I noticed on the Disneyland Today Facebook page earlier this morning that there was a photo of the overhead Paradise Pier sign -- not the PP hotel, but the actual PP sign right by Ariel's Grotto in DCA -- and some garland had been added to the sign. It's that same -- for lack of a better word -- squiggly garland that you will see on the façade of the Little Mermaid ride. It looks like the Enhancement Team just took some of that leftover garland and stuck it on the PP sign. I don't recall the squiggly garland being on the sign in previous years.
I wonder if someone at DLR decided that, since Duffy's photo spot is gone from PP in DCA, they needed to add in some extra décor on the actual Pier. There's really quite a lot of décor in Paradise Pier, including the whole Viva Navidad area, the whole Winter Dreams area (all of the giant presents and peppermint sticks), the large tree next to the gazebo character photo spot, the themed tree in Ariel's Grotto, the garland and wreaths on or around the Little Mermaid ride, etc. -- but, for some reason, Paradise Pier seems like it is lacking in décor to many people!
This Parks Blog about pozole was posted yesterday, but just in case you didn't see it, I will post the link below. The pozole is available for Viva Navidad and for Three Kings Day, and it is also available at Rancho del Zocalo on Christmas Eve and Day:
"Hearty Pozole Soup, the Perfect Fall Supper from Paradise Garden Grill at Disney California Adventure Park" -- Disney Parks Blog; posted on November 4th, 2014 by Pam Brandon, Disney Parks Food Writer
I would bet that pozole is likely available at Tortilla Jo's around Christmas and Three Kings Day as well, but the recipe is probably a bit different since it won't be Disney-made.
In Holiday Hoopla Food News...
If you have time to make a quick side trip to Japan, you will find green Christmas tree-shaped Doritos, flavored like "white corn cream stew"
! See the photo -- HERE.
Dannon Light & Fit Greek Yogurt has put out its Apple Cinnamon flavor.
Pillsbury has put out its Chocolate Cherry baking products.
I'm enjoying seeing everyone's beautiful holiday/winter (Disney and non-Disney) photos for this final Theme Week -- "Holiday Cornucopia/These Are a Few of My Favorite Things." I love seeing what kinds of holiday things go on in other places around town, or in other countries, and in other Disney parks, and in other theme parks! I also love seeing snowy photos!
In just 5 days we will know who the 2 winners (photo contributors) of the random draw will be!
I have the great fun of crumpling up all of the names/entries (written on small pieces of paper) from each theme and throwing them into a box. Then, I will shake up the box, and shake it again, and again, and again, and pick the first winner's name early on Monday morning. After the first name is picked I will shake the box again and pick the second name! I am excited to see who wins!!
I will try my best to get all of the gift cards in the mail on Monday, 11/10. The sooner they can go out in the mail, the better -- since Tuesday will be a holiday. If not, though, it will have to be Wednesday, 11/12.
Here in the UK we are always a little behind the USA when it comes to the seasonal releases. I actually doubted that they would have the Christmas coffees before I leave for this trip so this was a lovely surprise. We only have Toffee Nut Latte, Eggnog Latte and Gingerbread Latte this year. Normally we get a fourth Christmas coffee that changes every year, but this year we have a Almond and Honey Hot Chocolate instead.
Corinna
Corinna --
I'm not sure we have Toffee Nut at my local Starbucks. We have Gingerbread, Eggnog and Peppermint, of course. I read about the Chestnut Praline flavor a couple of weeks ago, and it was apparently given a test run in some areas in 2013 -- to gauge its popularity. It was popular, so Starbucks brought it back as an official red cup holiday item this year.
What's interesting, seasonal product-wise, is that there were all sorts of Pumpkin Spice, Caramel Apple and other "Fall" products for Halloween and the whole first half of Autumn, but there were not too, too many TV commercials advertising Halloween or Fall things. There were some, but not as many commercials as there were actual items on the store shelves.
However, as soon as Halloween was over, the onslaught of TV ads began. I am not yet seeing the true wave of products on the shelves that I expected to see, but the number of holiday commercials is impressive. Every ad either has decorations, Christmas trees, snowy scenes, Christmas parties, people wearing holiday clothes (like the infamous "Ugly Christmas Sweaters"), Christmas food/drink and/or Christmas music.
I was getting worried because I had looked an saw it would be 75 during our stay and now today I check and it is 80-85 while were there. Is this to warm to wear long pants/ Should we just take a few shorts just in case it is to hot?
I was hoping for cooler temps but no rain.
Its 76 here today in AZ lol
JadeDarkstar --
Now it's hot again. The temperatures only dropped for about a day, and now we're back up to summer weather!
I think it never hurts to be prepared for unexpected cold weather or unexpected hot weather. If you can make room in your suitcase/bags for some shorts as well as the long pants, it wouldn't be a bad idea. The early mornings and late nights are quite cool, but the daytime may feel like summer.
Sherry...I didn't know it reappeared Christmas Week! We left Christmas Eve and I didn't think to check back in with Gibson Girl. Thankfully, I scored some at Blue Bayou! (Not to mention, plenty at home!)
This may be out of season, but running close to my fav peppermint is McConnell's Eureka Lemon and Marionberry ice cream. Oh, boy! Definitely worth seeking out (and shelling out for...it's no bargain, but please try it at least once!).
Happy Holidays! Thanks for making them merrier!
I'm an eggnog latte girl myself, but the fall-ish drinks are intriguing....
twinky --
Yes, indeed! Would you believe that, after all of that madness at DLR last year -- with the peppermint ice cream not being available at the ice cream shops because of the wrong tub sizes -- they had the nerve to stock it at Gibson Girl during Christmas week only? They said it was part of "Limited Time Magic"!
That darn ice cream had been available every single holiday season at DLR, in the expected ice cream shops, and suddenly it disappeared from the rotation -- only to appear as part of Limited Time Magic!!
When I am at DLR, I want to get the ice cream in a cone. I am not going to make a special trip to Blue Bayou or the BBQ
just for peppermint ice cream. However, I strongly suspect that a similar sort of situation will happen this year -- the ice cream will show up at table service restaurants, and then only during one lone week in December at an actual ice cream shop. The BBQ had pumpkin ice cream for Halloween Time (towards the end of the season), so I expect that to happen with the peppermint too.
I have never tried any version of McConnell's ice cream, though I see it at the store and I hear it's quite good. It is never on sale, which is a problem. One day I will try it!
I loled when you say weather is cold. The temperatures coming up on my phone at the moment are still higher than an Irish summer. We're lucky to get warm weather so the second the sun comes out everyone gets the shorts out lol.
Sherry are the Grove/Farmers Market close together ie if we stop at the framers market on our tour of LA can we walk to the Grove and see their Christmas decorations in the space of our hour stop?
No problem. I found it on facebook the other night and it got me so excited for my trip
petals --
It's not cold outside at all anymore -- it's been warm. The temperatures only dropped down to a cooler, Fall-like temperature for about one day (when it rained), but the problem was that my actual apartment was freezing. I love brisk, crisp temperatures outdoors -- I am the one who rejoices when it drops down to 30 degrees! Last December I was excited because it was supposed to drop down to 29 degrees at DLR, and everyone in the Superthread thought I was crazy.
I like the cold -- when I am expecting it to be cold and prepared to be out in it.
My apartment is in a very old building, with very thin walls and, I'm sure, various cracks in windows and doors. If it's hot outside, the heat will drift into the apartment and just linger here like steam in a sauna, long after it has cooled down outside. The same thing happens when it gets cold -- the cool air drifts inside and it ends up feeling like a meat locker in my apartment. For some reason the apartment retains cold and intensifies it, even when it has warmed up outside. I refuse to turn on the heat when it is 70 degrees outside, but it takes a while for the temperature in my apartment to get back to normal on its own.
The Grove is literally right next door to Farmers Market, and you can easily walk back and forth between the two of them in a short span of time. One hour won't give you much time to see too much, but you can walk between the two places with ease. In fact, the Farmers Market is essentially made up of the inner, historical section -- which is where a lot of the mom & pop/family-run stands are (Magee's, Bryan's Pit BBQ, Gill's Old Fashioned Ice Cream, Patsy D'Amore's, the Gumbo Pot, Littlejohn's English Toffee, Charlie's, etc.) -- and the outer section, which features newer restaurants and shops (Dylan's Candy Bar, Marmalade Café, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, etc.).
If you are walking along the path from the outer section of Farmers Market you will eventually walk right into The Grove. That outer part of FM transitions nicely into The Grove, and it's easy to think that certain parts of FM are actually The Grove, when they are really part of FM. The American Girl store/café is part of The Grove.
The Grove is where a lot of celebrities go to shop, so keep watch for any familiar faces hidden behind sunglasses and baseball caps!
Last winter was horrible, awful. My friend moved back to California a year earlier then planned to avoid the winter!!
I actually love the snow and have fun in it. It is great but I am a nervous driver in bad weather so that's difficult. That's why when I bought my new car I got four wheel drive.
I do looove fake Disney snow though. I don't know why but snow on Main Street in Disney World is one of my favorite things.
poppinspal --
The fake Disney snow (or teeny tiny bubbles) is fun -- sometimes it seems to be a little more visible and noticeable than other times, and sometimes it is so faint it can barely be seen. There is also a smell of either gingerbread or cocoa or some sort of holiday aroma on Main Street when the snow falls.
Sherry - Thank you for this awesome thread! Your insight and knowledge is so helpful!!
I will try to post a picture or two over the weekend. If not, I will post a few next week, once we are back!!!
Misskitty3 --
Thank you for the kind words, and you're very welcome! I hope that your holiday trip is a successful, rewarding one!
Three cheers for
Sherry!! Not that our theme weeks and days are done I can't wait to start seeing pictures from people at DL this Christmas season! Hope you can report in
Misskitty3. I'll be vicariously traveling with this thread until we go in December.
TK --
Thanks!
Did you see the photo of the Downtown Disney tree that
Pheran posted here a few days ago? The tree had just gone up and was in the process of being decorated (there was no ice rink around it yet). In my opinion, it appeared to be back in its "regular" DTD spot, slightly closer to the Disneyland Hotel -- which is where it was pre-ice rink arrival in 2012. The tree was totally gone from DTD in 2012, and then last year it was placed in the center of the rink and moved right outside of Earl of Sandwich, basically.
This year's DTD tree looks as though it is back in its 2011 location, but I could be wrong. It's hard to get a sense of exactly how close to the DLH it is in a photo. It made me wonder if the tree is going to be moved closer to EoS, with the ice rink around it again, or if the tree is going to be separate from the rink?
Also, although I agreed with you and
Tracy/OHBelle about
One Starry Christmas being a bit lackluster as far as Hallmark movies go (although it followed the same formula and all), and I already gave my in-depth review, did you notice that the movie drew big ratings for Hallmark?
I was looking at a website called TV by the Numbers, and it said, "
Hallmark Channel’s annual Countdown to Christmas campaign is off and running, with One Starry Christmas, the network’s first original premiere of the season, averaging over 3.1 million total viewers and marking its highest-rated and most-watched opening weekend holiday debut of all time and top movie of 2014 to-date." See the article -
HERE.
So, while that specific movie was not as good as I wanted it to be, for some reason, I'm glad that it brought in a lot of viewers -- and that the ratings keep growing for each year's Countdown -- because it means that the Countdowns to Christmas will keep happening as long as lots of people are tuning in!
Last year offered such a bounty of good movies in the Countdown -- more good ones than I even expected, to be honest -- that I kind of assumed that this year's crop of movies wouldn't measure up, but there are still 12 more of them to go (including the Hall of Fame movie on 11/30) so there's hope! Also, there are 2 new ones on Movies & Mysteries, and new ones on UP, Ion and wherever else.
Nope, just switched to PPH to save a little money. I also have CCI as a new backup in case we want to save more. Can't wait to enjoy the holiday season at the DLR!
Mouseketeers4 --
So you found some openings at PPH for this month? That's encouraging! It shows that there are rooms available -- even at the last minute, basically. They may open up suddenly, and without warning, but they're there.
Is there a show before the lighting of the castle?
minbabies --
I think that
Jamie/DisneyJamieCA has video of the Castle lighting and what leads up to it. The Wintertime Enchantment Lighting is the little "show" in which the icicle lights turn on, but I can't find the times for it in last year's Times Guide and they may not be on the DLR website this year. However, the Castle will light up!
I am unfamiliar with the candy cane thing. Is there a difference in the handmade vs a regular candy cane?
lorijohnhill --
You will see some of the large candy canes sold in assorted candy shops in the 2 parks, and they will be wrapped in plastic. Although they are probably made in the same way as the freshly made handmade ones, they are also probably made offsite, out of the parks. People say that the fresh, handmade canes made in the parks taste better -- and the process of making them is what attracts onlookers. It's a very tedious process to make them, which is why the schedule is limited. The making of the candy canes was featured in Guy Fieri's special from 2008/2009, called
Guy's Disney Holiday. And in
this post, look under Candy Cane Info and you will see DIS Unplugged's Nancy Johnson's blog about the candy canes and Guy Fieri!
