Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread #3!- HOLIDAYS BEGIN 11/12/13!!

[u2pixi]

Happy Christmas Eve everyone

I tried to post a pic but I couldn't get it to work

I had a wonderful time at the parks, The PPH was terrific, the shows were great and I really enjoyed the Holiday time tour. One thing I did was save the three rides the tour went on so my first time riding them was on the tour- this definitely added to the excitement! The overlays were fantastic but I will admit that I did miss the original Haunted Mansion- it's my favourite ride so I look forward to riding it next time!

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed here- you all helped to make my trip wonderful!

I hope you all have a terrific Christmas and New Year- Stay safe and enjoy!

Amy

 

[czmom]

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!!!

My photopass CD came this week and I have started making my book. I make a photo book of every trip and we love looking at them. So now I am reliving our trip and it is so much fun!

 

[Kauinohea]

I haven't been on the thread much recently.....so busy with many family challenges, but thankfully DH, DD14, DD12, and DS6 fly out tonight at 10:30 Hawaii time! We are so excited and in need of a family vacation! We will be staying at the Paradise Pier Hotel again with a park view room. We love that hotel We also Have the Christmas tour booked as well a Goofy's! Wishing you all a very joyous Christmas!

 

[mrsw94]

czmom --
In other words, is there anyone else here who was kind of disappointed with their trip in general (for whatever reason) and won't consider another holiday visit? Or did everyone pretty much have a great time overall?

I realized I never answered this question. Overall, we had a great trip. I am a Christmas fanatic and loved all the decorations, music and everything. Christmas at Disneyland has been on my 'bucket list' and I'm so glad we got to experience it.

That being said, I don't know that we will do it again. (Although I'd still love to be able to see the Candlelight Processsional some day.) The crowds were just a little too much for us to handle. We were there 2 full days, Sun the 15th and Mon the 16th. Also a few hours Sat eve and Tuesday morn. We've been in October the past few years, and this was our first Christmas visit. Last October (2012) the crowds were much higher than previous years and we decided we were ready to try something else. I think we'd like to figure out a time with lower crowds. As much as I love the decorations, I also love the Magic of Disney and am ready to experience the parks without all the 'extras'.

The only reason we were able to enjoy many of the rides was because the hubby ended up in a wheelchair so we were able to utilize the disabled entrances in DL. Otherwise, I think we would have skipped quite a few rides. Since hubby's back was hurt, we also skipped most of the e-ticket rides. I can't even imagine how we would have managed to squeeze those in.

I think that sums it up!

 

[perlster]

let's try Twitter : It's official - Peppermint Ice Cream at Gibson Girl while supplies last!

 

[Sherry E]

perlster --

I was just reading that very thing about the ice cream on Twitter earlier (a few hours ago), based on what planningjollyholiday said about seeing a mention of it on MouseWait last night. ("By popular demand" is right, as referenced in Disneyland Today's tweet!)

!Interesting how the ice cream conveniently appears this week, when it is expected to be super mega-crowded before and after Christmas, but it wasn't available at Gibson Girl earlier in the season when crowds were presumably lower. Interesting that the ice cream was available at Ghirardelli early in the season and then vanished, never to return, but now it pops up at Gibson Girl at the end of the season! And interesting how Disney -- both the CM at Clarabelle's and the CM at Ghirardelli -- said in no uncertain terms that Dreyer's was not making the tub size they needed in that flavor anymore, but Dreyer's seemed to imply that the individual shops had the choice of whether or not to carry that flavor from Dreyer's.

Hopefully Dreyer's just finally came to its senses -- albeit a tad late -- and realized that lots of people actually go to Disneyland for the holidays (shocking!) and would like to eat their peppermint ice cream while there. It's good exposure for Dreyer's to have that flavor at DLR. It certainly helps their business outside of DLR, I would imagine.

Anyway, I have no clue. I have no idea what's happening with that confounded ice cream! It's there, it's not there, then it's there again. It's at the Blue Bayou and at the BBQ, but not at the actual ice cream places. It's at Ghirardelli but no one knows about it until right before it disappears. It's not at Gibson Girl and now it is at Gibson Girl. Shockingly, I actually saw several cartons of Peppermint Wonderland at the local CVS yesterday, when I expected to see none. It seems like when it is expected to be somewhere it's not, and when it's not expected it suddenly pops up.

 

[rentayenta]

Awesome. I hope to score one someday. We will definitely need to return for Christmas in 2015.

The candy canes are so delicious, smooth, not that tingly hot peppermint taste. I was like silly excited. We're hoping for 2014 Christmas. I'm going to make the reservation at 7 months at the GCV and hope the rest falls into place.

 

[mvf-m11c]

perlster --

I was just reading that very thing about the ice cream on Twitter earlier (a few hours ago), based on what planningjollyholiday said about seeing a mention of it on MouseWait last night. ("By popular demand" is right, as referenced in Disneyland Today's tweet!)

!Interesting how the ice cream conveniently appears this week, when it is expected to be super mega-crowded before and after Christmas, but it wasn't available at Gibson Girl earlier in the season when crowds were presumably lower. Interesting that the ice cream was available at Ghirardelli early in the season and then vanished, never to return, but now it pops up at Gibson Girl at the end of the season! And interesting how Disney -- both the CM at Clarabelle's and the CM at Ghirardelli -- said in no uncertain terms that Dreyer's was not making the tub size they needed in that flavor anymore, but Dreyer's seemed to imply that the individual shops had the choice of whether or not to carry that flavor from Dreyer's.

Hopefully Dreyer's just finally came to its senses -- albeit a tad late -- and realized that lots of people actually go to Disneyland for the holidays (shocking!) and would like to eat their peppermint ice cream while there. It's good exposure for Dreyer's to have that flavor at DLR. It certainly helps their business outside of DLR, I would imagine.

Anyway, I have no clue. I have no idea what's happening with that confounded ice cream! It's there, it's not there, then it's there again. It's at the Blue Bayou and at the BBQ, but not at the actual ice cream places. It's at Ghirardelli but no one knows about it until right before it disappears. It's not at Gibson Girl and now it is at Gibson Girl. Shockingly, I actually saw several cartons of Peppermint Wonderland at the local CVS yesterday, when I expected to see none. It seems like when it is expected to be somewhere it's not, and when it's not expected it suddenly pops up.

Just like you Sherry, I was surprised to read that Gibson Girl got the peppermint ice cream at this time during the busiest week at DL. I'll find out this week to see if they are true.

 

[tksbaskets]

Merry Christmas for cold and snowy Michigan!

The candy canes are so delicious, smooth, not that tingly hot peppermint taste. I was like silly excited. We're hoping for 2014 Christmas. I'm going to make the reservation at 7 months at the GCV and hope the rest falls into place.

We are going to bust up one of our candy canes today! So glad you found it tasty!

 

[Sherry E]

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Let your heart be light
From now on,
our troubles will be out of sight...





From my trip a couple of weeks ago...Can you recognize where all of these holiday sights were located around DLR, or where I was when I took the photos? (Some of them will be obvious! Lol.)

Through the years
We all will be together,
If the Fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

​

 

[kaoden39]

Sherry,

Thank you. Those are all so amazing!!

 

[KCmike]

Glad to see your photos are safe and onto the Disboards! Nice first series.

 

[tksbaskets]

Sherry such a great post!! I love all the pictures and can place quite a few. Merry Christmas!

TK

 

[figment_jii]

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

 

[Sherry E]

Merry Christmas to you too, figment_jii -- and to everyone who has recently posted (Amy, Jenny, czmom, mrsw94, Kauinohea, perlster, Bret, Jamie, crystal1313, egritz, Trish, Astylla, etc.), and to all of the DIS'ers I met or saw this year -- including Kim, Kathy, Janet, PHXscuba, Laurie/DizNee Luver and Liza/funatdisney! (PHXscuba and Laurie each sent me very nice thank you PMs for inviting them to join me at Club 33, which was so thoughtful of them to do! And Kathy made me a cute little scrapbook to keep pictures in, which was also extremely kind and thoughtful.) Thank you, also, to everyone who participated regularly in the Theme Week Countdown, particularly pattyduke34, who entered in every single week's theme!

Michele, Mike and TK -- Thank you for the kind comments and a very merry Christmas to you all! I'm not sure how good any of the pictures that I posted are (or aren't), but they were less horrible/less boring/less blah than some others in the bunch that I took!

TK -- Like you did after last year's Countdown to Christmas on Hallmark, I am hoping you will give your final review/grades on each one of the new movies this year when you've had a chance to watch them. I know which ones were my favorites of the new group, but I also discovered new holiday movies on Lifetime, Ion and UP that I liked. Not to mention the fact that I happened to catch older Hallmark/Lifetime/Ion/UP/ABC Family movies (meaning like movies from the last several years) that I had never seen before too, so I couldn't even keep up with all of the movies there were to watch between all of those channels! I feel like I've been watching some sort of holiday movie every day since the beginning of November, on some channel or another, and I still haven't seen all of them!

That said, I was filled with glee when Hallmark just ran a commercial a few minutes ago, promoting their next Countdown to Christmas -- which will officially begin on Saturday, November 1, 2014! Isn't that crazy, that the holiday season of 2013 isn't even over yet and I am excited for the next Countdown that starts on 11/1/14?? What can I say? I love holiday stuff!

​

By the way... I have mentioned before that I know that someone in the Disney camp pays attention to this thread, and probably to The DIS in general. What I'm not sure of is exactly how many 'someones' in how many camps tune in. I know that at least one or two people in the Social Media segments of DLR (and the Parks Blog) tune in from time to time -- because, obviously, a big, popular thread like this, with many participants and a lot of activity, is what Social Media people look for. They want to see what is being discussed about DLR on the Internet so they can get an idea of what the general public is thinking about certain things.

There should have been a combo Christmas/New Year's dining Parks Blog, but for some reason the Parks Blog skipped Christmas and did a Blog about New Year's meals instead. In any case, that was pretty much a direct result of extending a request for more dining info beyond Thanksgiving.

Also, in the past I have occasionally noticed that when certain things have been discussed here (or in the previous Superthread), not long after a Parks Blog will pop up about a similar thing. Or, a comment will be made such as "Downtown Disney needs to have a Christmas tree," and lo and behold -- the tree returned this year! Or, "...there needs to be more to the Village in Downtown Disney" and suddenly there IS more of a Village this year!

A couple of days ago or so I left a comment under a Parks Blog about the Christmas trees of WDW and of the international Disney parks. I mentioned that the trees of Cars Land and the other trees of Disneyland Resort should have been included in the Blog.

So...yesterday, up popped a Parks Blog about the Cars Land trees, and today, up popped a Blog about the other Christmas trees of Disneyland! Coincidence? I don't think so. Someone is paying attention!

Also, a while back I made a comment -- here and in a separate thread about Jingle Cruise -- about how I felt there could have been more decor in Jingle Cruise. Nothing too silly or out-of-context, but just a bit more than what was there.

One of the things I specifically suggested was that the Bengal tiger should have a Santa hat in his claws/paws or teeth/mouth. Actually, I think I mentioned the tiger thing before Jingle Cruise opened and after I rode it. And...guess what is now in the tiger's mouth? Yep. You guessed it. A Santa hat!! Not the red and white kind, but the beige/burlap kind like what the skippers of the boats have been wearing this year!!! That tiger did not have a Santa hat in its mouth in mid-November, but now it has one! Hmmm...

So...this is yet one more reason why you should always stay tuned to this Superthread and be sure to post in it when you can, if you have ideas or detailed thoughts about what you love and what could be improved during the holiday season! Someone is out there, paying attention. We may never know exactly who is out there, from which departments of DLR, or how often they tune in, but they do tune in -- and your comments could make a difference!

In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if, by the holiday season of 2014, a lot of that clunky clutter beneath the Paradise Pier Hotel tree has suddenly vanished too!

(I put in a request for a Parks Blog on the masquerade masks in New Orleans Square. We'll see what happens! We have a while to go before Mardi Gras, so there is plenty of time.)

​

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Merry Christmas everybody! Hard to believe all those months of trip planning, the actual trip, talks of Christmas movies & peppermint ice cream and here we are with Christmas Day almost at an end. Life moves at a crazy speed!

There may been some discussion about extending our holiday 2014 trip to stay the day past Thanksgiving (that would make an 8 day trip!) and renewing our APs since we'll be back in SoCal in June 2014. Yes, we just only got this year's and are planning like that. Christmastime was actually very nice, but we realized we don't really want to be back for Thanksgiving Day - it's nice to have one low-key (meaning minimal work for us) holiday. We'll see what actually happens though - it's still 11 months off and a lot can change. But I can dream in the meantime...

 

[kmedina]

Thanks, Sherry. I had a great time meeting you as well. It was a highlight of my trip. Even though I joined this thread late, it was so nice to see it all cone together. The tips were invaluable, and I enjoyed reading about everyone's trip. Hopefully, everyone had a very a merry Christmas (especially those lucky enough to be at Disney today)!

It is nice to see that we have a voice. Somewhere out there someone from Disney is reading and listening. I agree that too many changes happened for them to be mere coincidences. How I would love to work for Disney! They must have cool jobs. As much as I would love reading and writing about Disney, I think VIP tour guides have the best job ever!

 

[tksbaskets]

I'll definitely post my thoughts on the 2013 Hallmark Movies Sherry! I'm already looking forward to next year as well!


I have a bunch still on my DVR but so far (PSA I find Hallmark Christmas Movies 'popcorn for the brain' Light, airy, and hits the spot. As such I do not expect to see any up for Golden Globes or Oscars but that isn't why I watch the Hallmark Channel on a continuous loop during the holidays

Snow Bride - very cute

Catch a Christmas Star - very cute as well

Fir Crazy - it's up there as my favorite so far

Santa Switch - not one of my favorites. I thought the whole divorce/get back together was unplausable

Finding Christmas - much like "Trading Christmas" that is one of my favorites, this was very cute.

The Thanksgiving House - I thought the guy was adorable and I liked the movie

A Very Merry Mix-up - another one of my favs this Christmas. A nice twist I wasn't expecting.

Yet to watch (I'll edit this post when I do):

Pete's Christmas

The Christmas Ornament
Window Wonderland
Let it Snow
The Christmas Spirit
Hats off to Christmas

 

[lash]

I love this thread I was just curious what to expect tomorrow. We may be hitting downtown disney for a bit. Would get there between 10-11am and take off around 3ish. Horribly bad crowds? Just want to prepare myself lol.

 

[nicolispicoli]

I didn't end up going on my trip over the weekend. I got ill about 3 weeks ago and thought it would be long gone when I planned last minute, but of course, my body had a different plan in store. Mid-week last week, it morphed into a nasty sinus infection and I sadly gave my tickets to someone else. Thank goodness I already had a trip planned for February or I'd be in a deep disney depression!! Hope everyone has had a great time and enjoyed the amazing holiday spirit at our favorite happy place!