I am all caught up again.
Congratulations to the winners of the Theme Week Countdown.
What a shame that they do not list the peppermint ice cream. I so wanted to try this. I watched Gibson Girl and Clarabelle's like a hawk and never saw it mentioned. I have to admit that it never occurred to me to ask if they have it.
I experienced Jingle Cruise at Walt Disney World last year and it left me cold. I got to experience it at
Disneyland this year as part of the Holiday Tour and I absolutely loved it. It is very well done and very funny. I did not smell anything though.
If Winter Dreams was improved from last year, I would have hated to see the original version. This did not do anything for me. I had made arrangements to watch this with the group as part of our VIP tour, but then ended up seeing it on November 12th and scrapped that idea. We ended up going for drinks at the new Jazz lounge at Club 33 instead.
I think the Candlelight Processional is causing all kinds of disruption to the tours this year. When I was waiting to check in for the Holiday Tour, I overheard a phone call that the cast member made to somebody who had booked the A Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour for that weekend and the time had been moved from 2:30 PM to 6:30 AM!!! I did that tour and loved it, but not enough that I would want to be there for it that early.
I had Maria for the holiday tour, too. She was fantastic. We had about 20 people and quite a few strollers, which made for an interesting tour. Some of the kids were also scared of Haunted Mansion Holiday and on of their parents were waiting with them outside until the group got back.
The crowd levels surprised me. I knew there would be crowds as we were there over the Thanksgiving weekend, but the days that it was crowded came as a surprise. We were there on November 11th and 12th and then again November 24th to 30th. November 24th was very crowded with November 11th a close second. Thanksgiving took me completely by surprise. I essentially had Hollywoodland to myself and waited for 25 minutes (posted time 35 minutes) for Toy Story Mania. Saturday was a little busier, but very manageable and Sunday was quite easy on the crowds as it was raining.
The fairies at Pixie Hollow seemed to change. One day we had Tinkerbell and Irridessa, one day just Tink and on my last day in the parks it was Tink and Fawn.
I would never have guessed that the Gingerbread House at the Grand Californian was supposed to be 7.5 foot high or even 6 foot as initially stated, but it was very nice indeed. The hot drinks and gingerbread were sold on a table off to the right of it. I have to say the hot cider with Morgan's Spiced Rum tempted me, but I never had the chance to sample it. I was also impressed that they sold whole Stollen and Stollen slices, but I suppose Anaheim has a strong German heritage. I had every intention to try one of the Stollen slices, but for some reason I was off my food pretty much all trip. I still have the Gingerbread Mickey from the Holiday Tour, too. By November 24th, they always had a cast member by the Gingerbread house. I assume this was to make sure that nobody tried to eat it.
I really enjoyed the Thanksgiving Feast and I did manage to meet Orbitron, which was nice. As far as the meal was concerned the appetizers, soups and desserts were amazing and some of them quite unusual, but the entrees were a little hit and miss. The turkey tasted like reconstituted meat and was a little on the rubbery side. The prime rib was divine though. The big highlight for me though were the characters. They had some fairly rare characters there like Meeko and Pocahontas; Clarabelle and Horrace Horsecollar; Robin Hood and Friar Tuck plus the Country Bears. They also had Chip and Dale; Donald and Daisy; Pluto and Minnie. Of those, only Minnie had a special outfit.
I wonder what happened to that tree in Carsland. I remember thinking when we came back from Aulani that I am surprised that there is no tree there as it is such an obvious space. However, when I started editing my Photopass photos, I found some from that area from November 12th with the tree very much there. I must have forgotten this as I was still jetlagged.
As to the character breakfast at the Plaza Inn, I was seated inside and had issues with the characters as well. I was eating by myself, but had the camera on the table so that it was obvious and Tigger, Dale, Max and Rafiki passed me by. Eeyore was about to, but I managed to make eye contact with him and he came over. Rafiki I ended up chasing down as I really wanted to meet him. I managed to meet Pooh, Chip, Minnie (who came to the tables), Captain Hook, Eeyore, Pinocchio and the Fairy Godmother.
I managed to get a candy cane the first day they were made. I had got to the turnstiles about 20 minutes ahead of opening and the lines were not particularly long. Unfortunately I ended up behind a group that all seems to have issues with their tickets and I was finally inside at 8:05. I powerwalked down Main Street and managed to get a wristband. I assume this must have been for the second batch as my pick up time was from noon onwards. They have relaxed this a little from previous years. I had read that previously the pick up window was only 30 minutes. I could pick my candy cane up any time between noon and 4:00 PM. This worked great for me as I just got it on the way out.
I got to see Anna and Elsa twice. I decided to forego EMH at California Adventure on November 12th and headed to Disneyland instead. As soon as I was in the park, I headed to the holding spot by the hub and they walked us over to the meet and greet location about 10 minutes prior to park opening. I was thinking that I may have made the first 40, but must have just missed it. I got a 10:20 return time and managed to meet Captain Hook and ride It's A Small World Holiday before heading back to the meet and greet. At that stage there was nobody waiting and I was straight in. The second time was the day after Thanksgiving. I headed there after I got my wristband for the candy cane. The line ended just past the entrance to Jingle Jangle Jamboree and I waited about 40 minutes to get my return time. My return time was for 1:55 and I waited about 15 minutes to see Anna and Elsa.
When I did the Holiday Tour, we were told that the parade taping would take place on that Saturday.
Corinna
It must have really taken a hit from the wind or something!
(It's good that I can remember where and when certain things were posted!)
The holiday season at DLR is one that needs to be explored -- both in an informative, accurate, detailed way and in a fun way -- and my hope is always to hit all of those notes in my Superthreads, getting a lot of people to participate and share their experiences, break news, or ask questions, etc.
