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Visit Date: 11/16/07
Steps: N/A
Parks Miles: N/A
Time in Parks: 8:30

 
Trip Log:

Started off the day heading for DCA. Spent a little time at Santas Beach Party Blast and then headed for the Backlot in hopes of seeing the new Snow White exhibit since the signs said it Premiered the 16th. I learned the Friday was the premiere, but it did not open to the public until the 17th so that means next trip I will have pictures. I circled the Backlot then cut back through the Sun Plaza and walked by the Farm area and out to the Pier. Headed around past Screamin to the Sun Wheel for some construction pictures. After my trip around the sun I walked back past the Toy Story Mania work and Screamin as I headed for the Bay Area. Next up a trip over to the Grand Californian to see what was going on. Still no Christmas decorations... I took some pictures of the new wing construction then headed out to Downtown Disney and back to Disneyland. Once in the park spent some time in Town Square taking pictures of the Christmas decorations and some of the characters that were out before proceeding down Main Street to the hub. Took some pictures of the Castle now that its fully decorated and then walked through Adventureland and NOS on my way to the Haunted Mansion to grab a Fastpass. Continued on to Critter Country to see if anything new was out there, not really, before circling back along the Rivers of America and around the Big Thunder trail to Santas Reindeer Roundup at the Big Thunder Ranch. Spent some time looking around and headed to the Small World mall to catch the first Christmas Parade of the Season. As the parade was ending I hopped on Small World Holiday to avoid the masses and then cut Tomorrowland to grab a Buzz Fastpass on my way back to the Hub. Took some more Castle shots and Main Street shots with the setting sun as I waited for the Flag Retreat. After the ceremony headed back to the Hub to find a spot for the lighting of the Castle (at 5:30) then I wandered around the Castle taking pictures for a while. I grabbed a Corn Dog while waiting for the 6:30 parade. After the parade grabbed some more Castle shots while waiting for the crowd to settle then headed out to Small World holiday to see it lit up. I managed to catch up to the parade so I was stuck in the traffic for a while, then headed to Toontown to see its decorations at night. Then made it back to Small World just as the Snow Show was starting (7:30). After the snow they ran a projection show. I walked back to Tomorrowland and up to Innoventions. Then over to Buzz to use my Fastpass there. After saving the Galaxy I hopped on the train to NOS and used my Haunted Mansion Fastpass. It was about 5 to 9 at this time so found a spot to watch the intro to Fantasmic. As the Jungle scene came on I headed for Main Street to find a spot for the fireworks and snow. I ended up down by the Cinema, so I could easily get out afterwards. Watched the show and then headed for the tram, car, and home.

Other Interesting Stats(I had a pedometer malfunction so no stats today):
* Actual Walking Time: N/A
* N/A steps per minute average
* N/A mph average


For Comparisons to other trips or more park miles click here to visit our park Miles Section.

Note: These totals may be skewed because the pedometer is zero'd when we start and then left alone and read when we leave. So attractions, and other things may cause extra "steps" to be counted. The pedometer that we use basically measures up/down motion as a step, so if your standing in line and moving up and down it may be counting steps, etc.. so the total distances traveled and steps may be off.. so use these as rough distance comparisons between trips and they may not be accurate in terms of actual distance traveled.
Pictures & Video From this Trip:


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My Thoughts & Observations:

* After you read this report you may want to check out the pictorial updates in our Disneyland Resort Pictorial Update section

Hello everyone,

Friday was a nice relaxing day at the Disneyland Resort. The parks had a lot of people, especially in the evening, but the lines still did not seem bad to me. It was definitely not as bad as last years kickoff of the Holidays which also happened to be Veterans day.

Jason


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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • As you saw in the Pictorial update both theme parks are all decked out for the Holiday season and looking great! Overall there are not that many changes in the decorations this year over years past, the only major changes is the addition of the Castle Snow. The entertainment offerings are about the same too with the Sleeping Beauty's Winter Castle shows being added but everything else the same, Believe in Holiday Magic, The Christmas Fantasy Parade, the Reindeer Roundup, and over at DCA Santa's Beach Party Blast.

  • The castle looks great at night and the small show that occurs a couple times a night is a nice touch too. There were two that I know of on Friday. One at 5:30 and another at 7:30. This show happens at the Castle and out at Small World. It consists of some dialog and a new version of "Shine" (the old theme from the short lived Luminaria show at DCA). If you are at the Castle you see a light show and snow fall, out at Small World snow falls and there are projections on Small World. I think this is a great little show and just a nice "plus".. especially for those who do not stay until the fireworks finale, now they get to experience the snowfall. Wonder if this will have any impact on the crowds that jam Main Street every night (Friday night was packed as usual for the showing). I was not overly impressed with how the lights on the castle look during the day, it comes off as looking a bit odd to me to see strands of lights hanging everywhere, but at night the effect is great and well worth it seeing.

  • I was disappointed not to be able to see the Snow White exhibit in the Animation Building at DCA. The signs I spotted last trip said Premiering the 16th were a bit misleading... the Premiere event was the 16th with merchandise, a screening, and a preview but it did not open to the public until the 17th so no one was allowed in....

  • The Christmas Fantasy Parade is running again and in front of the parade is a new pre-parade unit featuring the princess from the upcoming film (it opens this week) Enchanted and the theme song from this film is played (its sung by Carrie Underwood - click here to see the music video and to learn more about the film)

  • For dinner I decided to grab a quick corn dog in between the castle lighting and the parade (which gave me about 45 minutes). There were maybe 7-8 groups in front of me and it took me just over 35 minutes to get my corn dog, which just seems way toooo slow. Everyone around me was grumbling about the long wait and I talked about my prior experiences and how its always this long... it just does not make sense why they food lines cannot move more efficiently... especially at a place that sells corn dogs and drinks only, there are about 5 things on the menu. Also I noticed they now accept credit cards so you do not even have to wait for change like before (and note they do take the Annual Pass discount too).

  • While eating I glanced through the guidemaps and time schedule and I was surprised to see the the Reindeer Roundup on the inside of the time guide and not the cover. The cover still had the Jedi Training Academy, Princess Faire, and Pirate's Lair instead. Over on the DCA side they list the Wave Riders again, I waited around for their 1:30 set and they never appeared... also interesting the map has the regular listing, no mention of holiday music, wonder if this was an oversight or if they are not playing holiday sets this year.

  • Just want to conclude with saying how much I enjoyed seeing the classic Believe in Holiday Magic show... I think it is amongst the best Disney firework shows and would encourage anyone who is into the holidays to check it out if you have not, its worth fighting the crowds....

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

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Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com
Pictures & Video From this Trip:


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