Good morning, folks!
Yesterday it finally felt like November in SoCal. I posted about this on Facebook, so anyone out there who is also on my Facebook friends list already knows, but I will share here too.
When I opened up the window in the morning, I was hit with a burst of cold air that I was not expecting. It was a cool, crisp, rosy cheek-inducing morning that is very familiar to me as being associated with November. I have felt the same chill of that morning air during previous Novembers. It doesn't happen in October, and certainly not in September. It is something that is exclusive to the middle/latter part of Autumn. But because Autumn took its sweet time to kick in around here (we really only started getting wind and a tiny bit of rain in the last week or two), this brisk air seemed to pop up out of nowhere.
I live in a very old building with very thin walls that absorb the outside temperatures quickly and hold the air inside. So when it's Summer, it still feels like an oven in my apartment long after the air has cooled outside at night. When it's late Fall or Winter weather, my apartment feels like a freezer long after it has warmed up outside. I can literally go and stand next to my open window and feel the warmth of the sun on the arm closest to the window, while the other arm feels like an iceberg! It currently feels like an arctic tundra in my apartment, while it is warming up outside.
Anyway, whatever the case, I'm not complaining! I love the cool air. It's an excuse for me to break out the hot cocoa and put on some sweaters. (Last Christmas I was wearing 3 sweaters, 2 pairs of pants and who knows how many socks because it was so cold in my apartment, but as long as I can bundle up and get warm, I am fine!)
Yesterday I was also in 'holiday movie marathon heaven,' as I first turned on the TV to find "
Love Actually" on HBO, as well as "
Mrs. Miracle" on Hallmark. I had to decide which one I was going to watch. ("
Love Actually" won out!) A couple of hours later I found myself switching back and forth between the Christmas movie marathons on Lifetime and the Hallmark Channel! Today, Lifetime and Hallmark are once again churning out those sweet holiday gems. In a few hours "
The 12 Men of Christmas" (a great one!) will be on Lifetime.
Oh, and by the way, in case you think my Sunday is filled with nothing but sweet, syrupy holiday entertainment, think again. Tonight I will be frantically switching back and forth between "
The Real Housewives of Atlanta," "
The Real Housewives of Miami," "
The Next Iron Chef," "
The Walking Dead" (just about the goriest, most disgusting zombie TV show one could ever find, and I hate gore, which is the funny thing about my watching it!), "
Homeland" and "
666 Park Avenue."
For some weird reason I cannot get into "
Once Upon a Time" on ABC - I want to like it, but every time I try to watch it I find myself bored or somehow dissatisfied. I can't put my finger on it - you would think I'd love it, as it cleverly introduces all the characters from the most well-known fairy tales and fables - but it just isn't working for me like it should.
So....tomorrow is the day I am supposed to be headed to DLR for the opening day of the holiday season!
One of the main reasons why I wanted to go
before 11/12 was because I knew that most - if not all - of the entertainment and merriment would be starting on the weekend before 11/12. There is a certain bit of 'relevance' that is lost in getting to the parks after many people have already seen photos/heard details of all of the seasonal offerings - especially for the purposes of my Christmas Superthread. Even the Jingle Jangle Jamboree (formerly Santa's Reindeer Round-Up) is open, and people have already begun posting photos and relating details about what's there around the Internet. The Mad T Party has begun its snowfall and Winter Wonderland show (or whatever it's called).
So basically, everything has started and I'm sitting here, waiting for 11/12 to arrive. The only thing I can really see for sure that is starting tomorrow is the Christmas Fantasy Parade - and I won't be stopping to watch that anyway. I would bet that even the Christmas Village in DTD is now open. I think that I waited for nothing. I should have gone to the parks today or yesterday - that way I would have had extra hours in the parks, too. Tomorrow's hours are shorter.
Yesterday I was pondering all of this and thinking, "Maybe I'll try to go tomorrow instead of Monday" ["tomorrow" meaning today, Sunday].
So I called the 800 number that's on the business card for Sav-on Shuttle and reached John, the fellow who drove me to and from the Long Beach boat landing for my July Catalina adventure. I was going to find out if it was too late to make an arrangement for a Sunday morning pick-up. John was, I think, in the process of taking a passenger somewhere and couldn't talk. (Keep in mind, this is a less formal shuttle company - so they don't have other operators on standby to take your call if one is unavailable, but they do have other drivers.)
John said he would call me back in 20 or 30 minutes. He never called back. I waited about 4 hours and called the number again. No answer. At that point it was nighttime and I figured it was too late to arrange a pick-up for this morning. So I missed my chance to go to DLR today.
What concerns me is that now I
have to arrange a pick-up for tomorrow morning, and seeing that I couldn't get anyone on the phone for longer than 2 seconds yesterday, I am a little worried that it may be too late to book something for tomorrow, or that I may not reach anyone. I have to use
that particular shuttle company, as the price will be lower than other ones.
So if I cannot get hold of someone on the phone who can take my order for tomorrow morning, I don't know what will happen. I have to get there - the DIS Unplugged team is going to be doing another podcast in a week or two and I will be participating. I would like to have some new and current things to discuss about the season.
In any case, assuming everything is going to happen as planned, I have to get prepared today - pack up my bag, get out the coat or jacket (it will be cold at night), make sure I have a stash of ibuprofen in the bag and so forth.
Tomorrow is also the day when either the Parks Blog or the DLR site (or both) will announce the details for signing up for the Candlelight Processional lottery/contest. If the details have not been posted by the time I leave in the morning, then I will have to check them when I get back late at night so I can hurry and enter myself in this "random winner" contest.
From what Mariezp said, the choice of narrator for the CP can make a big difference. She saw a CP (I think it was at WDW) that was narrated by Steven Curtis Chapman, and she said that he was great, as he would read a passage, look up with a beaming smile and get totally involved in the story he was telling. She also saw a CP at DLR with Andy Garcia as narrator - he did a fine job, but it wasn't as special as Steven Curtis Chapman's CP.
I'm not sure if Kurt Russell will be looking up and beaming in between sentences, but I would still like to see him narrate just because of his Disney roots. So we'll see what happens.
Knowing Disney, after everyone has entered the contest they probably will not send out the "You won!" e-mails until just before the CP begins. So if I shoot for a 12/3, 12/4 or 12/5 CP, I probably won't find out if I won until a week beforehand, if even that early!
Sorry Sherry, typo calling you Shelly. I was in a hurry when I posted that. My bad.
Yeah, I am a Christmas fanatic as well, and I saw the same thing you did in the commercial. I am not upset about not seeing it for the first time in it's natural state. My favorite time to go to Disneyland is for Christmas so how could I complain about that.This trip is going to be hard on me on many levels. Last time we were at Disneyland (March), my dad died and I got the call as we were leaving Pirates. At least I didn't get the call ON the ride. So I have really been looking forward to this Christmas trip. We will have a blast.
Sherry, I know you will be busy on Monday but I also know that you are right, you will be getting very detailed pictures. More than any other site has, and better than any other site has. You strive for perfection, and you have reached that in your photo's. I can't wait to see them!
I'm so very sorry to hear about your dad passing. The fact that you had to hear about it while you were at DLR, I would imagine, would make it very difficult to want to return to Disneyland because it could evoke a lot of feelings and emotions. I can totally see how the trip will be hard for you in many ways. I hope that it's a wonderful Christmas trip, though.
Thank you for the kind words - I don't know if my pictures will be better than anyone else's, and my pictures are certainly not perfect, but I know that I can get more into the details than a lot of people can - as long as my camera batteries stay charged and I have enough room on the memory card. Most importantly, I have to have the
time to get into all of it. If I am pressed for time or feel rushed, I cannot get into the details as much. I was making progress in Cars Land in June, but I was pressed for time. Still, I think I got a lot done in my short amount of time.
I don't know how much actual time I will have to spend on each area tomorrow, but I'll do what I can. I will have more time to spend in December, of course!
I think we have to wait until December to watch it (though it's sitting there right in our DVD shelves). But does it count that we just watched an episode of Sherlock? You know, with "John"? Hang on a minute, he's John in both?
I love his part in the movie, because so many people misunderstand just what exactly his job is (and Judy's of course). I've read reviews that go down the strangest roads with what they think is going on there, LOL.
Oh great, now that makes me not want to wait until Dec.
Then again, we are STILL watching the Olympics in our household....so we might have to wait for L.A. until Spring!
Well, I've seen "
Love Actually" airing on HBO at the oddest times of year, so a Spring viewing is not totally out of left field! It is a movie that leaves a few questions for me when it ends, and yet I don't find myself annoyed that it leaves questions. With some movies or TV shows, I would be bothered if everything is not neatly wrapped up. Somehow, in the case of this film, I have questions at the end but I don't mind!
You're still watching the Summer Olympics? Yikes. Here's a spoiler - Michael Phelps wins something!
I know I just blew a huge surprise there!
Carolwood, I only saw the photos of the ugly Toontown trees on another site That Must Not Be Named
, I haven't seen them myself. Although if anyone wants to hire me to go do exhaustive research I am available!!
Sherry, I missed the candy corn M&Ms and candy corn Oreos at Target, but I also just realized I never saw candy corn Hershey Kisses, which are good too. I guess since I was a good little girl
and skipped all the candy corn stuff, I get more peppermint now?
I may have to do exhaustive research in that area too!! The way I have been eating this week (too much sugar, too many meals out) I have no hope for the next 8 weeks ...
Off to update my own pre-trip report!
PHXscuba
I was curious about the candy corn Oreos and the white chocolate candy corn M&M's, but I never tried them. I haven't tried the candy corn Kisses either. Now the white chocolate peppermint M&M's will be a bit harder to resist, except for the fact that I don't have any Targets in my immediate neighborhood. I'd have to travel a bit further to get to a Target, and I don't know if I'm willing to do that just for some candy.
Now the peppermint ice cream, on the other hand - that I have not bought so far this season and
must buy, and I need to get to my Ralphs and grab some before those other peppermint ice cream lovers get their hands on it and clear the shelves! I cannot go for a full holiday season without putting some Dreyer's Peppermint Stick ice cream (or whatever it is called) in the freezer.
Maybe that must not be named site is just using old pictures? lol Had to laugh because that sentence makes me think of my other love, Harry Potter.
I think the ugly trees are back in Toontown for good. Supposedly the decorations in Toontown are not as good as they once were, but I have to see if they have drastically changed since I last paid attention to them - which was in 2010. I don't think Disney would reinstate the older "good" trees at this point. They probably reused those trees elsewhere in the parks or hotels.
Final update (for the moment)...
Before I sign off, let me quickly call the Sav-on Shuttle number again and see if I can reach John about a pick-up tomorrow morning.
...calling the number now...
And....I reached him! John will not be the one picking me up tomorrow morning - another driver will be getting me - but at least I got that taken care of!
So I am aiming to arrive at DLR tomorrow at around 7 a.m. The parks don't open until 9 a.m. (though they will probably let people in a little early, I think), but I want to have time to peek in the hotels and check for decorations, then walk through DTD in the crisp morning air. So I'd rather get there earlier than later.
The Grove is actually having their Christmas tree lighting and mini-concert tonight - which will bring with it snowfall and loud fireworks for me to listen to after 9 p.m. - and I would love to go there and get some real photos of the tree (instead of the crappy cell phone pictures I got last year), but I have to get to sleep early for DLR tomorrow. I will get to The Grove to catch the snow and the giant tree (it's bigger than the tree at Rockefeller Center in NYC) before the season ends. I will hear the fireworks from my living room tonight (they're very startling even when you know they're coming - they send us warnings in the mail to prepare us)!
As I hum "
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "
Joy to the World" to myself, I'm off now to prepare the next-to-last
and final themes in my Christmas Superthread Theme Weeks Countdown, then get my things ready for tomorrow and hunker down with some good Christmas TV shows!
I will probably not have time to check back into this thread today...so I will be back after my DLR holiday day trip adventure/photo-taking/info-gathering/decorations-inspecting mission tomorrow!
Have a great Sunday, everyone!
. Your plan looks like you have a great plan. I have to tell you #8 made me burst out with a laugh. 'The horror....'
Now that is just not right! You visit that porch on every trip!
I also heard the new Mater holiday commercial. It's cute, but I agree the IASW one last year was sweeter. I am a sucker for holiday schmaltz. 
