stopher1
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2008
A Report compiled together from items originally posted as stand alone pieces on the DIS Dad's Club Thread, a heavily WDW experienced group of guys, with little to no DL experience - Dec. 2009 I was out in CA on business, having book-ended the business trip with DL visits staying at the PPH on the front end, and the VGC on the back end.
So for my friends in the DIS Dad's Club - a compilation of my posts.
Here we go...
So ok, I'm sitting in my room at the Paradise Pier Hotel waiting for the parks
to open - not til 10 today - but that's cool since DL was open til midnight last night, and I stayed until the very end when the end of day announcement was made "Ladies & Gentlemen, boys & girls, Disneyland has now ended it's operating day. Thank you for coming and we hope you'll be back soon. For your shopping convenience, Main Street will be open for an additional hour" AHHH, home. It sure was fun to be there. Can't wait to go back for a few hours today before I have head over to the office and start a week of meetings.
For your viewing pleasure, especially those of you who have not been to DL during the Christmas season - here is a sampling of my evening last night. Heavy on It's a Small World Holiday. Normally I'm not a huge IASW fan, though I do ride it, but I AM a huge SW Holiday fan - though I definitely prefer the DL original to the shortened/modified MK version, even with the controverisal additions made to the DL version last year (they added in doll-stylized versions of Disney characters to the respective world areas they are from ... i.e. Alice & Peter Pan in England, Mulan & Mushu in China, Aladdin & Jasmine in the Middle East, etc). The holiday overlay is now in its' 13th season and still going quite strong. If you ever have the opportunity to go to DL between early November & New Year's - take it!!! No other IASW currently gets this overlay.
Today I plan to get photos of the Haunted Mansion Holiday and will post them later as well. My camera battery died last night when I rode it...so I need to go back this morning. I definitely am not a fan of Nightmare Before Christmas, or the overlay, but since it's now in its' 9th season - there definitely are some diehard Jack fans that like it.
The Tree in Town Square
Sleeping Beauty's Winter Castle
Believe...in Holiday Magic, the Christmas fireworks show...good, but nothing overly exciting
Years ago this "snow fall" enthralled my DW & I when we lived in Orange County... now after living in the midwest for 9 winters, I wasn't as "oohing" and "ahhing" as most on Main Street were. (And honestly, soap flake bubbles getting into your eyes & mouth just isn't fun either)
Like many of the DL attractions, the queue and loading platform at IASW are completely outside. A huge difference from the MK. Plus the oversized facade that the revised version at the MK is based on. Here covered in thousands of sparkling lights for Christmas. They have a little "lighting" ceremony every 20 mins or so, where it goes completely dark, then has a fun lighting projection show on it of lots of various holiday images on the normally white & gold surface, that then finally explodes in burst of color at the end of the 1 or 2 minute "show"
Entering the SW show building
The seasonal overlay isn't just a cosmetic exterior one either... once inside, you see all kinds of holiday delights, including Santa inside his workshop, and hear him reading a list of names
Each room is decked out for the holidays, and the soundtrack is modified! They took the original music, and interwined Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls and other Christmas music into it. It works wonderfully, and really is a refreshing change from that endless, tortuous tune.
So for my friends in the DIS Dad's Club - a compilation of my posts.
Here we go...
So ok, I'm sitting in my room at the Paradise Pier Hotel waiting for the parks
to open - not til 10 today - but that's cool since DL was open til midnight last night, and I stayed until the very end when the end of day announcement was made "Ladies & Gentlemen, boys & girls, Disneyland has now ended it's operating day. Thank you for coming and we hope you'll be back soon. For your shopping convenience, Main Street will be open for an additional hour" AHHH, home. It sure was fun to be there. Can't wait to go back for a few hours today before I have head over to the office and start a week of meetings.
For your viewing pleasure, especially those of you who have not been to DL during the Christmas season - here is a sampling of my evening last night. Heavy on It's a Small World Holiday. Normally I'm not a huge IASW fan, though I do ride it, but I AM a huge SW Holiday fan - though I definitely prefer the DL original to the shortened/modified MK version, even with the controverisal additions made to the DL version last year (they added in doll-stylized versions of Disney characters to the respective world areas they are from ... i.e. Alice & Peter Pan in England, Mulan & Mushu in China, Aladdin & Jasmine in the Middle East, etc). The holiday overlay is now in its' 13th season and still going quite strong. If you ever have the opportunity to go to DL between early November & New Year's - take it!!! No other IASW currently gets this overlay.
Today I plan to get photos of the Haunted Mansion Holiday and will post them later as well. My camera battery died last night when I rode it...so I need to go back this morning. I definitely am not a fan of Nightmare Before Christmas, or the overlay, but since it's now in its' 9th season - there definitely are some diehard Jack fans that like it.
The Tree in Town Square
Sleeping Beauty's Winter Castle
Believe...in Holiday Magic, the Christmas fireworks show...good, but nothing overly exciting
Years ago this "snow fall" enthralled my DW & I when we lived in Orange County... now after living in the midwest for 9 winters, I wasn't as "oohing" and "ahhing" as most on Main Street were. (And honestly, soap flake bubbles getting into your eyes & mouth just isn't fun either)
Like many of the DL attractions, the queue and loading platform at IASW are completely outside. A huge difference from the MK. Plus the oversized facade that the revised version at the MK is based on. Here covered in thousands of sparkling lights for Christmas. They have a little "lighting" ceremony every 20 mins or so, where it goes completely dark, then has a fun lighting projection show on it of lots of various holiday images on the normally white & gold surface, that then finally explodes in burst of color at the end of the 1 or 2 minute "show"
Entering the SW show building
The seasonal overlay isn't just a cosmetic exterior one either... once inside, you see all kinds of holiday delights, including Santa inside his workshop, and hear him reading a list of names
Each room is decked out for the holidays, and the soundtrack is modified! They took the original music, and interwined Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls and other Christmas music into it. It works wonderfully, and really is a refreshing change from that endless, tortuous tune.