Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread #4

[figment_jii]

The Christmas Parade is so cute. Here are a few of my favorite scenes!

 

[kkmcan]

kkmcan --

I'm sorry to hear that the holiday trip is being cancelled, but at least you already know what to expect for Halloween Time and have enjoyed it before. It sounds like, for all intents and purposes, a Halloween Time trip will work out much better for you this time around. Hopefully a DLR holiday trip will be in your future at some point.

I'll see you over in the Halloween Time Superthread -- and, of course, you're still welcome to follow this thread too, even though your plan was dropped!

​

Thanks Sherry! I love that you respond to each person. You have made me feel so included even though I don't post very much. See ya in the Halloween thread!

 

[mom2rtk]

Great them this week! I'll do mine in batches, starting with the parade at night. These were shot from the reserved seating that come with the tour.


IMG_5462 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

IMG_5473 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

IMG_5512 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

IMG_5548 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

IMG_5526 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

IMG_5561 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

IMG_5622 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

IMG_5639 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

IMG_5681 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

IMG_5692 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

IMG_5701 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

IMG_5747 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[meljensmom]

I don't have any pictures to share because we've never gone to DL in December....however, I'm torn between showing the pictures that are being posted to my youngest daughter to add to her excitement and not showing her so that she's totally surprised and taken by the magic of it first hand. I know that it's going to be magical for all of us....we are all looking forward to being there for Christmas.

 

[sgrap]

Is the Christmas Fantasy parade the same parade that was showing in 2005? I can't remember the name of which one we saw then.

 

[tksbaskets]

I love the holiday parade! I'm singing the music in my head as I'm typing now. We took the Holiday Tour in 2009 and again in 2011 - Believe me it's the only way I'd ever get a primo spot for parade viewing as we'd never stake out a spot hours before:

2009 We had the later tour so the parade with the night time one

LOVE these guys!

Random photo of my happy family in our premiere parade seats!

2011 We took the early tour so the parade was the day time one

Prancers:

Dancers:

YIKES a step sister:

Oh dear...

I promise to get out my scanner for my 1989 pictures this week.

TK

 

[kylie71]

Mine are from 2013, and 2011:

 

[Orbitron]

Christmas Fantasy Parade

By day

By night

​

 

[Speechphi]

the photos aren't great, but here they are:


















I'm hoping this year to go on the Holiday Tour just to get good seat (and hopefully better photos).







So this first one isn't actually of the fireworks, and it's not a great photo by any means. But I love how my dd3 is clapping at the fireworks



and here is the one photo I got of the fireworks in front of the castle, but behind the trees ;-)

 

[rentayenta]

Forgive the straw hat.

 

[pattyduke34]

Here are a few of mine
this is from last year...we were right at the rope up front!








and the parade from last year...

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Great pictures everybody! The fireworks ones over the castle are breathtaking. I'm sure I said this last year as well when I realized my lack of holiday fireworks pictures, but I am going to see them from the parks this year!

Here are mine

First up, 2013 (Holiday Tour seating)














2012 (sitting on the curb outside of Mad Hatter on Main Street)






And Fireworks:
2012 (balcony of our room at GCH)


2010 (sitting on the old "CALIFORNIA" letters in the esplanade)

 

[Misskitty3]

What fun pictures! I love those roller skating snowflakes! What an awesome job that would be!

 

[marlana323]

How does the Candlelight Ceremony & Processional affect the crowds? I am booked the 7-12. If there is a thread on that I haven't been able to find it (although I'm guessing there is).

I've planning to do the holiday tour and it never occurred if I'd want to do the evening or day one. What's everyone's preference?

Thank you all for posting photos. Since this is our first year at Christmas I don't have any to contribute but I'm loving following along with all of yours!

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

How does the Candlelight Ceremony & Processional affect the crowds? I am booked the 7-12. If there is a thread on that I haven't been able to find it (although I'm guessing there is). I've planning to do the holiday tour and it never occurred if I'd want to do the evening or day one. What's everyone's preference? Thank you all for posting photos. Since this is our first year at Christmas I don't have any to contribute but I'm loving following along with all of yours!

We prefer the nighttime Holiday Tour. The sun actually goes down while on the tour - it actually set while we were on HM I prefer it because you get to go on IASW with it all lit up and it's the in the background of the parade.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Yeah I arrive the 17th well 18th because the 17th we've a lovely 17 hour travelling day!

We will be there on 11th and 12th November and then again 24th to 30th November. 10th, 13th and 23rd November plus 1st December are travel days for us as we combine Disneyland with Aulani.

I am thoroughly enjoying all the photos. I need to make sure I book a Holiday Tour that includes the parade during daylight hours.

Sherry, could I just have a clarification of the rules for the Codeword Challenge? Do you want us to keep track of all the theme weeks or only of the ones in which a codeword(s) are posted?

Corinna

 

[figment_jii]

How does the Candlelight Ceremony & Processional affect the crowds? I am booked the 7-12. If there is a thread on that I haven't been able to find it (although I'm guessing there is).

I think the Candlelight Processional impacts primarily Main Street at Disneyland. I was there two years ago (when they were trying that 20-night extravaganza/disaster) and it did make navigating through Main Street tougher than normal (kind like during the parade times, except some of the entrances to the store were closed). On the other hand, I didn't really feel that it impacted crowds outside of those times. So I would expect to see some uptick in crowds on the Candlelight Processional nights, but I don't think it's going to cause wildly busy park days (i.e., I think some folks come specifically for the Processional and not necessarily to visit the rest of DLR).

 

[Sherry E]

I'm just popping in for a minute to answer this question.... I'll be back with more responses later!

How does the Candlelight Ceremony & Processional affect the crowds? I am booked the 7-12. If there is a thread on that I haven't been able to find it (although I'm guessing there is).

I've planning to do the holiday tour and it never occurred if I'd want to do the evening or day one. What's everyone's preference?

Thank you all for posting photos. Since this is our first year at Christmas I don't have any to contribute but I'm loving following along with all of yours!

marlana323 --

It's good that you asked the Candlelight question here -- this is the main hub of Christmas and holiday season questions/discussion! Part of the reason this Superthread exists is to cut down on the number of unnecessary separate threads.

Also, the time frame you're going is exactly when I usually go, so I can answer the question about Candlelight's effect on crowds.

You'll only be at DLR on one night of Candlelight. I would avoid Main Street and Town Square anytime from late afternoon on until the second Candlelight show is over (which should be around 8:45 p.m. or 9 p.m.-ish, I think), as people begin to line up for both Candlelight shows, and Main Street can get quite crowded.

A lot of times Disneyland will get extra crowded earlier in the day on Saturdays, as a lot of people try to cram in their park activities so they don't have to deal with the Candlelight crowds later. If 12/7 (Sunday) is a day that you can spend mostly in DCA, it might not be a bad idea. At the very least, try to get most of your Disneyland stuff out of the way early in the day if you can.

I have run into pockets of time on a Candlelight Sunday when it was not too crowded in DL, but by mid-to-late afternoon that all changed. Then, last year I specifically waited in the crowds in Town Square to see Candlelight, and I saw the masses of people moving up and down Main Street, slowly.



I haven't done the holiday tour, but a lot of people seem to like doing the last tour of the afternoon, as it puts them near It's a Small World Holiday when the lights come on!


Stay tuned to this thread for the next few months -- we're only on our second theme today, and I've got 20 more themes to roll out by November 3rd!


ETA: I see that figment_jii answered the Candlelight question above, and figment_jii is correct -- it's mainly Main Street and Town Square that are the issue, and I agree that a lot of people probably only come out to see the CP and then leave (there are a lot of 'older' folks who come out for the CP every year and probably don't hang out in the parks all day). Then again, some people have said that Saturdays were super-packed before the CP.

 

[mom2rtk]

We prefer the nighttime Holiday Tour. The sun actually goes down while on the tour - it actually set while we were on HM I prefer it because you get to go on IASW with it all lit up and it's the in the background of the parade.

We did the later tour too. It ended with us standing at the loading ramp onto IASW just as it lit up for the night. It was breathtaking. Then when we came out of the ride, it was dark and the parade was about to start. It was a great experience.

 

[Sherry E]

Let me also add in an extra thought or two about the Candlelight Ceremony & Processional, because figment_jii mentioned the 20-night "extravaganza/disaster" in 2012 and it made me think of some other things I wanted to say.

That 20-night run of the CP was a huge surprise to DLR holiday visitors, as it was a drastic, dramatic increase in performances from what it usually was. In other words, it's not like Disney increased the CP nights from 2 nights/4 performances up to 5 nights, or even up to 10 nights. They went with a full 20 consecutive nights in December.

It turned out to be a blessing and a curse.

The blessing: The 20 nights (which translated into 40 performances by a variety of narrators) allowed many more people (such as yours truly!) who had never seen the CP to be able to see it -- and many of us got seats as well. I became an instant fan. I had always wanted to see the CP, but knowing that seats were reserved and I would have to stand to view it, I was never leaping and bounding to Town Square to wait for hours in the sea of people.

Scoring seats for 2 nights in a row, I was not only able to see the CP for the first time but I could actually see the performers and narrator up close. It was amazing (it helps that I also love Christmas music!).



The curse: Not only did the crowds on Main Street and in Town Square increase on many of the 20 CP nights in 2012, which apparently cost some of Main Street's shops some lost revenue, BUT -- and this is the key -- all of the "new fans" that Candlelight gained in 2012 would surely want to be able to see this wondrous, beautiful event again in future years, right? I know that I did (which is why I finally decided to stand in the cold for hours and wait to see it in 2013!)!

That meant that, in all likelihood, the crowds congregating on Main Street and around Town Square in 2013 were bigger than they may have been pre-2012 (though that could largely have had to do with the narrators too). There were more "new fans" who came out to DLR last year on 12/7 and 12/8 to see the Ceremony that they fell in love with during all of those nights in 2012, and yet... DLR reduced the schedule back to 2 nights, down from 20.

I wish there had been a happy medium -- something between 2 nights and 20 nights -- for the CP. Two nights don't seem like enough, and a 20-night marathon seems to be too much for Disneyland. Maybe 10 nights would have been better, or 8 nights or something (16 performances).

Disney made the mistake of exposing so many people to Candlelight in 2012 (thankfully, for those of us who got to see it!), and then taking away most chances to see Candlelight in 2013, leaving no option but to cram into Town Square over 2 nights!



Anyway, the good news is that I have observed a noticeable drop-off in crowds on the Monday after Candlelight ends, for a few years. I think that a lot of people clear out and go home after the CP!