home > Columns > Geekspeaks >
12/08/24 - Disneyland Resort - Candlelight Ceremony Visit
 The Geek Speaks:

Welcome to the disneygeek.com Geek Speaks section. In this section I will post my comments on trips to the parks or other Disney related events.

12/08/24 - Disneyland Resort - Candlelight Ceremony Visit

Hello Everyone!

I spent a full day at the Disneyland Resort arriving before rope drop and staying until around 8pm. The weather was mild starting out cold in the 50s and reaching about 70 before cooling down again. The parks were busy as you would expect for a weekend during the holidays plus Candlelight.

A bit of news to start off. Last week Disneyland announced some of the Disneyland 70th Anniversary plans and other events for 2025. Also starting December 10th Tiana's Bayou Adventure will be retiring the Virtual Queue and going to a traditional standby.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • I do not venture to Anaheim on Sunday usual, but I did enjoy the drive down. The Los Angeles freeways are really efficient at 6am on a Sunday morning. No real delays in reaching the park, only a few Caltrans lane closures to deal with. Arrived around 7am just as they opened the tollbooths at the parking structure. Drew a less than ideal spot on the Cars level of the parking structure. The tram ride to the parks was on the cold side this morning.
  • I made my way into the park shortly after they opened the gates and as you would expect the Candlelight curb and bench seats were taken for the day already. Those guests had a 10 hour wait ahead of them for the 5:30pm Candlelight Ceremony this evening.
  • There was a healthy queue on Main Street at the Candy Palace of guests wanting the hand made candy canes. They were distributing wristbands which entitled you to purchase one later in the day once they were ready. I enjoy watching them make the candy canes much more than actually eating one. It is a very labor intensive process and interesting to me.
  • I rope dropped the Storybook Land Canal Boats and boarded what appeared to be the first boat out this morning. Storybook Land receives decorations for the Holidays which are a fun plus to the experience.
  • Stopped by the Haunted Mansion and walked through about 1/2 the queue. The new sections do break up the switchbacks and make it a little more interesting to wait. They are still working on cemetery on the hill though. The mix of the Lightning Lane returns to those of us in the stand by queue was already not great and what should have been a 5 minute wait was more than double that. Later in the day it was much worse with Haunted Mansion posting some of the longest waits in the park all day.
  • There was no wait for the Jungle Cruise so went for trip. It still is disappointing that the Jingle Cruise has not returned to Anaheim in years. I always enjoyed the different puns and thought it was a fun plus for the attraction. The rebuilding of the ruins is still a work in progress and there is no way to judge the progress with the scrims up.
  • Took the Disneyland Railroad from New Orleans Square to Toontown and had my first look at Tiana's Bayou Adventure from the rails and found it to be very disappointing. The attraction was down so lights were on and no audio on. The view is very obstructed and you get a very brief glimpse, even less than you did of Splash Mountain.
  • Viva Navidad Street Party is being performed on weekends only this year so I made a point to stop by for two showings Sundays. The show is the same as always with a very energetic cast.
  • For lunch stopped by Smoke Jumpers Grill. Found it interesting that most of the outdoor seating was taken but there were plenty of tables inside. Seems everyone had the same idea as me to eat outside and enjoy the mild afternoon.
  • The Avengers Assemble show today in Avengers Campus was the Hawkeye Holiday edition. The show seemed the same as previous years except at the end no other Avengers joined Hawkeye and Kate to wave to guests.
  • Wonder if Pixar Pier will every get holiday decorations.
  • Ended up waiting just under 3 hours for the Candlelight this afternoon. My plan was 2.5 hours but when we showed up it seemed wise to get in the queue and it paid off with a pretty good view from the City Hall side. The time waiting for Candle Light seems long but usually goes by fairly quickly as you visit with people around you, some veterans who have been to more than they can count others asking what they are in store for this evening. Kathryn Hahn was the guest narrator this evening. She did a good job with the readings. As with most you see her profile for almost the entire ceremony from the City Hall side, very few narrators look to their left. The Candlelight Ceremony is one of the unique traditions that have remained a spectacle at Disneyland and I hope it stays that way for years to come.
  • Phat Cat Swinger performed a couple of holiday concerts this event at Disney Festival of Holidays so after the Candlelight we moved quickly to DCA and out to catch the 6:30pm set. Managed to arrive with a few minutes to spare so we could rest our legs sitting on a bench for a few moments. Having such a large band on such a small stage that is not elevated is less than ideal. It was really hard for many to see and the performers were limited with their movement. The group put on an energetic and entertaining show as always.
  • Downtown Disney was busy as you would expect for a holiday season weekend. The LEGO store and D-Lander Store both had queues outside to control the flow of guests going in to avoid over crowding.
  • Caught a snowfall moment on the lawn. It was a nice touch and happens a half dozen times nightly through the end of the month.
  • The MoonRays were performing holiday tunes throughout the evening to round out the festivities. I was curious if other entertainment was going to be added for the season but it appears not. Just one spotlight group no other groups throughout the district.
  • The Avengers Reserve store opened since my last visit. It has a somewhat temporary feel to it and reminding me a lot of the Super Store. It was fun to see some of the props the comic book Christmas trees were a nice touch.

Here are some recent posts to the Geek's Blog:

Disney Related Press Releases

Be sure to check out the picture update that goes with this Geekspeak column, it can be found in our Disneyland Resort Pictorial Update section

Trip logs and mileage reports are in the Park Miles section.

Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com
Back to previous page

 

Quick Note

Check out the geek speaks archive for past updates.

 

Interested in Helping out?

If you are a fellow disneygeek and interested in sharing your insights, pictures, thoughts drop us an email here we are always looking for contributors.