Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread #4

[kylie71]

I am really enjoying this weeks theme, and everyone's pictures. So FUN!

--Lori

 

[crystal1313]

I have logged everyone's amazing Cars Land entries into the random drawing, all the way up to the_princess' post! This is a great theme week for photos, as everyone's photos have been awesome!

​

crystal1313 --

I, of course, am speaking as someone who usually goes in the time frame that you go (first or second week of December). So my input will be slightly biased. Personally, I would stick with the early December trip, even though it is the CP weekend and DL will be more crowded on that weekend (especially on Saturday). I would also most likely try to catch the CP again, but you may not want to deal with those crowds in Town Square. Plus, it just feels more Christmasy going in December than when I am there in November, for some reason, though that is probably just my imagination!

Is there a specific reason why the pre-Thanksgiving time would be better for you (less expensive, better schedule-wise and work-wise, etc.)? That factor could make a big difference.

I am of the mindset that I don't want to risk missing anything -- Santa and the carolers at the hotels, for example. I don't want to risk missing one single food item or piece of merchandise that may come out for Thanksgiving and beyond (and that does happen). Going on that pre-Thanksgiving weekend means you will probably see the 3 hotels decorated early -- most likely -- but you will miss the hotels' Santas and Carolers. If those things don't make a difference to you, then go for pre-Thanksgiving!

Hiya crystal1313! I generally agree with Sherry about going the first week of December over the weekend before Thanksgiving. I was there the full week before Thanksgiving in 2012 and it really felt like the crowds ramped up as the weekend progressed. The parks were on full holiday mode and most of the Holiday goodies (at least in terms of foods and merchandise) appeared to be available. Still it didn't feel entirely "Christmas-y" to me because I knew Thanksgiving was still coming up!

The first weekend in December does mean high(ish) crowds in DL for CP, but I didn't really feel like it greatly impacted the rest of the resort. The crowds were still there, but manageable. I still felt like most of the foods and Christmas merchandise were available at that point.

For reference, I've also gong the second weekend in December and that was markedly busier and merchandise began to sell out (primarily the pins and medium and large sized t-shirts).

Thanks Sherry and Figment! I was mainly worried about crowds for the CP weekend. With the kids in school we can only swing 2 days now instead of 3-4. So I want to make the most of the little time we have in the parks! We cancelled our Halloween time plans because we just bought a house and simply cannot afford the added expense of the party tickets. We won a free 2 night stay at the Ramada Maingate and I need to change the weekend from Oct to Christmas time. I think we will stick to our normal weekend. I was thinking it would feel odd to go before TG....and you helped confirm that. Plus I gotta have a ginerbread cookie

 

[rentayenta]

One of my favorite themes Sherry. I'll have lots to add.



I'm so enjoying all the photos and about to turn on Christmas music on Pandora.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

sadly I haven't had any pics for a couple weeks. Hoping next week I will. Man oh man come on Disney I'm 2 months and change from my trip and you can't release the start date. They are just off the ball so much this year.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I know I have more, but for some reason can't seem to find them! Here is what I have - I'll keep looking.

 

[Sherry E]

Jamie -- You have another entry into the random draw! I love that tree with the records as ornaments!

One of my favorite themes Sherry. I'll have lots to add.

I'm so enjoying all the photos and about to turn on Christmas music on Pandora.

Jenny --

Cars Land is a fun theme week, for sure! Lots of great photos have been posted so far, and we are only on Tuesday! I look forward to seeing what you post!

I tried to create a holiday music station on Pandora a while back, and I didn't like the process I had to go through to select songs. It was taking too long. I don't know if missed something really obvious and simple, but I thought, "There's got to be a better way."

So I ended up over on Grooveshark, where I made up my Christmas music playlist, as well as my other playlists of non-holiday stuff. I probably have 10 different versions of "O Holy Night" and "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" on that list, but at least I could find them quickly and didn't have to go through Pandora's process. I haven't listened to anything yet -- I have mainly just been assembling and organizing the playlists (making sure INXS doesn't end up mixed in with Elton John or Prince, and that Sheryl Crow and Led Zeppelin don't wind up on the Rolling Stones playlist -- that sort of thing!).

sadly I haven't had any pics for a couple weeks. Hoping next week I will. Man oh man come on Disney I'm 2 months and change from my trip and you can't release the start date. They are just off the ball so much this year.

JadeDarkstar --

Don't feel bad about not having any photos to post for the themes -- remember, the person who won the gift card last year did not have the most posts. So anything can happen! The random draw is very random!

It is really odd that Disney has been sooooooo quiet about releasing the start date of the season this year. Saying that the season begins in "mid-November" is not specific enough. And the start date has not even trickled out through any other source, which is even more odd. Normally, if the Disney Parks Blog takes a while to announce a season's start date, the date will leak out in a Disney email, in a Disney newsletter, in a press release, through a Travel Agency's website -- somewhere. But there has been nothing. So strange. What on earth could they be up to behind the scenes, that it is causing Disney to take so long to announce one little date?

 

[KCmike]

Right back at ya Lori! Hiya!

Carsland Traffic Jam by KC MikeD, on Flickr

 

[Sherry E]

Gorgeous photo, Mike!

​

Random facts -- When we started the current Theme Week Countdown in July, this Superthread had somewhere between 35,000-45,000 views (I cannot recall the exact number), because we had been staying on the down low for a while, and keeping kind of quiet.

Since the Countdown has been going on, we have jumped up to over 96,000 views in only our 7th Theme week! There are many folks lurking out there! We still have 15 more themes to go (both Theme Weeks and Theme Days), and I can't wait to see how many views we have at that point.

My Halloween Superthread -- which I only started on May 1st -- has already passed this Superthread's number of views (slightly) in only 4 months' time! It may leave this thread in the dust in terms of number of views when the Halloween Time season begins next week!

Does that mean that Halloween Time is more popular than the holiday season, or does it mean that Halloween Time is more of a novelty because people don't know exactly what to expect from it, and they want to learn as much as they can?

Either way, Halloween Time and the Holidays at Disneyland Resort are popular subjects!!

 

[blackjackdelta]

Only have a couple....

All for now,
Jack

 

[petals]

I'm getting bored of waiting for an announcement so I mailled to see if they even knew when it would be announced considering Paris has their Christmas stock in their shops already! They said entertainment schedule will be announced 6 weeks in advance and that Christmas stuff should be running by the end of November... it seemed a very general response though

 

[Sherry E]

Jack -- Great photos! You have another entry into the random draw!

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I'm getting bored of waiting for an announcement so I mailled to see if they even knew when it would be announced considering Paris has their Christmas stock in their shops already! They said entertainment schedule will be announced 6 weeks in advance and that Christmas stuff should be running by the end of November... it seemed a very general response though

petals --

Yes, unfortunately, it sounds like the person who emailed you wasn't even familiar with how and when the season runs. The "end of November"? The season has been starting in the middle of November for the last 5 years/holiday seasons! How could that person not even know that? Even the Disneyland website says "mid-November to early January."

Disneyland's Cast Members who answer phone calls and emails are always the last to know what is going on. They don't see what Disney releases in other places, such as on the Parks Blog or in the Annual Pass newsletter, or in other official publications. Many of them don't even appear to really be in touch with how and when things go on at DLR, as nice and friendly as they are. They just give generic answers that reveal nothing.

...Whereas, we get into details here! This is why this thread is here (among other reasons) -- to help break down or explain what will actually happen, or what is likely to happen, even if Disney says something different or says nothing at all. Disney will not tell people that certain things may not start until 2 or 3 days after the holiday season begins, or that the hotels may get decorated more than a week early -- but we will tell people that, so that everyone knows what to expect!

One time Trish (Phoenixrising) was trying to find out about the holiday tour from a CM at DLR (on the phone, I think -- or maybe it was through email). When Trish brought the info back to the Christmas/Holiday Season thread, I recognized it as being info -- dates, prices, etc. -- from a holiday season 1 or 2 years prior!

So that's what I mean when I say that the CMs on the phones and email at DLR are not good for revealing any kind of advance 'scoop.' They will only be able to answer things once the season actually begins and is in full swing.

 

[crystal1313]

Just changed my reservation from October to Dec 6-7! Yay Christmas time is my favorite time at the parks!!!

 

[Sherry E]

By the way, folks -- I have been monitoring all of the Fall and Halloween foods and drinks that have been appearing in the grocery and pharmacy stores since early August. I call it "Pumpkin Watch."

I just remembered, though -- it's time for "Peppermint Watch" too! I don't know how I could have blanked out on this, but the new supplies of Dreyer's/Edy's Peppermint Wonderland Ice Cream (Grand, not Slow Churned!) should be hitting the shelves this month! Jamie/DisneyJamieCA spotted it at Grocery Outlet back in June -- but we are going to assume that what she saw was part of the stash that came out for the holiday season of 2013, and that it was being sold off at a discounted price because it had moved out of the regular grocery stores.

September is when Dreyer's/Edy's usually releases its first batches of Peppermint Ice Cream for the holiday season -- sometimes even before they put out their Pumpkin ice cream, which is very funny (since the holiday season comes after Halloween, technically)! The Peppermint Ice Cream was in such hot demand last year that I think that Dreyer's heard about it and made too much of it, which is why there was leftover Peppermint Wonderland ice cream in the stores in April and June of this year.

I will be interested to see if Dreyer's makes an abundance of the ice cream again this year, and releases it this month, or if they wait another month or so to do it. After the weird availability of the ice cream for the first part of the season last year, I feel like I should snap it up if I see it on a shelf this month.


(And, by the way, this same Dreyer's Peppermint ice cream should also be available somewhere at Disneyland Resort when the holiday season begins -- but I don't know if it will be in the ice cream shops or if it will be in the table service restaurants. There was a big issue with it being available at DLR last year, and it wasn't in the places where it should have been...but it was at other places!)

​

 

[Sherry E]

Just changed my reservation from October to Dec 6-7! Yay Christmas time is my favorite time at the parks!!!

Crystal --

I think you made the right choice! As fun, festive and wonderful as Halloween Time is, it just isn't as 'big' and as extensive as the holiday season is, as you know. Even if some things go missing from the holiday entertainment this year, for some reason (like if the Downtown Disney stuff is moved into DCA), there is still so much more to see and do -- without paying the extra price for a party ticket -- in November and December than there is in September and October. That's the reality. So you will get much more bang for your buck during the holidays, I feel.

But you already know all this, which is probably why you switched from October to the holidays!

 

[rentayenta]

Oops Carsland but not the ones I wanted.

BRB.....

 

[petals]

petals --

Yes, unfortunately, it sounds like the person who emailed you wasn't even familiar with how and when the season runs. The "end of November"? The season has been starting in the middle of November for the last 5 years/holiday seasons! How could that person not even know that? Even the Disneyland website says "mid-November to early January."

Disneyland's Cast Members who answer phone calls and emails are always the last to know what is going on. They don't see what Disney releases in other places, such as on the Parks Blog or in the Annual Pass newsletter, or in other official publications. Many of them don't even appear to really be in touch with how and when things go on at DLR, as nice and friendly as they are. They just give generic answers that reveal nothing.

...Whereas, we get into details here! This is why this thread is here (among other reasons) -- to help break down or explain what will actually happen, or what is likely to happen, even if Disney says something different or says nothing at all. Disney will not tell people that certain things may not start until 2 or 3 days after the holiday season begins, or that the hotels may get decorated more than a week early -- but we will tell people that, so that everyone knows what to expect!

One time Trish (Phoenixrising) was trying to find out about the holiday tour from a CM at DLR (on the phone, I think -- or maybe it was through email). When Trish brought the info back to the Christmas/Holiday Season thread, I recognized it as being info -- dates, prices, etc. -- from a holiday season 1 or 2 years prior!

So that's what I mean when I say that the CMs on the phones and email at DLR are not good for revealing any kind of advance 'scoop.' They will only be able to answer things once the season actually begins and is in full swing.

Hopefully you're right because I don't think I could handle waiting until 6 weeks before the trip to find out that none of the Christmas stuff is running because we're a week early! I think I'd cry!

 

[rentayenta]

 

[kylie71]

I have a few more

 

[siskaren]

By the way, folks -- I have been monitoring all of the Fall and Halloween foods and drinks that have been appearing in the grocery and pharmacy stores since early August. I call it "Pumpkin Watch."

It's not pumpkin flavored, but one thing I look for this time of year is Cranberry Splash Diet Sierra Mist, and I couldn't believe it when I saw it tonight - I think this is the earliest I've ever seen it! And especially since it was on sale, well, I just had to buy some.

 

[Jenasweetemotion]

It's not pumpkin flavored, but one thing I look for this time of year is Cranberry Splash Diet Sierra Mist, and I couldn't believe it when I saw it tonight - I think this is the earliest I've ever seen it! And especially since it was on sale, well, I just had to buy some.

Looks like I will be checking my local grocery store the Cranberry Splash Diet Sierra Mist is one of my favorites! Thanks for the heads up.