Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread #5

[dolphingirl47]

Grand Californian Hotel



















Corinna

 

[petals]

Disneyland Hotel Gingerbread house:

Paradise Pier Hotel:

Grand Californian:

Downtown Disney:

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I've been in & out of this thread (and others) and will probably continue to be that way for a few more weeks. My grandmother came home on Hospice on Saturday, so it's been a stressful and emotional few weeks and will continue to be for a few more. I can tell you that I am so ready for a vacation! 2 months!

Here are mine for this week; a mix of the last few years. This year we'll complete the trifecta with a holiday stay at PPH.

GCH Tree


Tree at WWS at the GCH


Giant Gingerbread House at the GCH


Towel Animal left on Thanksgiving Day (2012)


Gingerbread House at Storyteller's GCH (2012)


Tree at the DLH


Tree at Goofy's Kitchen at the DLH


Carolers at the DLH


Tree in DTD (2012?)


Tree in DTD (2013?)

 

[Disney127]

Here are our photos for Disneyland Hotel, Grand Californian Hotel, Paradise Pier Hotel and Downtown Disney

 

[Speechphi]

We stayed at the PPH



Disneyland Hotel





Gingerbread House at Whitewater Snacks (GCH)



Storytellers @ GCH



inside the lobby of GCH...we had so much fun on Saturday night, having some wine (hot cocoa or cider for kids) and just enjoying the view & making new friends









The gingerbread house at GCH







Downtown Disney

 

[mommamonster]

Hi all! I am coming to Disneyland Dec 10th-14th and this thread has been so much fun reading through in its entirety over the past few days. I was lucky enough to spend one day in December 2014 in the parks and I have a few photos I can contribute during the theme weeks (I can't wait for the cornucopia week when I can post some of the previous theme photos). I am so excited to finally get the full Christmas season experience. Last year I didn't even ride IASWH or Jingle Cruise, nor see any of the holiday shows - except the fireworks from indoors which isn't the same! I see that I'll miss some of the traditional Christmas shows in exchange for the 60th celebration, which is ok by me because I plan to do Christmas time in 2016 as well. Here are my photos for this week's theme:

PPH tree:


DTD (because I love taking photos of the trees lit up at night):

 

[flyingdumbo127]

I love all the hotel pix, thanks everyone. A way for me to travel there for free I may sometime this December at least check out one of the lobbies, so pretty. I love the gingerbread houses. There is one with a gingerbread Minnie and Mickey and even candy canes lining the walk, so cute and clever. Might even be a cross on each turret. Goofy's Kitchen photo is awesome, so cute. I have for some reason preferred Pluto to Goofy but that picture so cute and maybe sometime I will get to try Goofy's, thanks DisneyJaime for your picture.

 

[Sherry E]

My Internet is working right now (though the source of the problem has still not been identified, and I expect the Internet to go down again shortly). As for jury duty yesterday -- I spent a boring 3 hours in the assembly room, listening to a snoozefest orientation and reading magazines, and then the whole room of potential jurors was set free (an announcement that was met with thunderous applause and cheers)! We had been warned about how busy Mondays are, and how there are so many cases, and how we would be there all day long, for 5-7 days.... and we were out of there by 11:30 a.m. Jury duty -- OVER!!!! I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

And now tomorrow is the start of Fall!!! Fall is finally here! Wheeeeeeeeeeeee! Summer is finally over!

Beautiful photos, everyone!


mommamonster -- I'm so glad you were able to post your lovely photos for us, and I look forward to the others that you post during this Countdown!

Jamie -- I'm sending good vibes your way and your grandma's way.

jammyjam25 - Nope. I can't see the photos this week either! But I know that at least some other folks can see them, and they will probably eventually appear to me as well (sooner or later).

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Hooray for being done with Jury Duty, Sherry. My dad felt similarly a couple weeks ago. I served for one day and a couple hours back in February. May cooler weather indeed come soon, what a blessing that will be.

I'm borrowing a from someone up-thread as I still, after all this time, am not getting how to enable the smilies. I know a few of you have said there's a way to do that. On the old forum, the smilie choices were at the bottom of the reply box which made it so much easier for reindeer-a-saur me. I do enjoy seeing all of your fancy smilies so thanks for sharing them everyone

 

[Sherry E]

Hooray for being done with Jury Duty, Sherry. My dad felt similarly a couple weeks ago. I served for one day and a couple hours back in February. May cooler weather indeed come soon, what a blessing that will be.

I'm borrowing a from someone up-thread as I still, after all this time, am not getting how to enable the smilies. I know a few of you have said there's a way to do that. On the old forum, the smilie choices were at the bottom of the reply box which made it so much easier for reindeer-a-saur me. I do enjoy seeing all of your fancy smilies so thanks for sharing them everyone

I use the a lot. If you can't see the option to select smilies, just type the word "santa" and put a colon on each end of it. So.... it will look like this : santa : (except don't add any spaces in between the colons and santa. Try it!

Or try : woohoo : (without spaces).

: banana : (without spaces)

: sad : (no spaces)

: goodvibes (only one colon for that one)

: dancer : (no spaces)

: lmao :

 

[millie0312]

So I am finally getting into the photo game here lol I will have to raid my camera for the good photos, but here is one from my phone to start out with. It's from last year in front of the Olaf ice rink in DTD

 

[dedesmith32]

We stayed in the Disneyland Hotel last December, but we did visit Paradise Pier and the Grand Californian and of course Downtown Disney. Here are a few pictures - mostly of the TREES at the hotels, but we did get to see the amazing gingerbread house too.

 

[lorijohnhill]

2010 Grand Californian




2010 Disneyland Hotel




2015 Grand Californian



2015 Paradise Pier Hotel



2015 Downtown Disney
(first time ever on ice skates!)





2015 Downtown Disney




2015 Disneyland Hotel

 

[ksromack]

So glad your jury duty is over, Sherry. I didn't tell you on facebook but my stepmom served on a high profile case here in StL about a decade ago. She was sequestered with the rest of the jury! It was at least 2 weeks......so again, I'm glad your's is over!

 

[Angel Ariel]

So how crowded is that first day of the holiday season usually, say in the afternoon? I would imagine by the time 6 or so rolls around it's pretty crowded from people coming in to see decorations and such after work, but was curious about the time leading up to it, like 2-4ish.

 

[hlsperring]

SO thankful for all the hotel photos!! Have been struggling all week with where to stay, have finally decided on a suite at GC for the first full week of December! Hoping to catch Candlelight Processional and all the other fun stuff of the season. We've done Spring in DL twice and Halloween last year, this will be our first Christmas and our first stay at GC!! Can't wait!!!

 

[Dinohood]

I can't wait to see disneyland during christmas. I'm a little bummed that they took away their gluten free list so I will have to make my own i guess.

 

[PHXscuba]

The Grand:





Me in the DLH lobby in their delightful teacup chair:



Carolers in the DLH lobby (2010):


​

PHXscuba

 

[OHBelle]

I am finally getting a chance to catch up on the boards!

My husband was rear ended on the way home from work last Friday. He doesn't seem to be hurt, but he had to have his shoulder checked out, because he had major surgery on it in the past year. The insurance company also wanted him to see his regular doctor, which he is doing today. I am not expecting them to find anything wrong, but better safe than sorry.
Unfortunately, it looks like our car will be totaled and they won't cover the full amount of the loan. We do have gap insurance so that will cover the extra amount owed. Now we will have to go out and buy a new car. It is frustrating that he didn't do anything wrong and now we have to start all over again with payments on a new (or even used) car. We have to put out a downpayment and the last three years of payments mean nothing.
Of course this all happens just 2 and a half weeks before my sons wedding. Ugh!

I upgraded my operating system on my computer and saved all my pictures beforehand. The only problem is they are now a jumbled mess and no longer in the folders I had them in and I can't figure out how to organize them. So I am having a hard time finding pictures for this weeks theme. Hopefully I can before the Sunday deadline.

Sherry-
I am keeping my fingers crossed your Internet is still working! Hopefully the 4th (or was 5th) try was a charm for Time Warner.
Yay for early release on jury duty. I don't seem to get that lucky. I have been called three times and have served on two juries. One criminal and one civil. Both lasted 5 days. The criminal case was especially gruesome and I never want to do that again! I still have vivid images in my mind from it and it was 19 years ago.

LOVING everyones pictures this week. They are a joy to see after this yucky week!

 

[Sherry E]

I've been so hesitant to post or begin typing up replies in this thread or in my Halloween Time thread for the last few days, as last week the Internet kept dropping while I was in the middle of typing something and I wasted time for nothing! I think the problem was finally identified -- and it's something that could have been identified and fixed a week ago but wasn't -- so I am proceeding with caution as I begin typing! I'm so afraid the Internet will cut out again and make me lose all of the stuff I typed. So far -- 28 hours since the last Time Warner tech people were here to troubleshoot -- the Internet is still working. I'm still not 100% confident that the problem won't happen again, but if the Internet lasts through tomorrow and the weekend I think I am in the clear!

Anyway, hallelujah for FALL! Autumn is finally here!!!!!!

So how crowded is that first day of the holiday season usually, say in the afternoon? I would imagine by the time 6 or so rolls around it's pretty crowded from people coming in to see decorations and such after work, but was curious about the time leading up to it, like 2-4ish.

In my experience, it probably has to do with the day of the week. When the Holidays have started on Fridays in the past (and they have actually not officially begun on a Friday in several years) it seemed more crowded to me during the whole day. Not New Year's Eve-level crowded, but steady crowds all day long. When the holiday season started on a Monday, there were crowds for the morning and afternoon -- it was quite busy -- but by nighttime the crowds thinned out substantially. I was shocked! I suspect that a lot of locals either went home because they had to work the next day, or they just didn't want to show up on a Monday after work.

This year is going to be a bit of a question mark as far as the crowds. I think it was last week sometime when Disneyland reached capacity -- which never happens in September -- and I have to assume that it was due to a perfect storm of crowds coming in for the 60th anniversary, crowds coming in for Halloween Time, Dapper Day crowds and maybe other school breaks and what not. Since the Holidays are even more popular than Halloween Time, I wonder what the crowds will be like.

SO thankful for all the hotel photos!! Have been struggling all week with where to stay, have finally decided on a suite at GC for the first full week of December! Hoping to catch Candlelight Processional and all the other fun stuff of the season. We've done Spring in DL twice and Halloween last year, this will be our first Christmas and our first stay at GC!! Can't wait!!!

I hope you enjoy it and have a wonderful trip! I love going in early December. I love Candlelight. I love the GCH during the holiday season. It sounds hokey and corny, but I can't think of any other way to put it at the moment -- there is an extra little spark of magic in the air that is present at DLR during the holidays, which is not there at other times of year. Springtime at DLR is great (love the Easter-related activities). Halloween Time is great. The Holidays, though, are truly special (and more all-encompassing and immersive).

I am finally getting a chance to catch up on the boards!

My husband was rear ended on the way home from work last Friday. He doesn't seem to be hurt, but he had to have his shoulder checked out, because he had major surgery on it in the past year. The insurance company also wanted him to see his regular doctor, which he is doing today. I am not expecting them to find anything wrong, but better safe than sorry.
Unfortunately, it looks like our car will be totaled and they won't cover the full amount of the loan. We do have gap insurance so that will cover the extra amount owed. Now we will have to go out and buy a new car. It is frustrating that he didn't do anything wrong and now we have to start all over again with payments on a new (or even used) car. We have to put out a downpayment and the last three years of payments mean nothing.
Of course this all happens just 2 and a half weeks before my sons wedding. Ugh!

I upgraded my operating system on my computer and saved all my pictures beforehand. The only problem is they are now a jumbled mess and no longer in the folders I had them in and I can't figure out how to organize them. So I am having a hard time finding pictures for this weeks theme. Hopefully I can before the Sunday deadline.

Sherry-
I am keeping my fingers crossed your Internet is still working! Hopefully the 4th (or was 5th) try was a charm for Time Warner.
Yay for early release on jury duty. I don't seem to get that lucky. I have been called three times and have served on two juries. One criminal and one civil. Both lasted 5 days. The criminal case was especially gruesome and I never want to do that again! I still have vivid images in my mind from it and it was 19 years ago.

LOVING everyones pictures this week. They are a joy to see after this yucky week!

I'm sorry to hear about the car and the accident -- hopefully your husband's shoulder was not injured and he is okay!

You said you're a Mac user, correct? I don't know what has to be done when Mac operating systems are upgraded. I know that I was told that if I wanted to upgrade my Windows operating system I should completely remove everything I have saved on the PC -- just remove all of the files and uninstall the software/programs that I loaded on the PC (which is a pain) -- then load the new OS and reload all of my programs and files, etc. It sounds like you left your photos on the computer when you upgraded? Maybe that's okay to do with Mac.

Or, did you remove the photos before you upgraded, but they just didn't save in the folders you had them in? I can copy a whole folder and save it to a flash drive or something, and the photos stay in their proper order. Does it not work that way with Mac stuff?

As for jury duty -- one of the last things I want to do is to be stuck on some trial with grisly evidence and photos that will haunt me decades later. I don't want to be stuck on some death-related trial. If I had been put on a jury this time around it probably would have been a traffic-related case, or maybe something drunk driving-related. Thankfully, I was set free.