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Christmas in the Magic Kingdom - A December 2017 Photo Report
DisneyDan  Tuesday, March 20, 2018 9:18:05 AM
Hello everyone,

It's supposed to be the first day of spring, but of course as these things go, it's snowing here in the mid-Atlantic region, so I thought I would share with you some photos from this past winter's festivities at the Magic Kingdom (December 2017). I won't share everything we did at the Magic Kingdom, because it's fairly standard otherwise, but I thought the holidays would be a fun theme for this frigid first day of spring!
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Holidays at the Disneyland Resort - an overview of the upcoming season
DisneyDan  Wednesday, November 5, 2014 4:26:18 PM
Hello everyone,

Christmas season is nearly upon us which means that the Disney Parks are gearing up for another spectacular season of holiday magic and wonder!
I thought we could take a look at what the Disneyland Resort in California has to offer this holiday season. Holiday Time at the Disneyland Resort will run from 13th November 2014 until 6th January 2015 inclusive this season.

We shall start with Disneyland Park.

At Disneyland Park you immediately find yourself in a winter wonderland as you step onto Main Street USA and discover their huge Christmas Tree and all the garlands, leading to the beautifully snow topped Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas in Town Square

Wandering down Main Street

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Walking up Main Street USA

Sleeping Beauty Castle

Walt's apartment gets a Christmas Tree in its window for the holidays, too.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas at Disneyland

Whilst on Main Street, you should stand and listen to the Dickens Yuletide Band play some classic Christmas tunes.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Dickens Yuletide Band



You should also stop by Town Square to give a warm hug to all your favourite Disney pals as they celebrate the season in their cute festive clothes!

Meeting Chip and Dale

Character fun on Main Street

Character fun on Main Street

Character fun on Main Street

Character fun on Main Street USA

Meeting Donald Duck

As you head off of Central Plaza and into Adventureland you should take a cruise on the rivers of the world, aboard the Jingle Cruise! (Note that this is not yet confirmed on the Disneyland Resort website for this year).

Wandering thru Adventureland

Heading out of Adventureland and into New Orleans Square, visit Jack Skellington and all his creepy friends from Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas at the Haunted Mansion Holiday. This epic holiday overlay features exclusive scenes and awesome effects. This attraction is extremely popular though, so be sure to get a FastPass or be there early (FastPasses aren’t normally available for Haunted Mansion, but during the holidays they are due to the popularity of this overlay).

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Wandering through New Orleans Square

DL Oct 2011 - Haunted Mansion Holiday

Haunted Mansion Holiday

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Taking the Holiday Time at Disneyland Park Tour

If taking a ride through the worlds of Christmas and Halloween collided wasn’t enough, you can also meet Jack Skellington and Sally Stitches near the Haunted Mansion.

Jack and Sally

From New Orleans Square, wander down to Critter Country where you can meet Winnie the Pooh and friends in their festive clothes.

Meeting the 100 Acre Wood pals

Meeting the 100 Acre Wood pals

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Meeting Winnie the Pooh

In Frontierland you should definitely visit the Jingle Jangle Jamboree where you can meet Santa Claus himself (Santa only meets until Christmas Eve)! Some of your other favourite Disney pals might just show up too!

Having fun at the Jingle Jangle Jamboree

Character fun at the Jingle Jangle Jamboree

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Jingle Jangle Jamboree

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Playing Reindeer Games with Reindeer Pluto

Meeting Mrs Claus

Having fun at the Jingle Jangle Jamboree

Character fun at the Jingle Jangle Jamboree

Having fun at the Jingle Jangle Jamboree



Fantasyland’s classic attraction “it’s a small world” becomes “it’s a small world” Holiday for the festive season, and is decked out with an incredible display of colour changing lights, which look awesome at night! Inside, the attraction celebrates holidays from around the world with festive costumes and scenes.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - "it's a small world holiday"

Disneyland Dec 2012 - it's a small world holiday

"it's a small world" Holiday

"it's a small world" Holiday

Disneyland Dec 2012 - "it's a small world holiday"

The must-see event at Disneyland Park is of course 'A Christmas Fantasy Parade'. Filled with all the most magical sights and sounds of Christmas, as well as the Disney characters, this parade is truly fantastic.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - A Christmas Fantasy Parade

Disneyland Dec 2012 - A Christmas Fantasy Parade

A Christmas Fantasy Parade

A Christmas Fantasy Parade

Disneyland Dec 2012 - A Christmas Fantasy Parade

Disneyland Dec 2012 - A Christmas Fantasy Parade

A Christmas Fantasy Parade

A Christmas Fantasy Parade

A Christmas Fantasy Parade

As night falls watch in awe as Sleeping Beauty Castle Becomes Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle, a wondrous snow capped ice palace.

Sleeping Beauty's Winter Castle

To top it all, the skies high above Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle become an array of colour in the “Believe… In Holiday Magic” fireworks spectacular.

Believe… In Holiday Magic Fireworks

Believe… In Holiday Magic Fireworks

As well as all these exciting happenings, don’t forget to check out the beautiful decorations around the park, and of course watch snow fall on Main Street USA!

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Wandering through New Orleans Square

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Wandering through New Orleans Square

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas in Toon Town

Of course, no day at Disneyland during Christmas would be complete without some treats!

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas Treats at Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Lunch at Plaza Inn

Sweet treats at the Jingle Jangle Jamboree

Be sure to try some of the world famous Disneyland candy canes, too! These are very popular, and tickets are usually distributed first thing in the morning. (Note that the candy canes may also be made at Trolley Treats in Disney California Adventure - check on the day of your visit.)

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Handmade Candy Canes

Now let us take a look into Disney California Adventure’s holiday offerings.

Disneyland Jan 2013 - Disney California Adventure

Buena Vista Street celebrates a classic Christmas of days gone by, with period decoration and their splendid Christmas Tree.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas on Buena Vista Street

The Buena Vista Street Christmas Tree

While on Buena Vista Street why not stop and listen to the Community Bell Ringers as they celebrate the holidays with some seasonal sounds?

Buena Vista Street Community Bell Ringers

The Elias and Co. department store is the home to Santa Claus up until Christmas Eve.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas on Buena Vista Street

Meeting Santa Claus

One of Santa's Elves

Also, you can catch Mickey and friends, and the Citizens of Buena Vista Street, in their period costumes which have been given a Christmas twist.

Meeting Mickey Mouse

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas on Buena Vista Street

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas on Buena Vista Street

Meeting Pluto

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Meeting Donna the Dog Lady

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Molly the Messenger delivers Holiday packages

At Paradise Pier, in previous years you were able to meet Duffy and Donald in cute Christmas outfits. It is not known yet if they will return this year, but I’ll share some of our photos nonetheless. It could be that other characters take their place.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Meeting Duffy

Meeting Donald Duck

Cars Land resident Tow Mater also joins the festivities, wearing a giant Santa hat!

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas in Cars Land

As night falls on Buena Vista Street, the Community Bell Ringers, the Citizens of Buena Vista Street and the Disney characters all come together for the Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Buena Vista Street Holiday Tree Lighting



Over in Paradise Bay, the magical World of Color becomes “World of Color - Winter Dreams”, a seasonal holiday version of this now classic nighttime spectacular.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - World of Color

Just like at Disneyland Park, don’t forget to check out all the decorations throughout the park.

Wandering thru Cars Land

Wandering thru Bugs Land

Christmas in Cars Land

Christmas in Paradise Pier

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas in Cars Land

You should also try some delicious treats, available from Trolley Treats Candy.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas on Buena Vista Street

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Taking the Holiday Time at Disneyland Park Tour

In previous years Disney California Adventure has also featured a special screening of Prep and Landing at the Muppet’s theatre, and a holiday version of the Phineas and Ferb show. There is currently no confirmation of either of these though, and they are not listed on the Disneyland website. However, I’ll share some photo below for reference.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Phineas and Ferb's Rockin' Rollin' Dance Party Holiday Edition

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Phineas and Ferb's Rockin' Rollin' Dance Party Holiday Edition

Prep 'n' Landing 4D

Disney California Adventure also celebrates Navidad, however we have no photos of this currently, sadly (we shall soon though!).

At the Disney hotels you can also meet Santa Claus at select times, up until Christmas Eve.

Meeting Santa

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas in Disney's Grand Californian

In previous years on Christmas Eve, Mickey and friends have appeared on Main Street in their cute PJs ready for bed as they anticipate the arrival of Santa Claus. They usually appear for very limited set times in the evening of Christmas Eve only, so be sure to look out for them!

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas Eve in Town Square

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas Eve in Town Square

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas Eve in Town Square

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas Eve in Town Square

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Christmas Eve in Town Square

For New Year’s Eve the parks put on special entertainment offerings, including mind blowing fireworks at the turn of the year. We were at Disney California Adventure for New Year two years ago, so I will share some of our photos and video from that, however, be aware this year’s offerings may differ.

Disneyland Dec 2012 - New Year's Eve Entertainment

Disneyland Dec 2012 - New Year's Eve Entertainment

Disneyland Dec 2012 - New Year's Eve Entertainment

Disneyland Dec 2012 - Happy New Year!





Will you be visiting the Disneyland Resort this holiday season? What are you looking forward to the most?

Happy Holidays everyone!

Dan.

All information in this article is subject to change or cancellation at any time, without prior notice by Disney. We offer this information purely as a guide to some of the things that may be experienced during Holiday Time at the Disneyland Resort.
A Grand Circle Tour of the Magic Kingdoms of the World: Part 1 - Walking Right Down the Middle of Main Street USA
DisneyDan  Tuesday, July 29, 2014 11:22:10 AM
Hello everyone,

I'm starting a new series here on the blog in which I aim to share my thoughts and experiences of the different lands of the Magic Kingdom style parks around the world. Think of it as the ultimate "grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom", to coin a classic phrase!
Of course, there will be many, many photos, so be warned, this post might take a while to load!

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A Grand Circle Tour of Europe's Most Magical Kingdom - Part One
DisneyDan  Saturday, November 5, 2011 4:57:59 AM
Hi all,
Taking a side step from the usual character focussed nature of this site, I wanted to take some time to share with you some of the beauty of my home park here in Europe, Disneyland Paris.
Disneyland Paris is making the last minute preparations for it's 20th anniversary in just a few months time, and so I wanted to lead up to that special occasion with a series of articles celebrating the magic here in Europe.
This site attracts a lot of international fans, and we forever receive comments about our work, which we greatly appreciate. I know that the bulk of our fans are from the US, and don't have the opportunity to travel as much as Europeans do.
Of course, there are the appropriate sections of this site that are dedicated to Paris, and I do tend to mention character news related to Paris more often than most parks, but I also know that not everyone has the time to go through the thousands of pages on this site to really digest it all. I know that a lot of you would love to travel to the European Resort, and seeing 50,000 pictures on the DLP page on this site might be a little daunting. So with that, coupled with the 20th anniversary fast approaching, as I mentioned above, I thought we would take a "grand circle tour" of the Magic Kingdom here in Europe.

Of course, this IS a character site, and the tour wouldn't be complete without a few character greetings along the way...

I have decided also to break up this article into a series, as there is so much to write about. This first article is about Main Street USA.

Before we begin, I just want to point out that all the pictures you see here are on the DLP pages of this site, and are, as always, a mixture of both mine and Jon's photos.

Approaching the park from any direction, you have to pass through Fantasia Gardens, where you are presented with the spectacular Disneyland Hotel that stands at the entrance to the park.  [ Read More... ]

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