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

[Sherry E]

Thanks for the amazing info and pictures! We will be there in a little more than a week, in the parks the 19th to 22nd.

I'm a little sad/apprehensive about the higher crowds than I was anticipating with the news of the View taping and now the AP WOC showings that week. I'm a planner, I don't like last minute surprises!


I need to look up where we can find Santa, I'm sure I read it here a few dozen pages ago. I know he won't be at GCH yet which would have been fun. My girls aren't into meeting characters but I think santa will be ok!

cali_crafter --

No need to comb the thread! All roads lead back to Page 1 of this thread. Look in the Shopping/Merchandise section. At the bottom of that post I have a little blurb about Santa, with a couple of links to info and photos of all of his locations.

Also, I posted a link to Santa's hotel schedule (courtesy of Cheshirecatty) in the Downtown Disney/Hotels section of Page 1 -- just in case he shows up at the hotels early this year (we can't be sure of what will happen in light of this late Thanksgiving!).

 

[edna mode]

They were setting up every detail for the filming of the Christmas Day Parade today. They will film several concert performances on Saturday and the parade on Sunday.

Performances: Demi Lovato, Mary J. Blige, Jordan Sparks, and Jason Derullo.

[/URL]

 

[ludari]

I was going to go tonight but I'll wait until next week after the holiday season opens. I'm so very lucky to be close enough to go when it's convenient.

 

[farmfresh]

OK - for anyone wanting to order gifts, trees etc for their room while at DLR over the holidays, the new Holidays range is now up on the website. http://disneyland.disneyfloralandgifts.com/category/holidays.do?nType=1
Enjoy!

 

[Sherry E]

I was going to go tonight but I'll wait until next week after the holiday season opens. I'm so very lucky to be close enough to go when it's convenient.

ludari --

Sounds like a good plan! If you're able, go next week when the holidays kick off (or when Viva Navidad and Winter Dreams begin on 11/15), and then go back again after Thanksgiving, when the 3 hotels are decorated too. Storytellers Cafe and White Water Snacks at the Grand Californian Hotel get gingerbread houses for display, and of course the trees in the lobbies of the GCH and the Paradise Pier Hotel are beautiful. The Disneyland Hotel has its own interesting decorations, but the trees are not particularly towering and majestic.

Plus, as of next Thursday, the famous "Winter Village" (I am saying that with a wink and a nudge) will open in Downtown Disney. The "Village" consists of an ice rink and some temporary holiday treats/merchandise kiosks (called "chalets," of course!).

OK - for anyone wanting to order gifts, trees etc for their room while at DLR over the holidays, the new Holidays range is now up on the website. http://disneyland.disneyfloralandgifts.com/category/holidays.do?nType=1
Enjoy!

farmfresh --

Thank you so much for posting that! I just added it to the DTD/Hotels post on page 1. It is very helpful to have for anyone who is staying onsite and might be interested in ordering one of the in-room celebrations.

​

On another note, one of the new 2013 Hallmark Christmas movies is on right now -- it's called "Pete's Christmas," and it is actually "presented" by a different company, so I don't think it is a Hallmark-specific production. It could very well pop up on a non-Hallmark channel at some other point.

Anyway, this "Pete's Christmas" movie began, and I have no idea what happens in it -- it seems to be a sort of "Groundhog Day"-during-Christmastime plot -- but I loved it just because of the first moments! When the opening credits are rolling, Christmas music is quietly playing and the camera zooms in on lovely ornaments and decorations -- the perfect decorations that you would expect to see in a home that was perfectly decorated for the holidays. And then we cut to an outside shot, where we see a quaint snow-covered house -- we're talking tons of snow, shoveled to the side to carve a pathway. It is the perfect wintry scene -- exactly what you would want to see if you were hoping to see a little house decorated for Christmas and covered in velvety white snow. There is even a mechanical Santa standing out in the snow, waddling around.

Anyway, this movie may end up being awful but it gets high marks for its opening moments -- just for setting an idyllic holiday scene and mood!

​

 

[farmfresh]

Thank you so much for posting that! I just added it to the DTD/Hotels post on page 1. It is very helpful to have for anyone who is staying onsite and might be interested in ordering one of the in-room celebrations.

Happy to help - this thread has been so full of useful information!

 

[mom2rtk]

lol, I'm not freaking out over being close to KC, I'm freaking out over being this close to vacation! I need to pretend it's farther away otherwise it may be difficult to make it through these next couple of weeks! I need to make my tie-dye shirts for goodness sake!

I know that, I was just messing with you.

I'm sort of freaked out about it too! Although it does feel good to finally have our tour and Fantasmic reservations in place and a plan to go with.

 

[tksbaskets]

I know that, I was just messing with you.

I'm sort of freaked out about it too! Although it does feel good to finally have our tour and Fantasmic reservations in place and a plan to go with.

What Fantasmic seating did you get reservations for? I hear there is two.

 

[mom2rtk]

What Fantasmic seating did you get reservations for? I hear there is two.

We're doing the 9PM show on 12/8.

 

[ksromack]

What Fantasmic seating did you get reservations for? I hear there is two.

I think we both got the first seating for Fantasmic....only mine is for friday night, Dec 6 and I think Janet got Dec 8? Is that right Janet?

It's a saturday today.....the only day of the week I can "sleep" in......and yet, I woke up at 5am, started thinking about the trip and whether or not my sister in law will be able to join us for a few days......thinking of tshirts i can make for us.....thinking about dole whips.....thinking about whether my large suitcase on the way back will weigh over 50 pounds......you get the idea. Way too much thinking going on.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think we both got the first seating for Fantasmic....only mine is for friday night, Dec 6 and I think Janet got Dec 8? Is that right Janet?

We're doing the 3 PM tour on the 6th with reserved seating for the 5:30 parade. , taking Saturday off, then Fantasmic at 9 on Sunday the 8th.

It's a saturday today.....the only day of the week I can "sleep" in......and yet, I woke up at 5am, started thinking about the trip and whether or not my sister in law will be able to join us for a few days......thinking of tshirts i can make for us.....thinking about dole whips.....thinking about whether my large suitcase on the way back will weigh over 50 pounds......you get the idea. Way too much thinking going on.

I'm all the way up to 6 AM today. I don't adjust well to the time change. I can't even imagine how I'll be on Pacific time. I might be sleeping through the 9PM Fantasmic!

Oh, and I KNOW my big suitcase will be over 50 pounds! I really have to be careful how I pack and make sure I don't forget my luggage scales.

Thankfully I don't think I have to go buy new luggage. My son (who left for college in August) has a cat that clung to him like crazy. Well, when he left there was still a suitcase from summer vacation laying on the floor in the living room. He took up residence on that suitcase (think giant cat hammock), not leaving it except to eat and go find the box. Then right back to the suitcase. After 2 months of this, I decided I would go buy a new suitcase rather than kick him off after losing his friend to college. Then all of a sudden....... he was over it. He left the suitcase. He moved to an ottoman. So I tape rolled and vacuumed all the fur off the suitcase and set it upright so he couldn't sleep on it any more! Now I no longer have to buy a new suitcase.

 

[ksromack]

Oh, and I KNOW my big suitcase will be over 50 pounds! I really have to be careful how I pack and make sure I don't forget my luggage scales.

Thankfully I don't think I have to go buy new luggage. My son (who left for college in August) has a cat that clung to him like crazy. Well, when he left there was still a suitcase from summer vacation laying on the floor in the living room. He took up residence on that suitcase (think giant cat hammock), not leaving it except to eat and go find the box. Then right back to the suitcase. After 2 months of this, I decided I would go buy a new suitcase rather than kick him off after losing his friend to college. Then all of a sudden....... he was over it. He left the suitcase. He moved to an ottoman. So I tape rolled and vacuumed all the fur off the suitcase and set it upright so he couldn't sleep on it any more! Now I no longer have to buy a new suitcase.

I bought a 3 piece hard shelled suitcase set before our trip last year....and I know our big one can easily be over 50 pounds because on the trip to see hubby's family last summer it weighed 60 pounds. I knew the limit was 50 but Steve INSISTED it was a 75 pound weight limit. So I let him think he was right and it cost us $100 extra! THAT won't be happening again! We were in such a rush to catch our flight I didn't even think about pulling out the Vera bag I had stashed inside the suitcase. I could have repacked it and checked the Vera bag (we were flying SW so we each could check 2 bags a piece)......would have been $100 richer

Good news on your suitcase situation, though! Poor kitty......at least you made him think the move out of the suitcase was his idea.

Here's a question for anyone that knows the answer......
What kind of coffee makers are in the rooms at PPH? HoJos? We are staying 2 nights at HoJos to start our vacation and I thought I read that they had Keurigs in the room? We have a theme park view at HoJos then move to a standard view at PPH. What sort/brand of coffee do they include in the rooms at either place? Last year, when we stayed for a night onsite at Universal Orlando, they had Keurigs in the room and Emeril's Bold coffee and it was delicious! I'm just trying to figure out if I'll need to bring some from home given the fact that we are coffee snobs

 

[mom2rtk]

I bought a 3 piece hard shelled suitcase set before our trip last year

Our cats requested that we only buy softside luggage.

What a bummer on the extra $100 though. At least you got to say "I told you so".... .right?

 

[misskay]

Two days until we leave for our vacation and 6 days until anaheim! I won't be relaxing until we get on the plane but I'm certainly getting excited. Spending the weekend getting ready, packing and cleaning up my house before I leave!

I can't wait until we see christmas at disneyland, we're bringing an empty carry-on because we are worried about all the shopping we'll do!

 

[ksromack]

Two days until we leave for our vacation and 6 days until anaheim! I won't be relaxing until we get on the plane but I'm certainly getting excited. Spending the weekend getting ready, packing and cleaning up my house before I leave!

I can't wait until we see christmas at disneyland, we're bringing an empty carry-on because we are worried about all the shopping we'll do!

I don't think I'll be able to sleep so close to when we leave....but fortunately we leave the day after thanksgiving and I hope to be in a tryptophan induced coma.

I also don't know how much I'll be relaxing on the plane either...but knowing that we are on our way should certainly help! You are almost there!

 

[lucysmom]

Oh my gosh!! That ice cream is soooooo good!!

 

[blue888]

OK - for anyone wanting to order gifts, trees etc for their room while at DLR over the holidays, the new Holidays range is now up on the website. http://disneyland.disneyfloralandgifts.com/category/holidays.do?nType=1
Enjoy!

Thanks I'm going to call in this morning and see if I can get details on the in-room celebration. They have it listed, but the link is still linking to the Halloween one. Woohoo for Christmas!


Getting last minute details arranged for our trip. Can't wait to surprise the kids!

 

[mrsw94]

Hee...Hee...Nice to know I'm not the only one!

The kids were up at the crack of dawn (as usual), so I can contemplating all I have to do before we leave! It's a surprise trip, so I have to squeeze all my preparations in during the few hours my 5 year old is at Kindergarten and I don't have other things I need to be doing!! I did at least lay there for a while catching up on missed editions of the Dis Unplugged!

 

[Phoenixrising]

I'm 13 days from the Edmonton trip, and 15 days from my solo trip to DL. I'm so far behind on the house cleaning, as I spent the week playing telephone tag with various people, trying to resolve some major treatment issues with DS10's crash injuries. I ended up filing a complaint against the clinic I was originally with, with their governing body and had to change clinic's. So it's back to square one with that. Otherwise the suitcase and backpack are for the most part packed for the most part for both trips. I'm packing light so that I can bring back more souvineirs. I know I'm going to be Christmas shopping down there, so I'm nesting a smaller suitcase within my bigger one. Worst case scenario is that I end up checking the smaller bag for an additional $20, and using my backpack once again as a carry on. Although I am bringing the cold weather gear for the Edmonton trip, as it's downright chilly there at the moment (have been checking the long range forecast and it's looking BRRR!). Have to come down to DL where it's much warmer. At lease the kids will see snow in Edmonton, which we seldom see here, which they are going to love.

 

[misskay]

I don't think I'll be able to sleep so close to when we leave....but fortunately we leave the day after thanksgiving and I hope to be in a tryptophan induced coma.

I also don't know how much I'll be relaxing on the plane either...but knowing that we are on our way should certainly help! You are almost there!

I had a tough time sleeping last night and ended up, up early this morning as my sister and her boyfriend were off to the States for the weekend, and I leave before she gets back and by the time I come home she'll be moving up on to a mountain for the ski season so I won't be seeing her for a long time lol!

I'm hoping being tired will help with sleeping my first few days in Vegas, as I have trouble sleeping anywhere that's not my own bed for the first little while.

I feel like a kid again with giddy anticipation. It was worrisome there for a while as I ended up in the hospital less than two weeks ago and my dear boyfriend ended up throwing his back out not 3 days later...it seemed like this vacation was doomed!

But yesterday I had 3 good omens, somebody paid me in America dollars (which I get to trade out with no exchange rate, wee!) and I saw not one, but TWO cars parked outside the restaurant I went to with some coworkers last night that were both painted with red and black and looked like Mickey Mouse (my coworkers pointed it out, lol) , the little smart car that even had mickeys yellow buttons for lights on the front, so I'm taking all of this as a good sign for my trip.

Also a quick question, will all of the WOC shows be the christmas one, or just select showings? We are only going to be in the parks one weekend day ( the sunday, so we don't miss fantasmic), otjerwise we'll be there for mon/tues/wed and I was wondering if we are going to miss the WOC one because they only do it on the weekend?