in and out of the hospital for two weeks. He spent five days in intensive care. My Christmas joy has been hijacked. It is hard to be excited about the holidays when you are not sure he will make it to Christmas. Well, last night he turned a good corner and we can finally see some light at the end of this long, dark tunnel. And......I saw your ice cream at the market!! So, now I need to get our tour, Fantasmic, and dinner reservations....and I am late in doing that. Oh, I hope everything is not all booked up. We really need to celebrate this year!

So glad to hear he is feeling better. Fingers crossed and lots of good wishes for a full recovery for your Christmas trip.

 

[aidensmom31]

My countdown is officially under 60 days!!!!!! And I made my first dining reservation

 

[briggscreek]

I want to make a ressie at Blue Bayou on Dec. 9th since it's my husbands birthday and his favorite place to eat. Usually we do an 11:30 reservation so we get a waterfront table, but it's our first day in the park and I'm sure we'll be busy doing other things that early. Does anyone know what a good time for a late lunch would be when it's not as busy - maybe 2 or 2:30? They'll let us wait for waterfront, right?

 

[Sherry E]

lucysmom -- I am so glad to hear that your husband is on the mend after a trying couple of weeks. I hope that you can get some of your Christmas joy back and manage to have a good trip. Sometimes it seems that holiday trips -- especially to DLR -- should be the last thing on our minds when "real life" gets in the way and we have very urgent worries and troubles. At the same time, I know that these trips for many people -- especially during the holidays -- can make all the difference in having something fun and positive to plan for and look forward to.


TK -- Drat that silly Slow Churned nonsense! Why must it keep rearing its head when it is clearly so inferior?

I am not kidding myself into thinking there will be any Grand left in any of my stores beyond next week. I think that all of the secret peppermint ice cream fans have realized that the Grand is better and they are all doing what I did -- snapping up multiple cartons at one time so they don't miss out. And the stores are probably not getting in anymore of the ice cream in stock after the stash is depleted.

I was just admiring the nice, vibrant pink color of the "real" ice cream -- which is something the Slow Churned doesn't have (it's pink, but not as pink).


pattyduke34 & JediMasterNerd -- You have each earned another entry into the random draw for posting the great Cars Land shots! I think that this coming Monday's theme is going to stump some people, while others may have more pictures to fit the theme than they realized they had. It should be interesting to see what people come up with.

Even more interesting will be to see if people can rise to the challenge and get the mini-daily theme photos posted in time when we launch into the rapid fire round on Tuesday! Yes, I am making it harder in the final stretch! Muahahahahahaha!!

​

Okay, yesterday I chatted for a long, long time on the phone with a delightful CM at DLR (I don't know if she wants me to mention her name so I won't, but she was very nice). I called about one thing but we ended up discussing all things Disneyland during the holiday season and Halloween Time, etc.

I'm sure we all know that some CMs are more informed about what is happening in the parks than others, and some of them seem to be clueless. Often times they are the last to know what is going on! The CM with whom I spoke yesterday happened to be a performer in the Candlelight Ceremony at DL last year. So I prodded her for more info about the aftermath of the 20-night run and the possible future of the Ceremony. Some highlights from what she told me (and some of it is what she knows for sure, as well as what she thinks or supposes, but is not necessarily confirmed):

• The Candlelight Ceremony/Processional (or "CP") of 2012. Disney's initial plan in 2012 was, indeed, to "test run" the Candlelight Ceremony by having it on 20 nights, and IF it had been a success on different levels Disney had planned to expand it to even more nights (as is the case at WDW) and make it an annual thing.

• What was the aftermath of the CP of 2012? Not only did Main Street suffer a bit from people not wanting or being able to get into the shops to buy things around the times of the CP, but the aftermath of the 20-night CP was what told the tale. Guests complained loudly to Guest Services/Communications/Relations about the crowds or the fear of crowds in Town Square and Disney listened. Ultimately, those Guest complaints made a difference and Disney decided there was no way they could have the CP in Town Square for more than 2 or 3 nights in the future because the ongoing gridlock and traffic is too much to deal with. Even some of the CMs had a hard time getting around Town Square. (I didn't find it to be all that bad on my nights last year, but I guess it was worse on other nights.)

• The CP in Fantasyland? The CM told me that the CP was attempted in Fantasyland a long time ago, but there were some issues with seating in that spot and it wasn't ideal, for some reason. So she thought that if Disney were to try a multi-night CP again at DLR it would not be in Fantasyland.

• The CP in Frontierland?? The CM said that she actually thought they could have the CP in the Big Thunder Ranch/Jingle Jangle Jamboree area and it could work well, with minimal set-up (there are a lot of things already in place back there that could facilitate a CP), and the outdoor intimate feeling of the show could remain intact. She thinks that Disney doesn't want to put the CP back in the Big Thunder Ranch area because it's too far removed from the main hub of activity and people may not want to walk all the way back there to see it, or may not know it's there.

• The CP in California Adventure? The CM said that the most likely place for the CP to end up in the future (but no one knows when) would be the Hyperion, and that will only be once Aladdin is gone for good or on hiatus for a long time. The feeling/mood of the CP would change, but it would work well in terms of seating and staging and all of that. (So if we ever hear about Aladdin taking a long, long break or disappearing forever, it might mean that a CP will pop up at the Hyperion for the holidays.)

• What about a Christmas party down the road? The CM thinks that Disney is thinking long and hard about the possibility of a Christmas party. She thinks that they wanted to sort of copy WDW at first, but more feedback started coming in (namely, from CMs and other Disney employees) to indicate that a lot of people didn't think a party would work at DLR as well as it does at WDW. Everyone seems to agree that the Halloween party is different and it works for different reasons, but a Christmas party would be a whole separate kettle of fish -- especially when Disneyland's visitor base is still mostly comprised of locals or people who live close enough to visit a few times a year, and if those people balked at the idea of a party it would make a difference to Disney/DLR.

• Will Disney test run a party? The CM thinks that Disney may decide to do another one of their "test runs" and try out a Christmas party for multiple nights, just to see what the feedback is and how it goes, but it won't be without a lot of thought and planning put into it first. She said that she does not think Disney will try to test out a party or launch it in the year of DL's 60th anniversary (2015) -- which surprised me, as I thought that 2015 might be a year when they would attempt such a thing. She thinks that IF they decide to go forward with testing out a party it will either be in 2014 or in 2016, and she agreed that July or August are good months to make major schedule/event announcements for the holidays, so if we don't hear about a party by the end of August it probably is not happening that year. She said she and other CMs thought the party was happening this year, and they, too, were shocked when August came and went without an announcement.

• Why are the hotels not decorated when the season officially starts? The 2 parks and World of Disney in DTD are "expected" to be decorated on the first official day of the season, but the hotels are thought of more as like "home" -- and "most people don't decorate their homes for the holidays until after Thanksgiving."

• Since Thanksgiving is so late this year, and because it coincides with the first day of Hanukkah, is there a chance that the hotel decorations could go up a bit early? The CM said that it is possible that the decorations at the hotels could go up a few days early because of the late Thanksgiving, but probably not more than a few days early -- if at all. However, this is one of those cases in which -- if enough people complain to Guest Services about it -- Disney may try to make sure the hotels are decorated at the same time as the parks in the future, or at least closer to it.

• Why the crazy scheduling? Some things begin on 11/8; some things begin on 11/11; some things begin on 11/12; and some things begin on 11/15? No definitive answer, but many probable answers. Disney apparently doesn't like to "officially" start its holiday season before the Christmas parade taping has taken place, and preferably not on or before Veterans Day if it can be helped (though there are some occasions when it may be necessary). Although, they know that Veterans Day weekend crowds will be there so they try to open/start a few things early to treat the holiday weekend crowds. And...certain things have to be in place before the season officially begins, just because of logistics.
  
  Also, November 15th seemed too late to start the season. Halloween Time gets about 7 weeks of the schedule devoted to it, and the Holidays -- which are a much bigger 'production' at DLR -- need to get at least that much time, but closer to 8 weeks if it can be pulled off (which may differ from year to year).

• So...Why the snow on the Castle in October? Some things need to go up even before Halloween Time ends. There is no way to get the parks fully decorated (we're including inside all of the shops and restaurants too) between November 1 and when the parade taping takes place without hiring a lot of extra people or working during park hours. It's too big of a task. It is necessary to put certain things up before Halloween Time ends, and Disney tries to do it in a way that makes sense, or that 'tells a story,' if you will. In other words, the snow on the Castle is there to sort of tell a tale of the seasons changing and light snowfall appearing in the magical location of this Castle, hinting at the wondrous holiday season that is to come. Also, the CM said that there are certain parts of the U.S. that begin to see snow in October, so it is not out of the question for snow to appear in America or Europe!
  
  I realized the CM was right in much of what she said -- in "real life," seasons don't abruptly change. Well, the dates on the calendar change, but the weather doesn't abruptly change for most people as soon as, say, September 22nd hits, or December 21st hits, or whatever. The actual seasons transition, gradually -- sometimes a little more rapidly than in other years, and sometimes a little more slowly. So in "real life" it's not like snow would or should appear as soon as Halloween (10/31) is over, and not as soon as Thanksgiving is over either! Snow will happen when it happens. Rain will happen when it happens! So if we look at the snow appearing on the Castle during Halloween Time in that way, in that context, it makes sense. Disney is trying to do a bit of a gradual transitioning of the seasons rather than an abrupt switch.
  
  Basically, if any holiday decor has to go up before Halloween Time ends, it makes a lot more sense to put up the snow than it does to put Christmas trees in the window displays or at the Carnival/Jamboree/Ranch.

• The CMs who decorate take a break when the season officially begins! Apparently, the teams of CMs and other Disney employees who put the holiday season together for all of us to enjoy with their diligent after-hours efforts in decorating, etc., are exhausted by the time the season officially starts and many of them take their vacations then (of course they get back from their vacations in time to tackle the Thanksgiving crowds and December crowds)!

​

 

[julieheyer]

My husband has been in and out of the hospital for two weeks. He spent five days in intensive care. My Christmas joy has been hijacked. It is hard to be excited about the holidays when you are not sure he will make it to Christmas. Well, last night he turned a good corner and we can finally see some light at the end of this long, dark tunnel. And......I saw your ice cream at the market!! So, now I need to get our tour, Fantasmic, and dinner reservations....and I am late in doing that. Oh, I hope everything is not all booked up. We really need to celebrate this year!

So glad to hear he's turned the corner and on the mend!! DLR will be a great way to celebrate!! I'm sure there is still availability for what you're booking. Hopefully the planning will brighten both of your days :good vibes.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

My husband has been in and out of the hospital for two weeks. He spent five days in intensive care. My Christmas joy has been hijacked. It is hard to be excited about the holidays when you are not sure he will make it to Christmas. Well, last night he turned a good corner and we can finally see some light at the end of this long, dark tunnel. And......I saw your ice cream at the market!! So, now I need to get our tour, Fantasmic, and dinner reservations....and I am late in doing that. Oh, I hope everything is not all booked up. We really need to celebrate this year!

I am so happy to hear he's doing better! I hope you have wonderful trip