Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread #4

[mom2rtk]

Oh, wow!! This goat looks scary mad!

You'd be mad too if you had guests taking selfies with you all day!

 

[pudinhd]

You'd be mad too if you had guests taking selfies with you all day!

I don't know... I think I might be feeling pretty darn good if everyone wanted to take a picture with me! Those goats might be as popular as the characters. LOL

 

[mom2rtk]

I don't know... I think I might be feeling pretty darn good if everyone wanted to take a picture with me! Those goats might be as popular as the characters. LOL

LOL, maybe they just need an entourage to keep the crowds at bay.

 

[rentayenta]

Sherry, you crack me up with your ice cream and I'm so glad you found it.

 

[kylie71]

ICE CREAM UPDATE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was just at Target and Safeway, here in Sparks, NV and NEITHER has the Dryers Winter Wonderland ice cream out, in full fat, or Slow Churned....... Also I did not see any Pumpkin either!!

I have not checked CVS, but wanted to report back! Nevada is not stocking it yet!

Happy you found it Sherry!

--Lori

 

[PixiDustDears]

I thought I had way more pictures than this for weeks theme! Just another thing to add to my growing list of things to take pictures off.

I loved the sleigh out front. A perfect spot for family pictures.


A quick picture with Mrs. Clause


And the big guy himself

 

[5forMickey]

I thought I had way more pictures than this for weeks theme! Just another thing to add to my growing list of things to take pictures off.

OMG what cute pictures -- those get me really excited to go in December. Thanks for sharing

 

[BrynNicole]

Hi again Sherry!
I know it has been awhile since I asked about the Christmas ceramic mugs and you gave me such a prompt response, I still wanted to thank you for that! I finally got around to actually post some photos for this thread



IMG_3275 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3276 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3021 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3033 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3025 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3281 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3280 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3279 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3269 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

52238900002 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

c41b5f43-3577-42e0-b1e4-c4614997c93d_zpsd76b0e89 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

 

[Luisa]

Oh, wow!! This goat looks scary mad!

I remember that's why I took the picture of him, he just looked fed up!

 

[pudinhd]

I remember that's why I took the picture of him, he just looked fed up!

Well it definitely came across in your picture!

 

[Sherry E]

You have until 11:59 p.m. tonight, Pacific Standard Time, to get in your Frontierland-Jingle Jangle Jamboree holiday photos!

Tomorrow, Monday, 9/29/14, we are on to a new Theme Week!!!

For those of you who have not been following along since July, when we started this year's Theme Week Countdown (and Disney Gift Card giveaway), we are currently on our 10th theme and Theme Week. Each person who submits their photos for a theme gets one entry (one entry per theme) into a random draw to win a $25 Disney Gift Card. There will be 2 Gift Card winners chosen from the photo contributors at the end of this Countdown.

Also, as the Theme Weeks have progressed there has been another 'contest' of sorts for the non-photo contributors only, which is called the Code Word Challenge. The Code Word Challenge involves finding the code words I have hidden in my introductions to each Theme Week; keeping track of the words and the Theme Weeks to which they belonged, along with the dates; and keeping up with the correct order in which they were presented. Some theme weeks will not have any code words, and some theme weeks may involve more than one code word.

You don't have to list the Theme Weeks in which there are/were no code words at all, if you don't want to. However, if you want to include those too, it's fine -- as long as the final list of Theme Weeks, dates and code words is in order.

On November 3rd, with the final Theme Week I will include the final code word or words. Those who have been following along with the Code Word Challenge will have to make sure they have all of the above-mentioned information together and in order -- AND THEN they will have to arrange all of the code words into a sentence or phrase of some sort, which will either belong to a well-known Christmas song or Holiday movie!

The first person to post here, in this thread, with the correct list of Theme Weeks, dates and code words, as well as the correct sentence or phrase AND the name of the song or movie to which the sentence/phrase belongs will win the third $25 Disney Gift Card!! Make sure your info is accurate, because if you post something that is incorrect and take time to fix it, someone else will have a chance to swoop in and give the correct answer based on the info they have seen in your post!!!


There are 12 more themes to go -- but, 7 of them will be rapid fire, mini-daily themes beginning in late October. The final Theme Week (on November 3rd) will be "Holiday Cornucopia," and I will explain more about that as we get closer to November 3rd.

So, that means that we have 4 more themes/theme weeks to go before we kick into the rapid fire/warp speed mini-daily theme Countdown. Here is what we have covered so far:

• Santa Claus/Holiday Characters/PhotoPass (this theme kicked off the 2014 Theme Week Countdown on page 50 of this thread)
• A Christmas Fantasy Parade/Believe in Holiday Magic Fireworks
• It's a Small World Holiday/Fantasyland
• Buena Vista Street/Hollywood Land
• Mickey's Toontown
• The Hotels of the Disneyland Resort
• Cars Land
• New Orleans Square/Haunted Mansion Holiday
• Main Street/Sleeping Beauty's Winter Castle
• Frontierland/Jingle Jangle Jamboree (or Santa's Reindeer Round-Up) -- the current Theme Week (through tonight, 9/28/14)

What could our new theme be??

Stay tuned and find out tomorrow!

I saw it at my local grocery store tonight (as well as Pumpkin Patch) and I had to laugh when I saw that they had a sign up (provided by Edy's) saying that Peppermint Wonderland was back! I didn't buy it though because it was $5. There is a CVS near me, so I may have to check that out, or else I'll just wait until the grocery store or Target or Walmart puts in on sale.

siskaren --

Dreyer's figured out that it has a hit on its hands (after last year's Peppermint Wonderland Pandemonium) and now needs to draw attention to the product with signage!

I think $5 or $6 is too much for the carton, especially when that ice cream goes on sale a lot (at various stores). CVS had Dreyer's on sale for $3.50 a week or 2 ago, but I knew if I waited a little longer it would drop even further (and that also gave me time to acquire an extra CVS gift card in the meantime). It is sure to go on sale at all of the other stores as well.

'Mission Peppermint' has not been accomplished in Michigan. I practically ransacked the ice cream cooler at the local supermarket to only find the "Slow Churned" aka "Low taste" version. The elusive grand version is still to be found.

I am undaunted and will continue to seek out the Grand Peppermint ice cream....

TK --

Never give up the search! The Grand version will appear sooner or later.

"Slow Churned aka Low Taste" is right! I was shocked to see that my CVS didn't even have any Slow Churned -- there was no place for it on the shelf (so it's not like it had been there and sold out) -- whereas last year that was all I found at first. They went straight for the good stuff.

Your stores had the ice cream in stock last year before mine did, and now it seems that the opposite is happening!

By the way -- did you happen to catch the new Hallmark Channel Halloween movie -- Midnight Masquerade -- that debuted last night? I have to say that, although I loved all of the Halloween décor that showed up in every single scene, the movie was sort of bland for me. I was bored. It followed the same lightweight, predictable formula that all of the Hallmark movies follow, but it was not as charming as the holiday movies are. I didn't sense any chemistry between the leads. I thought there were way too many scenes at the office or in the office building (yawn). The movie was trying to be a romance, and a Cinderella story, and a Halloween movie, and a movie about the 12-year-old who knows more than all of the adults. There was no seasonal music to set the tone. There was no snow to set the stage. It was missing that extra little spark that the holiday movies have.

Hi guys was just able to make a reservation for thanksgiving online my first choice storytellers wasn't available for dinner reservations???

I found this weird but neither was napa rose so made a decision based on the food details given in the blog to go to steakhouse 55 never been there before so also ticks another restaurant we haven't tried off the list

Aussie Princess --

Thank you for letting us know. That's too bad that reservations for Storytellers couldn't be made yet -- hopefully Steakhouse 55 will be a winner on Thanksgiving.

So excited! We are going back for our 2nd trip to Disneyland for Thanksgiving (1st was in 2011). I just made our lunch reservations for Carnation Cafe for our Thanksgiving meal! We did Goofy's for Thanksgiving that year and loved it, but wanted to stay in the parks this year for our meal since we are not staying onsite this time. Can't wait!

MinnieMama09 --

Plus, it's nice to try out different places for Thanksgiving dinner, I think! I would expect that Carnation Café will do a good job with their Thanksgiving offerings!

Just got off the phone with Disney Dining. They are having problems with their systems and have been unable to book Thanksgiving dinners for most locations. (She mentioned that Goofy's and Steakhouse 55 were ok I think). IT is working on it and she said to try back later. I did get a little info but not much since the kids were being loud in the background.

Buffet prices for PCH Gril $35 for adults and $19 for kids. Dinner from 3-9pm
Storytellers buffet is $30 for adults and $15 for kids with dinner from 2-10pm
Goofy's Kitchen buffet is $40.00 for adults and $20 for kids with dinner from 2:30-10pm.

Amanda --

Thank you for posting that info! Hopefully they will get their system straightened out very soon, as I know that a lot of folks want to book their Thanksgiving meals.

The Goofy's Kitchen prices are actually cheaper than I would have expected, oddly!

Sherry, you crack me up with your ice cream and I'm so glad you found it.

Jenny --

We all need to have our holiday traditions!

ICE CREAM UPDATE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was just at Target and Safeway, here in Sparks, NV and NEITHER has the Dryers Winter Wonderland ice cream out, in full fat, or Slow Churned....... Also I did not see any Pumpkin either!!

I have not checked CVS, but wanted to report back! Nevada is not stocking it yet!

Happy you found it Sherry!

--Lori

Lori --

I guess they assume that the NV folks don't want seasonal ice cream, but we wacky Californians do! Last year my stores were the last ones to get it, it seemed.

Hi again Sherry!
I know it has been awhile since I asked about the Christmas ceramic mugs and you gave me such a prompt response, I still wanted to thank you for that! I finally got around to actually post some photos for this thread



IMG_3275 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3276 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3021 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3033 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3025 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3281 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3280 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3279 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

IMG_3269 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

52238900002 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

c41b5f43-3577-42e0-b1e4-c4614997c93d_zpsd76b0e89 by BrynNicole, on Flickr

BrynNicole --

Welcome back! You're very welcome -- though I don't know if I was of too much help about that mug. This year could be different and they may have some good mugs just like the Halloween ones, but we won't know for a while. The holiday merchandise should begin to appear before Halloween.

I am so glad you joined in the Theme Week Countdown and shared some photos -- and what wonderful photos they are. The photos are nice and clear, for one thing -- and you have a beautiful family! You now have your first entry into the random draw to win a Disney gift card! There is a new theme tomorrow, so stay tuned.

I also really love that last photo -- "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" -- as that is one of my favorite Christmas songs. I did not see that ornament at the Jingle Jangle Jamboree! I totally missed it. Was it on one of the trees closest to Santa? I think there were some trees in Santa's photo area that I couldn't look at up close.

This is one reason why I love doing these Countdowns -- someone always catches something in a photo that I never knew existed or have never noticed before. As much as I have noticed and inspected up close, there are probably many, many, many details that have slipped past me!

 

[KCmike]

Thanks for the help Bret and Janet !!

We are going December 4th through the Monday. We plan on seeing MVMCP on Sunday night and will hit MK on Friday, Epcot and DHS on Saturday. Monday we plan on just relaxing and shopping before we head out.

What time can you arrive for the party? I've heard 3pm? Weird that I will be doing fastpasses 30 days in advance? We are staying at Port Orleans Riverside.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Thanks for the help Bret and Janet !!

We are going December 4th through the Monday. We plan on seeing MVMCP on Sunday night and will hit MK on Friday, Epcot and DHS on Saturday. Monday we plan on just relaxing and shopping before we head out.

What time can you arrive for the party? I've heard 3pm? Weird that I will be doing fastpasses 30 days in advance? We are staying at Port Orleans Riverside.

Your welcome Mike.

Just like MHP at DL during the Halloween season, you can enter the MK 3 hours before the official party starts. For example the party starts at 7pm and you will be able to enter MK for MVMCP at 4pm.

 

[Dawn16]

Just an FYI that if you are staying on property in WDW you make your FP+ reservations 60 days in advance, not 30. BIG difference in availability with 7 Dwarfs Mine Train in particular so definitely take advantage of the extra month for being an onsite guest.

Thanks for the help Bret and Janet !!

We are going December 4th through the Monday. We plan on seeing MVMCP on Sunday night and will hit MK on Friday, Epcot and DHS on Saturday. Monday we plan on just relaxing and shopping before we head out.

What time can you arrive for the party? I've heard 3pm? Weird that I will be doing fastpasses 30 days in advance? We are staying at Port Orleans Riverside.

 

[tksbaskets]

KCMike - POR is one of our favorite resorts! You'll have a great time.

Final Frontierland pics for the week from 2013:

We were so excited to go for our favorite dinner at DL - Thunder Ranch BBQ. First a little entertainment.

We didn't wait around to see Santa as the line was long and we had reservations. Over we go....Whru Whro George...What is wrong with this picture?

So I got the elusive picture of the totally empty BTMBBQ.

It did give us an excuse to spend a little time with Mrs. Claus.

 

[mom2rtk]

Thanks for the help Bret and Janet !!

We are going December 4th through the Monday. We plan on seeing MVMCP on Sunday night and will hit MK on Friday, Epcot and DHS on Saturday. Monday we plan on just relaxing and shopping before we head out.

What time can you arrive for the party? I've heard 3pm? Weird that I will be doing fastpasses 30 days in advance? We are staying at Port Orleans Riverside.

Hi Mike!

Did you double check on what day they're doing parade taping in the MK? I assume it's Friday the 5th. You might want to check around on the WDW side of things for reports of what the park experience is like on those days to make sure you want to stick with that schedule. Historically I have heard that Main Street is packed but the rest of the park is quite manageable. But I'm thinking I saw a thread in the last couple days about them filming in more parts of the park this year. Not sure what role the Hub construction might be playing in that, as there were a lot of scrims up along Main Street up over the water areas. Maybe they're planning to have some of those down in time? I have no idea.

Just be aware of it. If that's your only choice of days, then go with it, but just be aware of it going in. If you can't get everything done in the time you have, consider adding Sunday morning at the MK. The park tends to be very slow on party days, and you could leave mid-day to rest up for the party.

As Bret mentions, you can get in at 4 with a party ticket. At WDW all parties run from 7-midnight.

If you didn't get ADRs for BOG, you should keep your eyes out for an invite to get a lunch fastpass (doesn't count as one of your 3). I have heard recently that they are opening those up 27 days out.

Do you have time planned to visit some of the resorts? Definitely don't miss the Grand Floridian and the lifesize gingerbread house.

It's a gorgeous time of year to visit. Really. You're going to LOVE it.

Don't miss the castle lighting (every evening around 6:15 or so. Check the times guide). It is absolutely AMAZING. They're changing it up a bit this year adding Elsa into the mix, but I'm sure it will be just as good.

Let me know what other questions you have.

 

[southlake]

Hi all,

So I was, in fact, able to book the Disneyland Hotel Ballroom for Thanksgiving Dinner today (9/28). The information on the Disney Parks Blog was, and is, still wrong about the Oct. 8 date.

However, the Reservations Agent said the Ballroom is only serving dinner from 12-6pm. Somehow I missed that and I'm a little disappointed we have to get there around 5 pm to eat now, as we usually like to eat a bit later.

 

[Sherry E]

TK --

Did you see the movie??

​

Hi all,

So I was, in fact, able to book the Disneyland Hotel Ballroom for Thanksgiving Dinner today (9/28). The information on the Disney Parks Blog was, and is, still wrong about the Oct. 8 date.

However, the Reservations Agent said the Ballroom is only serving dinner from 12-6pm. Somehow I missed that and I'm a little disappointed we have to get there around 5 pm to eat now, as we usually like to eat a bit later.

southlake --

Thank you so much for posting and letting us know! Yep -- it sounds as if the Parks Blog originally had the correct info about when to book when they first put up the Blog on Friday, then were told that they had the incorrect info and changed it, but ended up having the correct info in their original Blog (before editing it)!

I have a feeling that the October 8th date was still in the system from last year. In 2013, 10/8 was the first day that the DLH Ballroom Feast could be booked. I have noticed that sometimes the info Disney has in their systems is the old info (like about the Holiday tour and what not), and it will stay there until the new info moves in and replaces it. So I am guessing there was a delay in the correct info being delivered to the Disneyland system this past week, and when they checked the booking dates they saw the 10/8 date from 2013, then quickly notified the Parks Blog, who then changed it under the assumption that 10/8 was applicable for 2014.

In any case, I hope that our DIS'ers Orbitron and Corinna are able to hurry and get their reservations for Thanksgiving Day, as they were under the assumption that 10/8 was the booking date!

I am surprised that the Feast at the Ballroom is only serving for 6 hours. I would have thought that they'd stay open until at least 8 p.m. or so.

 

[siskaren]

I think $5 or $6 is too much for the carton, especially when that ice cream goes on sale a lot (at various stores). CVS had Dreyer's on sale for $3.50 a week or 2 ago, but I knew if I waited a little longer it would drop even further (and that also gave me time to acquire an extra CVS gift card in the meantime). It is sure to go on sale at all of the other stores as well.

Yeah, I don't buy ice cream at regular price. Target and Walmart sell Edy's for about $4, but when it goes on sale, I can get it for $2.50 or $3. And the grocery store I saw it at often puts it on a BOGO sale.

 

[Sherry E]

Yeah, I don't buy ice cream at regular price. Target and Walmart sell Edy's for about $4, but when it goes on sale, I can get it for $2.50 or $3. And the grocery store I saw it at often puts it on a BOGO sale.

The price is especially crazy seeing that the size of the carton got smaller a few years ago, but the general base price (without discounts) is basically the same!