DLP has killed the magic of christmas

[DLPMagic]

Hello there,

this year's Christmas season is discribed as the worst of the DLP History.
Some changes have appeared :

- The tree lighting ceremony : Before was 15 minutes long, with performers, characters, etc... Last year was 5 minutes long with only characters voices, but was very nice, very poetic, very dreamy.
This year is 4 minutes long, no more character voices and the lighting are not coordinated with the music.

- The castle Lighting ceremony : Before the illumination of the castle had his ceremony. With all the towers covered of lights. Last year some projections were used to illuminate the castle with music.
This year : Just dancing fountains, the roof of the towers are only illuminated, the castle remains with light during the dancing fountains, no more projection.

- The Christmas Parade : The daily parade is now gone. Just the little cavalcade during 6 minutes with 5 little floats is called The Christmas Parade.

- Disney Dreams of Christmas : This show must be called Disney Dreams of Frozen. There is no more Christmas in this.

- Merida arrives at DLP : but she is at the photo location only 45 minutes during the day !

DLP was not loved by the fans, the Christmas season was what remaining the best, but now... there is nothing to do at DLP. Try other european parks !

 

[alissafalco]

That's terrible! What a shame

 

[HolleBolleGijs]

Yes, I was there yesterday and was disappointed, and I know nothing about DLP Christmas past.

First of all, the parade. I once had an Epcot tour guide who told me Walt always believed you should never be able to see the beginning and end of a parade at the same time (although I don't have another source for that), and I didn't even have to try, it's so short. I saw it twice, and the Toy Story float was even missing the first time.



Oh, Dreams. How upsetting you were. Maybe my hopes were too high. Too. Much. Frozen. Aside from Olaf as the "host," I also felt like nothing tied it together. In the regular version, you at least have Peter's shadow.

Speaking of Merida, many of the princesses seemed to be out and about yesterday (probably because Anna and Elsa kicked them out). But even outside of their regularly scheduled time in the programme. Yesterday I got to the park at around 4ish, and both Merida and Rapunzel were still out, even though they both were supposed to have finished at 2:45.

I have more to say, but I'll leave it at that for now...

 

[DLPMagic]

Hello,

Here is what was the castle lighting Ceromony :
Today :

Last year :

Magical Christmas Wishes :
Today :

Last Year :

 

[Trekkie101]

Merida - I have no idea what they're playing at here.

However the entertainment changes have been made on last years feedback from guests.

Christmas Tree lighting - Characters gone because barely anyone got a good view of them, only the handful right at the front had a clue what was going on. I agree with DLP on this.

Castle lighting - Guests weren't impressed with the reveal approach and felt they wanted to see some of the christmas songs back, especially with Chante cest noel. I prefer the castle searchlight version which is older than last years. They'll keep playing at it. Again its based on guest feedback.

Disney Dreams of Christmas wasn't rate as highly as Dreams!, so they changed it to what is popular, Frozen. Again they can't be blamed, the guests are screaming for more.

Cavalcade - It runs multiple times a day, has 5 floats, 7 mins long vs 11 for the main parade. Magic on Parade is showing its age!

I think they've put on a not bad line up.

 

[HolleBolleGijs]

Disney Dreams of Christmas wasn't rate as highly as Dreams!, so they changed it to what is popular, Frozen. Again they can't be blamed, the guests are screaming for more.

I think it was poorly executed though. They basically do the entirety of In Summer, Love is an Open Door, and Let It Go, just modified for the castle.

 

[asianway]

Hello there,

this year's Christmas season is discribed as the worst of the DLP History.
Some changes have appeared :

- The tree lighting ceremony : Before was 15 minutes long, with performers, characters, etc... Last year was 5 minutes long with only characters voices, but was very nice, very poetic, very dreamy.
This year is 4 minutes long, no more character voices and the lighting are not coordinated with the music.

- The castle Lighting ceremony : Before the illumination of the castle had his ceremony. With all the towers covered of lights. Last year some projections were used to illuminate the castle with music.
This year : Just dancing fountains, the roof of the towers are only illuminated, the castle remains with light during the dancing fountains, no more projection.

- The Christmas Parade : The daily parade is now gone. Just the little cavalcade during 6 minutes with 5 little floats is called The Christmas Parade.

- Disney Dreams of Christmas : This show must be called Disney Dreams of Frozen. There is no more Christmas in this.

- Merida arrives at DLP : but she is at the photo location only 45 minutes during the day !

DLP was not loved by the fans, the Christmas season was what remaining the best, but now... there is nothing to do at DLP. Try other european parks !

Thanks for posting this. I've seen some of the Paris loonies defending these changes along with the if you don't like it don't go mantra

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Disney Dreams of Christmas wasn't rate as highly as Dreams!, so they changed it to what is popular, Frozen. Again they can't be blamed, the guests are screaming for more.

Yes Disney can be blamed. If you ask a guest what he wants, he says "Frozen, coasters, and beer & burgers".

If you ask a designer what she thinks guests want, she'll say "Elaborately themed environments, rich immersive experiences, and enriching storytelling".

Disney parks do not get better by listening too directly to customer feedback.

 

[Trekkie101]

We're in a topic named, "DLP has killed the magic of christmas". I honestly don't see any evidence of that.

I see them in some ways, improving on last year with the cavalcade and tree lighting - both are improvements on last year.

Changing form in Dreams and Castle Lighting - it was unliked last year, so again I'd support them in changing it. Nothings been "cut". Its no cheaper than it was and will have cost them more to do. Likely tied in with World of Colors' winter dreams.

They've listened, rightly so to the lighting ceremonies. Frozen literally sells of the shelves. Sure something new will eventually replace it but its the current highest demand Disney IP - people would be annoyed not to see something.

Have a look at Hollywood Studios in WDW, they carved a lot worse into their summer.

 

[DLPMagic]

Somthing was WRONG for sure. The tree lighting has been changed in emergency to come closer of the last year's:

 

[cjkeating]

Okay. So some totally unbiased opinions based on my first DLP Christmas (and second trip to DLP).

Loved the decorations through Main Street and affiliated areas like the vehicles and the snow happening at seemingly random intervals was a nice surprise.

I didn't miss the normal parade as the Christmas parade whilst not as long was short and sweet, not up to American standards by any means but ticked all the general Christmas boxes and it was shown three times a day so had very easy front row viewing.

I saw the 2014 'version 1' tree lighting ceremony and didn't miss any characters, if anything I thought it felt quite nice and adult like Illuminations.

The Castle Lighting I don't think is even advertised and as the lights on the castle are only the tops of the turrets I don't think it is anything to be that interested in. More of a nice to catch if you happen to be in the right place at the right time.

Winter Dreams... as a massive fan of the standard show this was nowhere near as good. I have not been a fan of Frozen since the start so didn't have high expectations. To be honest it felt like the audience only reacted to Let it Go and the finale with the rest of the show including a very peculiar Toy Story set of scenes and a nice albeit random It's a Small World homage fell completely flat with the audience.

Could the event be better? Yes. Does it seem like DLP is trying to chop and change to make things better? From what I have read yes. And in my book that gives it a bit of extra leeway versus what I see and hear WDW (and to be fair, DLR) are doing in running the majority of the same shows and events year in year out.

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

World of Colors Winter Dreams got rid of the small world homage putting Disney characters instead but the music for the homage is still there.

 

[disneyworld07]

Don't know what to feel now - have a trip booked for this December and it will be out first Christmas trip to Disneyland Paris. Really hope it is still magical. Am hoping that having not seen any of it before we will just be able to appreciate it all for what it is. Hope we didn't leave it a year too late to go!

 

[disneyworld07]

Yes Disney can be blamed. If you ask a guest what he wants, he says "Frozen, coasters, and beer & burgers".

If you ask a designer what she thinks guests want, she'll say "Elaborately themed environments, rich immersive experiences, and enriching storytelling".

Disney parks do not get better by listening too directly to customer feedback.

I have to say that I completely agree with this. I just wish that Disney would get their confidence back and just go with the 'designer'. There is a reason why they are the imagineers etc..... ordinary park guests should not be the ones coming up with the next idea for the park.... the moment you start trying to please everyone, is the moment you never get anything right. Just go with what you know.

 

[unkadug]

Leave it to the French to destroy another American tradition....Christmas.

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

Plus you only have three songs from Frozen. World of Color has four songs.

 

[cdd89]

Interestinf thread - I can't factually disagree with any of it, but I went on November 15/16 and was left feeling really positive. I was blown away by the effect of the fake snow on Main St., and even Walt Disney Studios joined in the fun with a Christmas soundtrack to "Stars n' Cars".

I haven't done Disney at Christmas before, so maybe I had lower expectations.

 

[BuzzKillington]

It could be worse. They might start calling it the "Holiday Parade" or "Disney Holiday Dreams" instead of using that not so PC word, "Christmas".

 

[unkadug]

It could be worse. They might start calling it the "Holiday Parade" or "Disney Holiday Dreams" instead of using that not so PC word, "Christmas".

Since when is calling Christmas "Christmas" politically incorrect?

 

[Wikkler]

"Mas" is short for "Massacre" which might be offensive to people with PTSD.