Nothing to See Here...

[kaoden39]

Michele -

I'm not sure if the title would be a kick to anyone but me, but, alas, I cannot use it.

Yes - so you noticed the Rankin Bass marathon seemed shorter too? They short changed us!

Does Loren hate Christmas music altogether? I don't know - I think it is one of those things that people either love or they cannot stand. Some of the songs have such pretty melodies (the more spiritual songs like "O Holy Night") and some of them are so fun and lively ("Winter Wonderland," etc.). I love Christmas music! I am not ashamed to admit it!

No, actually he is enjoying it. Kody will run the other way because it will stick in her head forever. I love it and I tend to have some different artist than a lot of people might have. I have The Brat Pack and Doris Day that I listen to the most. My parents always loved them so I am addicted I guess.

 

[Sherry E]

I think a lot of people associate Bing Crosby and Johnny Mathis or Perry Como with Christmas music, so why not Doris Day or Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc., too?

Now you would surprise me if you said you were listening to Christmas music as sung by Megadeth or something!

 

[kaoden39]

I think a lot of people associate Bing Crosby and Johnny Mathis or Perry Como with Christmas music, so why not Doris Day or Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc., too?

Now you would surprise me if you said you were listening to Christmas music as sung by Megadeth or something!

Well now that you mention it. I got a good laugh out of the fact that Twisted Sister has a Christmas cd.


Now I am playing Disney music. I figure that if he is going to hang out in my room he will hear my music.

 

[Sherry E]

Well now that you mention it. I got a good laugh out of the fact that Twisted Sister has a Christmas cd.


Now I am playing Disney music. I figure that if he is going to hang out in my room he will hear my music.

When Jackie, Shawn and I were standing in line for IASWH (Bob hates that ride and wouldn't go on it), I brought up the subject of Christmas music. Shawn has told me in the past that she loves Christmas songs, so I was curious to know her favorites. I also asked Jackie what were her favorites, only to discover that she does not like Christmas music!

Shawn came up with "Little Drummer Boy," and I forget the other one she mentioned.

Jackie finally said, "I guess I like 'What Child is This' [a.k.a. 'Greensleeves']."

So then I had to come up with my favorite Christmas songs too...and it was hard!!! Truth be told, I like so many of them, either because they have lovely melodies or because they bring up that Christmasy feeling so well. I can't decide!

I am really torn on this subject. I love the more spiritual songs like "Angels We Have Heard on High," "The First Noel" and ""O Holy Night," but then I love stuff like "Winter Wonderland," "Sleigh Ride," "Frosty," etc. And I love the ballad-type things like "White Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." And I like things like "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" as sung by U2, as well as "All I Want For Christmas is You" (as sung by Mariah Carey).

I'm so confused - there are too many good Christmas songs!!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Bret -

I know what you mean. Being at DLR and sharing rides - or just sharing the whole fun experience in general - feels more natural and just better with other people. Going on rides with people you know is the best! When you get off of Splash Mountain or GRR or POTC or whatever, and you can all laugh and talk about how you got soaked together, that is the best!

As Laurie said, Disneyland is really meant to be shared. Personally, I prefer to go on rides, pose for PhotoPass photos or characters photos and eat at any of the restaurants with other people. I laugh the most and have the best time with people when we are enjoying a meal together or posing for silly photos. I have eaten by myself - I did it last year and this year - and while it's okay, it's always better to have company for that.

But...when it is time to get serious about the photo-taking, that's when I need to be solo!! I cannot even imagine trying to get 'detail' photos while walking around with 7 people at WDW, as you did!

You will be so disappointed in me, Bret - can you believe that I did not even get into New Orleans Square on this recent trip? It is shocking and unforgivable, I know. I can't believe it myself. Last year, I combed every corner and inch of that land. This time...well, I just don't know where the time went.

We went on HMH and POTC, of course, but I never had time to explore the back alleys of NOS like I wanted to, or like I did in 2010.

However, I distinctly remember reading in your TR a couple of weeks ago that you were disappointed in the NOS decor this year (in some ways) because it seemed like it was less. I remember thinking, "You mean it was even less decorated than last year?" That stuck out in my mind. You were saying that you thought DLR had cut back because of cost or budget, I think, and I was silently agreeing with you. Because they added stuff in other areas - they added a couple of extra little things on the Castle and they added in some little things in DCA - maybe they had to cut back in NOS, where they felt it wouldn't be as obvious.

Ahhhh, but what DLR does not realize is that we DO notice when they have cut back on decorations. Maybe not everyone notices, but those of us who do go out of our way to take pictures of things notice when something ismissing.

Heck, Laurie hadn't even been to DLR for the holidays before last week, and even she noticed that the giant Mickey with the Santa hat in front of the DLH was gone!! Why did they take him down? He had been up there with his Santa hat since at least Christmas 2001, if not earlier than that.

However...where DLR takes certain things away, they seem to add other things in. The gingerbread house at Storytellers, for example - that was totally gone last year, but it was back again this year! And it smelled so gingerbread-y!! I was so happy to see it!

One thing I noticed about NOS from walking along the outskirts of it was that more of the Mardi Gras masks seemed to be outside, on the border, this year. Did you notice that or am I imagining it? Last year it seemed like there were not as many masks on the outskirts of NOS - only a few - and that most of them were inside NOS, on the streets. I could be wrong, though.

I DID go into Toontown (no photos this time, though) and saw the hideous trees. Ugh. So very disappointing. I don't know what DLR was thinking, but I am actually considering writing in and expressing my dislike of the trees in hopes they will come to their senses and bring back the other ones next year.

Thank you for the nice comments, Bret. I am glad to help inspire your photo endeavors in some tiny way. Actually, your photos and many others on the DIS inspire me too - so we all inspire each other!! There are so many little details to discover and focus on that is is almost impossible to catch them all, but if you put all of your photos, my photos, deej's pictures, Laurie's pictures, etc., together, I bet we would cover 95% of it all!

A trip to the parks with other people that you know is always special and fun to do. I really enjoyed myself at WDW this past week with my dad, my brother and my dad's friend family. Even though we didn't do everything we had planned during our trip, they were all grateful by my planning during the trip.

That is a great say by Laurie that DL is a place to be shared. I really enjoyed getting in pictures with my family and my dad's friend family during the WDW trip. I will show some of those pictures later on when I upload them on my WDW TR. I still like to go on rides, but since I am going solo so many times I have been not riding on too many rides as I have been in the past with others. But when I have other people like my DA, my dad, brother, etc. with me it makes it even more special to ride the rides.

Since I have rode all the rides at the DLR, I like to go solo and find any hidden parts of the park that I have never seen or consider seeing. So going solo is fun and a good way to take a ton of pictures. Some of my group stopped to take pictures of Cinderella castle, Spaceship Earth, Osborne Family lights, Tree of Life, etc during our trip and gets me the time to take some pics of the littlest details. It was really hard to take as many pics while I had such a big group.

It is shocking to hear that you didn't go in NOS this year, but with all those people that you are with and being sick during your trip I understand that you had little time to see NOS this year.

I did say that in my TR a few weeks ago that NOS this year was way less decorated then in 2010 and the previous years. You can see it on my post that I posted of the pictures of [post=43353349]NOS over the last few Years[/post]. You can tell the difference from last years and this years NOS that the management took out a lot of the Christmas lights. There were some new additions to every part of the lands and buildings this year at DL & DCA.

You are correct that everyone won't remember the decorations from the previous years. But for people like us that do pay attention to the littlest details, it does feel like we are getting less decoration then in the previous years.

I didn't go towards the DLH during my trip and I wish I did since I wanted to see the new monorail pool area. I do remember the giant Mickey Santa hat at the DLH, but I was surprise to hear that it wasn't there this year.

Nice to hear that the gingerbread house at Storytellers Cafe was there this year after being gone last year.

There were a lot of Mardi Gras masks on the poles outside of NOS. There were quite a bit of them right by the NOS railroad station. At least the management put out enough masks on the poles this year.

Those trees at MTT were so ugly and I didn't even look at them so long.

You are right that there other DISers have inspired me to take better pictures like KcMike and Deej are one of the many DISers that inspire me to take a lot of pictures.

 

[kaoden39]

Sherry, when it comes to Christmas music my absolute favorite is all of the music from White Christmas. I totally love that movie, I must say that is one of my all time favorite movies.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I love the Christmas Music. I'm listening to Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You as I'm typing this

 

[areweindisneyyet]

Hi Sherry

LATE: I am so sorry to hear about your friends but glad that the DISBoards crew helped make some of your trip a wonderful time, would have sent a big much sooner.

I have been thinking of you and this has been my first chance to jump on to see how your Christmas trip went. I am glad to hear that you are starting to feel better. There is nothing worse than being sick on holiday.

I loved the photo of the Pluto attack. Very funny.

Ready and waiting for the TR, I will be lurking.

Mia

 

[Sherry E]

I will come back shortly to reply to the last posts from Bret, Michele, Kaitlin and Mia (hi, Mia!)....but for right now...



ddwlms, where ARE you? I have been posting these countdown-to-Christmas photos every day and you have vanished! All of the Facebook friends have already seen today's photo, but here it is for you...

7 Days Until Christmas!!


(Taken in 2010 by me; special effects by Photobucket):

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Okay Sherry. I can't wait for them

 

[rentayenta]

Glad to see you back Sherry.

 

[LisainCalifornia]

I am glad to see you back too, Sherry. I am sorry that you cried at Disneyland! That is the absolute worst. I actually had sort of a sucky trip time too (my son was a grump the whole trip--he is 17 and I think just is over Disneyland now-which is fine but he insisted he wanted to go before the trip). He said something really unkind to me right before the holiday parade, and I had to watch it with my sunglasses on because I was very teary. There is nothing worse in this world than feeling unhappy at disneyland! It kind of highlights the unhappiness, if you know what I mean.

Do you want to share what upset you? We are here to support you--not only in good times, but bad as well. I know many of here really appreciate what you bring to the disneyland board.

If not and you just want to keep it to yourself, that is fine too.

I always look forward to your pics and trip reports!

Lisa

 

[Sherry E]

Okay, here is the Countdown to Christmas photo for today:

6 Days Until Christmas!!



(taken at the break of dawn at the GCH in 2009)

​

A trip to the parks with other people that you know is always special and fun to do. I really enjoyed myself at WDW this past week with my dad, my brother and my dad's friend family. Even though we didn't do everything we had planned during our trip, they were all grateful by my planning during the trip.

That is a great say by Laurie that DL is a place to be shared. I really enjoyed getting in pictures with my family and my dad's friend family during the WDW trip. I will show some of those pictures later on when I upload them on my WDW TR. I still like to go on rides, but since I am going solo so many times I have been not riding on too many rides as I have been in the past with others. But when I have other people like my DA, my dad, brother, etc. with me it makes it even more special to ride the rides.

Since I have rode all the rides at the DLR, I like to go solo and find any hidden parts of the park that I have never seen or consider seeing. So going solo is fun and a good way to take a ton of pictures. Some of my group stopped to take pictures of Cinderella castle, Spaceship Earth, Osborne Family lights, Tree of Life, etc during our trip and gets me the time to take some pics of the littlest details. It was really hard to take as many pics while I had such a big group.

It is shocking to hear that you didn't go in NOS this year, but with all those people that you are with and being sick during your trip I understand that you had little time to see NOS this year.

I did say that in my TR a few weeks ago that NOS this year was way less decorated then in 2010 and the previous years. You can see it on my post that I posted of the pictures of [post=43353349]NOS over the last few Years[/post]. You can tell the difference from last years and this years NOS that the management took out a lot of the Christmas lights. There were some new additions to every part of the lands and buildings this year at DL & DCA.

You are correct that everyone won't remember the decorations from the previous years. But for people like us that do pay attention to the littlest details, it does feel like we are getting less decoration then in the previous years.

I didn't go towards the DLH during my trip and I wish I did since I wanted to see the new monorail pool area. I do remember the giant Mickey Santa hat at the DLH, but I was surprise to hear that it wasn't there this year.

Nice to hear that the gingerbread house at Storytellers Cafe was there this year after being gone last year.

There were a lot of Mardi Gras masks on the poles outside of NOS. There were quite a bit of them right by the NOS railroad station. At least the management put out enough masks on the poles this year.

Those trees at MTT were so ugly and I didn't even look at them so long.

You are right that there other DISers have inspired me to take better pictures like KcMike and Deej are one of the many DISers that inspire me to take a lot of pictures.

Bret -

Okay, so I was not imagining it that there were more masks on the posts/poles on the outside of NOS this year! I knew there could not have been nearly as many of them in that location last year because I would have surely seen them. Even though we didn't go into the back streets of NOS, as we were walking past it on the way to HMH, I thought it seemed like there were many more visible masks on the outskirts/border of NOS, and this made me wonder if they had been removed from the posts along the streets.

I have a feeling that little pieces of decorations are constantly removed in places like New Orleans Square and Toontown - because those lands are so filled with decorations to start with, and the powers that be at DLR probably think that no one will notice a few missing wreaths, garlands or whatever else. In a land that doesn't have much decor to begin with (say, perhaps, the Paradise Bay/Pier area of DCA), taking something away would be extremely obvious. I would bet that the Reindeer Round-Up is always having pieces added and removed as well - because there is so much stuff to look at in the Round-Up, if the management/decorators remove a few pieces to place them somewhere else, they assume no one will notice.

But I know what you mean - I hate it when DLR takes things away from the decorations! I don't mind it if they have to simply move things around and play with the locations of certain decorations in each land to test out which things make the biggest impact, but to remove things entirely bothers me. And unless people saw the original light canopy in NOS from a couple of years ago, they will never know how much of an impact it made on that land at night, and how different it looks today!

Sherry, when it comes to Christmas music my absolute favorite is all of the music from White Christmas. I totally love that movie, I must say that is one of my all time favorite movies.

Michele -

That's a good one, for sure!! Apparently you are not alone in loving that movie/song. Didn't "White Christmas" break records at one time for being the biggest selling single of all time? (I assume those numbers have changed since then, but wasn't it the top selling song of all time at one point in the past - or something like that? Or am I imagining it?)

I love the Christmas Music. I'm listening to Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You as I'm typing this

Kaitlin -

I love that one too. I am not a big Mariah Carey fan, but that's a great song. There is a version of it (sung by a little girl) in one of my all-time favorite holiday movies, "Love Actually."

Hi Sherry

LATE: I am so sorry to hear about your friends but glad that the DISBoards crew helped make some of your trip a wonderful time, would have sent a big much sooner.

I have been thinking of you and this has been my first chance to jump on to see how your Christmas trip went. I am glad to hear that you are starting to feel better. There is nothing worse than being sick on holiday.

I loved the photo of the Pluto attack. Very funny.

Ready and waiting for the TR, I will be lurking.

Mia

Hi, Mia!

Welcome back!

Don't get me wrong - I had a great, wonderful, fun-filled time with 3 of my old friends (the ones who live near Disneyland, who usually come with me on these DLR outings) on my first day. And I had a perfectly fine time with them and my out of state friends (who I had not seen in 10 years) at Goofy's on my second night. I had very little solo time on this trip, unfortunately. I really wanted to get out there and take photos and I need solo time to do that. I wish I could have kept my full week's reservation so I could have the last few days to myself but it was not in the stars.

But by Day 3, things were slowly starting to take a turn. I will have to explain how it started to go downhill early in the day as the actual trip report unfolds, but Day 3 was when I began to get sick and when my out of state friends started to bother me.

Of course, by Day 4, I was fully sick and crying on a bench in DCA!

Day 5 was when I had the other Goofy's meal with Laurie, Molly and Liza - and they were all wonderful and supportive and fun. My only gripe was that I had fully intended to try to spend some time in the parks on that last day, but I had to get home and rest because I felt yucky.

I am feeling better but I still cannot fully get rid of whatever this bug is - it starts to go away completely, and then it seems like it;s not fully gone.

Anyway, stay tuned for the actual TR. I can't wait to hear about your adventures in Hawaii and at DLR!!

Okay Sherry. I can't wait for them

Hang in there, Kaitlin! Trip Report is coming!

Glad to see you back Sherry.

Jenny -

I haven't gone anywhere! I've been here in the TR for the last several days, posting countdown photos! I would never leave you all - you DIS folks are all stuck with me!

I am glad to see you back too, Sherry. I am sorry that you cried at Disneyland! That is the absolute worst. I actually had sort of a sucky trip time too (my son was a grump the whole trip--he is 17 and I think just is over Disneyland now-which is fine but he insisted he wanted to go before the trip). He said something really unkind to me right before the holiday parade, and I had to watch it with my sunglasses on because I was very teary. There is nothing worse in this world than feeling unhappy at disneyland! It kind of highlights the unhappiness, if you know what I mean.

Do you want to share what upset you? We are here to support you--not only in good times, but bad as well. I know many of here really appreciate what you bring to the disneyland board.

If not and you just want to keep it to yourself, that is fine too.

I always look forward to your pics and trip reports!

Lisa

Hi, Lisa! Welcome aboard! You may have been reading along in the past but I think this is the first time you posted here, isn't it? I'm glad you joined in. Thank you so much for the kind words!

Gee, I'm so sorry to hear that about your son (that he made an unkind remark to you and was grumpy the whole time). That's awful - and I feel bad that you were teary at Disneyland! I can see where your son would be at an age that Disneyland does not appeal to him, and teenagers can certainly give attitudes if they don't like something - that's for sure - but I am sure that whatever unkind thing he said was not necessary or warranted.

Correct me if my memory is failing or if I am wrong, but didn't you make a mother-daughter trip to DLR earlier this year (was it summer?) that was absolutely wonderful? I seem to recall reading your thread about being there with only your little girl and how everything was perfect and special. You stayed at the GCH, didn't you? (Now is the time where you will probably say I am off my rocker!)

All I can say is that - if I am remembering that correctly - at least you had a wonderful time with one child at DLR this year, if not your son too. I guess not all the trips can be winners, can they?

I have had some 'iffy' times with friends in the past, but this time it just so happened that I had a wonderful time with some friends and the other ones were the ones who left me crying on a bench in DCA! (Which sounds absolutely hilarious to me now, in hindsight, but I'm sure it sounds pitiful to anyone reading along!)

Oh, I certainly don't mind explaining what happened with the friends at all. I am not shy about that. Stay tuned to the TR for that fiasco! I will be showing photos of said friends prior to when things went awry (when we were still having fun), so there will be faces put to the names/descriptions, and everyone will see who had Sherry crying on a DCA bench (but it was conveniently located near the GCH entry to DCA so I could make a quick escape!).

(Oh, I thought of you the other day, Lisa, because there was another airing of "Farewell, Mr. Kringle" on Hallmark, and I remembered that you said you loved that movie, and how you had to get your love of Christmas back after your mom passed.)

 

[tksbaskets]

Love today's picture! Hope to get one just like it in a little over a week

Thanks for sharing!

TK

 

[LisainCalifornia]

Hi Sherry,
I have posted a few times on here--before our trip! Yes, we have had some great trips to DL this year. I actually went twice over the summer--once with both my girls (I have an 11 year old and a 15 year old daughters), and the next time with just my older daughter. My 15 year old is the disney nut like I am, so the 11 year old had enough with just the one trip over the summer. We also went for Halloween for the party the first time this year (me and the girls) in addition to this Christmas trip with the whole family (husband and 17 year old son included). This has been our first year with annual passes (for me and the girls), so we have been making the most of it.
Everything is fine with my son--I know teens can give some big attitude. He is allowed to have his moments too. He is actually a really good kid, all things considered. It was just difficult to be sad while watching the Christmas parade. It is like a bad country song.

I am glad you had good times with some of your friends from here on your trip. I look forward to hearing about each day!

We stayed at the Grand Californian this trip, and it was pretty overlooking the lights in Downtown Disney. They really decorate that area well for the holidays.

I actually saw "Farewell to Mr. Kringle" again over Thanksgiving. I have DVR'ed a bunch of Christmas specials to watch with the family over the holiday. That way, when we are all ready to collapse together there is something on that is family friendly and fun.

Take care,
Lisa

 

[rentayenta]

Jenny -

I haven't gone anywhere! I've been here in the TR for the last several days, posting countdown photos! I would never leave you all - you DIS folks are all stuck with me!

I wouldn't have it any other way. Looking forward to your report. Love the photo countdown. You, KCMike, and Bret always have the neatest pictures. I enjoy EVERYONE'S pics though. They make me happy.

 

[ddwlms]

(It's funny - I have been posting my Facebook Christmas countdown photos for ddwlms'/DebraDi's sake - and she has disappeared!)
........

No, we are not normal people on this board.

oh no no no no no! I haven't disappeared. I was just temporarily displaced.

Actually, got a little busy painting a bedroom and trying to get my Christmas shopping and wrapping done. I swear, one of these years, I'm really gonna follow thru on my threat that everyone gets gift cards for Christmas. ---one of these years......

I actually had been enjoying your countdown thru Friday, quietly lurking. When I get REAL busy, I don't sit at the computer. When I'm partially busy, I read but don't take the time to write. And for that I apologize, 'cause I really do appreciate the pics and should be better at taking the time to express my gratitude. I think I did sneak in, just long enough for one small conversation before I got side tracked.

Of course, the fun thing about missing a couple of days is that I have a lot of catch up I get to enjoy.

Oh ya, in our family we have a saying: Normal people are boring.

 

[ddwlms]

oh ya, and especially love the popcorn buckets photo. I have one of those buckets as the centerpiece on my dining room table right now.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

That's Olivia Olson's version you are talking about. She voices Vanessa Doofenshmirtz in Phineas and Ferb.

 

[deejdigsdis]

Hi, deej!

I knew you hadn't been around or had not been your usual attentive/healthy self, because when I specifically mentioned YOU and tipped my hat to YOU for capturing something in a photo, you did not comment.

(I can always tell when people are not paying attention because when I specifically address them for something or mention something that pertains to them, and they don't reply - that is a dead giveaway!!)

Remember, though - it's not a race! I know that many of us (myself included) have a hard time realizing this, but we don't have to exert ourselves and push ourselves to get our TR's up or to reply to other TR's. The DIS will still be here. We will all still be here.

I am a mod - and part of my 'duties' as a mod are to convey information and help people with certain things. If I have an area of expertise (such as Christmas at DLR), that's even better. But even I don't have to race or push myself to post TR's or post information! I just do what I can when I can.

What does frustrate me, though, is when I get on a roll and my PC starts acting up. If I feel inspired I have to go with it. And in fact, I have considered the fact that it MAY be a good idea for me to wait to post my TR until all the other holiday TR's have completed. That way, it won't seem too redundant and repetitive. That is not in any way a slam against other TR's - not by a long shot. There are many wonderful TR's out there. The thing is, when there are many active Christmas TR's or Halloween TR's (or whatever 'theme') out there...well, let's face it, the readers can only tackle so much at a time. So I have considered waiting until it seems that the bulk of them are done and then attempting a TR, but again, I kind of have to do what I can do when I can do it. If I feel inspired and don't post, then I lose the moment and I don't feel like doing it later on.

So it's all based on my mood and patience at the moment!

Anyway, deej - are you not watching the plethora of Rankin-Bass goodies airing on ABC Family today? Shame on you!

Ah...the Candy Canes on a plate! One of my very first window display photos!

I feel like I need a December-Do-Over in the holiday-show-watching dept. Things have been so busy. We went out to eat the other night and they were playing Christmas music. "I'm Mr. Heat Miser" came on and I thought of you and I thought about how I haven't watched that show yet! Only a few days left. I need to watch those shows before Christmas. For some reason it's not the same after Christmas. Some of the excitement is gone.