Well, helllllllllloooooooooooo, friends and Christmas/Holiday Superthread peeps! I see that many familiar folks from the old thread have made their way to this one...and hopefully many more people will join us soon.
I didn't get a chance to reply or comment in the other thread, but I did see Orbitron's lovely photo (I'm so glad to read that he had a great time on the trip) and I read tipovertiff's trip review as well. Thank you to them, and to everyone else who took the time to post reviews, photos or recaps when they returned from DLR!
I saw that Malcon10t posted a photo of post-Christmas Santa (in his green "street clothes") at the end of the previous thread. I wondered about whether or not he would sneak in an appearance at the Jingle Jangle Jamboree because I vividly recall somewhere in Disney's explanations of holiday entertainment that Santa was scheduled to be at the JJJ (and at Elias & Company) only until/through December 24th.
If they meant "jolly red suit Santa" would be out and about through 12/24 but that "green plaid ensemble Santa" would be out post-Christmas, they should be more clear!
It's getting really hard to know what is accurate or not accurate -- when it comes straight from Disney! They say Santa will be gone after 12/24, and his red suit may be at the cleaners now but he IS there in some capacity, posing for photos I would imagine. They say that Dreyer's will no longer be making the tub size of peppermint ice cream that they use for the ice cream shops at DLR, and lo and behold the peppermint ice cream pops up at Gibson Girl in time for the Christmas break rush!
And let's not even get into the fiasco from last year, when the AP Backstage Pass newsletter/magazine stated that Mickey's Halloween Party would be starting on Monday, September 30th...when, in actuality, it started on Friday, September 27th!!!
It used to be that we couldn't really count anything as "official" unless it came directly from Disney, and while that may still be true, what we get from Disney is not always correct!
Thank you.
It is a major undertaking for you to do all of the work that you do for this thread. And I, like countless numbers of other people, I am certain, appreciate and marvel at the time, effort and editing, that you spend, in order to have this super thread exist to begin with and thrive. It's almost as if this super thread becomes some kind of being, taking on a life all its own.
Thank you so very much!
Thank you for the very kind words,
Gisele.
I really appreciate it!
And you are right -- it certainly does take quite a bit of time -- in increments and stages, as it cannot be done all at once -- to assemble the info, organize it, edit, rearrange, organize the Theme Week Countdowns, etc. It's fun work, indeed, but it is a project, that's for sure!
Checking in. I never thought that this thread would hit the page limit before the Halloween one did.
Corinna
Welcome,
Corinna!
Yes, it's funny how the Halloween threads and Christmas/Holiday threads have evolved over time. The Christmas thread, in an earlier incarnation, was way ahead of the Halloween thread in views and participation. Then I had to start a new Christmas thread and that took a while to catch on, but meanwhile the old Halloween thread took off like a rocket and surpassed the Christmas one.
I suppose if both the Halloween and Christmas threads started anew at exactly the same times, it would be easier to get an accurate picture of how well one thread or the other was doing, but I always have to start one way before the other one and they are never out of the gate at the same time.
I hope the Halloween thread stays quiet for a bit longer, as I do have to continue assembling at least some info to go on page 1 of a new thread. I didn't allow myself enough posts to work with in the current Halloween thread when I started it, so I couldn't really organize it the way it should be organized or the way I'd like to as it progressed. When it comes time to start the new one I'd at least like to have some info organized into different categories and then add to it as I go (like I am doing with this thread), but I need more posts to do that.
I've subbed in.
Sherry I love the pictures with either black or holiday frames that you've started each section with. Just great.
You've out done yourself on this new thread that is certain to become a favorite destination for many DISers!
Welcome,
TK!
Thank you for always being a loyal Superthread follower and participant -- and also a Hallmark Channel Countdown to Christmas fan!
Thank you, also, for the kind words. Because of stupid Photobucket, I had the hardest time getting those small photos on page 1 resized the way I wanted them, with the borders, because Photobucket kept making them gigantic instead of small.
I will now have to actually remove a couple of those small pictures and replace them with other newer ones, because, for example, the ice rink picture is from 2012 and the 2013 ice rink didn't look like that! Also, now the
Disneyland Hotel has the gingerbread Castle, which would be nice to show in the Hotels section. I might want to work in a Viva Navidad photo somewhere, in some post or another, at some point too.
I will also have to go through and remove any links that have become inactive -- like for 2013 holiday events that had temporary websites (such as Knott's Merry Farm). That will be a pain.
Plus, I am in the process of silently going back through the Superthread I just closed, to collect links to any posts with trip reviews or links to trip reports, as well as any other info I'd like to include in this thread. I don't want to leave anything important out, especially since quite a few people took the time to give us detailed recaps of their trips and I want to be sure to include those reviews on page 1 of this new thread. So I have been saving a bunch of links to info in a Word document, and will paste them into the posts on page 1 as I go along. At least I know that we won't get any real holiday season news for a while, so I won't have to worry about an influx of new blogs and press releases from Disney just yet.
TK -- Since you seem to alternate your WDW and DLR trips, are we to expect that you will be visiting WDW for the holiday season of 2014, or is there any crazy way you'd end up back at DLR?
I'm here as well. Kudos to Sherry for all the hard work on this thread. It has to be a labor of love for sure!
Thanks again for all the kind words about our Christmas video from this past year. Wow crazy to say past year! In case you didn't see it here is the link one last time...I also put it in the trip reports thread as well.
http://youtu.be/sZFw_Z9BrH4
Happy New Year everybody.
Welcome,
Mike! Happy New Year to you as well!
I am glad you posted the video link again, since it ended up almost at the end of the previous thread and it's possible it could have been overlooked. Such a fun, happy, uplifting video.
I know what you mean -- I cannot get used to saying "last year" or "this past year" at all. I have already slipped and said "this year" when I meant last year, or said 2011 when I meant 2012, and 2012 when I meant to say 2013. It takes me a while before I can fully get used to a new year because even though the date on the calendar changes, it's not like there is some major change in weather or in anything else that happens on January 1st to signal a new year. It just seems like any other day.
Thank you for the kind words, and yes -- these threads are a labor of love, for sure! It's fun and very rewarding to help people plan trips and to build excitement for their trips, but it doesn't happen overnight!
I'm so excited to get to follow this thread again this year! And knowing we start the countdown the end of Aug/beginning of Sept (right?) makes it feel like the year won't be that long! Thanks again Sherry for putting this all together!
Welcome,
Jamie!
You're welcome! Thank you for joining in again, and for helping out with giving information and trip tips, observations, sharing photos, etc. It is very much appreciated.
The Countdown will start at the beginning of August, barring any kind of unexpected schedule change (and will end sometime in early November, based loosely on when DLR officially starts its holiday season)! It's a good 7 months away, but hopefully it will fly by. I mean, technically, I really could split up some categories or add in some new ones and start the Countdown a little earlier than August if we just wanted to get the photos rolling in even earlier than usual, but then that would make the Countdown longer than 3 months and I don't know if anyone would really like that. I think 3 months is a good amount of time, but who knows? Maybe I will end up extending the Countdown by one extra week or so.
Oh, by the way, when I was looking at who had the most posts in the previous Superthread (other than myself), it was YOU! It didn't seem like you had posted that much, but when I looked up who had the most posts and least posts in the thread, I was shocked to see Bret/mvf-m11c down at maybe #10 or #11 on the list and you in the top spot (if we take me out of the equation)!
Thanks Sherry! So excited to participate again!
Welcome,
crystal1313!
Thank you for following us over here and joining in again for another year of holiday fun!
Let me know if you do end up writing in about Robert at the PPH. I don't know whether to use the regular contact option on the DLR website to write in about him, or go some other route.
Cool!
A brand new Christmas super-thread. Still with that brand-new thread smell! (Is that cinnamon I smell?) Thanks Sherry!
And still, I didn't get here quickly enough to get on page 1. You guys are just too quick for me. Must be old age
-Bob
Welcome,
Bob!
I can always count on you to join the Superthreads, which I greatly appreciate. Though I would have let the previous thread run indefinitely if it wasn't at the page limit, the fact that it was at the page limit and that it's a new year seemed to be ideal timing to start the new one.
It's probably a hybrid of cinnamon, gingerbread and, of course, peppermint that you're smelling!
Taking advantage of our APs and heading back to Disney on Saturday. We want to see some of the holiday stuff we missed last trip. I ordered my DisneyWorld CD finally last week. All of the edits stressed me out, so I only uploaded the Disneyland pictures from December today. The PhotoPass photographer got some nice shots. If no one has already emailed them to you, I still plan to when I get my CD. It will probably be another month or so though, since I have until 02/01/14 to order.
Welcome,
Kim!
No hurry! I appreciate the thought and gesture. No one has emailed me anything, although I got one free PhotoPass print with my PPH room in December, and I chose a group shot with everyone, if I recall correctly. Or did I choose a photo of just the girls? Now I can't remember! I know I picked the border that said Ho Ho Ho.
Oh, my gosh!!! It was so much fun!!!! I loved it!! Did you find the song to download somewhere?? I keep looking on iTunes but can't find it!
Welcome,
pudinhd!
Planning around the busiest time of the year will be a different kind of experience for me. I am going to need this thread more than ever!
I didn't realize I had posted that much either!
I have not checked since we've begun 2014 but my stores usually tend to run out of it even before Christmas, and certainly won't have any on the shelves now. My Vons delivery people brought me the inferior Slow Churned stuff last week and it is just not the same as the Grand at all, which I already knew but I was reminded of it when looking at the Slow Churned. The Slow Churned taste differences may not be as obvious in flavors like vanilla or chocolate -- I'm not sure -- but in the peppermint ice cream the flavor difference between Grand and Slow Churned is very noticeable.
But with this being our first trip for the holidays, I think I was just too busy soaking up the big picture to focus too much on the small details.
