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

[PrincessInOz]

Beautiful! Love the night pictures of the castle and around MS. I'm ignoring the lovely merchandise that I cannot buy.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Beautiful! Love the night pictures of the castle and around MS. I'm ignoring the lovely merchandise that I cannot buy.

Thank you PiO. Seeing Sleeping Beauty Winter Castle at night is amazing.


The next post will be up shortly.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 1 – November 22nd, 2013 – Part 7​

On the last update, I was in Disneyland looking at all the different Holiday decorations. I just finished looking around Mickey’s Toontown with all the different Holiday decorations. Now I just left DL to head on back to Best Western Anaheim Inn to meet up with my DA so we can go back to the park that night to meet up with our other party members.

When I got my bags all packed up, my DA and I head on straight back to the DLR. We plan on meeting up with my DA colleague and her family. They were at Disney California Adventure for most of the day when they got to SoCal. They left Sacramento around the same time as we did that Friday morning at 6am and they were there before us since we stopped at Alison’s house to drop off some crab.

I have met my DA colleague (DGM) before the trip and this was going to be an excited trip for her daughter (DM), her granddaughter (DD2) and herself. They have been to the DLR in the past and they were there recently in August. This will be their first time visiting the DLR during the Holiday season. They are huge Disney fans and glad that we were able to join with them during the trip.

When my DA and I got to the Esplanade, we called them to see where they were and they were still in DCA. We told them to meet us at DL right in front of the Main Street Railroad station. We waited for a while until they arrived from DCA. The turnstiles to enter DL was quite busy when we entered DL.

It was almost 6pm when we were in the park and we waited until they arrived.

It took DGM, DM and DD2 awhile to enter DL when they had to wait to go through the turnstiles. Ever since the DLR added the extra CM’s to scan the tickets to make sure the ticket belongs to that person in January, it takes even longer to go through the turnstiles. Luckily for my DA and I that we don’t have to show them our tickets since our pictures are already in the AP system.

When we finally were able to meet up with everyone, we talked to each other about the day and what we have all done. They were at DCA for most of the day going on a few rides like the Little Mermaid and Monsters Inc. They are really excited to be in DL and to be with us that night.

Now we started to walk down MS to do some activities. The 5:30pm “A Christmas Fantasy” parade was over so we didn’t have to worry about the crowds. It wasn’t that busy on MS since the parade was already over.

When we were walking down, DGM, DM and DD2 got a few pictures right at the Christmas tree at Town Square. They bought one of those PhotoPass+ packages so they are able to get as many pictures during the trip with the CM photographers around the DLR. During the trip, it was well worth purchasing the PhotoPass+ package since they did took a lot of pictures around the DLR from the character meet & greet, scenic shots, etc. I have done PhotoPass in the past but not PhotoPass+. I might consider it one day but as long as I have a DSLR, I won’t do the PhotoPass+ package.

We walked down MS and it was not that bad as I have thought after the parade.

Over at Main Street Hub and in front of Sleeping Beauty Winter Castle, DM wanted to get a picture together in front of the castle. I told them that I will be able to get a picture of all of them including my DA. My DA doesn’t like to get in pictures that much but she did it for them.

When I looked at my itinerary closely, we planned on watching one of the two shows of Wintertime Enchantment Holiday Lighting in front of Sleeping Beauty Winter Castle. But it doesn’t start until 7:30pm and it was awhile until then.

We were all starting to get hungry that night so we talked about what place to have dinner. The choice that DGM & DM wanted to eat was to get Clam Chowder in the bread bowl. The place that has them is at the Royal Street Veranda at New Orleans Square or Harbour Galley at the edge of Critter Country. We decided to go to Royal Street Veranda since it was a good opportunity for me to get the Steak Gumbo while my DA could get the Vegetarian Gumbo.

We head straight on over to NOS. But before we got to NOS, we went through Adventureland to see how long the line for Jingle Cruise was at and it was at 40 minutes just to get on the ride. Talk about a long line to get on the ride. Also when we were walking, I have seen a lot of guests with mini posters of the Jingle Cruise. I was wondering why there were a lot of people that had those posters and my DA guessed that they bought them at one of the stores in the park. That was my first impression of the posters but later during the trip that they were exclusive and handed out on Friday and Saturday during the trip.

We all head on over to NOS and we went straight to get in line at the Royal Street Veranda. Unfortunately, the line was a little long and they all wanted to eat there. So while they were in the line, I went around to get some pictures of NOS with the Holiday decorations. It was going to take some time to go through the line at Royal Street Veranda and I will save money with my AP since I get 15% off with the Premium AP.

When I saw that there was no more wreath above the alley of NOS, I was a little sad that it was gone and replaced with a giant gold Mardi Gras mask. It does match the theme really well for NOS during the Holiday season but it just felt so different of not seeing the wreath.

I went down the alley not too far since I had to go back and meet up with everyone at the Royal Street Veranda. When I looked at the decorations on the alley of NOS, most of it was the same from the last couple of years. Even though there were some strings of lights over the alley, it is not the same when I don’t see the light canopy over NOS.

There were a lot of people trying to get into the Blue Bayou for dinner that it was hard to walk around the alley around that area.

There was some construction wall around the exit of Pirates of the Caribbean. I would have guessed that there was some external work on the buildings during the trip.

Before I head on back to meet up with my group, I stopped at the LeBat en Rouge store which is the store that sells the Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise had its holiday decorations up in the store as well as some other Holiday merchandise.

Santa Jack Skellington doll

The wreaths inside the store

After looking quickly around NOS, they were almost at the counter so I head on over there so we can save some money at the Royal Street Veranda. DGM, DM and DD2 got Clam Chowder while my DA got the Vegetarian Gumbo and I had the Steak Gumbo. It took about 10 minutes to get the food at the RSV. That was way longer then I have thought.

We got one of the tables right next to the restaurant. While we started to eat, I forgot to get pictures of the food. I was able to get a picture of my gumbo that night.

After we finished eating at RSV, we started to go on to our next ride. They wanted to go on this ride when we got to DL that night. DGM and DM loved this ride. While we were in NOS, they wanted to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a walk-on that night with only a 5 minute wait so we head on over to ride PotC.

This was a great opportunity to be able to use the new body and lens. It was a good test to see how my pictures turned out on the ride. So I used my camera instead of videotaping it. When I looked at the pictures after the ride, I didn’t get a lot of great pictures since most of them were blurry or too dark to see. I set the settings where the pictures are what I see when I was riding PotC with low light.

A look at Blue Bayou

A little blurry in the treasure room scene

Captain Jack Sparrow

During the ride, DD2 was a little scared of the ride. DM was a little surprised that DD2 was scared during the ride where she wasn’t scared when they rode Monsters Inc. at DCA. For me, the pictures didn’t turn out that well since I was playing with the settings on the camera and most of the pictures didn’t turn out that well since I have shown a few pictures. Some of them turned out fine while most of them didn’t turn out that well. It was my first time using the D7100 body on the dark ride for the first time where I have used the D5100 a lot these last few years. It did took me awhile to get used to the D7100.

That’s it for this post and we’ll find out what happens later that night at DL.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I love the pictures of the lights at the entrance, MS, NOS and the castle.

The pictures you posted of PotC were pretty good. I guess you get to head back and try different settings next time.


Nice looking gumbo in the breadcup.

I like the mask at NOS......if it were Mardi Gras time. But I do remember a nice Christmas wreath in that spot. I wonder why they changed it?

 

[mvf-m11c]

I love the pictures of the lights at the entrance, MS, NOS and the castle.

The pictures you posted of PotC were pretty good. I guess you get to head back and try different settings next time.


Nice looking gumbo in the breadcup.

I like the mask at NOS......if it were Mardi Gras time. But I do remember a nice Christmas wreath in that spot. I wonder why they changed it?

Thanks you PiO. Some of them were okay while some of them were not that good. If I do ride PotC during the upcoming trip, I will go with a different setting on the ride while the pictures turned out what you would see during the ride.

The Steak Gumbo in the breadbowl is very nice. Some people say that it looks like dog food in a bowl.

The Mardi Gras mask is nice but I would still prefer the Christmas wreath over NOS since I am so used to seeing it during the Holiday season. I wonder myself why they changed the wreath for the mask as well.


I have finally uploaded World of Color Winter Dreams 11/24/13 Full Show when I watched it on November 24, 2013 during the first show at 7:45pm. Some of you are wondering "7:45pm show?". With WoC Winter Dreams so popular, it was announced when we were in the park on Saturday and Sunday that DCA will be having three shows of WoC at 7:45pm for the first show which we got FP's on Sunday, 9:00pm and 10:15pm which is the two scheduled shows on the park hours calendar.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I have finally uploaded World of Color Winter Dreams 11/24/13 Full Show when I watched it on November 24, 2013 during the first show at 7:45pm. Some of you are wondering "7:45pm show?". With WoC Winter Dreams so popular, it was announced when we were in the park on Saturday and Sunday that DCA will be having three shows of WoC at 7:45pm for the first show which we got FP's on Sunday, 9:00pm and 10:15pm which is the two scheduled shows on the park hours calendar.

I'm 5 minutes in. It's wonderful!!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Bret - What are they letting into the sky at the end of the show? Are they snowflake balloons???

I love that they finally decided to use more of the CA framework and that circle. Always thought it was such a waste to only focus the show around the fountains when there was all that backdrop they could've included. Glad to see it's finally happened.

 

[rentayenta]

Can you tell me about sitting in the IASW area instead of Main St for fireworks?

Your photos are so incredible. If I wasn't going for even our measly two days, I'd be crying my eyes out. I love the buoy Christmas photo in Toontown. That's framable.

If my credit card doesn't catch fire from being so much during our trip, it'll be a miracle.

Bread bowls are on the list. I'm going to need a hollow leg for all of the calories I want to consume.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I'm 5 minutes in. It's wonderful!!! Thanks for sharing.

Your welcome PiO. Glad that you are enjoying the new WoC Winter Dreams from my favorite spot in the blue section.

Bret - What are they letting into the sky at the end of the show? Are they snowflake balloons???

I love that they finally decided to use more of the CA framework and that circle. Always thought it was such a waste to only focus the show around the fountains when there was all that backdrop they could've included. Glad to see it's finally happened.

They are some type of snowflake balloons when they are released before the end of the show. The snowflake balloons come out of the Christmas presents around the viewing area and that's why the presents are around the Paradise Pier viewing area.

It is nice that WoC Winter Dreams is using Screamin frame as well as MFW to be part of the show.

Can you tell me about sitting in the IASW area instead of Main St for fireworks?

Your photos are so incredible. If I wasn't going for even our measly two days, I'd be crying my eyes out. I love the buoy Christmas photo in Toontown. That's framable.

If my credit card doesn't catch fire from being so much during our trip, it'll be a miracle.

Bread bowls are on the list. I'm going to need a hollow leg for all of the calories I want to consume.

Watching the fireworks in IASW Plaza is a very nice area where you won't have to spend a lot of time staking out like Main Street. I don't have much experience watching the fireworks from IASW Plaza but my group tried to watch the fireworks from that area but it didn't happen since Believe...In Holiday Magic was cancelled on Friday during my trip. As for watching in that area, it is less wait time than watching it in front of Sleeping Beauty Winter Castle. You can get a great spot with about 10 to 15 minutes before the fireworks. The best thing about watching the fireworks in front of IASWH facade is that IASWH will have video images that will interact with the fireworks. That is very neat that video images will be on IASWH when Believe...In Holiday Magic if playing. IASW Plaza will snow after Believe...In Holiday Magic fireworks is over so you will be able to experience the snow after the fireworks.

As for getting a sitting spot, here is a picture as you can see from the right on the picture and you can see the railing that there are some areas where you can sit down and wait for the fireworks.

Hope this helps you.

Thank you Jenny. Donald Duck's buoy is very nice to see every time I am in Toontown.

There is a lot of interesting things to buy during the Holiday season. It will be nice to hear what you plan on buying during the trip.

The steak gumbo at Royal Street Veranda is a nice place to have lunch or dinner on a cold night. You can always go to Boudin Bakery at DCA and get a whole bread and take it back.

 

[franandaj]

Great pictures and it's so nice how you get all over the park, I wish that we could come out there and spend time, but with the cold and Fran's mobility we'll be lucky to do the Jingle Cruise.

I love all the various lands and the different decorations. We'll have to try and get out there and see some of them!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Great pictures and it's so nice how you get all over the park, I wish that we could come out there and spend time, but with the cold and Fran's mobility we'll be lucky to do the Jingle Cruise.

I love all the various lands and the different decorations. We'll have to try and get out there and see some of them!

Thank you Alison. It would be very nice if you and Fran were able to join us along the trip. Hopefully you will be able to go back to the DLR shortly and enjoy all the Christmas decorations.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 1 – November 22nd, 2013 – Part 8​

On the last update, we were in Disneyland that night to meet up with DGM, DM and DD2 that night. This was the first time in a long time that my DA and I were spending a trip together with other people where it mostly has been the two of us during the trip. When we got to the park, we went straight to New Orleans Square to have dinner at Royal Street Veranda to have Clam Chowder and Gumbo. After that, we went to our first ride of the night which was Pirates of the Caribbean. DD2 was scared of riding PotC and hope that she won’t get scared with the other rides during the night. Back to the trip report.

After riding PotC where DD2 was scared of riding it, DM told her that it wasn’t that scary. DGM and DM were happy that DD2 was able to ride PotC with them. Even though DD2 was scared of riding PotC, she did enjoy some areas of the ride.

When we left PotC, we head on over to the Haunted Mansion Holiday to see what the wait time was at and maybe we will be able to go on the ride that night.

But when we got to the HMH, the wait time was already at 35 minute wait time which was quite long that night and we didn’t have time to spend it in the queue of the HMH since we have “Believe…In Holiday Magic” fireworks to watch that night as well as Wintertime Enchantment Holiday Lighting.

We didn’t ride HMH that night and DD2 could be scared of the ride. But we were able to ride HMH during the trip and hopefully DD2 won’t be scared of riding HMH during the trip. We went on over to Critter County to ride Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh since the wait time was only at 2 minutes which is a walk-on.

This was a great opportunity to get some pictures of Winnie the Pooh ride with the new body. During the September trip with PiO and her family, we rode it two times which was good to get some pictures of the ride. This was also my first experience using the new D7100 body on the ride and some of the pictures didn’t turn out really that well. But I was able to get some pictures of the ride that night where we all rode it.

DGM & DM really enjoyed going on Winnie the Pooh ride that night where it wasn’t that long to get on the ride. I am so amazed how short the wait time for Winnie the Pooh at DL compared to the MK version where it get 10 times longer to get on the ride.

After we rode Winnie the Pooh, we decided to hear on over to It’s a Small World Plaza to ride one of my favorite rides during the Holiday season which is It’s a Small World Holiday. Riding IASWH at night is one of the best experiences when riding the ride when the lights on the façade are all light up. Since we were in CC, it would take some time to walk on over to IASW Plaza. So we all head on over to IASW Plaza to go on IASWH.

While we were walking on over to IASW Plaza, I like to get some Holiday decorations pictures while walking on over to IASW Plaza.

Pooh Corner with its Holiday decorations

We went through the backside of Frontierland to see Big Thunder Ranch with its Holiday lights are all light up at night. Big Thunder Ranch opens and closes at a specific time of the day and it was already closed when we walked by.

I had to stop again to see Olaf at the Frozen Meet & Greet Area. It is closed as well that night and when we got to see Olaf, he was already sleeping. It was neat that Olaf was awake and talking during the daytime. But at night, he was sleeping and might wake up occasionally and then go back to sleep.

We were now at IASW Plaza and it looks great at night with all the Christmas light and decorations all light up at night from the trees, wreaths, bushes and buildings.

Just when we were walking on up to IASWH, the IASWH Clock show started. Every 15 minutes at night when the clock opens, the ISWH Clock show starts and project videos of the Christmas season. This show has been at IASWH during the Holiday season but it was just recently updated with new projections and it was very nice to see an upgrade to the show.

After watching the IASWH Clock show, we saw the wait time for IASWH and the wait time was at 20 minutes which was not that bad it was a nice time to wait to get on IASWH. So we all went on that night.

I had to get pictures when we were in the queue.

The E.P. Ripley Engine #2 with Holiday 4 car set passing by IASWH that night.

Just when we got close to board IASWH, there was something wrong and CM’s were not loading any guests in the boats. We were all wondering what was going on. We waited almost 15 minutes in that one spot when the CM’s are working to get the ride going.

The IASWH Clock show started while we were waiting.

The ride restarted and we were about to board the boat to ride IASWH. It took about 30 minutes to get on the ride that night where we thought it would only take 20 minutes to get on it. But an extra 10 minutes didn’t hurt that much for all of us. DGM, DM and DD2 were all excited to experience IASWH for the first time since they have never been to the Holiday season. It is so fun to ride IASWH during the Holiday season for me and my DA.

That will be it for this post and I will have more from It’s a Small World Holiday.

 

[PrincessInOz]

How did the rest of your pictures work out inside WtP?

Piglet is fantastic!



I missed seeing IaSW lit up at night. I so need to come back.

 

[scrpbookr]

They do such an amazing job with IASW for the holiday! I need to add seeing that to my bucket list!

 

[mvf-m11c]

How did the rest of your pictures work out inside WtP?

Piglet is fantastic!



I missed seeing IaSW lit up at night. I so need to come back.

Most of the pictures from Winnie the Pooh were all blurry and I missed a lot of picture shots due to the settings on my Nikon D7100. I was trying to switch ISO settings to make sure that there is enough light in the pictures. It was a little difficult taking pictures on WtP over PotC where PotC was slower than WtP. I have learned a lot of what to do with the settings on the D7100.

Thanks.

You should consider going to the Christmas season next year and to be able to enjoy the full effects.

They do such an amazing job with IASW for the holiday! I need to add seeing that to my bucket list!

Disney did a great job with IASWH at DL and a must see.


The next post will be up shortly.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 1 – November 22nd, 2013 – Part 9​

On the last update, we all were able to ride Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at Critter Country while it was a walk-on that night. After that, we head on straight on over to It’s a Small World Plaza in order to ride It’s a Small World Holiday. When we got on over to IASWH, the new show of IASW Clock show during the Holiday season was playing every 15 minutes when the clock opens and shows a new projection show. After watching the show, we head on over to IASWH and we waited quite a while to get on the ride since it broke down. We waited almost 30 minutes to get on the ride and now it is back up and running.

We just boarded IASWH after waiting in line longer than expected since the ride broke down. Luckily we didn’t have to wait a long time to get on the ride. We were at the back of the boat and glad that we were on the ride.

I was so excited to use my new Nikon D7100 body on the ride and I have learned a lot from Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride a while ago from the settings on the new camera. It did took a while to get used to the controls on my camera when riding Winnie the Pooh. I made too many errors where it is different from my Nikon D5100 body to the D7100. I was more comfortable using the D7100 on IASWH. For most part of the ride, I have used ISO-1600 for the dark parts of the ride while I used a lower ISO on the bright parts of the ride like the end. The f-stop was set at f/2.8 thanks to the Tamron 17-50mm lens.

My DA and I have been riding IASWH for many years and it is one of our favorite rides during the Holiday season. Mostly the ride is still the same over the years with a few changes to the ride. I will get to that during the cruise. This was DGM, DM and DD2 first time riding IASWH. They have rode the original IASW during other trips and were excited to see the holiday version.

Just entering the building

Were almost at the year 2014

I will have more from IASWH.

 

[ACDSNY]

I'm thoroughly enjoying the pics from your November trip. It's been quite a while since we've been to DL during the holidays and it looks like they've added more holiday cheer and decorations.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I'm thoroughly enjoying the pics from your November trip. It's been quite a while since we've been to DL during the holidays and it looks like they've added more holiday cheer and decorations.

Thank you Angela. The DLR have added some more decorations this year where last year they were concentrating on most of it's holiday budget on Cars Land and Buena Vista Street. It is nice that other places around the DLR are getting decorations instead of concentrating on certain lands, buildings, etc.


The next post will be up shortly.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 1 – November 22nd, 2013 – Part 10​

On the last update, we were all riding It’s a Small World Holiday which is one of my favorite rides during the Holiday season. I don’t ride IASWH at night with the crowd wait times but everyone in our group wanted to ride it was dark. It’s always fun to ride it when the lights are on at night. We are half way through the ride and now back to the other part of IASWH.

Now back to IASWH where we are now in the Mexican area of the ride.

The final area of the ride which is the fun scene.

The end where you get to see the Holiday post cards is very nice to see.

We were now outside and waiting to get back at the docks and enjoy our rest of the night at DL. We were hoping to watch “Believe…In Holiday Magic” fireworks that night. But there was a good chance that it wasn’t going to happen since it was quite windy that night and the fireworks at DL doesn’t play when it is windy unlike the MK at WDW where it will play the fireworks on a windy day unless the weather is really bad.

We got off the ride, DGM, DM and DD2 had a fun time riding IASWH that they wanted to go back on another day during the trip. Maybe during the morning time during the trip would do really nicely since we got to ride it at night. We went on over to pickup their stroller.

That’s it for this post and I will have more from DL that night.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Fantastic pics, Bret. Looks like you and that camera/lens are settling in nicely together.