How Was the Candlelight Processional?

[WebmasterMaryJo]

For those of you who were able to go this year, how was it?

I wish I could have seen Dick Van Dyk recite the Holy Story.

 

[Albertan mom]

Just got back from the Sunday night, 8:00pm show.

We ate at Storytellers at 450, very good.
We went to DL and got in line around 630.
We were about 10th in the red, blue and silver line. (our ticket said Silver--I don't know how or why you get each color)
We had to stand in line until 740, then we got seated.
We were in the front row, left side.
I asked if we could be more in the middle, and was told no by the CM.
It is too bad, I would have rather been, but this way the kids could see.
The wind was really blowing, it was very chilly.

But--it was beautiful. The orchestra and choir were great.
Dick was fabulous. I really liked his personal talk at the end too.
The ambience was great.
It was all really really nice.
The horns/trumpets were really cool.

It was really nice. Honestly, the kids were freezing and were a little bored. I wish we could have sat more in the middle. But it was worth it, and very nice to celebrate the birth of Jesus!!

Would I do it again? I don't know honestly. I think I would just take the chance of getting a seat without the reservaytion. (many people did, and the standby people got in the same time as us, just not as close as us)

The ribs at Storytellers were really good, and our server was really good.
We all ordered ribs (x4), 4 pop, 2 caesar salads, and we hit our limit (2 kids, 2 adults) =$104.70 (plus tax and tip)

It was really nice, Disney did a fabulous job!!
It makes me really happy to see them celebrating Christmas with the birth of Jesus in it. So often that is forgotten, or over-ruled by things like The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Very uplifting, spiritual and touching.

 

[iceskatejen]

I saw the 5:30 Saturady show. We were in the wheelchair section (one of our party was in a wheelchair), which was on the side closest to the Mad Hatter shop. The view from there was pretty good. Just after the orchestra started and before the choirs made it down to Town Square many of the non-whelchair people in that section (companions to those w/wheelchairs) were invited to the seating section. We just weren't quite fast enough, but were able to move a bit closer. The orchestra and choirs did and amazing job and it was great to see Dick VanDyke as he's a legend. He did have one little miscue. Apparently there was one area where the choir was supposed to do two songs back to back and he got up and spoke between the songs. We ended up hearing his intro to Silent Night twice.

 

[Tink33]

I am completely in the Christmas mood! There is nothing like the holidays at Disneyland to brighten spirits and start the season.

I arrived at the Mickey and Friends parking structure about 4:30 pm on Saturday. I decided to walk to the Disneyland Hotel to warm up. I strolled around the hotel and found a quartet of carolers next to the outside Christmas tree and sat and listened to them. They were taking requests from the small crowd and they were so talented. I also want to point out that there was a sleigh that you could sit in and take pictures in front of the Christmas tree.

Time for my dinner reservations and meet, I walked to Hook's Pointe and found my group. It was not hard to meet the $40 Candlelight Dinner Package minimum. I had chowder, sea bass and KEY LIME PIE (I have a new favorite at the resort). Our server told us they flew the key lime in from Florida. I started to get a little worried about 7:15 pm when we were still at the restaurant waiting to pay the bill. Somehow, we walked through DTD and made it through the security check in 12 minutes. The trees in DTD were so creatively decorated with colorful lights. I found the shortest line to get inside Disneyland and was in the park in 3 minutes.

There were no signs for where to line up, so I went through the right tunnel and found the first CM I could for direction. Back through the tunnel, think salmon swimming upstream, and I was back at the entrance. I quickly entered the line and the rest of the party met up with me. We were originally escorted to an area just left of the middle section. There were 5 open seats in the middle section about 4 rows back, so we asked if we could sit there instead and by Disney magic our request was granted. I called them our center ice seats. We had a perfect view of everything. The conductor was almost directly in front of us and Dick VanDyke was just to the right. Marie Osmond was one row behind us and just to the left. Disneyland President Matt Ouimet talked to the people in front of and behind us.

The show was beautiful. The choir, the bell ringers, the trumpeteers, the sign language interpreter, the soloists, the guitarist, the orchestra and our narrator were all so talented. It was an incredible production. Dick VanDyke last narrated the Candlelight Processional in 1965. He joked that he hoped we would all join him again in 40 years. I am not sure if Walt was at that 1965 performance of Candlelight, but it would have been his last.

After the show, we met up with the rest of our group and took pictures near the stage. What a beautiful backdrop. We all headed to Main Street to watch the fireworks. A few different messages and the fireworks were cancelled. A member of our group told us to wait, because the snow would still fall. A few minutes went by and no snow. We decided to do a "We want Snow" chant and 30 seconds later the snow began to fall. It was not delicate snow, but clumps of snow. We were covered in snow and the trees and light poles on Main Street were blanketed. A perfect ending to a great night.

I thought the dinner package was a great way to see the performance. Half of our group flew in to see the show and it was the only way we were all guaranteed an outstanding view.

 

[stacielee]

It was AWESOME!! We didn't have dinner reservations and took our chances for the 8pm show on Saturday night. As Tink33 said, it was beautiful. I loved how the choir robes were different colors; I didn't realize that when they walked by us in the processional. We were just behind the white chairs, which I assume were the reserved seats, on the side by City Hall with a perfect view of DVD. I heard the end of his talk for the 5:30 show and it was almost the same as 8pm, although I didn't remember him talking about being there 40 years earlier in the 5:30 show. All in all, it was great, although it would have been even better up closer. But there's 5 of us...$$$!!!

The only thing I was disappointed with, and this has nothing to do with the Candlelight Processional, is they cancelled the fireworks that night. My husband has never seen them before and really wanted to. I told him that means we have to go again before our Annual Passes expire next March!

 

[xmelissax]

I ended up seeing parts of both shows on Sunday. I saw the carolers walkng by Small World and then was able to actually see pretty well the choir and Dick Van **** from the side of Main Street. I didn't plan on watching it, I just wanted to go on rides but it ended up not being as crowded as we'd thought and we were able to see fine without having to wait to stake out a place.

 

[BecksCathy]

I saw the 8:00 show on Sunday and it was terrific. My son was a member of the choir, and it was his first time singing at Disneyland. He did the Saturday show, but we returned on Sunday (using our season passes) so that he could actually watch the show. I know the whole weekend was exciting for him and such a great opportunity to be a part of "Disney Magic". The choir is made of partly of Disney employees and partly of high school and community choirs that audition. DVD was wonderful. He is very generous to young people. For the past five years, he has hosted a benefit concert for the high school choirs in our area. According to my son, he is absolutely the nicest man on the planet.