Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread #4

[DisneyJamieCA]

How was Thanksgiving in Disneyland? How would you compare that time of year there as opposed to Christmas?

I've never been over Christmas week, so I can't compare the two, but I can give my thoughts on Thanksgiving week. For two years we've done the Sun before Thanksgiving - Sat after. I personally don't find it to be any different than summer, although I know there were others who disagreed. We did stay onsite, so EMHs which we did use every single day. With that hour, I'd say we had about 3 quiet hours each morning before things started picking up. We also took a break almost every day in the late afternoon, so I don't know how busy it got then. I also avoid areas that I know get crazy (NOS through Adventureland late in the day, for example). Thanksgiving day itself was busier in the early afternoon and significantly lighter later in the day. We ate lunch at BB and was shocked at the lack of crowds when we walked out. I don't have one day that stands out as busier than the others. This year we're going the week before Thanksgiving (Wed the week before - Tues the week of), so it will be interesting to see the crowd differences.

 

[lpizzuro123]

Love this thread and I will keep checking on it.

We will be in Vegas for a friends birthday the beginning of November and as we have never been to DL, we figured as long as we as that far we might as well head over to DL for a few days.

We hope to get there November 13 or 14 and stay for 4 or 5 days - so hopefully we will catch some of the holiday happenings.

We have been to WDW many times over the holidays so we are so excited to check out things on the west coast.

Linda

 

[tksbaskets]

TK, Janet & Gisele -- about the ice cream! I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have snapped up those two lonely cartons (but if I did snap them up, I left the pumpkin carton on the shelf because I don't want that one!).

TK - So your AP expires on 12/14 and you're going to DLR in early 2015 (you said early next year) to DLR? Or are you going in November for your birthday in 2014? I'm so confused!

​

My bad. November 2014.....I'm going to try and sneak in a summer trip too if I can!

 

[Sherry E]

I realized that I totally neglected to welcome ACDSNY to this thread! She joined us here within the last couple of weeks and, while I do read all of the posts that come in, sometimes I can't reply to them right away if I am busy...and then time slips by and I don't get to it if the thread is moving too quickly.

So, welcome, ACDSNY, and also welcome to Malcon10t, who joined us at the very end of the previous Superthread and then several pages ago in this thread.

Malcon10t goes to DLR every year for the holiday season -- it's usually a 2-week trip, I think! -- and has a lot of experience with the Candlelight Ceremony, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's at DLR!!

​

Love this thread and I will keep checking on it.

We will be in Vegas for a friends birthday the beginning of November and as we have never been to DL, we figured as long as we as that far we might as well head over to DL for a few days.

We hope to get there November 13 or 14 and stay for 4 or 5 days - so hopefully we will catch some of the holiday happenings.

We have been to WDW many times over the holidays so we are so excited to check out things on the west coast.

Linda

Welcome, Linda! Thank you for joining us!

You'll definitely catch some holiday happenings, no doubt about that! You will definitely get the full array of in-park activities in both DL and DCA, and if you were to stay until, say, November 19th or so, there is a chance -- though it is not guaranteed -- that you could see the decorations at the 3 Disney hotels too. In 2013 the hotels' trees and decor went up as early as 9 days before Thanksgiving, but that has not always been the case. So we have no way of knowing if this year the hotels' decor will go up early again (I hope so!) or not until closer to Thanksgiving.

There were quite a few WDW vets who experienced DLR during the holidays for the first time in 2013 -- mom2rtk/Janet, ksromack/Kathy and czmom/Wendy, to name a few! I think they all had enjoyable trips, so hopefully they can give you some feedback and opinions from the WDW vet perspective!

My bad. November 2014.....I'm going to try and sneak in a summer trip too if I can!

TK --

Sounds awesome! I hope you can sneak in the summer visit. When in November would you be going to DLR?

 

[Sherry E]

Photos, Photos, Photos!!​

Since there are always new folks joining the thread or lurking in the shadows, I know that a lot of the photos that have been posted here and in the previous Superthread have been overlooked or missed by some of our newest followers. You may have seen some of the photos that have come into this thread over the last several pages, but you have likely missed quite a few as well.

So...I am going to post some links to photos you all may be interested in, just so you can get a sort of pictorial overview of the holiday season at Disneyland Resort. I am not including links to reviews or reports at this moment -- only links to some of the many photos that have been posted since last year.

This is not a comprehensive list of every single photo that has been posted and I'm sure I skipped someone's photos somewhere along the line, but it's a pretty good assortment to go through!

​

Let's get started!

Sometime in late July or early August we will be doing a Theme Week Countdown in this thread. We will be counting down to the start of the holiday season at Disneyland Resort in November by focusing on a different holiday "theme" each week (for example, Cars Land week, Buena Vista Street week, Haunted Mansion Holiday week, etc.), and then in the final week we will feature a different mini-theme every day (such as Critter Country or the Candlelight Processional/Ceremony). Everyone who wants to participate will be welcome to share his/her photos from any theme or all themes. This whole process will take about 3 months, give or take a week. Each year I mix up the themes a bit (this year's Countdown will be the 4th consecutive one), sometimes grouping certain themes together and sometimes separating them. In 2013 there were 20 themes.

Last year I also incorporated a contest into the Countdown, so that everyone who posted photos was entered into a random drawing to win a Disney gift card, and those who did not contribute photos could participate in a separate challenge involving code words and a Christmas song to win a gift card. DIS'ers Mickeybell and ksromack won the gift cards in 2013, in the random draw and code word challenge, respectively!

Although we have a good 6.5 - 7 months to go before the next Theme Week Countdown begins (and there will be more details and explanations about it as we get closer to that time), to give you an idea of what kinds of Theme Weeks we will be dealing with, here are links to the introductory posts (with photos) in each of last year's themes:


Weekly Themes 2013

Disneyland Resort Christmas Trees & Wreaths

New Orleans Square/Haunted Mansion Holiday

It's a Small World Holiday/Fantasyland

Main Street/Sleeping Beauty's Winter Castle

A Christmas Fantasy Parade/Believe...In Holiday Magic Fireworks

Mickey's Toontown

Hotels of the Disneyland Resort

Frontierland/Jingle Jangle Jamboree/Reindeer Round-Up

Treats and Treasures (a.k.a. Food and Merchandise)

Holiday Characters/PhotoPass/Santa Claus

Buena Vista Street/Hollywood Land

Cars Land

Holidays Gone By (a.k.a. Holiday Stuff That Is Not There Anymore)



Mini-Themes (Daily) 2013

Candlelight Ceremony/Processional

Holiday Flowers and Plants

Critter Country/Grizzly Peak

A Bug's Land

Pacific Wharf/Paradise Pier

Downtown Disney



Final Weekly Theme of 2013

Holiday Cornucopia



We had many participants for each theme, so I am not going to individually link you to each person's post. If you want to see the photos posted for the themes, you will have to click on each link above to access the intro posts, then click on the thread link in the upper right corner of each of those posts. That will take you to the page in the previous Superthread on which each theme began, and you can follow the pages from that point forward to see all of the contributions!

​

A lot of our DIS'ers visited Disneyland Resort for the holiday season last year (and into early this month). Here are links to many of the (what I call) Photographic "Highlight Reels" that they were kind enough to share (again, I'm sure I'm skipping someone or certain random, individual photos, but this is enough to give you a good range of pictures to enjoy!):


Highlights from my (Sherry E) visit on Friday, November 15, 2013 --

2013 Winter Village in Downtown Disney (the ice rink was not open that day)

Holiday 2013 Treats & Goodies

Holiday 2013 Merchandise

Disneyland -- General Decor 2013 (including Jingle Cruise and the Frozen meet and greet spot in Fantasyland)

California Adventure -- General Decor 2013 (including new decorations in A Bug's Land and Hollywood Land!!)

Jingle Jangle Jamboree 2013




Highlights from my (Sherry E) December 2013 trip --

Here (descriptions of where photos were taken are towards the bottom of the post);

Here (including Elf Days signs/brochure, etc.); and

Here (Main Street Flower Market photo).




Disney Dreams' November 2013 photo --Here.


DisneyJamieCA's (Jamie’s) November 2013 photos –- Here and Here.


funatdisney's (Liza's) 2013 photos -- Here.


KCmike's (Mike's) November 2013 photos (some of them!) -- Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here and Here.



kylie71's (Lori’s) November 2013 photos -- Here and Here.


mom2rtk (Janet's December 2013 photo) -- Here.


mvf-m11c's (Bret's) November and December 2013 photos -- Here, Here and Here.


Orbitron's photo from December 2013 -- Here.


perlster's November 2013 photo -- Here.


Phoenixrising's (Trish's) November 2013 photos -- Here.


tksbaskets' (TK's) photo from December 2013 -- Here.




If I overlooked anyone's highlight reel photo posts, I apologize! I tried to catch most of the photos that I knew were from the holiday 2013 season, but I know I skipped something somewhere along the line. If I stumble upon any other photo highlight reels that I missed I will update this post with the links!

​

And...to finish off for now, here are some highlights from the 2012 Holiday Season at DLR:


My (Sherry E) highlights from November and December of 2012 -- Here, Here and Here.



mvf-m11c's (Bret's) awesome fireworks photos from November 2012 --Here.

​

Again, I did not include links to Trip Reports or reviews, or to previous Theme Week Countdowns (pre-2013), etc., but in the interest of time -- and to be sure that our newest followers to the thread have something to look at -- I think the above links will tide everyone over for now! You can always access trip reports and the previous Superthreads via links on page 1 of this thread, or via links in the signatures of many of our contributors!

​

 

[NewbieMouse]

NewbieMouse --

I could be confusing the details of your 2013 European trip with another DIS'er's 2013 European trip in my mind, but weren't you supposed to be driving through Germany for part of the time? (Mariezp is the other DIS'er who was supposed to be going to Europe and planning a trip to DLP, and it just dawned on me that I have been out of touch with her for a while, and never found out if her trip actually happened! I'll have to check in!) I think I remember you saying that you were going to visit a few (maybe 3 or 4?) different countries, and that you were trying to get in the trip to DLP too.

So you enjoyed DLP while you were there, but DLR still wins out in the end? Were there any special details or interesting things that you liked about DLP that DLR doesn't have?

Yes, we did visit a few countries - we were in Europe for six weeks (London for a week, Paris for a week and then drove around France, Italy & Austria for 4 weeks) with the DLP stop at the very end right before we left. I had been there about 10 years ago before I had children on Hallowe'en but didn't remember much. I searched through and found the response I gave to someone else about DLP and what I thought:

We just visited DLP this past July. We go to Anaheim every year (and I have been to WDW a while back), but since we were doing a European road trip we threw three days at DLP in for good measure.

We stayed at the Sequoia Lodge (onsite) and spent three days in the parks. Here's a brief summary of my thoughts about it:

• It is a BEAUTIFUL park. It really is stunning from an aesthetic point of view. Size wise it seems a little more like MK in WDW (meaning things are more spread out than in Anaheim). Some people like this; for me it felt like there was a lot of wasted space (or space that wasn't used very well). But it was really, really beautiful.
• Despite the fact that it is very beautiful, it is also not nearly as clean as DL/WDW, by a long shot. For example, the storybook land canal boats had visible garbage, and weren't nearly as well maintained.
• BTMRR is right on the water and is fantastic. I think it's better that the DL version.
• SM may have more loops and turns, etc., but I HATED it. It made me quite sick, and gave me a massive headache. I preferred the Aerosmith Coaster in the Walt Disney Studios Park.
• If you stay onsite there are 2 hours of Early Magic Hours in the main park, but they only have a few rides open. Like PP, we always get to parks bright and early, but this was kind of unnecessary. After about 45 minutes we were really ready to move on, but other rides weren't open yet for another hour or so.
• The Walt Disney Studios Park was OK, but like someone else said, lines could be very long. And there really wasn't that much there that we were interested in. A lot of shows, a lot in French. Some of the lines that weren't long had FP as well, so it would be great if they could re-jig that around to make more sense. And FP windows are only 30 minutes!
• Line cutting - aaaaarrggghhh! I know this happens everywhere to some extent, but it was more pronounced at DLP.
• The CMs are a little more uneven and don't quite provide the "wow" service you usually can expect at the at US parks. I think some of the variation in service/amenities/cleanliness etc. is because they seem to have less staff (likely because it's more expensive). Although I do understand that issue, given that you really do pay through the nose for Disney, I found that a bit off putting. Some staff also seemed a bit less 'professional' (e.g., there was more "milling around chatting" than you would ever see at a US park).
• The DLP onsite hotels all include continental breakfast, for which you typically have to book a time slot. I had heard that the time slot breakfasts for the regular rooms can be quite crowded. Because we stayed in a Golden Forest Room (which is an upgrade) we had a dedicated breakfast room which was very quiet and an afternoon tea/snack. I liked it. And the pool area at Sequoia Lodge was great.
• As for the food, I think that really depends on your tastes. Not all restaurants are always open. Several places where I had thought we could eat were regularly closed. We did our DL stay at the end of a 6-week trip through Europe, so I was less enthused about European food by that point, just looking for a good "North American" meal. So we ate at Earl of Sandwich 3 days in a row

All in all, it was worthwhile. These are just my opinions - like most people, I have a preference for my "home" park, which is Anaheim. It's small, cozy, and manageable - going to DLP made me appreciate it even more. I'm not sure that I will ever do three days at DLP again, but I think it's worth a stop.

I honestly don't think it would feel like Christmas without a trip to DLR - you have me hooked, Sherry! I think this year I am going to make a concerted effort to slow way down and look at the decorations. When I see everyone's pictures I realize that we miss so much. I did really notice a difference in our touring strategy with the FP enforcement this year so i think we have to move the trip to the earlier dates. Crowds are NOT enjoyable for us! I guess if they do a holiday party that could totally switch things up. If it cut down on crowds I would be OK with it. I will really enjoy following the thread through the year as the holidays approach - they always come so much faster than you think. Thank you all for your great posts, pictures and hard work keeping us Holiday DISers pumped all year long!

 

[Sherry E]

Happy Valentine's Day
to My DLR Christmas/Holiday Superthread Friends!!



If you celebrate this day, I hope you find yourselves showered with many hearts and flowers and, of course, love!

(And yes, in case you're wondering -- the photo above is a Disneyland Resort holiday season photo, technically, taken on December 11th of last year at the Main Street Flower Market! When I take photos I often try to think of what I might use them for in the future, and if I can work them into assorted themes! So I was partially thinking "Valentine's Day" when I took this shot, and then Photobucket added some fun Valentine's stickers [which were actually better than the Christmas stickers] to their editing options and I used those too.)

​

I have been trying to quietly work on edits to the posts on page 1 before any solid info comes in about the holidays of 2014 (though I have been reworking things in MS Word instead of directly in the posts in the thread), as well as work on two other projects at the same time. I have not been able to get much done because my horrible PC constantly locks up and acts crazy. It has given me years of stress, frustration and agony. I can literally spend all day and night in front of the PC and have very little to show for it at the end of the day other than a giant headache.

So -- and this will not be relevant to anyone other than perhaps Bret/mvf-m11c, TK/tksbaskets, PHXscuba (if she happens to be out there) and anyone who actually used to silently follow my former TR thread and knows the saga -- I am finally, finally, finally getting a new computer! It's arriving sometime between now and next Friday.

I am not looking forward to getting used to Windows 8 when I have been used to a different operating system and desktop layout for so long, but I will cope. As long as my PC is not freezing up every 2 minutes and I can actually get things done, I will deal with the new desktop.

I knew there was no way I could tolerate one more year of this PC. It was literally -- and I am not saying this to be dramatic -- probably going to give me a nervous breakdown sooner or later. You guys only see the end result of my struggles -- which is when I actually sign in -- but you don't see what leads up to me signing in! Even doing something fun like the Theme Week Countdown this year was going to be an arduous chore for me to tackle because I knew I would have to struggle with this computer from hades, and that everything would take 50 times longer than it should take to accomplish. I was not looking forward to it. But I didn't want to just get one new part and keep the other old stuff. I wanted a whole new system. So that's what's coming. All new. Thank. The. Heavens.

At that point I should be able to efficiently tackle page 1 of this thread, as well as the other 2 projects I have been working on that are DISboards-related, with much less hassle!

​

Oh, and by the way, I will be tuning into the good ol' Hallmark Channel at some point tonight to see some of their Valentine's-themed movies. They call themselves the Heart of the Holidays or the Heart of Christmas in November and December. Right now they are calling themselves the Heart of Valentine's! The Hallmark Channel is either very fickle or very versatile -- I guess it depends on how you look at it! Lol.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

yeahhh congrats girl, oh an I cant wait to see the page 1 updates. I wish we could know if they would make the Christmas stuff start on the 7th this year or around there. If i could book my trip a few days earlier and know it was gonna be up and running id do it. Right now I've got it set for nov 12-15th in the park, home on the 16th

Looking forward o your pages and good luck with win 8 I had to get used to it too. Not as bad as some say but can be annoying.

 

[funatdisney]

Congrats, Sherry!




That is awesome news!! Look forward to the marvelous things you will be able to do with your new computer.

 

[Gisele]

OK....so sometime ago Target sold out of the Peppermint Wonderland Ice Cream, but.... every store shoppin visit that I have made before that and since has finally paid off! Not long ago, nothin at Grocery Outlet... but yesterday... bingo! Many a carton! So I am continuing to happily collect these cartons, and the only reason I did not buy as many as I would have prefered to, is because the rotten freezer is too small! So I will be smacking the other food together even more from what I already have so as to make way for but yet another round of ice cream obtainment of the peppermint kind.
I even made it a point to rotate my stock. Seriously....
And while I was at the store one of the employees was close by, so as the born sales person and foodie that I am, chatted her up about the wonderment of wonderland peppermint... then it was the cashiers turn while I was at checkout.
I even began to think about whose freezers I might be able to rent space in for more cartons. I figure if I play this right I just might be able to stretch the peppermint enlightenment close to at least Halloween. Maybe even Christmas.

So if you are near a Grocery Outlet Store, quick don't walk but ok.. so kind of run... I am not a runner on over.

I promise I will leave you some, unless it is the last known container. Then good luck!
No, really

Please don't hate because I have hoarder tendencies here.



Hm I believe there is a tech issue underfoot.

 

[Cheshirecatty]

Hi Sherry……

I saw your post this morning, and just wanted to pop in and say "Hello"!

I am so excited for you to have the new computer, and FINALLY be rid of the issues you've been having to deal with---what a relief for you!!!

Thank you for the lovely Valentine wishes!

 

[KCmike]

Congrats on the new computer and wishing you a happy belated Valentine's Day! Did you end up getting a laptop or desktop?

 

[yupikgal]

Sherry, thank you for your tireless efforts your pictures are amazing! We are planning on going this year the week before thanksgiving, so seeing your pics and reading your description really helps! In fact, we are looking at Saturday the 15th, and staying through that week, staying at the PPH..we are fellow PPH lovers! I stayed there in late Nov./early Dec 2012 with my niece & sister, we had a fabulous time! I want the rest of my family to experience it during that wonderful time of year, we normally go in late May/early June..looking forward to the countdown for this year!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Great news to hear that you are getting a new computer Sherry.

 

[Sherry E]

I wonder if the DIS' servers are askew again. I seem to be getting email alerts for all kinds of threads that I probably haven't posted in since 2009, but I am not getting any email alerts at all for this thread - my own thread!

In fact, last night when I popped into post my Valentine's Day photo/greeting here I saw that there was a post from NewbieMouse (about her DLP visit and European trip) that came in 2 weeks ago! Why did I never get that email alert? Then again, I didn't check this thread the last few times I signed on (I was over in the SoCal forum, discussing Catalina), but still... I should have gotten an alert that NewbieMouse had posted!

Today I signed onto the DIS for a different reason and decided to check here for any new posts, since I had not been aware of the one from NewbieMouse until last night. I discovered that many people posted! I didn't get any email alerts for this thread -- not a single one! It's like the DIS suddenly unsubscribed me from my own thread!

yeahhh congrats girl, oh an I cant wait to see the page 1 updates. I wish we could know if they would make the Christmas stuff start on the 7th this year or around there. If i could book my trip a few days earlier and know it was gonna be up and running id do it. Right now I've got it set for nov 12-15th in the park, home on the 16th

Looking forward o your pages and good luck with win 8 I had to get used to it too. Not as bad as some say but can be annoying.

Howdy, Jade! I'm glad you joined us again!

Thank you! I was a bit fearful about Windows 8 because I have read the bad reviews. I am so used to everything being in a certain spot (like the Start button!). But I'll get used to it. Plus, I think there is a way to set it up so that it looks more like the Windows 7 desktop.

Page 1 will end up being similar to what it is now, but a couple of sections will be split up and I will be adding some things to other sections. In other words, I will have a separate post for Disneyland Seasonal Events/Activities and DCA Seasonal Events/Activities (now that DCA is finally getting into the holiday swing!). I will also add in some additional thumbnails to a few of the posts. I will most likely -- but I haven't fully decided yet -- put Downtown Disney in a separate post. I will also be adding in links to various DIS'ers' 2013 holiday trip reviews (such as farmfresh, Pesky, egritz, julieheyer, etc.) to the Trip Reports and Reviews section. Of course, I'll be adding in any links to new info that we get.

I know what you mean -- I wish that Disney would finally realize that DLR visitors want to know season dates and info way in advance too, just as WDW visitors do! Even though DLR's visitor base may be mostly made up of locals and AP holders, that doesn't mean that we don't want info early in the year!

I don't know if you saw this post but I listed the historical holiday season start and end dates, from 2003 - 2013. I have no clue why I didn't go all the way back to 2000 and start there, but I was mainly looking at the last 10 years! Maybe I'll go back and eventually add in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

In any case, I don't think that the holiday season will "officially" begin on 11/7, for a couple of different reasons, but I think there will be a lot of things "unofficially" (quietly) open on 11/7. I would guess that the Christmas parade taping will take place on 11/7 and 11/8, most likely. I would be willing to bet that IASW Holiday will be open on 11/7. I'm sure the holiday fireworks will start on 11/7. The tree lighting on Buena Vista Street might be happening at that point. The Jingle Jangle Jamboree could possibly be open.

I don't think that the "official" start of the season -- as announced by Disney in their various press materials -- would be until at least Monday, 11/10, but they may not want to start it before Veterans Day. So they could go with Wednesday, 11/12 or even Friday 11/14 as the start date. I suspect that by 11/14, everything in the parks will be up and running, such as Viva Navidad, Winter Dreams, the ice rink in DTD, etc., and the hotels will probably have their trees in place by the week before Thanksgiving, though Santa, etc., won't appear at the hotels until Thanksgiving.

Of course, I could be wrong on all of this, but I can't be too far off base!

Congrats, Sherry!




That is awesome news!! Look forward to the marvelous things you will be able to do with your new computer.

Thank you, Liza!

Most likely, I'll be doing the same things I usually do -- but with much less of a struggle and headache at the end of the day!

OK....so sometime ago Target sold out of the Peppermint Wonderland Ice Cream, but.... every store shoppin visit that I have made before that and since has finally paid off! Not long ago, nothin at Grocery Outlet... but yesterday... bingo! Many a carton! So I am continuing to happily collect these cartons, and the only reason I did not buy as many as I would have prefered to, is because the rotten freezer is too small! So I will be smacking the other food together even more from what I already have so as to make way for but yet another round of ice cream obtainment of the peppermint kind.
I even made it a point to rotate my stock. Seriously....
And while I was at the store one of the employees was close by, so as the born sales person and foodie that I am, chatted her up about the wonderment of wonderland peppermint... then it was the cashiers turn while I was at checkout.
I even began to think about whose freezers I might be able to rent space in for more cartons. I figure if I play this right I just might be able to stretch the peppermint enlightenment close to at least Halloween. Maybe even Christmas.

So if you are near a Grocery Outlet Store, quick don't walk but ok.. so kind of run... I am not a runner on over.

I promise I will leave you some, unless it is the last known container. Then good luck!
No, really

Please don't hate because I have hoarder tendencies here.

Gisele --

Your store is still carrying Peppermint Wonderland -- in mid-February?? That is madness! Are these just leftover cartons from the holidays or are your stores getting in brand new stock? I thought it was weird enough when I saw some of the ice cream at my store last month. I figured those cartons that I may or may not have gotten must have been stragglers that had been discovered in a back storeroom freezer or something. I could be wrong but I don't think that any of my stores are getting in fresh supplies of the ice cream -- that is, unless Dreyer's/Edy's decided to extend the sales of Peppermint Wonderland until the end of winter??

This is quite the mystery. I just hope that Dreyer's has the ice cream available at DLR -- in the expected ice cream shops -- this year, starting in November, and also back on the grocery store shelves in September (when it usually arrives)! At this rate, they are doing things in such a weird way that I am thoroughly mystified. I can't blame you for hoarding it, as you never know if Dreyer's might suddenly discontinue it out of the blue for the holidays of 2014!

I don't think I have ever been more confused by this Dreyer's peppermint ice cream than I was in 2013, and now in 2014!

Hi Sherry……

I saw your post this morning, and just wanted to pop in and say "Hello"!

I am so excited for you to have the new computer, and FINALLY be rid of the issues you've been having to deal with---what a relief for you!!!

Thank you for the lovely Valentine wishes!

Thank you, Cheshirecatty!

Yes, I think that the new system will rid me of many of the issues I was having. I still don't think that my Internet speed is terribly fast (not as fast as it should be), but having a new system will enable me to assess that a bit better because at least the hardware, hard drive and operating system issues will be out of the way. If the Internet still runs slowly after everything is installed, I will know it is an issue to take up with my ISP and that it is not just my old, cranky, sick PC giving me trouble! I have to eliminate one problem at a time!

I was getting so annoyed because it used to be just the Internet that froze up and ran slowly. Then my different programs started acting up as well (like MS Word, etc.), so I couldn't get anything done in a reasonable time frame.

Congrats on the new computer and wishing you a happy belated Valentine's Day! Did you end up getting a laptop or desktop?

Thank you so much, Mike!

Desktop. While I want a laptop as well and could have easily gone with that option, for my immediate purposes and for what I will eventually do/work on I think a desktop makes more sense. There may come a time when a laptop makes more sense, but not at the moment. (I'm sure I'll regret saying that later on.)

I don't know if you saw it, but I replied to your last post in the Catalina question thread that Sherilaine started. I was mentioning that your info about many of the places in Avalon only taking cash was what prompted me to investigate that issue when I went back to the Island last year. For some reason I had not previously noticed that a lot of them didn't take plastic, although the golf cart place I use has always just taken cash...so I'm not sure why my brain didn't make the leap and realize that other places were only taking cash as well! Apparently, the cash-only places are doing it that way so they can keep their costs down and not have to raise their prices every year. If they started taking plastic they would have to increase prices more often, as I was told by one such cash-only vendor at Coney Island West, due to fees they incur.

Sherry, thank you for your tireless efforts your pictures are amazing! We are planning on going this year the week before thanksgiving, so seeing your pics and reading your description really helps! In fact, we are looking at Saturday the 15th, and staying through that week, staying at the PPH..we are fellow PPH lovers! I stayed there in late Nov./early Dec 2012 with my niece & sister, we had a fabulous time! I want the rest of my family to experience it during that wonderful time of year, we normally go in late May/early June..looking forward to the countdown for this year!

yupikgal -

Hello!

I haven't forgotten you! I remember that you stayed at the PPH in Dec. 2012 -- in fact, I think I have a link to your TR somewhere in the Trip Reports section on page 1 of this thread.

You're also on my Facebook friends list, and you may have noticed that I have been MIA from Facebook in recent months. That's because of this horrible computer! I discovered that Facebook is one of the worst sites for ailing computers because, when I sign on, there is so much stuff that has to load just to get the News Feed up and running (let alone trying to go in and add photos to my albums, add new albums or change my Timeline covers) and it was freezing up my PC every single time. I couldn't deal with it. I didn't have the patience. I couldn't even reply to messages from friends without everything freezing.

So I hope to get back on Facebook soon (and quietly delete some folks from my Friend list - muahahahahahaha!!!) and at least change my Timeline cover, if nothing else! I have missed so many holidays. I loooove me some holidays, and I used to post all kinds of photos on my Wall for Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, etc. I had to give all of that up in 2013 (and part of 2012).

Thank you so much for the very kind words! I always want this thread (and its predecessors) to be fun, informative and interesting. I wish we had more to chew on as far as actual, official information about the 2014 season this early in the year, but that will come soon enough. We now have maybe 5.5 - 6 months until the start of the next Theme Week Countdown, and the Countdown will take up at least 3 months, so that will help pass the time until November a bit.

I am hoping that DLR repeats last year's schedule and gets the Christmas trees up at the hotels the week before Thanksgiving so you will be able to enjoy the lovely PPH tree again, before the end of your trip!! Although I didn't like all of the clunky, cluttered enhancements underneath the PPH tree in 2013, I'd rather that the tree go up sooner than later even if it has to have all of that extra stuff around it. Last year the trees went up 9 days before Thanksgiving, which was startling! I've always thought that the hotels' trees should go up at the same time the holiday season officially begins so that guests can enjoy the full array of holiday merriment all over DLR, but that never seems to happen.

In a way it seems that DLR hotels operate like "regular" (non-Disney) hotels in terms of when holiday decorations begin to appear. Other hotels don't decorate in mid-November, so the DLR hotels don't do it either. We probably could not walk into a Hyatt or a Marriott and find a Christmas tree on November 12th or 14th or whenever. But Disney hotels should not do what other non-hotels do, I feel. I think they should operate like adjuncts or complements to the parks -- and the same for Downtown Disney. The whole property that is Disneyland Resort should be in full holiday mode as soon as the season officially begins, because -- collectively -- the parks, the hotels and DTD make a great overall holiday season experience. When only the parks are decorated -- as great as they are -- we are only getting part of the holiday experience!

Great news to hear that you are getting a new computer Sherry.

Thank you, Bret!

You know that I have struggled with this beast of a PC for years. I was probably going to end up in a straitjacket eventually, if I didn't get a new system. I had to get one or lose my sanity completely!

 

[tksbaskets]

I have been trying to quietly work on edits to the posts on page 1 before any solid info comes in about the holidays of 2014 (though I have been reworking things in MS Word instead of directly in the posts in the thread), as well as work on two other projects at the same time. I have not been able to get much done because my horrible PC constantly locks up and acts crazy. It has given me years of stress, frustration and agony. I can literally spend all day and night in front of the PC and have very little to show for it at the end of the day other than a giant headache.

So -- and this will not be relevant to anyone other than perhaps Bret/mvf-m11c, TK/tksbaskets, PHXscuba (if she happens to be out there) and anyone who actually used to silently follow my former TR thread and knows the saga -- I am finally, finally, finally getting a new computer! It's arriving sometime between now and next Friday.

I am not looking forward to getting used to Windows 8 when I have been used to a different operating system and desktop layout for so long, but I will cope. As long as my PC is not freezing up every 2 minutes and I can actually get things done, I will deal with the new desktop.

I knew there was no way I could tolerate one more year of this PC. It was literally -- and I am not saying this to be dramatic -- probably going to give me a nervous breakdown sooner or later. You guys only see the end result of my struggles -- which is when I actually sign in -- but you don't see what leads up to me signing in! Even doing something fun like the Theme Week Countdown this year was going to be an arduous chore for me to tackle because I knew I would have to struggle with this computer from hades, and that everything would take 50 times longer than it should take to accomplish. I was not looking forward to it. But I didn't want to just get one new part and keep the other old stuff. I wanted a whole new system. So that's what's coming. All new. Thank. The. Heavens.

At that point I should be able to efficiently tackle page 1 of this thread, as well as the other 2 projects I have been working on that are DISboards-related, with much less hassle!

​

Oh, and by the way, I will be tuning into the good ol' Hallmark Channel at some point tonight to see some of their Valentine's-themed movies. They call themselves the Heart of the Holidays or the Heart of Christmas in November and December. Right now they are calling themselves the Heart of Valentine's! The Hallmark Channel is either very fickle or very versatile -- I guess it depends on how you look at it! Lol.

Such great news about the new computer!! I had another awful crash about a month ago and my computer guy built me a new one. SO glad to have the solid state hard drive that I was told even I couldn't bust

It does take some getting used to Sherry with a new computer. Ugh, even loading up fonts I knew I had on the old one. My Photoshop Elements organizer opens up lickity split!

Let me know how you like your new machine.

 

[Gisele]

Grocery Outlet sells many closeouts and the like. I don't know the source for this acquisition, but who knows maybe it was from Dryers? I think it was from a different source though.
The price is awesome too, $1.99 each instead of the full price. At Target, it was selling for $4.99.

 

[DisneyQueen1320]

Everything looks so beautiful during the holidays.
What's the average temp from Thanksgiving to early Dec?

Thanks

 

[Sherry E]

Everything looks so beautiful during the holidays.
What's the average temp from Thanksgiving to early Dec?

Thanks

Welcome, DisneyQueen1320!

Yes, the parks and hotels are very beautiful during the holidays, indeed. (Did you have a look at the post on the previous page, with links to various photos?)

I don't know what the average temperatures are from Thanksgiving to early December, but I think I have a link to HydroGuy's weather info in the Frequently Asked Questions section on page 1 of this thread.

As a Southern California resident I will say that the weather is very odd from maybe mid-September on through the end of the year. During that time frame we could see record-breaking heat waves, unexpected cold snaps (like this past early December was pretty chilly for a week or two), heavy wind and dry air, rain, overcast skies, etc.

There have been times in late November/early December when it has been raining a lot, and other years when it is 80 degrees every day. Sometimes we don't think it will rain and then get hit with more rain than we can handle.

I would say, though, that more than likely the weather in late November/early December would be dry and warm. Maybe daytime temperatures in the 70's and nighttime temperatures in the 50's. That's just an educated guess, but I've seen all kinds of weather scenarios take place in autumn and it hard to nail down a specific pattern!

 

[BarbLM]

Just got done making reservations for Dec 10-14. Will be staying at DLH. You will ne seeing me on this thread a lot. Lol