Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread #4

[Sherry E]

Well, should I get lucky in the non-photo challenge, the card would not have far to go

I am not due back at work until December 8th and the flights seem to be cheaper coming back on December 1st. The question is if DH will stay with me until December 1st or if he will go back on either November 27th or 28th. Either version of event is fine by me. We will still get back to Disneyland on November 23rd. I had originally waitlisted November 23rd to 27th at the Villas at the Grand Californian, but now that the trip got extended, I booked the Howard Johnson today for November 23rd to December 1st. I waitlisted November 10th to 13th at the Villas at the Grand Californian instead. If the waitlist does not come though prior to my banking window closing, I will use my points to book those three nights at Paradise Pier.

Corinna

Corinna --

Well, this is going to be a very interesting trip, indeed! You're covering a lot of ground, literally and figuratively!

First, it will be interesting to see what kinds of holiday things are up and running at DLR in the first portion of the trip as opposed to the third portion of the trip, like which things have magically "appeared" by the time you get back to DLR on 11/23 (such as the 3 hotels' decorations), how the crowds differ, etc.

Then, you will have a stay at HoJo's as well as either the GCH or PPH.

Then, you've got your birthday in the middle of all of this excitement, which you will celebrate at the beautiful Aulani -- which will be a whole different kind of experience.

And then your final segment will, of course, take place (partially) over Thanksgiving, so that adds in extra dining options if you choose to delve into all of that.

All of this sounds incredibly fun and fulfilling, and I'd love to do it if I could swing it -- but I think I might collapse from exhaustion after finally returning home!

 

[Orbitron]

I can't wait for the countdown to start, I have a lot of pictures to share this year!

 

[Sherry E]

I can't wait for the countdown to start, I have a lot of pictures to share this year!

Orbitron --

Hello! I would imagine that you took a lot of great shots that will surprise and delight us when the Countdown comes along next month! Your "snow" pictures during the Holiday Cornucopia Theme Week last year were some of my favorites -- the real snow on the ground, in Paris, just looked magical! I'm so glad you will be participating this year.

 

[KCmike]

Excited about the Theme Weeks and its oh so hard to believe that July is so close to being here already. I miss my younger days when summer's would last forever. As excited as I am about Theme Weeks coming I am not ready for summer to be almost halfway over.

 

[ACDSNY]

I miss my younger days when summer's would last forever. As excited as I am about Theme Weeks coming I am not ready for summer to be almost halfway over.

I'm right there with you. I can't believe our summer trip to Hawaii has already come and gone and we're looking forward to our Fall trips. Life flies by these days.

 

[Sherry E]

Excited about the Theme Weeks and its oh so hard to believe that July is so close to being here already. I miss my younger days when summer's would last forever. As excited as I am about Theme Weeks coming I am not ready for summer to be almost halfway over.

Mike --

It's so true. In one's younger years, time seems to drag (or the not-so-fun times would drag, and the fun times seemed to last a long time)! With maturity and age comes the speeding up of time, and everything seems to zip by in an instant -- which is great for those not-so-fun times, but not great when you want to relish and enjoy certain times of year!

I am one who doesn't like really hot weather, so I usually cannot wait for summer to be over (unless it's a mild summer). However, I know that millions and millions of other people adore their summer vacations and outings, lazy days on the beach or by a pool, grilling or having picnics, etc. And I know it can be jarring when all of a sudden it comes to a rapid end and fall is upon us! It doesn't seem right, somehow.

Have you gotten your Santa Barbara November visit figured out yet? Any ideas of what you will do when you're there?

Well, our followers and thread subscribers will be in for a real treat when your Theme Week contributions start rolling in!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Corinna --

Well, this is going to be a very interesting trip, indeed! You're covering a lot of ground, literally and figuratively!

First, it will be interesting to see what kinds of holiday things are up and running at DLR in the first portion of the trip as opposed to the third portion of the trip, like which things have magically "appeared" by the time you get back to DLR on 11/23 (such as the 3 hotels' decorations), how the crowds differ, etc.

Then, you will have a stay at HoJo's as well as either the GCH or PPH.

Then, you've got your birthday in the middle of all of this excitement, which you will celebrate at the beautiful Aulani -- which will be a whole different kind of experience.

And then your final segment will, of course, take place (partially) over Thanksgiving, so that adds in extra dining options if you choose to delve into all of that.

All of this sounds incredibly fun and fulfilling, and I'd love to do it if I could swing it -- but I think I might collapse from exhaustion after finally returning home!

Yes, this will definitely be a big adventure. I am hoping for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I have the feeling that this will be one of those trips were I will need a vacation to recover from my vacation, but I am so excited about this. This will make quite a trip report.

Corinna

 

[mlnbabies]

I am looking forward to the countdown. How do you post pictures to the thread? I don't have any DL pictures since we have never been but I do have lots of WDW pictures.

 

[Sherry E]

Yes, this will definitely be a big adventure. I am hoping for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I have the feeling that this will be one of those trips were I will need a vacation to recover from my vacation, but I am so excited about this. This will make quite a trip report.

Corinna

Corinna --

Yes, indeed -- this will be one of those vacations that requires a vacation when you get home, but you'll have a lot of great photos and memories at the end of it all!

I think the trip report will be epic!

Did you look over the Thanksgiving category of the food/dining post on page 1 of this thread? I assumed you did, but I ask only because I would imagine that you could pretty much use most of last year's offerings as a guide to what you will find this year in the way of Thanksgiving food. I don't think anything will be drastically different, although prices might be a bit higher. I think the same restaurants that offered special Thanksgiving food or meals last year will offer them once again.

I am looking forward to the countdown. How do you post pictures to the thread? I don't have any DL pictures since we have never been but I do have lots of WDW pictures.

minbabies --

The WDW pictures will definitely be able to work into our Holiday Cornucopia theme week, which will fall on November 3rd!! It will be the very last theme. Last year we had some great contributions to the Holiday Cornucopia theme, which spanned DLR, WDW and the international Disney parks, as well as photos from other non-Disney holiday trips too! It was wonderful to see everyone's different holiday photos for that theme!

You can also choose to participate in the Code Word Challenge, which I will explain a bit more about as we get closer to July 21st. It will involve paying attention to each theme week and finding a code word I hide in the intro text, then figuring out the one Christmas/holiday song (or maybe a holiday movie or something else? I have to figure it out...) that all of the words belong to. Again, more details on that later, closer to the start of the Countdown.

If you have a Photobucket account or Flickr or something like that (which is usually free), you can load photos there, copy the links they give you for each photo and then post them.

 

[mlnbabies]

Thanks Sherry.

 

[Collmal]

I am so excited! This will be our first trip to Disneyland in December, and our first whole (brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and parents/grandparents) family trip! My first countdown, too - I can't wait! Sherry, my best friend's birthday is July 21st, too! A great day for sure!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Corinna --

Yes, indeed -- this will be one of those vacations that requires a vacation when you get home, but you'll have a lot of great photos and memories at the end of it all!

I think the trip report will be epic!

Did you look over the Thanksgiving category of the food/dining post on page 1 of this thread? I assumed you did, but I ask only because I would imagine that you could pretty much use most of last year's offerings as a guide to what you will find this year in the way of Thanksgiving food. I don't think anything will be drastically different, although prices might be a bit higher. I think the same restaurants that offered special Thanksgiving food or meals last year will offer them once again.

I have not looked yet as to extend the stay a little is a fairly recent decision and we still have plenty of time until I can make my ADRs. I am aware of those posts though and it is on my to do list to check this out. At the moment I spend pretty much every spare minute on working on my trip report for our May trip.

Corinna

 

[tksbaskets]

Excited about the Theme Weeks and its oh so hard to believe that July is so close to being here already. I miss my younger days when summer's would last forever. As excited as I am about Theme Weeks coming I am not ready for summer to be almost halfway over.

Just how I feel too. It's been super busy at work and here I sit with my first day off since June 1 and say - WOW june is half way done.

That doesn't damper my enthusiasm for Theme Week starting in July or my glee at Hallmark having a 'Christmas in July' marathon of schmaltzy movies! Which I'll be DVRing (is that a verb?) as I'll be visiting Disneyland in July!!!

Sherry you do so much to make the Christmas (and Halloween in another thread) season magical. Thank you - YOU ROCK

 

[Sherry E]

Thanks Sherry.

minbabies --

No problem!

I am so excited! This will be our first trip to Disneyland in December, and our first whole (brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and parents/grandparents) family trip! My first countdown, too - I can't wait! Sherry, my best friend's birthday is July 21st, too! A great day for sure!

Welcome, Collmal!

Thank you for joining us and for sticking around when the Theme Week Countdown gets underway next month. If this Countdown turns out to be anything like the last one, you will see a lot of amazing photos coming through here each week, from a variety of DIS'ers, and finishing with a bang (because the final theme is the one where we can allow WDW holiday photos or any other holiday photos!). Some Theme Weeks might attract a few more participants than others because some people take more photos of certain areas/details than others. I think that last year's Countdown prompted a few people to get more photos of more things during their 2013 holiday trips, and we should see the results of those trips in this year's Countdown!


How wonderful that you'll be having a holiday trip with your whole family! Is your family a big "holiday family"? In other words, does everyone pretty much love the holiday season and enjoy celebrating it in any way possible, or it is more of a 'we'll suffer through this season because we have to' sort of approach? I've seen families who appeared to fit in either of those categories when I've been at DLR in December!

I think that if everyone enjoys the holidays, and enjoys Disneyland, the combo of the seasonal merriment and Disney magic should be a success!

Your best friend is a 7/21 baby too? Is she/he a fan of summer? I think the irony for me is that I was born smack dab in the middle of summer, and am not a summer person at all. Well, I take that back. I enjoy a lot of things associated with summer (flavors, activities, aromas, etc.), but I just hate hot weather, and hate being hot and miserable. If I could have all of the things associated with summer at maybe just 70 degrees for 3 months, I might not dread it. However, seeing as we've already had temperatures over 100 degrees so far this year -- and we haven't even officially hit summer yet -- I don't hold out hope for a mild summer.

In any case, if my 7/21 plan is the same as last year and the year before, I will be out of the house at 4:45 a.m., headed to Long Beach to catch a sunrise boat to Catalina. I will have to wake up at probably 1:00 a.m. or something, so before I begin the last-minute frenzy of getting ready I will pop into this thread and post the first theme of the Theme Week Countdown!

I have not looked yet as to extend the stay a little is a fairly recent decision and we still have plenty of time until I can make my ADRs. I am aware of those posts though and it is on my to do list to check this out. At the moment I spend pretty much every spare minute on working on my trip report for our May trip.

Corinna

Corinna --

No worries and no rush. The Thanksgiving dining info will still be there on page 1 (just to give an idea of what kinds of food options to expect), whenever you're able to check it out, and it's not like the 2014 Thanksgiving dining info is going to be coming out any time soon! The Parks Blog probably won't do a piece on it until November, quite honestly. Maybe October, if we're lucky.

Just how I feel too. It's been super busy at work and here I sit with my first day off since June 1 and say - WOW june is half way done.

That doesn't damper my enthusiasm for Theme Week starting in July or my glee at Hallmark having a 'Christmas in July' marathon of schmaltzy movies! Which I'll be DVRing (is that a verb?) as I'll be visiting Disneyland in July!!!

Sherry you do so much to make the Christmas (and Halloween in another thread) season magical. Thank you - YOU ROCK

TK --

Thank you for the kind words, TK! I love the holidays and Halloween, as you know, so it's not hard to spread the joy and excitement around!

Isn't it weird that June is already halfway over? Doesn't it seem like it was just January, not so long ago?

The thing I love about having access to the entire schedule of Christmas in July movies (for all of the 10 days it is happening) in advance is that I can skim the list and say, "Okay, I've seen that one, and can skip it this time... I have not seen that one, so I must make a point of DVRing [it's a word now, TK!] it.... I've seen that one and I have it on the DVR, but I will watch it again because I like it..."

You'll be back from your DLR trip by the time the Theme Week Countdown begins on 7/21, won't you? I thought I was timing it so that it would be when you were back home. Hopefully you won't have to miss the first week! I really didn't want to start it on 7/21, but any way I tried to work it out I wouldn't have been able to add in any extra themes and/or start and end on a Monday, and/or end it at the beginning of November if I had kicked off the Countdown on 7/28. So 7/21 it will have to be, and we will just say that it is part of "Christmas in July" here in the Superthread!

 

[tksbaskets]

Yes we'll be back on the 12th so I'll be ready to share on the 21st!!

 

[Sherry E]

Yes we'll be back on the 12th so I'll be ready to share on the 21st!!

That's worthy of a double dancing banana and a face wash!

 

[tksbaskets]

That's worthy of a double dancing banana and a face wash!

Indeed!!

 

[Sherry E]

Indeed!!

​

Today is one of those #GetHappier Monday Summer Surprise deals!!! The Disneyland Facebook page specifically directed everyone to Disneyland Today to wait for whatever today's surprise will be. (In fact, I just noticed that our very own rentayenta commented on the Disneyland Today Twitter feed!) The last 2 Mondays may have had surprises, but we never found out what they were!

I don't think that we will find out anything holiday season-related for a while, but I do think that one of the eventual surprises (between now and Labor Day) will be some sort of announcement about the season. If there were going to be some sort of Christmas party this year, we might find that out in the next month or so but we would still find out something Halloween Time-related first, I suspect.

In any case, if we can get an idea of what kinds of "surprises" are happening -- small or large, online or at DLR -- at least we will know what to look out for in the way of holiday season revelations.

The Annual Pass Backstage Pass newsletter/calendar/magazine has not come out yet either, even though there should certainly be an issue for summer and fall, with start dates of Halloween Time and probably the holiday season printed on the inside calendar. Last year the BP newsletter arrived in May.

So, DLR is keeping all of their info very close to the vest this year! I think it is still a safe bet that the Christmas parade taping will take place on November 7th and 8th (Friday and Saturday), and that Candlelight will take place on December 6th and 7th (Saturday and Sunday), but I am just eager to know if the holiday season will "officially" be starting on 11/10, 11/12 or 11/14!!

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I'm sure reported elsewhere already, but the #GetHappier surprise for today was free Mickey ear hats to the first 50 people who found the ladies handing them out in Critter Country.

 

[Sherry E]

I'm sure reported elsewhere already, but the #GetHappier surprise for today was free Mickey ear hats to the first 50 people who found the ladies handing them out in Critter Country.

Hi, Jamie!

Figment_jii mentioned it in the Halloween Superthread, but it hadn't been mentioned here in this thread yet (and some people don't follow both threads, or other threads, so it's definitely good to have the info posted here too!). Thank you!

Aren't the #GetHappier folks supposed to be out again today (in an unknown location) with more surprises? It seems like I read a comment that said they would be back out today. (They have to make up for the lack of surprises on the previous 2 Mondays!)

I was saying in the Halloween thread that this promo is like a hybrid/combo of Year of a Million Dreams and Limited Time Magic. There will be times when CMs are out in the parks, handing out surprises, like in the case of YOMD in 2007 and 2008. And then there will be times when the Parks Blog makes an "announcement" of some kind, as they did for LTM, about some sort of limited, random event that is coming up (like a Halloween thing or a holiday thing).

#GetHappier should instead be called "Summer of a Million Limited Time Surprises"!