Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread #2 (Closed)

[kswm30b]

BTW, Sherry, the Nutcrackers are at Off the Page, too. I took lots of pics of them there

 

[jrfish96]

Do you know the price of the nutcrackers?

 

[Sherry E]

Do you know the price of the nutcrackers?

jrfish96 -

If I recall correctly, I think they were all just under $45 (like maybe $44.95 or so), and that's before any tax or discounts (liza/funatdisney bought the popular Santa Mickey nutcracker when I told her it was flying off the shelves, and her AP discount was 20%).

 

[tksbaskets]

The nutcrackers are adorable!

 

[Bunchkin]

Can anyone tell me if DL has gotten any better with character interaction, as in are they making people line up to meet characters OR is it the normal (pain in the butt) large crowd of people just walking up and taking pictures when you're already next to a character doing the same thing? Past trips this has happened to us soooo many times. We've even asked the handler why they don't do the same as WDW and make a line. Seems like a simple idea to follow.

 

[danimaroo]

Can anyone tell me if DL has gotten any better with character interaction, as in are they making people line up to meet characters OR is it the normal (pain in the butt) large crowd of people just walking up and taking pictures when you're already next to a character doing the same thing? Past trips this has happened to us soooo many times. We've even asked the handler why they don't do the same as WDW and make a line. Seems like a simple idea to follow.

While on our trip 2 weeks ago, we met Pluto, Jack Skellington and Wreck-It Ralph.

Wreck-It Ralph is in the Starcade so there is an actual official line queue to go to in order to meet him, as it's an organized type of meet and whatnot.

Jack Skellington we showed up for, were told hed be back at 12:15, so we went on a ride, then came back at around 12:10ish where a small line had formed. The CM told us we could hop in line, and it was very organized where you got to have your own time with Jack. He was an absolute delight to talk to!

Pluto we found hanging out over near the fountain in CA Adventure, and he also had a little line around the fountain. We hopped in line and didn't wait very long, and I got my photo with him. While waiting for Pluto, Chip 'n Dale showed up and a little crowd surrounded them, but shortly thereafter an organized line was made and photos were taken one by one.

Hope this helps a bit!

 

[Bunchkin]

While on our trip 2 weeks ago, we met Pluto, Jack Skellington and Wreck-It Ralph.

Wreck-It Ralph is in the Starcade so there is an actual official line queue to go to in order to meet him, as it's an organized type of meet and whatnot.

Jack Skellington we showed up for, were told hed be back at 12:15, so we went on a ride, then came back at around 12:10ish where a small line had formed. The CM told us we could hop in line, and it was very organized where you got to have your own time with Jack. He was an absolute delight to talk to!

Pluto we found hanging out over near the fountain in CA Adventure, and he also had a little line around the fountain. We hopped in line and didn't wait very long, and I got my photo with him. While waiting for Pluto, Chip 'n Dale showed up and a little crowd surrounded them, but shortly thereafter an organized line was made and photos were taken one by one.

Hope this helps a bit!

Yes, it does help. Thanks!
It's good to know there have been changes made to make meeting characters more organized.

 

[QueenDoOver]

Thanks so much for sharing your CP tips. I have always wanted to watch and now I feel confident showing up with my 10 year old and giving it a shot.

Is that a Topiary Mickey nutcracker? I think that is my favorite.

 

[2hdmama]

Is there anywhere that you can have things gift wrapped?

 

[tinkermell]

Sherry, So nice to hear that you had a wonderful time this year. Great seats, WOW!

I have seen the CP in both DL and WDW, and I will have to tell you that IMO the one in DL is better. I think it is because of the location, the trumpeters that stand on top of the train station, and that the procession actually walks down Main Street. Don't get me wrong, the one in WDW was great too. The story was still there, the orchestra, singing, our narrator Jim Caviezel who was awesome, but the stadium seating just did not have the atmosphere. So to hear that they might move it to DCA, after all of these years saddens me. It just will not be the same.

I love the Santa Nutcrackers. So cute. My DD has been collecting nutcrackers for years. It was tradition for her to get one every year for Christmas, so she has quite a few. Would love to get one of those for her, even though she now is married and almost 30. LOL.....she loves all things Disney too, so age doesn't matter for her.

So was I was going through the list of information here on the "Super Thread." I was looking for menus for the parks and resorts for Christmas Eve and Day. Dave my DH and I might be going to DL by ourselves this year for something to do. All of our children will be at their respective in-laws this year for Christmas, and our last baby Kaitlyn, is in Australia doing mission work. So it is going to be sad and lonely around here. I'm thinking DL will help out the "woe is me" syndrome. Not even sure, if I could get ressies anywhere for dinner? Was hoping for Napa, or Steakhouse on Christmas Eve. Dave saw the Christmas special with Guy Fieri, and is now hot to trot to try Napa. Hey.....fine with me.

One more question. Red Lion has some great rates for those dates yet. $72.00 a night. What do you think DISers?

Heather, so glad you liked our little parks. DL has the quaintness and quality that makes it very special.

Hi Mike! Hope you and your family are well. Especially your DW.

 

[BELLEDOZER]

First off I'd like to thank Sherry for all your great pics, and am glad that you had a wonderful time on your trip. I appreciate all the info that you've given regarding Christmas in DL, and it's made planning my future trip so much easier, knowing what to expect. I plan to go sometime in Nov/13, but have to wait till DH locks in his vacation dates before I can start booking hotel/air, starting in Jan. Will post my dates once I've got them locked down. Have a great day!!

 

[JediMasterNerd]

I was looking for menus for the parks and resorts for Christmas Eve and Day.
...
Not even sure, if I could get ressies anywhere for dinner? Was hoping for Napa, or Steakhouse on Christmas Eve.

Hi tinkermell,

I posted what info I gleaned from a call to the dining folks in this thread (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=46547816#post46547816)... It's not complete though, does not include Napa Rose...

And yesterday I posted this... Hopefully this will work and hasn't been filled:

...
If anyone is going on Christmas Eve and you didn't get reservations for a restaurant I'm going to be releasing a couple of reservations now that we have our plans finalized - I'm cancelling these so that should free them up for someone to take - they were for a party of 7:
Wine Country Trattoria - 6:50pm
Steakhouse 55 - 8pm

Good luck!

J.

 

[kswm30b]

Can anyone tell me if DL has gotten any better with character interaction, as in are they making people line up to meet characters OR is it the normal (pain in the butt) large crowd of people just walking up and taking pictures when you're already next to a character doing the same thing? Past trips this has happened to us soooo many times. We've even asked the handler why they don't do the same as WDW and make a line. Seems like a simple idea to follow.

Both. My fav thing to do is meet characters, and I had a love/hate relationship with how they do characters. There are ones with lines, then there are ones that just randomly walk around, with no handlers. I saw Bert walking around DL this trip more than the 16 times I've been to wdw combined. sometimes he was with Mary, sometimes with Penguin. Another time I saw Peter Pan just hanging out near pixie hollow, no one realized he was there until I walked up, then there was a mob. It was the one time I was alone, so I had to beg the person behind me to take a pic with my camera for me. the jingle jangle thing was mostly just people mobbing Mickey, or trying to catch up to Pluto to snap a picture. It was also frustrating that the character wouldn't come out at the same place all the time (for example, the caharcters on BVS have 4 or 5 places they'll meet, but if you're waiting for a certain character, you have to either guess right, or see when they come out, and follow them around until they get to their spot. I'm used to just waiting in one spot & they'll come back out.) Most of the time, though, I found the interaction better than at wdw.

 

[focusondisney]

focusondisney -

Thank you! I was so glad I decided to make the effort to try to see the CP. I almost skipped it because I had visions of standing around for hours just to barely be able to see anything, which didn't sound appealing. I had no idea how easy it would be to get a seat!

Did I read correctly before in that you said that you enjoyed the Disneyland CP better than the one at WDW (or at least some things about it)? Never having seen the WDW version of the CP I cannot compare, of course, but this one at DL seemed very special!

Yes, you read right! The CP at WDW is beautiful, of course. But the sheer number of people involved in CP at DL was what really impressed me. There seemed to be maybe 3 times the number of singers. I couldn't believe how they kept coming & coming into the square. And sitting in the open, in the dark, watching by candlelight, was mesmerizing.

I will say, the trumpeters are more noticable at WDW, they're right there on the side of the arena, so they are very impressive at WDW. It was hard to see them from our mid-way back & to-the-side seats.

 

[Sherry E]

I still need to read/reply to some of the last few posts that came in and I will have to do that a bit later, but I quickly wanted to pop in and post a "sneak preview" of some of the photos I took in my TR (just a general overview). So then I decided to just copy and paste them here in this thread as well!

Some of the pictures below don't appear to be very Christmas-y, and I'm not sure how the size of my IASWH, Tomorrowland and Winter Castle photos managed to change (because I did not deliberately change the sizes, but somehow they are narrower than the others), but oh well...

Anyway, here is the 'Sherry's December 2012 DLR trip' sneak preview:

I never get tired of my favorite hotel tree - the glorious, blue-green, glowing tree at the Paradise Pier Hotel. It warms my heart and puts a smile on my face...

This year's gingerbread masterpiece at Storytellers Cafe - which did not smell anywhere near as fresh and wonderful as it did in 2011...

Part of this year's gingerbread house at White Water Snacks...

A slightly different perspective of Buena Vista Street...

The view from my Paradise Pier Hotel room, on two different days...

Some of the vibrant flowers in front of the Candlelight Processional stage...

Peppermint ice cream in a chocolate/red & green sprinkle-covered cone, from Gibson Girl Ice Cream ...

I love how each mask in New Orleans Square seems to have its own personality!

This photo just screams "Christmas time," doesn't it? Lol....

This one is called "Sherry is experimenting with the sepia setting on her camera..."

Adventureland fun...

A collection of 'peaks'...

Just horsin' around...

Toon Town fun...

Tomorrowland fun...

It's a Small World Holiday fun...

I was trying to aim upward because there were a lot of people's heads in the way...

A slightly different perspective of Haunted Mansion Holiday...

And this one is called "Sherry is experimenting with the B&W feature on her camera"...

​

 

[BELLEDOZER]

Love the pics Sherry!! I'm curious about something, and was wondering your thoughts on something. With the CP moving to the Hyperion Theatre in 2013, what are your thoughts on DL having a similar event that WDW has, the MVMCP?? Just curious to your thoughts regarding this. More curious than anything else.

 

[figment_jii]

I just got back from Disneyland! I was surprised that the Christmas parade under went a few changes since November.
1. Mickey and Minnie are no longer skating (they're in red and green sweater outfits now).
2. Belle and the Beast are now walking the parade route instead of riding on the back of a float in the Princess & Prince section of the parade.
3. No more seven dwarves! They've been replaced with holiday dancers.
I almost didn't watch the parade this trip thinking it would be the same, but there have been some subtle tweaks. I wonder if it's the difference between being a night parade in November and a daytime parade now.

Having seen all the effort that goes into CP, I can see where there might be thoughts of moving it indoors to a venue that won't get rained out. It was very pretty to look at, but it does impact a lot of things, so I can see where they might want to put it somewhere else. Here are a few things that I saw that were closed due to CP:
1. The railroad stops at 4:00 pm
2. Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (I don't know when it stopped)
3. The hat and art shop shop on start of Main Street
4. Jungle Cruise (stops at 5:00 and restarts at 9:00 pm)
5. Can't walk down the middle of Main Street from before the first show to after the second show.

The merchandise was available all day at the Emporium and in the front shop on Main Street (I can't remember the name, but it's attached to the Magic Shop). It was also at the World of Disney.

 

[A Small World]

I just got back from Disneyland! I was surprised that the Christmas parade under went a few changes since November.
1. Mickey and Minnie are no longer skating (they're in red and green sweater outfits now).
2. Belle and the Beast are now walking the parade route instead of riding on the back of a float in the Princess & Prince section of the parade.
3. No more seven dwarves! They've been replaced with holiday dancers.
I almost didn't watch the parade this trip thinking it would be the same, but there have been some subtle tweaks. I wonder if it's the difference between being a night parade in November and a daytime parade now.

Having seen all the effort that goes into CP, I can see where there might be thoughts of moving it indoors to a venue that won't get rained out. It was very pretty to look at, but it does impact a lot of things, so I can see where they might want to put it somewhere else. Here are a few things that I saw that were closed due to CP:
1. The railroad stops at 4:00 pm
2. Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (I don't know when it stopped)
3. The hat and art shop shop on start of Main Street
4. Jungle Cruise (stops at 5:00 and restarts at 9:00 pm)
5. Can't walk down the middle of Main Street from before the first show to after the second show.

The merchandise was available all day at the Emporium and in the front shop on Main Street (I can't remember the name, but it's attached to the Magic Shop). It was also at the World of Disney.

We got home last Tuesday after spending 9 days there and Mickey and Minnie were skating in the parade.
The 7 dwarves were also in the parade although the 2nd time we watched it (Saturday 8th I think) one of the dwarves was led off to one side part way through so they continued with just 6 - not sure what had happened but this is possibly why they arent there now.

I agree with what you said about the CP disrupting a lot of things although we hadnt noticed that Jungle Cruise stopped - I dont know why this would affect CP

 

[figment_jii]

We got home last Tuesday after spending 9 days there and Mickey and Minnie were skating in the parade.
The 7 dwarves were also in the parade although the 2nd time we watched it (Saturday 8th I think) one of the dwarves was led off to one side part way through so they continued with just 6 - not sure what had happened but this is possibly why they arent there now.

Interesting. I couldn't think of a good reason for Mickey & Minnie to not be skating or for the Dwarves to be missing. I was guessing Belle and Beast could walk because it's a day time parade now and the Beast's limited vision might make walking the route dangerous at night. The weather was pretty good on Saturday, so I don't think that would have changed Mickey & Minnie. Mystery!

I agree with what you said about the CP disrupting a lot of things although we hadnt noticed that Jungle Cruise stopped - I dont know why this would affect CP

I only noticed this one because I was going to ride Jungle Cruise and there was a sign up saying it was closed. I think it's because you can sometimes hear the Jungle Cruise's sound effects (e.g., guns) going off on Main Street and they didn't want those disrupting CP.

 

[kswm30b]

I just got back from Disneyland! I was surprised that the Christmas parade under went a few changes since November.
1. Mickey and Minnie are no longer skating (they're in red and green sweater outfits now).
2. Belle and the Beast are now walking the parade route instead of riding on the back of a float in the Princess & Prince section of the parade.
3. No more seven dwarves! They've been replaced with holiday dancers.
I almost didn't watch the parade this trip thinking it would be the same, but there have been some subtle tweaks. I wonder if it's the difference between being a night parade in November and a daytime parade now.

I know it's already been posted that Mickey & Minnie were skating and the dwarves were out t other parades (I saw them.) but with the princess float, I noticed snow/prince, belle/beast & aurora/Phillip would switch places between walking behind the float & being on it a they walked along the route