Love your pictures of NOS
Sherry! Here in Michigan Fat Tuesday is known as Paczki Day (Pronounced Ponch-kee)
http://blog.visitdetroit.com/entry/paczki-day-in-detroit-celebrate-fat-tuesday-in-style.html
Hi,
TK!
Thank you! I had originally planned on only posting maybe 4 or 5 unedited holiday season-Mardi Gras photos, tops. Then, when I was fiddling around with (editing) some other photos that I thought I might use for a special "Mardi Gras page" in an upcoming photo calendar or photo book -- adding frames and effects -- I figured, "Eh...I might as well post these too." So I ended up with a combo of edited and unedited pictures, all with the common theme of "holiday season/Mardi Gras." And despite all of the photos I posted, I still didn't show
all of the masks! I left out a few masks.
Oh my goodness -- I've never heard of this Paczki! What fun! Like any good holiday or general celebratory event/day, it involves special food & baked goods -- and, let's be honest, that is one of the best parts of any festive occasion, if not
the best part!
(
Pssst! Eight more months until the next Hallmark Channel Countdown to Christmas begins...but I think we will likely be treated to a mini-Christmas marathon in 4 months. Any excuse to watch "Let It Snow" and "Snow Bride" is good for me!)
Thank you Sherry for this wonderful Christmas thread. There is so much information on it, I wished that we had read the 2012 thread when we visited in Nov 2012 (after a 7 year absence). We didn't realized how busy it was going to be and missed out on many things during that visit. But DD and I made up for it by visiting 2 more times in the last year - we loved Halloween time. And we will be at DL again in mid Nov this year, hoping to see the Christmas decorations again. So, looking forward to reading your posts and seeing all your photos.
Welcome,
Disney127!
I'm happy you joined us. Better late than never!
You're always welcome to join us here at any time -- even if you don't have a holiday plan in the works and just want to keep up with what's happening for each season, or just for fun. Sometimes we discuss rumors and likely seasonal developments here in this thread way before other people on the board discuss them (which is what happened with the dates for the Candlelight Processional/Ceremony last year -- we were talking about the dates back in May, but people who did not follow this thread were asking what the CP dates would be as late as November!). So it never hurts to follow along and hopefully subscribe!
Thank you for the very kind words.
I am going to revamp/update page 1 of this thread a bit so that (among other things) the Seasonal Events section is split up into two posts: one for
Disneyland and one for California Adventure. I will probably also separate the hotels from Downtown Disney. In the past, California Adventure and Downtown Disney were not doing too, too much for the holidays so there really was no point in devoting a lot of space to them on page 1. Now it seems like there are more things happening as time marches on, so it doesn't hurt to give them their own posts.
I absolutely love Halloween Time as well. I especially love the Halloween Carnival/Round-Up/Jamboree/Ranch area! I have been a tad disappointed that the Halloween decorations have been scaled back a bit over the last several years (and almost completely removed from California Adventure), though I'm hopeful that we will begin to see more Halloween-ish things appearing in DCA again. Disney seems to be making a real effort to stage festive events in DCA, even though we are no longer in a "Limited Time Magic" year. I think it's only a matter of time before Halloween Time returns to DCA in a real way -- not just a special showing of
Nightmare Before Christmas or a
Frankenweenie exhibit, but an actual area with decorations or something. It makes no sense to leave DCA out of the Halloween Time loop!
You should get to see most (if not all) of the holiday decorations on your mid-November trip, as well as be able to experience most of the fun (IASWH, the Christmas parade & fireworks, the Winter Castle lighting, etc). The only thing I am unsure about is whether or not the hotels & Downtown Disney will have their trees and decorations up that early but, aside from the hotels and DTD, the parks should be in full holiday mode.
You will see a lot of photos from many people when we kick off the 4th Theme Week Countdown at the end of July/beginning of August. (Also, somewhere in the last few pages I posted a list of links to various photos from some of our holiday season travelers.) In the Countdown, every week for 3 months we'll focus on a different theme/aspect of the holiday season at DLR, culminating in a rapid-fire round of daily themes in the final week. The Countdown ends in Early November -- just in time for many folks to begin their holiday trips!
In the meantime, I am popping in for special occasions to post holiday season photos that also work with other holidays/events. Finding a holiday photo that could serve as a Valentine's Day image was not too hard (there's a lot of red to be found in the parks in November and December), and the Mardi Gras photos were really easy. As we inch further towards St. Patrick's Day, Easter and beyond, it gets a little more difficult to find images that can serve a dual purpose!
Loved your pictures Sherry! I remember one balcony during Christmas 2012 that was decorated with beads and colored bottles. It intrigued me. I looked for it during our 2013 trip but it was gone. Probably because of the construction. Do you think the construction will be finished by the holiday season this year? When I hear about all the rides that are going down I am hopeful that all will be up for our December trip.
Thank you,
lucysmom!
As far as I had heard (though something could have easily changed that I am unaware of), I
thought that the NOS construction (expansion of Club 33) was supposed to be done in or by the summer. Of course, the Court of Angels will never be the same again but I thought the work should be done by the holidays.
New Orleans Square is one of those areas of Disneyland that seems to have changing decorations every year. Some of the changes are subtle and may not be obvious. For example, I think that a few of the masks I saw in 2012 were not there in 2013 (although a lot of them were there). Certain years may involve fewer masks, and other years showcase more masks.
On the other hand, some of the NOS holiday changes are really obvious. For example, the wreath with the whimsical crescent moon-headed jester that used to hang above the entrance to the alley between POTC and Cafe Orleans was replaced in 2013 with a new, giant gold Mardi Gras mask.
The balconies' decor changes a bit too. Sometimes there seem to be more beads and knick knacks, and other times there is less of everything.
One of the biggest New Orleans Square holiday changes over the years has been the disappearance of the strands of light that acted as a sort of canopy over the alley and illuminated the path. They disappeared several years ago, leaving the alley a bit darker!
What I would like to find out is
exactly when the masks and decor go up in NOS each year, because DLR's Enhancement Team seems to be very well thought out and deliberate about when certain things appear, so that it is not completely out of context, i.e., the snow appearing on the Castle before Halloween signifies a gradual changing of the seasons and weather that spans the time frame between Halloween and the holidays. There is a "story" behind some parts of the gradual, incremental overlay, in other words.
I know that there have been reports in the past of NOS decor sightings in late October. In my mind, the masquerade masks make perfect sense for Halloween. Why not put them up before Halloween? The masks have an air of mystery about them, and Halloween is often associated with mystery and allure as well. Heck...Halloween is associated with masks in general.
But...it seems like the schedule for putting up the masks or other NOS decor is not the same every year.
In some years the decor may go up sooner, in late October, and in other years it doesn't appear until very early November. I would like someone to report to us and let us know (or let me know) when the very first mask of the holiday season is spotted in New Orleans Square! Even if the other NOS decor is not up yet, I am really curious as to when those masks appear!
