Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread #4

[Sherry E]

Okay, I've got all of the photo participants' names (thus far) entered into the random draw.

What a great assortment of Santa Claus-PhotoPass-Holiday Character photos you've all shared with us! Everyone appears to be having a lot of fun!

I am so happy to see that we've already had 14 contributors since the Countdown began 2-1/2 days ago -- many of whom participated in previous years' Countdowns, and some of whom are brand new to the Countdown this year (such as Speechphi and Jenasweetemotion, to name a couple)! Welcome and thank you to all!

Here are the names I have logged so far. I think I got everyone who has posted so far:

pattyduke34
mvf-m11c (Bret)
kylie71 (Lori)
JadeDarkstar
Orbitron
Luisa
figment_jii
rentayenta (Jenny)
PixiDustDears (Amanda)
DisneyJamieCA (Jamie)
dhorner233 (Denise)
Misskitty3
Speechphi
Jenasweetemotion




I would imagine that -- sometime between now and Sunday night (7-27-14) we will see some photos from Theme Week Countdown regular, tksbaskets, as well as Janet/mom2rtk. Hopefully crystal1313 and Vintage Mousketeer will also join in (as they did last year).

Escape2Disney (Carrie)? Where have you gone? Photos?

Trish/Phoenixrising? Are you out there?

PHXscuba?


And...KCmike? Elk Grove Chris? I'm mikey? No Santa--Character--PhotoPass pictures?

​

Thank you for all the birthday wishes, everyone!

Lori -- The free birthday cupcake I got at Sprinkles was the Orange one, with orange-vanilla icing. They hadn't made any Lemon cupcakes yesterday, and I wanted something citrusy. That was my very first Sprinkles cupcake. I thought it was decent -- it was great considering that it was free! -- but I liked the frosting more than the actual cake.



Jenny -- Photobucket has been acting all kinds of crazy for me too. I keep getting messages about a "long running script" on the page that is slowing down my PC. I got an email from Photobucket that indicated they are -- once again -- messing with the layout of their site, and that we will be noticing changes soon. They just did a massive overhaul of their site last year (and that one was initially horrible, as many of the features people used were removed and then later reinstated). Can't they leave well enough alone for at least a couple of years? So I suspect that the "work" they are doing on the site is what is causing us, the users, the problems.


Jamie -- Don't worry about repeating photos if you need to repeat some to enter into a Theme Week. There are lots of folks lurking out there who have not seen them.


Elk Grove Chris -- Are you staying over in Catalina in September, or just visiting for the day? I'm guessing that if you already know you'll have a cart, you're probably staying at one of the condos or villas that comes with a golf cart (maybe Hamilton Cove??). You'll come back with some amazing photos, I'm sure (just as KCmike did when he was there).



KCmike -- It was a nice day in Avalon, despite the various wacky occurrences! I was determined to walk to my favorite scenic spot, as I always do! I may be an old lady, but I am spry! Aside from the fact that the golf cart-driving good Samaritan was a stranger, who could have been a hatchet-wielding maniac, I was walking down that particular road specifically to walk alongside the ocean as it crashed into the rocks below. Hopping into some dude's golf cart would have defeated that whole purpose! But it was nice of him to offer to help a senior citizen in distress (from the heat)!

​

 

[Vintage Mouseketeer]

Hi Sherry! Happy Belated Birthday! I have really enjoyed reading your Catalina trip report

So here are my pics for this week

PhotoPass Pic from 2011

Santa Pictures 2013

This one makes me laugh, I am not sure who looks more miserable, Santa or DD. lol

Goofy as Santa 2013

Duffy as Santa 2013

Merry Christmas in July :-D

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Sherry-yes staying in Hamilton Cove (also get two solo days at DL while my Wife takes DD to One Direction concert in LA!).

We do not seek out characters, so I do not have a whole lot (also lost all of 2011 xmas trip photos due to hard drive crash):

 

[WestMom2two]

Jenasweetemotion- love your pictures. Makes me so excited!!!

 

[Sherry E]

I have added Vintage Mousketeer and Elk Grove Chris into the random draw as well! More great pictures!



We have today, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday left of the current Santa-Characters-PhotoPass theme, and then it's on to a brand new theme on Monday, July 28th!!!!!

If you are just now tuning in and want to go back to the beginning of the current theme (like if you are following the Code Word Challenge part of the Countdown), I started Theme Weeks on page 50 of this thread, in post #747.




Vintage Mousketeer -- Thank you!

Didn't you say you have a July birthday as well? Did you go to Catalina on the Express for your birthday, or are you going? It's a really great offer, and the free Casino tour, free CD, etc., are big bonuses. If your birthday has not already happened, and if you're not going to Catalina, sign up for a free Sprinkles cupcake on your birthday, or a free Jersey Mike's sandwich and drink on your birthday! (I am assuming you already signed up for Earl of Sandwich's free birthday sandwich too!)




Elk Grove Chris -- I have yet to stay at Hamilton Cove, though I think it would be great. My friends have stayed there and they loved the whole area, as well as the view, and having access to a golf cart any time of day (without having to return it in 2 hours or whatever).

Have you done solo days at DLR in the past? Not that you have any trouble finding opportunities to take photos at DLR (as evidenced by all of the amazing photos you have taken), but solo days at DLR are so great for photo sprees and finding inspiration!

I remember you mentioned your hard drive crash -- 2011 was the year my PC had its major crash, which wiped out who knows how many thousands of documents. (It is because of your suggestion that I will get an external hard drive, as well as continue to back up in other ways. I have discovered that I cannot back up in too many places, because none of them are crash-proof or glitch-proof!) Some of my files and photos were recovered (though definitely not all of them), but the file names were totally different and everything was out of order -- so I have no clue what was actually recovered and what wasn't.

 

[dhorner233]

 

[dec2009mama]

new to this -- is the rule the more pictures you post for the theme the more entries you get?

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

new to this -- is the rule the more pictures you post for the theme the more entries you get?

Answering for Sherry here, but no; 1 photo or 10 photos still gets you the one entry. Some of us just like showing more to give people who haven't been before an idea of all the different opportunities.

 

[Sherry E]

new to this -- is the rule the more pictures you post for the theme the more entries you get?

dec2009mama --

See #8 Under "Photo Submissions" in the Rules -- Here.

You only get one entry into every theme week to which you contribute. So whether you post one photo or multiple photos for a theme, it's one entry per weekly theme (and then 2 entries per mini-daily theme!). People sometimes like to post more than one photo if they have fun ones to share, but if you only have one to fit a theme -- that'll work!

All tolled, if you were to contribute to every theme week and each mini-theme day, you would have a total of 29 entries into the random draw by the end of the Countdown in November. No one can exceed 29 entries, and many will have fewer than 29 entries.

Answering for Sherry here, but no; 1 photo or 10 photos still gets you the one entry. Some of us just like showing more to give people who haven't been before an idea of all the different opportunities.

Jamie --

Exactly! It's a way to display photos and group them all together into various themes, which gives the newcomers and followers a broad idea of what to expect and look for -- and, also, for those who have trip reports, posting more photos in the Countdown is a way to attract more people to those reports.

I was typing before I saw that you had answered! Thank you so much for stepping in to answer -- I could have easily been out or running errands or something, and might not have seen the question until much later.

 

[dec2009mama]

ok -- here are my first entires.....

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[Sherry E]

^^Awesome! I especially love the Santa Goofy photo! So cute.


dec2009mama -- You now have your first entry into the random draw for the Disney Gift Card! Thank you for joining in! Stay tuned for the next theme, coming up in 4 days...

 

[dhorner233]

 

[I'm mikey]

Here are my entries for this weeks theme.

 

[Sherry E]

By the way, just in terms of holiday-season-news-that's-really-not-news...

As we all expected, and as I indicated in the Dates to Remember post on page 1 of this thread, the enchanting Candlelight Ceremony and Processional will take place on Saturday, December 6th and Sunday, December 7th.

The confirmation is HERE.

I had been checking the Disneyland Events page for weeks, and when I finally skipped it for a couple of days the Candlelight info popped up! (I have terrible timing!) Those were the expected dates -- it was only 2012 that had the extensive 20-night schedule -- but it's nice to see them in official print!

For those of you wondering, the narrator(s) will not be officially announced to the public for Candlelight, most likely, unless Disneyland finds a way to add in dinner packages and reserved seats for more people. The narrators' names will probably leak out on the Internet via unofficial sources sometime in November, or maybe late October, and folks who take any of the tours at DLR over Candlelight weekend will be told by their tour guides who the narrators are.

Last year the narrators were Blair Underwood and Kurt Russell. In 2012 there were many narrators.

Even though this event requires a lot of standing and waiting (if you are not one of the invited guests with a seat), it is beautiful and worth seeing. If you love Christmas music, you will find yourself moved and uplifted by the talented vocalists. The "candlelight" around Town Square provides a haunting, intimate atmosphere.

We will see more of Candlelight in future Theme Weeks (or Days) of this Countdown!

I noticed that a Disney Parks Blog piece went up about Santa on the Cruise ships. It won't be long now before we get some sort of morsel of information about Disneyland Resort's holiday season!!


ETA: I'm mikey has an entry into the random draw for posting his amazing photos!

​

 

[kylie71]

Would be Great if Mr.Stamos did it again.... I would make arrangements to be there!!

Happy to hear your cupcake was Yummy! I Love Lemon, and we have a Bundt Cake store here, that has Amazing lemon, Bundt cakes... but very $$$$

Looking forward to the new theme week...

--Lori

 

[Sherry E]

Would be Great if Mr.Stamos did it again.... I would make arrangements to be there!!

Happy to hear your cupcake was Yummy! I Love Lemon, and we have a Bundt Cake store here, that has Amazing lemon, Bundt cakes... but very $$$$

Looking forward to the new theme week...

--Lori

Lori --

John Stamos seems to narrate Candlelight every couple of years or so, doesn't he? I would like to see him narrate because he is such a big Disneyland fan.

I wonder if the lemon cupcake would have been a bit better than the orange. The orange one that I had at Sprinkles was not bad -- and, again, the fact that it was free made it even better! -- but I liked the frosting better than the actual cake. I've had cupcakes with better cake flavor...though I only tried one flavor at Sprinkles, and another flavor may have been better!

I do love a good lemon cake -- Bundt, pound cake or otherwise! I even like those new Lemon Oreos -- have you tried those? Pretty tasty!

 

[pudinhd]

This is one of my favorites...

 

[Sherry E]

pudinhd --

I'm glad to see that you are joining in the Countdown again this year (and you have an entry into the random draw)! Those are great pictures -- the photos with Duffy are so cute. And...what is Winter Sweater Donald trying to say?

​

I forgot to mention this in my previous post about the Candlelight dates.

I double checked and saw that it was on August 6th last year that Erin at the Disney Parks Blog made the official announcement of the Holiday Season start date at Disneyland Resort (although the start date had already been published in the Backstage Pass newsletter 3 months earlier!).

Unless there is going to be a huge development involving a major Christmas party, or new event, or something of that caliber that needs to be revealed before July ends, I would expect that, once again, we will get the "official" confirmation of the Holidays around that same date in August, if not before -- maybe on Tuesday, August 5th or so? There could still be a big announcement of some kind in early August, but it may not be big enough to necessitate an early reveal right now.

It still looks to me like the Holidays will begin on Friday, 11/14, as that is when the Matterhorn is scheduled to reopen and it makes sense. Disneyland may tell us that the season begins on 11/12, and there will be many things already up and running even before 11/12, but I think that the Olaf ice rink in DTD, Viva Navidad and Winter Dreams will begin on 11/14.

 

[jibada]

pudinhd --

I'm glad to see that you are joining in the Countdown again this year (and you have an entry into the random draw)! Those are great pictures -- the photos with Duffy are so cute. And...what is Winter Sweater Donald trying to say?

​

I forgot to mention this in my previous post about the Candlelight dates.

I double checked and saw that it was on August 6th last year that Erin at the Disney Parks Blog made the official announcement of the Holiday Season start date at Disneyland Resort (although the start date had already been published in the Backstage Pass newsletter 3 months earlier!).

Unless there is going to be a huge development involving a major Christmas party, or new event, or something of that caliber that needs to be revealed before July ends, I would expect that, once again, we will get the "official" confirmation of the Holidays around that same date in August, if not before -- maybe on Tuesday, August 5th or so? There could still be a big announcement of some kind in early August, but it may not be big enough to necessitate an early reveal right now.

It still looks to me like the Holidays will begin on Friday, 11/14, as that is when the Matterhorn is scheduled to reopen and it makes sense. Disneyland may tell us that the season begins on 11/12, and there will be many things already up and running even before 11/12, but I think that the Olaf ice rink in DTD, Viva Navidad and Winter Dreams will begin on 11/14.

Do you think Its a Small World will be up and running Nov 14th for the Holidays?

 

[Jenasweetemotion]

Jenasweetemotion- love your pictures. Makes me so excited!!!

Thanks! I love Disneyland during the holidays (Which is why it will be our 6th year going). If you would like to see more pictures I have them all on FB you can find the link under contact info.