Just Back, A few things...

[MattsPrincess]

We arrived in DL on Monday the 24th. I was surprised to see that a bit of snow had fallen on the castle already, one the very top. Throughout our 4 day stay, we "watched" it snow a little more everyday!

In fact, every day we went back there was more Christmas stuff in general. Food, merchandise, decorations, etc. We thought it was really cool to watch the park change "magically" over night like that. One example of this being the snow on the castle, and another fun / funny one was in DCA. We took the Halloween tour on wednesday, during which we walked through Bug's Land. The next day we went back to ride ToT, and magically the big tree ornaments were there!

Daisy Duck was out in Toon Town on wednesday, 10/26, early in the morning! A CM standing near by said it was only the 2nd time she's been out this year! A few other CM's we talked to that day were very surprised that we had met her, and told us we were very lucky.

We ran into a lot more "roaming" characters this time. Saw Ariel, Aurora, and Cinderella over by Carnation Plaza, no CM's with them. Alice was wandering around by Pixie Hollow by herself. Aladdin was out in front of the train station in his Street Rat outfit alone. There were several others as well.

Crowds grew progressively worse throughout the week, but were never too much to handle. Monday evening we walked onto Buzz and BTMRR. We also walked onto ToT and only waited about 15 minutes for TSMM on thursday morning. I don't think we waited more than 30 minutes for anything all 4 days, and the longest ones were during our MHP.

The party was very cool, would do it again. We met Jack Sparrow, Pooh, Eeyore, Rabbit, Hook, Pan, Wendy, Phineas & Ferb (but no Perry), and a few others, I think. We didn't get a TON of candy, but more than we needed for sure. We weren't really focused on getting candy either. I really liked the dance parties, the music really added something for me. We spotted Chip, Dale, Goofy and Pluto dancing at the Pirate Palooza one. Ride waits were non existent. Interactions with characters and other CM's were wonderful! Jack Sparrow and the Storm Troopers really stood out. There were a few that recognized what DH was dressed as (doctor who) and interacted with him based on it, which made his night. Jack Sparrow and his Photopass girl especially.

It was fun to sit and watch other people go by, and see all the costumes. There were some very cool ones, including a whole family of Phineas and Ferb characters! They were in front of me in line to meet P&F, so I got to watch the CM's interact with them, which was very funny.

Only ran into a few "bad" things. 1 being the man and his son that snuck onto Space Mountain with our tour group, and took the seats that we were supposed to be in, separating us from the group. Another was Pixie Hollow, Tinker Bell seemed to have zero interest in meeting me, and I actually had to stand off to the side waiting for her and one of the other fairies to finish talking before I could get my picture. This is the 2nd bad experience with her.

All in all, great trip. Halloweentime was super cool!

 

[Eeee-va]

Oh, your trip sounds so fun! Though weird that they can't wait until November to start with the visible Christmas items!

Only ran into a few "bad" things. 1 being the man and his son that snuck onto Space Mountain with our tour group, and took the seats that we were supposed to be in, separating us from the group.

UGH! I don't get that at all. In June 2009 I was alone (and frankly sad) and went on Pirates of the Caribbean...a big group shoved ahead of me and ended up with some of them ahead of me and some behind me. The CM just assumed I was with them at boarding so I ended up standing to the side as several other groups went ahead of me before the CM noticed I hadn't boarded yet. I just didn't get it because the line was NOT long (very close to a walk-on)...why do they need to get ahead the 10 seconds or less it would take to shove ahead of someone?

Another was Pixie Hollow, Tinker Bell seemed to have zero interest in meeting me, and I actually had to stand off to the side waiting for her and one of the other fairies to finish talking before I could get my picture. This is the 2nd bad experience with her.

That's awful! I only met her once, in June 2010, I think it was, but the Tinkerbell I met was AMAZING. She gladly posed with my friend's mom (who was with us; in fact, we insisted we wait in Pixie Hollow's line because my friend's mom LOVES Tinkerbell!). Tink then asked if the rest of us wanted pictures too. She noticed I had made my own purse and said I was a tinker too! She sure moved a lot of merchandise, as my friend's mom fell even MORE in love with Tinkerbell and bought an astounding amount of merchandise in our party--my friend and I both bought Disney Fairies keychains/cell phone charms (the item was both). I still have one of the charms on my phone.

 

[mrslamb]

So lame about Tink!

Thanks for the report, i am SO SO excited to hear there is some Christmas stuff up!!!! We are going 11/05-11/10 and were really disappointed when we found out we were going to just barely miss it. So glad to hear there is a little bit up already!!!!

 

[MND]

. Another was Pixie Hollow, Tinker Bell seemed to have zero interest in meeting me, and I actually had to stand off to the side waiting for her and one of the other fairies to finish talking before I could get my picture. This is the 2nd bad experience with her.

So Tinker was a Stinker?

Question for you: was "It's Tough to be a Bug" opened or closed?

Mike

 

[Sherry E]

MattsPrincess -

So now that you have done Disneyland both during the holidays and at Halloween Time in the course of less than a year, which season would you say is your favorite? They are both very different and festive in their own ways, wouldn't you say?

So lame about Tink!

Thanks for the report, i am SO SO excited to hear there is some Christmas stuff up!!!! We are going 11/05-11/10 and were really disappointed when we found out we were going to just barely miss it. So glad to hear there is a little bit up already!!!!

mrslamb -

You would have still seen Christmas stuff during your 11/5 - 11/10 trip, even if there were not snow on the Castle and merchandise out on the shelves right now. The holiday decorations are very extensive and thorough around the parks and hotels, etc. It takes a while to get them up. What you will miss is the season start date. The season officially begins on 11/14 this year - and with the official season start date comes the holiday entertainment, Santa, carolers, the snow falling on Main Street, the Winter Castle lighting, the holiday tour and all of that.

BUT, because it takes a while to get all the decorations in place, they (whoever it is at DLR who is doing the decorating) have to start putting them up early at Disneyland...which means before Halloween. It's a gradual process - there is no way the decorators could get all the trees up, all the window displays changed, all the store displays changed, all the lights and garland hung, etc. after 11/10 (your last day) and before 11/14. So you would have been and will be guaranteed to see many holiday decorations - probably most of them - all through your trip. It's just that you won't get the full Disneyland holiday experience until after the season officially begins. Some things don't even really kick in until Thanksgiving.

 

[MattsPrincess]

I'm fairly certain Tough to be A Bug was open, but not positive.

Sherry, I prefer Christmas. Halloween was very cool, but Christmas just had that extra magic to it.

 

[Sherry E]

I'm fairly certain Tough to be A Bug was open, but not positive.

Sherry, I prefer Christmas. Halloween was very cool, but Christmas just had that extra magic to it.

I had a feeling you might say that! And I agree - I love love love that DLR has a "Halloween Time" for us to enjoy, and I hope they continue to build it up and do more with it as the years progress. It's a lot of fun. But you're right - Christmas in the parks just has that extra bit of magic somehow. I know that, personally, I appreciate that they at least try to decorate DCA for the holidays - though not as extensively as they do in Disneyland. They at least stick some decorations up in the hotels, too.

With Halloween, it's like DCA is virtually ignored (with the exception of the Duffy Pumpkin Patch photo spot) and the hotels get no decorations at all, except for on the actual day of Halloween when they prepare for trick or treaters.

It just seems like the holiday season is more all-encompassing and immersive, and there is that extra little 'spark' of magic in the air.

One area where I think Halloween Time has the advantage - and I wonder if you agree - is the area above the entry turnstiles. Those character pumpkins are so much cuter than the rather generic-looking snowflake stuff they've got going on in November and December.

And I am torn between the two versions of the Round-Up. I am almost inclined to give the edge to the Halloween Round-Up because those carved character pumpkins change all season long, and they are amazing! BUT, the Reindeer Round-Up has Santa...and reindeer...and all kinds of cute 'country Christmas' touches.

I'm really, really glad you got to experience both seasons, do both tours, go to the Halloween party, get all kinds of fun Halloween and Christmas photos, etc. I know it was touch and go for a while (last year) as to which trips would happen and when, so I'm so happy for you that it all finally came together!

 

[mrslamb]

MattsPrincess -

So now that you have done Disneyland both during the holidays and at Halloween Time in the course of less than a year, which season would you say is your favorite? They are both very different and festive in their own ways, wouldn't you say?





mrslamb -

You would have still seen Christmas stuff during your 11/5 - 11/10 trip, even if there were not snow on the Castle and merchandise out on the shelves right now. The holiday decorations are very extensive and thorough around the parks and hotels, etc. It takes a while to get them up. What you will miss is the season start date. The season officially begins on 11/14 this year - and with the official season start date comes the holiday entertainment, Santa, carolers, the snow falling on Main Street, the Winter Castle lighting, the holiday tour and all of that.

BUT, because it takes a while to get all the decorations in place, they (whoever it is at DLR who is doing the decorating) have to start putting them up early at Disneyland...which means before Halloween. It's a gradual process - there is no way the decorators could get all the trees up, all the window displays changed, all the store displays changed, all the lights and garland hung, etc. after 11/10 (your last day) and before 11/14. So you would have been and will be guaranteed to see many holiday decorations - probably most of them - all through your trip. It's just that you won't get the full Disneyland holiday experience until after the season officially begins. Some things don't even really kick in until Thanksgiving.

I was wondering how they could possibly decorate the whole park so fast! Yay! Hopefully we will see quite a few holiday touches when we are there!

 

[NiceOneSimba]

We were in DL on Sunday the 23rd and Tuesday the 25th. I kept saying "was there snow on the castle on Sunday?" but my husband didn't believe me. I finally had to look at pictures from Sunday to prove that it had, in fact, "snowed" between our visits.

We saw tons of decorations up in New Orleans Square on Tuesday, too.

It was a little strange to be at the Halloween party and see Christmas decorations already, but since they can't close the park to decorate, it makes total sense.

 

[pattyduke34]

Same thing happened to us last year around that time..I really did not notice until we got home and I was going over our pictures, that some had snow on the castle and others did not! I could not believe that I did not notice it while we were in the parks!

 

[skiingfast]

There has been Christmas Decorations and Merchandise in the parks for about 10 days now. They slowly move in so all aren't noticeable without a keen eye.