The Disneyland Traveler Starts to Worry About Christmas

By nature, I am a worrier. Now I certainly have far bigger worries than Christmas at Disneyland, many in fact, but still... I have a fear that they are taking my favorite time of the year at the park in a direction that I'm not very happy about.

Of course Al Lutz chronicled in great detail last week in his MiceAge column (link) how Disney finally made the move and did away with cast member after hour Christmas parties at the park, instead passing out cast members some extra passes for themselves and their families to enjoy Disneyland at Christmas - with the regular park guests. Disney's excuse was the parks are now so popular that they can't afford to take extra hours away from paying guests by closing down early for cast member parties. There are all kinds of holes with this reasoning but you can start with they closed the place down early a week or so ago for a private event. Anyway, instead of cast members filled with holiday spirit Disney is taking one more step into turning cast member's overall outlook towards "it's just another job".

And then there is this half baked idea of 20 nights of the Candlelight Processional instead of the traditional weekend event. Stripping the away festive aspect, it comes down to this (as always) - $$$$$. Disney is hoping that pairing Candlelight Processional event seating with expensive dining options (as they do at WDW) then a new holiday revenue stream gets created. But those in the know kind of feel that this may be first step towards having separate admission Christmas events similar to the very nice but very expensive Mickey's Merry Christmas Parties at WDW. Disneyland has done it for Halloween, Christmas is right around the corner and the thought of paying guests coming up with an additional $60 - $70 each to enjoy special Christmas events is an idea ripe with potential profits. Sleazy.

The last concern has to do with something I previously mentioned - turning the experience of wondering around Main St. at Christmas and making an eyesore with visible Processional seating areas and making foot traffic at the park entrance during the 20 nights of the Candlelight Processional virtual gridlock. Not something I'm looking forward to.

Where's Charlie Brown when you need him to call it for what it is - a commercial sham.

Labor Day and Cast Member Appreciation

Disney Artwork from Disney Post Blog

Today is Labor Day, a holiday for us in America where we celebrate the workers - kind of sounds like communism there for a minute. Anyway, Hello - I'm Labor and I have the day off - also no school, no banking, no mail, but if you want to buy something, everything is open.

Since this is a Disney blog, the Disneyland Traveler wants to give his tip of the hat to all the Disneyland cast members who work hard to give everyone a special time in The Happiest Place On Earth. True, not all cast members work as hard as others in making sure smiles stay on guest faces as evidence in my story from last year - Story Of A Mean Ol' Cast Member but by and large, Disney has some great people working in their parks.

I have a lot of respect for cast members. Every once in awhile Mrs. DisneylandTraveler will blurt out about how wonderful it would be to work at Disneyland. I shake my head and just think about, other than a small handful of great jobs, most of these cast members have to put up with an awful lot from rude people often with a large sense of entitlement. I think especially about the cast members who have to work something like crowd control who spend a lot of time telling people something they don't want hear then get an earful in return. 

Cast members aren't in the park to give people a hard time. They are there to maintain order and safety for all guests and try to give all a magical day (and of course, sell you stuff). I'm just hear to express my appreciation to the Disneyland cast members, most of them anyway, working hard to keep a smile on my face.

Poised For The Return Of Jack Skellington

Come Monday, Disneyland's classic Haunted Mansion attraction will be shut down for about 3 weeks for its annual right of passage - the transformation to the Haunted Mansion Holidays which will take over from about mid-September until just after the first of the year. I explained my preference for the overlay version over the traditional HM in a previous post - Haunted Mansion Holidays - The Argument Ensues. Basically, it comes down to this, I prefer the color and clever whimsy of the Tim Burton holiday version over the drab grey traditional version (even though I am no fan whatsoever of The Nightmare Before Christmas movie on which the overlay is based). 

But today its a remembrance of what the 3 week closure of the Haunted Mansion is all about. It brings to a close of Disneyland's summer season and the transition into fall and Halloween immediately followed by Christmas. Gone are the long warm days and nights as we move into the ever so gradual transition to shorter days (and shorter park hours) and welcomed cooler temperatures. Especially in the evenings, the ever present shorts and t-shirts are replaced by pants and sweatshirts or jackets.

Yeah... I look forward to Haunted Mansion Holidays because the air conditioning in my house will no longer need to run 24x7, stepping outside will actually be comfortable, and there is always return of college and NFL football.

I like it when Jack Skellington makes his return because I know I will no longer have to sweat like a pig. I like it right up to the point I will inevitably utter the phrase "man its cold outside, I can't wait till it gets warmer".

Trick or .... Wait A Minute. It's Still August, Isn't It?

Halloween Merchandise Hits Disney Parks
A Disney Parks Blog Photo

Never being one to be late at ringing up seasonal merchandise sales, Disney is now stuffing their park souvenir stores to the brim with Halloween merchandise. In the meantime, back here at home, the temperature remains a pretty consistent 95 to 105 degrees for seemingly weeks on end. The cool respite that October brings still seems like a long way off.

Never let August heat be a deterrent to making some money off a "holiday" that is still over two months away. If you want to check out what's new - here's a link to a preview of Halloween merchandise from Disney Parks Blog

Disneyland's Candlelight Processional: From 2 To 20

Disneyland's Candlelight Processional
A Disney Parks Blog Photo

One of the highlights of the Christmas season at Disneyland has been the traditional Candlelight Processional. Since the event has only taken place over one weekend per year during the holiday season I have never seen it myself but those who have report that its a wonderful experience during the Christmas activities. Of course WDW's EPCOT has their own Candlelight Processional which performs twice nightly to overflowing crowds for about a month or more. Now Disneyland is going to a swing at bringing their intimate Candlelight Processional to the big time expanding the 2 night affair to 20 nights for an audience of Annual Passholders and those who purchase.....wait for it.... expensive dining packages. Disney gave preliminary details, sketchy as they may be, in a posting in their Disney Parks Blog this past week.

That's how the do it in EPCOT - tie the traditional Christian Christmas story to moderate to high priced dining packages and there are no shortage of takers. When Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I were making plans for a Christmas trip to WDW a few years ago, a booking for the Candlelight Processional was tops on our list of things to do and we succeeded with a lunch reservation at Le Cellier then over to the CP stage with our celebrity narrator being Brad Garrett from Everybody Love's Raymond and 'Til Death fame. Of course, that trip never happened due to unexpected surgery but that was the plan....

Now Disneyland will try to duplicate the massive success of the WDW event and of course, pocket some profits along the way. Traditionally, Disneyland's Processional is held in the Town Square with the stage set up in front of the railroad station and as of now, there is no indication that this will change but it does lead to some logistic questions. That space is small and right at the park entrance, how will CP event attendees and regular park visitors co-exist without creating massive gridlock type of conditions? That area is also right on the parade route and what about the nightly running of the VERY popular Christmas Fantasy Parade? Will they leave up permanent seating for the event in place during the day detracting from the beautifully decorated Town Square area and home of the Disneyland Christmas tree?

Some have speculated that the now unused Fantasyland Theater, now vacant, would be a better choice and it certainly makes sense to me. Time will tell as the details are released. And let me be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas.

A Disneyland Fourth of July

Daily Flag Retreat Ceremony
An O.C. Register photo

Ah yes, the 4th of July at Disneyland. It's a big day. One of the biggest days of the year in fact. By this afternoon, Disneyland proper will be busting at the seams with people and everyone is there for one event - the annual July 4th fireworks display. But before you grab your spot to see the fireworks, do one thing first. Around 4:30 this afternoon there will be a flag retreat ceremony. Stop by and check it out. It happens everyday at the Disneyland when the flag flies. Walt Disney insisted on it.

Its a little sad. I stop by the flag retreat ceremony now occasionally on my visits to Disneyland to witness the event. Sometimes it seems like there are only 20 or 30 people on hand to see the flag solemnly brought down while the band plays the Star Spangled Banner and half of them look like they are there by accident. Walt Disney's daughter said the ceremony would sometimes bring tears to her dad's face. And Walt said the ceremony is one thing that would always need to continue on in his park.

So stop by today or any afternoon sometime to watch and listen. It takes very little time, about 10 minutes or so, maybe a bit longer today because of the holiday but its well worth a few minutes of your time. Splash Mountain can wait a bit. The flag retreat ceremony is just a wonderful part of Disneyland tradition and history and a connection with Walt Disney himself.

Contemplating A Disneyland Christmas...In June

Winter Castle

I'm sitting here working on this blog in my favorite living room chair, shorts, t-shirt and barefoot. Over in the corner of the room is a standing oscillating fan gently humming, assisting the forced air conditioning with keeping the room at a comfortable temperature. And I'm here contemplating Christmas at Disneyland. A few weeks ago, I posted that if I were to pick a time to go back to Disneyland this year it would either be the week before Thanksgiving or the first two weeks of December. Disneyland would be decked out in its Christmas best. Disneyland doesn't own a hideous Christmas sweater. During Christmas, Disneyland shines!

What brought this all on was an email from my former boss to some of the more Disneyland savvy veterans around the office looking for some advice about a large family trip she is planning just after Christmas. Rather than replying to her email, I'll just lay a few things out here.

it's a small world holiday

First of all - Go! There is no better place to be during the Christmas holidays than Disneyland, especially with family around. Magic. I've said this before...here is my one caveat. Go to Disneyland to enhance your holiday experience. Don't go with hopes that it will lift you out of your holiday blues if things aren't quite going your way during the holidays. The mouse has more ways to get you to open your wallet and whip out a charge card than you can shake a stick at. Sometimes it grows tiresome because it permeates the place. If you begin to look - "spend $60 on any purchase and get this beautiful Mickey and Minnie embroidered Christmas throw for just an additional $18" - you'll see things like that in every store. The over-commercialization can be a downer, if you let it. 

A hotel? Well, if this is a once in a lifetime chance, do consider The Disneyland Hotel or The Grand Californian. One year we had 4 families split the cost of a 3-bedroom suite at The Disneyland Hotel. Expensive? - you bet, but the overall cost was split 4 ways so it was doable. We also stayed at The Grand Californian with 3 adjoining rooms plus a 4th room across the hall. Not as nice of a set-up as the suite, but still not a bad way to go. And yes, very expensive - especially during the holidays. The difference between The Grand Californian and The Disneyland Hotel? The GC is more convenient, more stately, more lavish, and more upscale. The rooms are some of the quietest you will ever stay in. The Disneyland Hotel, now completely remodeled from head to toe, is just more Disney fun. It almost feels like an extension of the park. You never actually leave the Disney experience while staying at The Disneyland Hotel.

But with trips to Disneyland, choices need to be made. The Disneyland Traveler would much rather spend his Disney budget inside the park than on a hotel room. For the last several trips, Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I have stayed at The Candy Cane Inn on Harbor Blvd. CCI isn't the cheapest hotel in the resort area, it isn't the closest to the front gates, but what it is.... a very nice place to stay with immaculate grounds, a first rate staff, very clean rooms, and they have their own private shuttle (even though it's only about a 10 minute walk from the hotel to the front gates of the park). Check out the reviews of the Candy Cane Inn on tripadvisor.com. It usually ranks in the top 5 and often beats out the Disney owned resorts. We have never had an unpleasant stay and it's about a third of the cost of a Disney owned hotel.

The front desk of the Candy Cane Inn
Customer Service is usually outstanding

Admission and tickets. Prices to enter Disneyland and Disney California Adventure went up on May 20th. Fortunately for the occasional park visitor or vacationer, the annual pass holders took the biggest blow in the pocketbook. A premium annual pass to Disneyland is now $649 for anyone over the age of 3. With the relaunch of Disney California Adventure coming June 15th and the opening of the Buena Vista Street entrance and Cars Land, Disney expects large crowds for the next year so don't look for too many discount opportunities. If things do slow down, they can always offer discounts to park hopper tickets or add a free day on to multi-day park hoppers. Wouldn't count on it though. One way you can save a little money is to commit to visiting 1 park per day instead of traditional park hopping. The single park multi-day admission packages are cheaper than the park hoppers.

Cars Land at Nite - A Disney Parks Blog Photo

Buena Vista Street - DCA

Carthay Circle Restaurant - Buena Vista Street
Disney California Adventure

Carthay Circle Restaurant & Lounge
Disney California Adventure

Red Car Trolley - Buena Vista Street
to the Tower of Terror

What not to miss during the holidays?  Start with A Christmas Fantasy Parade - still Disneyland's best parade though it can only be seen about 7 weeks a year.

It should be noted that the longest parade route of any Disney park in the world is now in Disney California Adventure. Rumor has it that Buena Vista St. will put up full holiday decorations much the same as Main St. Disneyland. No word on a holiday parade but it is possible to bring the Electrical Parade for a holiday visit I suppose.

What else is not to be missed? Lighting of the Winter Castle, fireworks, and yes, they do make it snow on Main Street (well, it's more like tiny soap bubbles, but you can pretend).

Of course, check out the holiday overlays for it's a small world and The Haunted Mansion...

it's a small world - holiday overlay

Also be sure to go over to the Big Thunder Ranch to see the Reindeer Round-up. That's where Santa sets up shop and yes, there are real reindeer wandering about. 

Crowds - Christmas week is one of the busiest weeks of the year. In general, on Christmas Eve Day, Christmas Day, and New Years Eve Day, Disney will have to close off park admission sometime in the afternoon because park capacity has been reached. This is more true for Disneyland rather than DCA but this year, all bets are off. Last year, the official end of the Christmas season at Disneyland ended January 8.

The one thing about December is the unpredictability of the weather, even in Southern California where it isn't supposed to rain. Last year's Candlelight Processional weekend was completely rained out. Below there is a video of a nice December day we had back in 2008. It was so bad the park closed down 2 hours early probably because there were more staff working than actual paid guests. Disneyland doesn't work very well in a hard rain and things seem to systematically shut down. A little rain at Disneyland isn't a bad thing because it keeps the locals out. A lot of rain can make things miserable. Also, while the days in Southern California can be quite nice in the winter months, the temperature really drops once the sun starts to go down. A word from personal experience, a ride on Splash Mountain or Grizzly River Run at 5 in the afternoon isn't a good idea. There's a reason why the lines for these rides suddenly gets much shorter that time of day.

To be continued....

Mickey St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day Commemorative Ears - A Disney Parks Blog Phot

I'm not Irish.  I'm pretty much Norwegian by heritage (insert Norwegian joke here). Anyway, I can't let St. Patrick's Day pass without giving a tip of the hat to all my Irish buddies. Which allows me to dust off my lone Irish joke I heard years ago from a disc jockey in San Francisco. "What's a 7 course Irish dinner? Answer - a six pack and a baked potato."

Corned beef and cabbiage for me and Mrs. DisneylandTraveler today? Nah, I can't stand the stuff.  Boiled food - whose idea was that? As for the commemorative Mickey Mouse ears on sale in the park today?  Nice....looks like around 30 bucks.

A Day In The Life....

Feb, 29, 2012. One More Disney Day. A Disney Parks Blog Photo

So there you have it. Leap Day - February 29. Disneyland celebrated the occasion that rolls around once every 4 years by staying open 24 hours from 6:00 am on the 29th until 6:00 am on March 1st. Brilliant idea as they say. But....  There's always a but with every brilliant idea.

Oh, the day started well park fans hitting the gates right at opening in high spirits and ready for a good time. And then the people came, and came, and came some more. So many people came that the gates had to be closed for a time due to capacity being reached. As the stories go, when night fell, some of SoCal's more unruly crowd started to hit the park. Belligerent party goers meeting up with some very tired Disney fans don't always mix. So there were enough scuffles breaking out to keep security busy.

And what else do all those people create? Lines. Long lines. Very long lines. Oh yeah...I think the 2 hour wait to ride Space Mountain or Indiana Jones was expected but how about a two hour wait to get into the Jolly Holly Bakery to get something to eat? What a about a 40 minute wait to get a cup of coffee from the Market House? MiceAge reported that Disneyland staffed the event for about 44,000 people to attend. The estimates of the number of people who actually showed up was somewhere between 65,000 and 100,000. As Mrs. DisneylandTraveler says - ooops and stuff.

So the park closed at 6:00 am to prepare for the regular opening a 10:00 am. A lot of people left the park at 6:00 am. A lot of people left the park at 6:00 am at the same time as a lot of Anaheim folks were hitting the streets and heading off to their real jobs. Anaheim gridlock. More ooops and stuff.

At the company I work for when we plan for something big and it doesn't go off quite as we planned the head honchos get together and hold a "post-mortem" where they can point fingers and figure out how not to let this mess happen again. They call it "lessons learned". I can see the Disneyland park planners getting together this past week after One More Disney Day commiserating on what worked and a lot of things that didn't work so well. I can can also see that somewhere in the middle of their head-scratching, soul-searching meeting an email gets sent over from the Accounting Dept congratulating them on a job well done. You see... all those people, all those lines, lines for park admission, lines for food, lines for merchandise all lead to a nice deposit for the Disney Day in the old bank account. Disney wins.

it's a small world at Christmas

What is your favorite thing to see and enjoy at Disneyland during the Christmas season? It is the giant Christmas tree on Main St. with all the accompanying Main St. decorations? Is it the lighting of the winter castle and seeing it "snow"? Is it seeing A Christmas Fantasy Parade"? Perhaps it is taking your child to see Santa at Disneyland within the confines of the Reindeer Roundup. How about the charm and detail of the exquisitely decorated New Orleans Square? You need to see all of them during a holiday visit of course but for me, tops on the list, is standing in amazement before the dazzling light display of it's a small world in the cool of a December evening then making my way down to the boats for journey of wonderful holiday cheer.

They shut down iasw for 3 weeks to install the holiday overlay, usually the last week or so of October and the first part of November. The time the ride is down is a small price to pay for what can be seen and marveled at once it returns in all its festive Christmas glory. Disney Parks Blog posted a video of cast members working on the overlay installation and you can see their attention to detail

For most of the year, it's a small world, sits as a majestic iconic Disneyland attraction - important but just not enough there to make it into anyone's top 5 or maybe even top 10 favorite Disneyland attractions. Some people avoid the thing altogether because the insipid song that plays for all 13 minutes of the ride can be beat head against the wall time when the ride is through.  But it all changes during the holidays when it's a small world transform into wondrous holiday magic not to be missed or experienced.

A Bug's Land Christmas

I've said it before in this blog and I'll say it again - it irks me to no end when a read in Disneyland discussion boards, forums, and blogs how they need to get rid of A Bug's Land and put in something better. When people post things like this what they usually mean is "I'm too old for anything in A Bug's Land to interest me - put in something that I might actually want to go on". Me, me, me.... it's the same old story. Stop it. A Bug's Land is fine for what it is and now that it's Christmas time the little land for small fries becomes even more charming as everyone gets reduced to "bug size" with all the oversized Christmas decorations. So forget about yourselves and for a few minutes to walk through A Bug's Land this Christmas season and look at the smiles and the joy of those who are just becoming familiar with the world around them. It's a land of sweetness and charm and occupies such a small space that it shouldn't cause anyone any grief and might actually bring some joy.

The Christmas Spirit - Disneyland Style

I think it was 2008 - Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I made the trip down to Disneyland the week before Thanksgiving. I think it may have been one of our best trips ever. We love November at Disneyland - after the decorations go up but before the holiday crowds arrive. And maybe we have been lucky, the November weather at Disneyland for our trips that time of year has been very cooperative with warm days and cool nights, just as it should be. Anyway, we usually made our November trips with other family members but in 2008, it was just me and Mrs. DLT. It was perfect, we arrived on a Sunday afternoon, checked into our hotel, and headed over to Disneyland just before 3:00pm. We walked in right before the start of A Christmas Fantasy Parade and we were able to grap a great spot on the upper level of the train station. Could there be a better way to kick off your holiday season than to see A Christmas Fantasy Parade right when entering the park?

The whole trip was great that way and even though it was before Thanksgiving, everything was filled with the holiday spirit and so were we. I don't even remember us having the usual knock-down-drag-out argument over something stupid like we do on most of our Disneyland trips. The Christmas spirit abounded in so many ways that week.

We had such a good time that when we returned home, settled back, and took a look around at the situation we decided we had the time, the opportunity, and the finances to go back in December as well. We had annual passes, a very great rate was available from one of our favorite places to stay, and everything just seemed to point to going back and continuing our Disney Christmas journey. And so we did - we went back around mid-December before the start of Christmas week.

But we made one fatal error in our Disneyland Christmas Spirit thinking. In November, we went down early, with no real expectations, and the magic of Disneyland at Christmas just overtook in wondrous ways. When we went down a few weeks later in December, we carried the ill-advised plan of "why don't we do our Christmas shopping while down at Disneyland?". Most everyone is our family is some kind of Disney nut so picking up some gifts should be no problem, right? Here is my cautionary tale.

Disneyland is a great way to enhance the Christmas experience and if you let its magical arms wrap around you and carry you way Christmas nirvana. If you walk in there with a list of names, and a Christmas budget, and trudge from store to store looking at everything from top to bottom and checking price tags on everything, a lot of that magic is taken away by the shear commercialism of it all. It became a little unsettling for me. Not that we didn't have a good time but the fact that one of the reasons I was there was to shop, took away a bit from my Christmas Spirit. 

Did I also mention that the weather from the November trip a few week earlier and December trip took a 180 degree turn and turned rainy, cold, and miserable? Well, we could put up with that to a certain extent but its holding up some item in a store and debating for 10 minutes as to whether this would be a good gift for so and so proved be the trips downing moments. 

As it turned out, everyone loved their gifts. Mrs DLT and I had got so frustrated that at the end of the trip we ended up getting all kid's toys on our list at the now defunct Engine-Ears-Toys in DCA in about 30 minutes after spending hours on previous days trying to pick out the elusive perfect gift but it all worked out in the end. One of my new rules for Disneyland at Christmas is if you see something someone may like on a trip through a store - get it but do not make the purpose of a trip to Disneyland to Christmas shop - you'll be sorry. I was.

Sailor Mickey At The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Disney Parks Blog posted this photo of Sailor Mickey at the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this morning - a subtle or not so subtle attempt at promoting the Disney Cruise Line.  Speaking of Disney cruises, the Disneyland Traveler's pal Mike is sailing the waters off Mexico this week on a Disney cruise.  We should have tales of his seafaring exploits in about a week or so.  Stand-by.

The $72 (A Person) Thanksgiving Dinner

I'm sure the annual Thanksgiving Day buffet dinner served at the Grand Ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel is quite nice - first rate and something to remember to be sure. The cost of this opulence? A mind-numbing $71.99 (plus tax and tip) for anyone over the age of 10. If your in the 3 - 9 years of age range, it will only run $20.99 and if your 2 and under, congratulations, chow down all your want because it's free. A $72 turkey dinner with all the trimmings? Are you kidding? Even with rising food prices, turkey is still one of the cheapest protein sources you can get. The local Black Angus Steakhouse is offering their traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all the trimmings for $15.99. Whew! Now that's more like it.

Now granted, the Disneyland Hotel will lay our food choices for as far as they eye can see and even offer a prime rib carving station but the thought of whipping out around 3 large bills for a family of four borders on the unfathomable. And I'm also sure there will be no shortage of people lined up ready to get theirs come Thursday. And I'm also sure there will be many others this year who are saying "it's difficult out there, we are struggling to make ends meet and we might be better off forgoing the expense of our usual Thanksgiving dinner".

You know, if I hit the Lotto some day (and it might increase my chances if I actually played) I would love to go to the one of these high priced Disney Holiday buffet meals. And I would give an all expenses paid trip to Joey Chestnut to come along with me and tell him to have at it.

Christmas Before Thanksgiving

Christmas at Disneyland officially began last Monday. it's a small world re-opened with its stunning holiday overlay. A Christmas Fantasy Parade began its annual march down Main St. There is the goosebump inducing holiday winter castle lighting and of course there is that giant Christmas tree at the Town Square. Christmas decorations are everywhere to be found.

Disneyland websites are falling all over themselves trying to get out the latest Christmas at Disneyland photos and videos. I'm trying my best to refrain from blogging about Christmas just yet because WE HAVEN"T HAD THANKSGIVING!  Give me a week to get the turkey in the oven and watch Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving then I'll blog about Christmas Disney to no end. 

Gridlock - Taping the Disneyland Christmas Parade

Without any knowledge or forethought, Mrs DisneylandTraveler and I along with our traveling parties twice booked November trips to Disneyland the same weekend film crews were taping the Disneyland segment of Disney's annual Christmas Parade television special shown on ABC. I guess there are plenty of people interested in these type of Disney events and show up early to the park with hopes to get a good spot on Main Street to check out the action and maybe have an encounter with some kind of celebrity that is performing or making an appearance in the annual event. Who knows - maybe you might just get a chance to see yourself on network TV. Anyway, today is the day they are doing the taping at Disneyland

But then there is the other side of what seems like something that may be fun and exciting. Today is November 5th and we are a long way from Christmas but for the last week, Disneyland overnight crews have been frantically decorating Main St. for Christmas so the taping can gather in the full Christmas atmosphere. Once the taping of the Disneyland and WDW segments complete, several weeks are needed to get the editing and post production work completed in time for the Christmas Day showing. Along with Christmas decorations, various lighting towers, fixtures centered around cameras, and large stages are also set up around Main St. and the castle hub. For you classic Disneyland picture takers out there, these fixtures large and obtrusive, and another reason to get this filming completed before the official start of the Disneyland Christmas season. They are an eyesore.

Once the filming begins today, Main St. is blocked off to foot traffic for long periods of time. It is virtually impossible to get from the front of the park to the Lands because everything is gridlocked. There are some pathways opened up behind the Main St stores for foot traffic but these are rather narrow and get congested. On the other hand, it may be your only chance to see some of the Jungle Cruise maintenance areas. 

Mrs. DLT and I really had no interest in any of this. On one trip, we got to the park early and headed for the back then stayed out of the way of the television fray. I think on another trip, we just stayed in DCA until everything was done and the Hollywood people packed up and headed for home.

One person in our traveling party on one these trips did get to cross paths with Ryan Seacrest though. Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Merry Halloween

Ah yes, today is Halloween. Hope everyone has a fun and safe one. And while Disneyland gets ready for one more night of Halloween festivities, the Disney fan websites have been having a field day with their park updates over the collision of the Halloween and Christmas seasons at the resort (frequently mentioning the Haunted Mansion Holidays theme of "when two holidays collide"). You see, even though pumpkins are still plentiful around the park, for the last week or ten days the Christmas decorations have been going up inside the park as well leading to the odd juxtaposition of theming (well, maybe not so odd anymore because your local Wal-Mart has Halloween and Christmas decorations sitting side by side also).

So with Halloween in full swing, the castle is being transformed into its winter spectacle, Christmas decorations have begun to go up in New Orleans Square, ToonTown, DCA's A Bug's Land, and the truest indication of the changing of the season - the shutdown of it's a small world to install the holiday overlay. 

When the park opens tomorrow, I'm willing to bet there won't be a carved pumpkin in sight. In the blink of an eye, Halloween will be gone and it becomes time for Disney to really start showing off holiday magic.

Merry Halloween!

Trick Or Treat In One Week

So the one week to go countdown begins for Halloween next Monday. Disneyland began counting down over a month ago as Halloween now is by estimates the third busiest "season" of the year at the park behind the Christmas and Summer vacation seasons. Disney scores big for decking out the park in every way imaginable for Halloween. As mentioned in other posts to this blog I'm not really big on pumpkins but when you see Disney carving up and utilizing pumpkins hundreds of different way, you can't help but be impressed.

One of my best trips to Disneyland was October 2002. There was a large group of us that went on that trip. We had our first chance to stay at the luxurious Grand Californian. It was terrific fun and you know what, there barely was a pumpkin to be found. Somewhere along the way, it all changed. Other Southern California theme parks did special Halloween promotions so I guess Disney just decided that they could do it too. The first Halloween Trick or Treat nights started over at California Adventure, probably as a way to prop that park up in the days prior to its current expansion and makeover. Once DCA was slated for massive construction, Disney's Halloween party moved over to Disneyland where it continues to grow year by year.

I'm still not a Halloween guy but admire Disney's efforts and people have responded. I'm still trying figure out what to do next Monday night. There aren't a lot of children in our neighborhood so the idea of putting out decorations and passing out candy hardly seems worth the effort. We've done this in past years and got on or two knocks on the door. I think last year, we just locked up our front gate and watched TV in the dark. There's always getting out for dinner and a movie I suppose.

For me, there is only one enduring wonderful image that center's around Halloween and it was shown many  years ago. Sometime this week, the DVD will be pulled out of the cabinet and watched and my Halloween will be complete.

"I gotta rock..."

It's Here - Halloweentime At Disneyland

Well it's finally here.  For the next 6 weeks, hoards of people will descend on Disneyland to enjoy the festivities of what Disneyland officially calls Halloweentime.  For me, I'll sit this one out.  Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I did make it to Halloweentime last year not because of the decorations or other goings on but because the time and opportunity were there for us to make a trip.  Halloweentime was just incidental.

To put it mildly, I'm just not a Halloween guy . Never have been.  Not even as a child.  I think my last trick or treating expedition took place when I was about 7 years old.  There was something about trick or treating which I always attributed, even at a young age, to begging for food.  That's silly of course but that is genuinely how I felt and still feel to this day years later.  Mrs. DLT has always loved Halloween so there you have it, polar opposites again.

First of all, Halloween, no matter how you shake it, is not a holiday.  Nobody is given the day off because it's October 31st.  Besides, Halloween isn't even a "day".  It's a night, a few hours really.  Millions and millions of dollars are spent for a few hours of darkness activities one night a year.

All that being said, Disney knows how to do Halloween up right, especially when they realize there is money to be made.  From the front of the park and all the way up Main Street, Disneyland is colored in a sea of orange and if I had a dollar for every pumpkin they put on display, well, I could afford a real nice trip to Disneyland with plenty of extras and amenities.

The Mick finally gets an excuse to put on his purple suit.  Pretty snazzy costume although I thought I saw a movie a few years back where a New York City pimp was wearing the same get-up.

Space Mountain opens with its Ghost Galaxy overlay.  A nice touch with enhanced projections, lighting, and sound effects but unless something has changed, most Disneyland regulars think "Is a that all there is?  With a little more time, effort, (and money), this could really be a Ghost Galaxy to remember."

And the big attraction is the reopening of the Haunted Mansion Holidays.  I love HMH but not so much for the Halloween stuff.  I like Sandy Claus and Zero.  I also really enjoy the color that is brought to the venerable attraction for the holiday season when it is traditionally draped in shades of gray for much of the year.

So this is where the Halloween portion of this blog begins.  I've got 6 more weeks to write about this stuff and it all leads to a couple of hours on one night.  Is is all worth it?

Get Ready, the Return of the Pumpkins

I know it's only September 10th but that's never going to stop Disneyland from getting the drop on a celebration and pulling people into the park. September and October used to be such lovely times to go to Disneyland.  Sure there was some post summer ride closures and the park days are a little shorter but with the kids back in school, the summer vacationers back at work, September and October became the best of the off-season visiting time back in the day with the light crowds and good weather still prevailing. And then Halloween happened and Disney park people began to see that people really go for this Halloween stuff and there is money to be made out there. So at Disneyland, Halloween starts pretty much right after Labor Day. So with that in mind, here is the first in what I am sure are many, many, pictures of Disney pumpkins between now and Oct 31. Trick or Treat.