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1-4-10: Part 3 posted
12-15-09: Part 2 posted
Over two full days, many selections from >1093 pictures, Christmas awesomeness, here's a very big TR for you.
DLR: Dec 4-5, 2009
First...the Pre-show
...at the El Capitan!
This adventure kicked off on Thursday night. I'd been wanting to see a movie here for a long time. One of the main reasons was actually to see a performance on that big Wurlie before the movie. This would be the first I'd seen a theatre organ performance in person. Absolutely, it was worth it! The stage show before the movie was a lot of fun too.
The movie, A Christmas Carol, wasn't very good. Rating: **.5/**** at the most. Although OK, it seemed to rely too much on emulating a trackless roller coaster ride and sporadic blaring intensity. (For this second reason, I wouldn't recommend it for small children.) Having been up for most of the past 23 hours, I nodded off here and there, not really caring if I missed parts.
A small side adventure: that outdoor mall across the street (this is right across from the El Capitan) has a big multi-level parking structure underneath. Having not parked on the lowest level, I of course had to see how far down toward the center of the earth it went.
After much back-and-forth on the escalator, I finally found where it bottoms out. Level:
But it's always fun to do this.
----------------
Two Whole Days at Disneyland!
Back in Februrary for my birthday visit I did make it a partial two-day visit, going to DL for a couple hours the first evening. This was my first true multi-day visit though. I wish it were a week.
Attraction/show tally:
Haunted Mansion Holiday: 4
Pirates: 1
Thunder Mountain: 1
Tiki Room: 1
Space Mountain: 4
Small World: 6
Matterhorn: 2 (once each side)
Teacups: 4
Buzz: 5
Star Tours: 1
Shows:
Tiana's Showboat Jubilee (12-4 at 11:15 and 12:45) *
"A Christmas Fantasy" Parade (1st on 12-4; both on 12-5)
Believe...in Holiday Magic (both nights)
Candlelight Processional (5:30)
Fantasmic! (10:30 both nights)
DCA:
Jumping Jellyfish *
Turtle Talk with Crush *
Shows:
Pixar Play Parade (12-4)
A few minutes of High School Musical *
(* = first time for these)
----------------
Day 1: Friday, Dec 4
This would be one of those really good days I've had at the parks. It was a good crowd overall, mood-wise. I've long-noticed that some days the overall mood in the parks is better than usual; other days can be relatively rotten. And I've found a quite reliable "barometer" is how much feedback I get on my headwear. As some probably already know, I wear novelty headwear to the parks, homemade headwear at that. (I've done it on every visit since I started going to the parks again in 2006.) Further, I keep count of it and a few other things, for the blog on my (currently-down) website. To go along with the ride tallies, here's a forum debut of those counts. It looks like this:
12-4: F:33, FS:3, CFCM: 0, P: 0
Date: 12-4.
Feedback recieved (F): 33 (a possible record for the one I wore; it was the usual ratio of about 40% from CMs and 60% from guests).
Feedback given/sent to other guests for theirs (FS): 3. (One in particular was noteworthy; more later)
Confused for a Cast Member (CFCM): 0 (but most days it happens at least once)
Helping someone get their picture taken (P): 0 (often happens on visits though)
And with that, on to the pics.
Kale, kale, wonderful kale
After the usual beginning of the day with a Space Mountain fastpass and a round of Buzz (874.9k/unknown top-10; the picture went missing), and some time not really doing anything, it was off to:
----------------
Tiana's Showboat Jubilee
11:15am preformance:
12:45pm performance. This was actually after HMH and lunch break detailed below. I was in a better position this time and was also able to catch the procession. Today and the next day I did head over here fairly early in a half-hearted attempt at being selected for a performance. Didn't happen, although I wasn't exactly sure where and how people are picked despite having heard it mentioned. I'll most likely not be back to the parks before the ROA refurb, so oh well. It wasn't something I was adamant about doing so it's really no big deal. It would have been fun though.
----------------
Haunted Mansion Holiday
Merry...
Scary ... Oogie!
Always ready on short notice for a timelapse opportunity
Talk often comes up about the gingerbread smell being from the actual decorations. This is extremely unlikely because not only will most scent wear off with age, but you also have two sets of windows--the protective ones along the mezzanine and the Pepper's-ghost ones--between the doombuggy path and the decorations on the table.
Whew: at least my name--which is indeed on this list--has a pumpkin, presumably for "nice" and not a skull-and-crossbones.
Rest assured, I would indeeed be back. I have a good deal more from here from the three other times I rode later on.
----------------
I had been intrigued by this since Harbour Galley reopened, but had yet to see any mention of it by a parkgoer. (Sorry, the stark sunlight here was terrible for a proper picture, even with flash to compensate.) It's pretty good, although not a wow-factor item. The salmon fillet had a small amount of a quite tasty creamy dressing slightly reminiscent of caeser dressing. The salad comes with your usual dressing choices; I chose italian because I thought ranch (my usual choice) would conflict too much with the salmon. I would rather have had more of the dressing that was on the salmon fillet instead.
One of only two unmagical moments of the day occured here, albeit a minor one, which goes to show how awesome this day was. (The other was a minor incident of snobbish conduct from a spectator at Fantasmic.) What happened was the salad and drink were rung up separately, which doesn't matter itself of course. But my AP discount wasn't applied to both orders, consequently partially stiffing me. I didn't catch this until after leaving the counter, and didn't know how to go about resolving it in an amicable manner anyway, so I just let it pass. This stung doubly because the CM who took my order was otherwise really great.
I went and saw the 12:45pm Tiana's Showboat Jubilee next (I just put all the pictures together).
----------------
Whooooooshing along inside Pirates of the Caribbean. (Timelapse fun in other words)
I took a flash-flash-flash-flash photo inside POTC...and am proud of it
----------------
Small World Holiday
Round 1 of 6 (1 of 3 today)
The "tunnel of lights" was missing this year. And I miss it too.
Oh yeah: got a shot of a costuming favorite
Much more to come from here.
----------------
This is the point where I take on a wistful mood...
...probably reminiscent of Silvermist looking over the waterfall over in Pixie Hollow.
These are one of my absolute favorite things about the Christmas season. It all got started way back in the day. As is often the case, I ended up with a head full of dreams, often leading to thinking up elaborate fantasical scenarios, all realistic given the right circumstances, support structure and such. This was probably the most significant of them all, leading me to even take a couple horticulture classes at the local community college. Maybe awesome things would come of it.
That was ten years ago.
Instead, I'll just continue to enjoy these in silence
----------------
Anyways. I hope those dreamcatchers in IASW didn't get clogged up too much. I kinda wanted to get a Christmas-time picture with Mickey and maybe Minnie. But it would have been quite a wait.
Evidence of guests using their brains is always nice to see. This was near the front of the Matterhorn which is quite a ways from Tomorrowland Terrace where I assume these came from. I've heard mention of these having to be fished out of the trash by CMs and you also gotta wonder how many get wasted because they aren't found.
This time, I tried taking pictures with a high shutter speed, instead of digicam video which I already have lots of.
An unintended side effect occurred in this and the next shot. :lol: (This will make sense when you see the DCA pics below.)
----------------
"Dear Santa: for Christmas I want there to be a parade at Disneyland."
"A Christmas Fantasy" Parade
"Thank you, Santa."
----------------
Lightspeed!
"Brakes. Brakes! Where are the braaaaaakes?"
----------------
Much more to come! Up next: the rest of day 1, and later day 2. Candlelight Processional, more parades, fireworks, more IASW, more HMH, a Mickey's Fun Wheel montage you're really gonna like, lots of Fantasmic, and more. These take a really long time for me; probably 20+ hours of work by the time I'm done. Most I've been doing the past week as time allows, but I still have several hours of work ahead.
12-15-09: Part 2 posted
Over two full days, many selections from >1093 pictures, Christmas awesomeness, here's a very big TR for you.
DLR: Dec 4-5, 2009
First...the Pre-show
...at the El Capitan!
This adventure kicked off on Thursday night. I'd been wanting to see a movie here for a long time. One of the main reasons was actually to see a performance on that big Wurlie before the movie. This would be the first I'd seen a theatre organ performance in person. Absolutely, it was worth it! The stage show before the movie was a lot of fun too.
The movie, A Christmas Carol, wasn't very good. Rating: **.5/**** at the most. Although OK, it seemed to rely too much on emulating a trackless roller coaster ride and sporadic blaring intensity. (For this second reason, I wouldn't recommend it for small children.) Having been up for most of the past 23 hours, I nodded off here and there, not really caring if I missed parts.
A small side adventure: that outdoor mall across the street (this is right across from the El Capitan) has a big multi-level parking structure underneath. Having not parked on the lowest level, I of course had to see how far down toward the center of the earth it went.
After much back-and-forth on the escalator, I finally found where it bottoms out. Level:
Spoiler
6. I was parked on 4 so it wasn't exactly an expedition.
But it's always fun to do this.
----------------
Two Whole Days at Disneyland!
Back in Februrary for my birthday visit I did make it a partial two-day visit, going to DL for a couple hours the first evening. This was my first true multi-day visit though. I wish it were a week.
Attraction/show tally:
Haunted Mansion Holiday: 4
Pirates: 1
Thunder Mountain: 1
Tiki Room: 1
Space Mountain: 4
Small World: 6
Matterhorn: 2 (once each side)
Teacups: 4
Buzz: 5
Star Tours: 1
Shows:
Tiana's Showboat Jubilee (12-4 at 11:15 and 12:45) *
"A Christmas Fantasy" Parade (1st on 12-4; both on 12-5)
Believe...in Holiday Magic (both nights)
Candlelight Processional (5:30)
Fantasmic! (10:30 both nights)
DCA:
Jumping Jellyfish *
Turtle Talk with Crush *
Shows:
Pixar Play Parade (12-4)
A few minutes of High School Musical *
(* = first time for these)
----------------
Day 1: Friday, Dec 4
This would be one of those really good days I've had at the parks. It was a good crowd overall, mood-wise. I've long-noticed that some days the overall mood in the parks is better than usual; other days can be relatively rotten. And I've found a quite reliable "barometer" is how much feedback I get on my headwear. As some probably already know, I wear novelty headwear to the parks, homemade headwear at that. (I've done it on every visit since I started going to the parks again in 2006.) Further, I keep count of it and a few other things, for the blog on my (currently-down) website. To go along with the ride tallies, here's a forum debut of those counts. It looks like this:
12-4: F:33, FS:3, CFCM: 0, P: 0
Date: 12-4.
Feedback recieved (F): 33 (a possible record for the one I wore; it was the usual ratio of about 40% from CMs and 60% from guests).
Feedback given/sent to other guests for theirs (FS): 3. (One in particular was noteworthy; more later)
Confused for a Cast Member (CFCM): 0 (but most days it happens at least once)
Helping someone get their picture taken (P): 0 (often happens on visits though)
And with that, on to the pics.
Kale, kale, wonderful kale
After the usual beginning of the day with a Space Mountain fastpass and a round of Buzz (874.9k/unknown top-10; the picture went missing), and some time not really doing anything, it was off to:
----------------
Tiana's Showboat Jubilee
11:15am preformance:
12:45pm performance. This was actually after HMH and lunch break detailed below. I was in a better position this time and was also able to catch the procession. Today and the next day I did head over here fairly early in a half-hearted attempt at being selected for a performance. Didn't happen, although I wasn't exactly sure where and how people are picked despite having heard it mentioned. I'll most likely not be back to the parks before the ROA refurb, so oh well. It wasn't something I was adamant about doing so it's really no big deal. It would have been fun though.
----------------
Haunted Mansion Holiday
Merry...
Scary ... Oogie!
Always ready on short notice for a timelapse opportunity
Talk often comes up about the gingerbread smell being from the actual decorations. This is extremely unlikely because not only will most scent wear off with age, but you also have two sets of windows--the protective ones along the mezzanine and the Pepper's-ghost ones--between the doombuggy path and the decorations on the table.
Whew: at least my name--which is indeed on this list--has a pumpkin, presumably for "nice" and not a skull-and-crossbones.
Rest assured, I would indeeed be back. I have a good deal more from here from the three other times I rode later on.
----------------
I had been intrigued by this since Harbour Galley reopened, but had yet to see any mention of it by a parkgoer. (Sorry, the stark sunlight here was terrible for a proper picture, even with flash to compensate.) It's pretty good, although not a wow-factor item. The salmon fillet had a small amount of a quite tasty creamy dressing slightly reminiscent of caeser dressing. The salad comes with your usual dressing choices; I chose italian because I thought ranch (my usual choice) would conflict too much with the salmon. I would rather have had more of the dressing that was on the salmon fillet instead.
One of only two unmagical moments of the day occured here, albeit a minor one, which goes to show how awesome this day was. (The other was a minor incident of snobbish conduct from a spectator at Fantasmic.) What happened was the salad and drink were rung up separately, which doesn't matter itself of course. But my AP discount wasn't applied to both orders, consequently partially stiffing me. I didn't catch this until after leaving the counter, and didn't know how to go about resolving it in an amicable manner anyway, so I just let it pass. This stung doubly because the CM who took my order was otherwise really great.
I went and saw the 12:45pm Tiana's Showboat Jubilee next (I just put all the pictures together).
----------------
Whooooooshing along inside Pirates of the Caribbean. (Timelapse fun in other words)
I took a flash-flash-flash-flash photo inside POTC...and am proud of it
----------------
Small World Holiday
Round 1 of 6 (1 of 3 today)
The "tunnel of lights" was missing this year. And I miss it too.
Oh yeah: got a shot of a costuming favorite
Much more to come from here.
----------------
This is the point where I take on a wistful mood...
...probably reminiscent of Silvermist looking over the waterfall over in Pixie Hollow.
These are one of my absolute favorite things about the Christmas season. It all got started way back in the day. As is often the case, I ended up with a head full of dreams, often leading to thinking up elaborate fantasical scenarios, all realistic given the right circumstances, support structure and such. This was probably the most significant of them all, leading me to even take a couple horticulture classes at the local community college. Maybe awesome things would come of it.
That was ten years ago.
Instead, I'll just continue to enjoy these in silence
----------------
Anyways. I hope those dreamcatchers in IASW didn't get clogged up too much. I kinda wanted to get a Christmas-time picture with Mickey and maybe Minnie. But it would have been quite a wait.
Evidence of guests using their brains is always nice to see. This was near the front of the Matterhorn which is quite a ways from Tomorrowland Terrace where I assume these came from. I've heard mention of these having to be fished out of the trash by CMs and you also gotta wonder how many get wasted because they aren't found.
This time, I tried taking pictures with a high shutter speed, instead of digicam video which I already have lots of.
An unintended side effect occurred in this and the next shot. :lol: (This will make sense when you see the DCA pics below.)
----------------
"Dear Santa: for Christmas I want there to be a parade at Disneyland."
"A Christmas Fantasy" Parade
"Thank you, Santa."
----------------
Lightspeed!
"Brakes. Brakes! Where are the braaaaaakes?"
----------------
Much more to come! Up next: the rest of day 1, and later day 2. Candlelight Processional, more parades, fireworks, more IASW, more HMH, a Mickey's Fun Wheel montage you're really gonna like, lots of Fantasmic, and more. These take a really long time for me; probably 20+ hours of work by the time I'm done. Most I've been doing the past week as time allows, but I still have several hours of work ahead.
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