Our 3rd Annual Holiday Trip to DL in November - November 22nd - 25th, 2013 Post #3416

[mvf-m11c]

What an eventful day! I told Crap we had to go next year. He started looking into it and said it looked boring. Maybe, I will go alone while he takes the boys to the parks. What he considers boring, I think I will find fun. It is also cool that you had more DISmeets.

It was a great first day at the Expo with all the different seminars, shopping and the pavilions that we have done that day. during that whole first day was the shopping, seminars and the Journey Into Imagineering pavilion. I am crossing my fingers that you and your family will come to the 2015 D23 Expo. If you decide to go to the next D23 Expo, your family can enjoy the parks while you get to enjoy the Expo and maybe I will get to meet you in person. DISmeets have been fun these last few years where I get to meet other DISers and they are all amazing to meet.

What a fun looking day! I smiled when I saw the great firework pictures. I would have had a hard time not going to DL too.

It was nice to see all the auction items. It's nice to dream about having that Disneyland Parks sign in my basement. More money than I could spend I'm sure

Thanks for sharing!

It was a fun first day at the Expo. I got to go in the park later that Friday night to watch Magical fireworks and I had a decent spot with about 20 minutes to go at 9:30pm. The firework trails looked very nice. It was very difficult to go to DL after the Expo when we had to get up first thing in the morning to line up for the Expo.

Those silent auction items are really nice to see and I would love to own a few of them. The Disneyland Parks sign was by far my favorite at the upstairs silent auction. I can see it up on the wall and light up when I have friends over in the game room.

Thank you TK.

Nice firework trails, Bret!


Love the pictures of the stuff for auction. Si and Am are cute but if I had the space (and the money$$$), I think I'd go with the bobsleigh myself.

Thank you PiO. The firework pictures turned very nice without the Neutral Density Lens which I haven't used that night. The next time when I watched Magical during the trip was on Sunday and I was able to used the Neutral Density Lens and some of them turned out well. This will take some time when I upload all the pictures during the trip. I looked at the total of all the pictures that I have took during the trip and it was over 2200.

It was nice to see all the different silent auction items at the Expo. Si and Am were very neat and they went for a lot. I talked to Alison on Friday about the prop set of Si and Am that Fran really wanted that badly for their new house. I believed that they went for over $10,000 which was a lot of money.

The original bobsled are very nice to own and I wish they are still at DL over the new bobsleds.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Before I do my updates from the D23 Expo this past weekend, I will show you more pictures from Saturday.

On Saturday morning, I started lining up in the D23 Members queue to go shopping at the Mickey's of Glendale store which I didn't get to do on Friday while my DA went in the D23 Arena queue for the "Let the Adventures Begin: Live Action at the Walt Disney Studios" seminar.

I was able to go in the store and do some shopping which I spent about 1 hour in the store looking and going over all the stuff that I wanted to buy. There was a long wait line to get into the Mickey's of Glendale store so I had to be cautious of what to buy since I might not want to wait a long time to get back in the store.

Mickey's of Glendale sign

A lot of different merchandise in the Mickey's of Glendale Store

I will have more tomorrow.

 

[kmedina]

I like the I'm with the band shirt. Hope you got that one.

 

[PrincessInOz]

That's a cute Band shirt! Love it. Hope you got one.

 

[kaoden39]

There were a couple of really cute t-shirts there. Wow! To me that is the ultimate shopping trip.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I like the I'm with the band shirt. Hope you got that one.

Hi Kim,

That was a very neat shirt with the new Magicband on the front. Unfortunately, they only had small and 2XL shirt sizes. I wanted to get one of those shirts even though I won't be going to WDW for awhile. Going in the Journey Into Imagineering pavilion which talks about the new Magicband at WDW is very interesting. I also heard that it will be available for the AP holders so if I ever go back to WDW one day and get the Premier AP again, I will be eligible to get one of those Magicbands.

That's a cute Band shirt! Love it. Hope you got one.

Hi PiO,

I loved that one too but they didn't have the size I want when I was there on the second day of the Expo. If I went to the store after being in the Dream Store that Friday, I would have got one that day. Then I would have to wait about over an hour to get in the Mickey's of Glendale store which Alison went on Friday and it took them quite some time to get in the store.

There were a couple of really cute t-shirts there. Wow! To me that is the ultimate shopping trip.

Hi Michele,

There were a lot of neat shirts at the Mickey's of Glendale store from the WDI, WED, park shirts, etc. This was an ultimate shopping experience. But the ultimate shopping experience shopping would be at the actual Mickey's of Glendale store at the Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, California. There were a couple of times this year where D23 members are invited to the store to do shopping and trading. It would have been amazing to shop at the actual store in Glendale.

Here are some of the items that I bought during the trip

Pins from the Dream Store and Mickey's of Glendale Store

Shirts

WED Shirts and Hats

WDI Hoodie

This was a very neat item that I bought at the Dream Store was the Disneyland 4D Puzzle

WDI Lunch Bag

I got the customize iPhone 5 Disneyland cover

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! Look at all that amazing merchandise.

I love the Limited Edition pins.....and a 4D puzzle?????? Really? Does it come with a spray bottle to spritz the air around?

 

[kmedina]

The 4D puzzle looks awesome, but my boys would just tear it up. They have some cool merchandise.

 

[ACDSNY]

Looks like you scooped up some nice items at the D23 Expo!

 

[mvf-m11c]

WOW! Look at all that amazing merchandise.

I love the Limited Edition pins.....and a 4D puzzle?????? Really? Does it come with a spray bottle to spritz the air around?

I did buy a lot of merchandise at both the Disney Dream Store and Mickey's of Glendale. I didn't shop at the Disney Store which turned out to be the busiest out of the three main stores at the Expo where I have seen long lines just to get into the Disney Store.

The Disneyland 4D puzzle was very interesting where there are mini figures of the buildings and attractions. I haven't opened it yet since I am going to give it to my mom since she like to do puzzles. This was a perfect gift to get for her.

The 4D puzzle looks awesome, but my boys would just tear it up. They have some cool merchandise.

The 4D puzzle was a very nice item to get. Luckily they had a lot of those puzzles available during the last two day of the Expo where I didn't want to buy it on the first days since I bought a lot on Friday.

Looks like you scooped up some nice items at the D23 Expo!

I did buy a lot of stuff at the Expo. I remember that someone bought box loads of merchandise on Friday (mostly Vinylmation's).

Before I go to bed, here are some pictures of the Dream Store

 

[PrincessInOz]

Yet more gorgeous merchandise.

I like a lot of the t-shirts on display. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Wonder2008]

Thank you for posting all those pictures - you obviously did well in the pin department!

I like that D23 Expo T-shirt with all the characters dressed as Sorcerer's Apprentices. Everyone looks happy, except Donald!

Please keep these pictures coming!

Robert

 

[mvf-m11c]

Yet more gorgeous merchandise.

I like a lot of the t-shirts on display. Thanks for sharing.

There were a lot of very interesting things at the Dream Store. Alison got more interesting pictures during her shopping at the Dream Store on Thursday before the Expo was open to the public.

THank you PiO.

Thank you for posting all those pictures - you obviously did well in the pin department!

I like that D23 Expo T-shirt with all the characters dressed as Sorcerer's Apprentices. Everyone looks happy, except Donald!

Please keep these pictures coming!

Robert

Your welcome Robert. My DA and I bought a lot of pins that day but I know that other people during the Expo bought way more than me.

This years D23 Expo shirt looks way better then the last Expo in 2011 which had the classic Mickey. There were some items that they added at this years Expo where there are some that weren't added from the last one.


Sherry E

I wanted to post on your thread until you lock it down tonight. As you know that your thread got me started to do all the trip reports. I have enjoyed your threads for all those years and your will always be one of my favorites. It is sad that you have to close down your trip report thread and hope to read the new one.

I know that you aren't a summertime person and we are almost at the end of the summertime and close to the Halloween season at the DLR. Then it will be a matter of time when we get closer to the Holiday season at the DLR. You already know that I do enjoy going to the DLR during the Holiday season and will once again enjoy it with the new WoC show "Winter Dream". I haven't commented on the Christmas thread lately since I have been sick or away cause of work, it seems (for what I have been reading lately) that DL won't be having a party and making Believe...In Holiday Magic fireworks and A Christmas Fantasy parade as a separate paid admission which they shouldn't.

I might as well tell you and the other DISers that are following my trip reports. It is highly likely that my family and I will be going to the DLR in December during Christmas break. I know that I don't want to go during Christmas break at the DLR since it is one of the busiest times of the year. But this is the only time that my family can go to the DLR. The dates that they want to go to SoCal is on December 26th to the 29th. The dates are not announced yet but these are the dates that they will want to go to SoCal for the trip.

I will be looking forward to hear from you during MHP on Sept. 27th for the first night. It has been a long time since I have attended MHP at the DLR. But after attending Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the MK last year, it almost seems like I haven't missed MHP at DL. Maybe one day I will go back to the DLR and attend MHP since 2010.

I remember from your last years trip report that you didn't have a good time with your friends when you went in December. Hopefully when you go to the DLR in December, you will have a great time.

Once again, it has been fun to read your thread after all those years and I will be looking forward to seeing your new trip report thread.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Bret - Fantastic news about your Christmas trip. I'll be looking forward to living vicariously through your pictures. Love seeing DL all dressed up for Christmas.

 

[Sherry E]

Sherry E

I wanted to post on your thread until you lock it down tonight. As you know that your thread got me started to do all the trip reports. I have enjoyed your threads for all those years and your will always be one of my favorites. It is sad that you have to close down your trip report thread and hope to read the new one.

I know that you aren't a summertime person and we are almost at the end of the summertime and close to the Halloween season at the DLR. Then it will be a matter of time when we get closer to the Holiday season at the DLR. You already know that I do enjoy going to the DLR during the Holiday season and will once again enjoy it with the new WoC show "Winter Dream". I haven't commented on the Christmas thread lately since I have been sick or away cause of work, it seems (for what I have been reading lately) that DL won't be having a party and making Believe...In Holiday Magic fireworks and A Christmas Fantasy parade as a separate paid admission which they shouldn't.

I might as well tell you and the other DISers that are following my trip reports. It is highly likely that my family and I will be going to the DLR in December during Christmas break. I know that I don't want to go during Christmas break at the DLR since it is one of the busiest times of the year. But this is the only time that my family can go to the DLR. The dates that they want to go to SoCal is on December 26th to the 29th. The dates are not announced yet but these are the dates that they will want to go to SoCal for the trip.

I will be looking forward to hear from you during MHP on Sept. 27th for the first night. It has been a long time since I have attended MHP at the DLR. But after attending Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the MK last year, it almost seems like I haven't missed MHP at DL. Maybe one day I will go back to the DLR and attend MHP since 2010.

I remember from your last years trip report that you didn't have a good time with your friends when you went in December. Hopefully when you go to the DLR in December, you will have a great time.

Once again, it has been fun to read your thread after all those years and I will be looking forward to seeing your new trip report thread.

Bret --

It is so sweet of you to post a message/comment for me here in your TR. You didn't have to take the time to do that at all. And you know, I almost wouldn't have seen the comment tonight but I was on my way back to my DLR TR to post a few teaser Catalina pictures -- just maybe 7 of them or so and that's it, and then I was going to close out the thread again until I get the darn Wrap-Up/Retrospective finally finished. But I saw that you had posted in your TR and I thought, "Let me check out what Bret posted tonight," and saw your very nice message to me.

Thank you so much for the kind words. I really, really appreciate it, and appreciate that you have followed along with my TR thread for so long. I will open my TR back up for comments when I get that Wrap-Up done. I was just afraid I would go over the 250 pages before I got the Wrap-Up done if I didn't close it temporarily. It's not that I don't want comments, of course -- I am just afraid of that ominous "250" looming overhead! I'm so afraid that if I don't keep my thread temporarily closed, someone else will swoop in and close it out of nowhere -- before I am ready for it to be closed!

I can skip the MHP every so often if there is nothing new, as you know. This year I'm curious about what they're putting in Toontown for the MHP. And last year I skipped Halloween Time entirely so I figured I'd better get there and check it out, take a few more pictures, etc. But it looks like Halloween Time is going to be the usual too -- nothing really new. Disney certainly doesn't shell out the money to enhance their Halloween Time celebration, do they? They seem to scale it back, if anything.

Anyway, enough about my stuff...now what is this news about your December trip??!! That shocked me, as you are mainly a November DLR person!! Does this mean that you would be skipping your usual November trip? Well, if you go on those dates in December, yes, the crowds will be big. However, a lot of people say it's not as bad as they expected and they were able to manage everything despite the crowds.

You know what this means, of course -- this means you will finally, finally be able to take some photos of the 3 DLR hotels' decorations! Santa should be gone but the decorations will still be up!

And yes, so far it looks like we will be spared a hard ticket party, so the fireworks, parade and snow should stay as is. The holiday World of Color will be going on in the other park, so it should be interesting to see what's happening this season.

A new Theme Week starts in two days, in the Superthread. Stay tuned!

You said you were sick -- are you feeling better?

 

[mvf-m11c]

Bret - Fantastic news about your Christmas trip. I'll be looking forward to living vicariously through your pictures. Love seeing DL all dressed up for Christmas.

This will be the 2nd trip this year during the Holiday season for me since I will be going with my DA (who goes with me to the DLR during the Holiday season) in November. The December trip will be with my aunt (my dad's sister who went with me during the January & June trip), her son, possibly my cousin Chris and my aunt friends from Texas. Mostly I would not even go during that time of the year but this is the only available time for my aunt friends to be able to come down to California and visit the DLR.

Bret --

It is so sweet of you to post a message/comment for me here in your TR. You didn't have to take the time to do that at all. And you know, I almost wouldn't have seen the comment tonight but I was on my way back to my DLR TR to post a few teaser Catalina pictures -- just maybe 7 of them or so and that's it, and then I was going to close out the thread again until I get the darn Wrap-Up/Retrospective finally finished. But I saw that you had posted in your TR and I thought, "Let me check out what Bret posted tonight," and saw your very nice message to me.

Thank you so much for the kind words. I really, really appreciate it, and appreciate that you have followed along with my TR thread for so long. I will open my TR back up for comments when I get that Wrap-Up done. I was just afraid I would go over the 250 pages before I got the Wrap-Up done if I didn't close it temporarily. It's not that I don't want comments, of course -- I am just afraid of that ominous "250" looming overhead! I'm so afraid that if I don't keep my thread temporarily closed, someone else will swoop in and close it out of nowhere -- before I am ready for it to be closed!

I can skip the MHP every so often if there is nothing new, as you know. This year I'm curious about what they're putting in Toontown for the MHP. And last year I skipped Halloween Time entirely so I figured I'd better get there and check it out, take a few more pictures, etc. But it looks like Halloween Time is going to be the usual too -- nothing really new. Disney certainly doesn't shell out the money to enhance their Halloween Time celebration, do they? They seem to scale it back, if anything.

Anyway, enough about my stuff...now what is this news about your December trip??!! That shocked me, as you are mainly a November DLR person!! Does this mean that you would be skipping your usual November trip? Well, if you go on those dates in December, yes, the crowds will be big. However, a lot of people say it's not as bad as they expected and they were able to manage everything despite the crowds.

You know what this means, of course -- this means you will finally, finally be able to take some photos of the 3 DLR hotels' decorations! Santa should be gone but the decorations will still be up!

And yes, so far it looks like we will be spared a hard ticket party, so the fireworks, parade and snow should stay as is. The holiday World of Color will be going on in the other park, so it should be interesting to see what's happening this season.

A new Theme Week starts in two days, in the Superthread. Stay tuned!

You said you were sick -- are you feeling better?

I wanted to comment on your trip report thread before you closed but this is the next closest one to comment about your thread.

Your welcome and I appreciate all the time you have written about your past trip reports. It will be a matter of time when my trip report thread will be closed when I reach the 250 page mark. Before I started to post this post, I saw your pictures of your Catalina trip. Very nice pictures from your Catalina trip. I really did enjoy the bird pictures the most.

It will be very interesting to see what DL will do for the Halloween season. MHP is a nice event to go to at DL but it gets older and older unless DL does something new for the party. Ever since 2010 which I attended and heard and seen pictures of the parry, it almost seems like DL hasn't done anything new to improve the party over the time. It will be very interesting to see what Toontown will be getting for MHP. I didn't get to go to the Halloween season last year since I went to WDW during the Halloween season which was nice but I will still pick the Halloween season at DL over WDW anytime. In my opinion of seeing the Halloween season at the DLR, it almost seems like Disney is not putting a lot of money for the Halloween celebration at DL. Last year at the DLR (which I didn't attend) during the Halloween season that it looked like they scaled it back.

My aunt (who went with me during the January & June trips not my DA who goes with me during the Holiday season a lot) is planning a trip to go back to the DLR in late December during Christmas break. Her friend from Texas will be coming to visit her and wants to go to the DLR which she has never been which will make it exciting. Her friend from Texas will be coming with her daughter which will be her first time to California which she is excited as well. This was the only time they are able to come from Texas and visit us so my aunt had no problem with it. Along with my aunt and I will be her son (my cousin) & possibly my cousin Chris (who went with me during the June trip along with my aunt). I know that it would have shocked you of going in December since I haven't been to the DLR in December since 2009. As you know that these last few years I have been going to the DLR in November. With work and basketball season, I had no time to go in December like I usually do in the past and have been going in November. I will still be planning on going to the DLR in November on the 22nd to 24th with my DA and go with my aunt in late December on the 26th to 29th. I won't be skipping my November trip which is now a tradition to me and my DA these last few years and it has been enjoyable to go to the DLR during the Holiday season. The crowds during Christmas break are busy and we will be planning really well of what to do and see. I'm hoping that the trip will be manageable in December but I will plan it as a heavy season and planning is really important to get the most out of the trip.

You are absolutely correct that I will be able to see the Christmas decorations at the 3 DLR hotels in December which I haven't seen when I go before Thanksgiving during the Holiday season. Since my DA and I will be going on the 22nd to 24th in November on the 2nd weekend of the Holiday season, we might be able to see the hotel Christmas decorations. But I will still consider that it won't be up during the November trip. Hopefully the decorations will be up during the November trip. But for the December trip, I will try to make an effort to go to the 3 DLR hotels to see the Christmas decorations. It all depends on what my family will want to do and see when we go in December.

I am getting more and more confident that DL won't be doing a hard ticket for the parade, fireworks and snow this year. At least we will be able to enjoy those three activities at DL which makes it so magical during the Holiday season. I am really looking forward to World of Color - Winter Dream show during the Holiday season and glad that there is a new show for World of Color instead of just adding different segment to the original show. It will be very interesting to see what happens this year with a new show a DCA and the usual Holiday shows at DL.

I will be looking forward to the new Theme Week on Monday.

I have the stomach flu ever since I got back from the D23 Expo weekend. Right now it isn't as bad as the first few days when I got back but there are times when I have to go to the bathroom and be in it for awhile. I might have to go to the doctor next week if I don't get better anytime soon.

 

[tksbaskets]

Bret --

It is so sweet of you to post a message/comment for me here in your TR. You didn't have to take the time to do that at all. And you know, I almost wouldn't have seen the comment tonight but I was on my way back to my DLR TR to post a few teaser Catalina pictures -- just maybe 7 of them or so and that's it, and then I was going to close out the thread again until I get the darn Wrap-Up/Retrospective finally finished. But I saw that you had posted in your TR and I thought, "Let me check out what Bret posted tonight," and saw your very nice message to me.

Thank you so much for the kind words. I really, really appreciate it, and appreciate that you have followed along with my TR thread for so long. I will open my TR back up for comments when I get that Wrap-Up done. I was just afraid I would go over the 250 pages before I got the Wrap-Up done if I didn't close it temporarily. It's not that I don't want comments, of course -- I am just afraid of that ominous "250" looming overhead! I'm so afraid that if I don't keep my thread temporarily closed, someone else will swoop in and close it out of nowhere -- before I am ready for it to be closed!

I can skip the MHP every so often if there is nothing new, as you know. This year I'm curious about what they're putting in Toontown for the MHP. And last year I skipped Halloween Time entirely so I figured I'd better get there and check it out, take a few more pictures, etc. But it looks like Halloween Time is going to be the usual too -- nothing really new. Disney certainly doesn't shell out the money to enhance their Halloween Time celebration, do they? They seem to scale it back, if anything.

Anyway, enough about my stuff...now what is this news about your December trip??!! That shocked me, as you are mainly a November DLR person!! Does this mean that you would be skipping your usual November trip? Well, if you go on those dates in December, yes, the crowds will be big. However, a lot of people say it's not as bad as they expected and they were able to manage everything despite the crowds.

You know what this means, of course -- this means you will finally, finally be able to take some photos of the 3 DLR hotels' decorations! Santa should be gone but the decorations will still be up!

And yes, so far it looks like we will be spared a hard ticket party, so the fireworks, parade and snow should stay as is. The holiday World of Color will be going on in the other park, so it should be interesting to see what's happening this season.

A new Theme Week starts in two days, in the Superthread. Stay tuned!

You said you were sick -- are you feeling better?

I had fun reading your post on your trip report thread too Sherry. So much fun in store. Can't wait to hear about the wild woman on the golf cart.

 

[tksbaskets]

Bret, I'm sorry to hear you haven't been feeling well! I've enjoyed hearing about the expo. The iPhone cover you purchased is great! I really like the WDI hoodie you got too.

Hope you feel better soon.

TK

 

[mvf-m11c]

Bret, I'm sorry to hear you haven't been feeling well! I've enjoyed hearing about the expo. The iPhone cover you purchased is great! I really like the WDI hoodie you got too.

Hope you feel better soon.

TK

Hi TK,

Thank you. I am not fully recover from the stomach flu but I am feeling way better then before. Glad to hear that you are enjoying my experience at the 2013 D23 Expo. I am way behind since I have been busy with work and sick lately. The iPhone cover was very neat and glad that I got one during the Expo. When I asked the CM's if the covers will be available at the Disney stores or at the parks, they said that they are only available at the D23 Expo. So I had to get one and it was quite a lot which was around $36.99 with out the AP discount which I saved a little more money. The Disneyland park cover was the one that I wanted but I was also torn of getting the Disneyland E Ticket iPhone cover which was very nice as well. But I had to choose one and I chose the Disneyland park cover. I should have took a lot of photos when I was in the Mickey's of Glendale since there were a lot of different items to choose from.

 

[tksbaskets]

Bret, is the Expo every year or every other year? My family and I will most likely be purchasing an Annual Pass in December and I'd like to get our moneys worth A trip to Anaheim for and Expo would be wonderful.