Can Anyone Explain Why...?

[Crescent_Fresh]

I have been to Disney around the holidays many times. From what I remember waking up after Thanksgiving most of the Xmas decorations became more noticable and "out in the open". I remember waiting to see what was decorated overnight most of the time. Last year we went down a few days before Thanksgiving and pretty much everything was up already when we got to the parks / hotel.

Now I hate going to the malls now (not even Halloween yet) and seeing all the Xmas decorations up, but why does Disney decorate so early?

Is it because there is so much to do?
Because they want many more people coming to the parks to experience the "holiday magic"?
Because the feeling of sharing generates sales?

Not trying to be cynical here I love disney regardless... but is there a real answer? I know its becoming a trend to do this earlier each year, but I must ask... why?

Well... Happy Halloween:fork: ... Turkey day :hurl: (hate the taste of turkey), and Christma-holi-kwanza-kuh :xmas: !!!!

 

[Erika]

I have been to Disney around the holidays many times. From what I remember waking up after Thanksgiving most of the Xmas decorations became more noticable and "out in the open". I remember waiting to see what was decorated overnight most of the time. Last year we went down a few days before Thanksgiving and pretty much everything was up already when we got to the parks / hotel.

Now I hate going to the malls now (not even Halloween yet) and seeing all the Xmas decorations up, but why does Disney decorate so early?

Is it because there is so much to do?
Because they want many more people coming to the parks to experience the "holiday magic"?
Because the feeling of sharing generates sales?

Not trying to be cynical here I love disney regardless... but is there a real answer? I know its becoming a trend to do this earlier each year, but I must ask... why?

Well... Happy Halloween:fork: ... Turkey day :hurl: (hate the taste of turkey), and Christma-holi-kwanza-kuh :xmas: !!!!

I can't say for sure, but I do know several families that make it a point to get to WDW at Christmastime to see the decorations and everything else that comes at that time of year. Disney has to realize that... maybe they are just making it possible for more people to experience it. I would imagine that a lot of families find it easier to take off Thanksgiving week than the first half of December.

 

[Yoop33]

Good questions.... I will have to go in November to see when they start putting things up. When do you think they normally start so I can find a good time to go? I was just there this weekend and didn't notice anything yet, but only went to MK and AK

 

[Cosman]

I have been to Disney around the holidays many times. From what I remember waking up after Thanksgiving most of the Xmas decorations became more noticable and "out in the open". I remember waiting to see what was decorated overnight most of the time. Last year we went down a few days before Thanksgiving and pretty much everything was up already when we got to the parks / hotel.

Now I hate going to the malls now (not even Halloween yet) and seeing all the Xmas decorations up, but why does Disney decorate so early?

Is it because there is so much to do?
Because they want many more people coming to the parks to experience the "holiday magic"?
Because the feeling of sharing generates sales?

Not trying to be cynical here I love disney regardless... but is there a real answer? I know its becoming a trend to do this earlier each year, but I must ask... why?

Well... Happy Halloween:fork: ... Turkey day :hurl: (hate the taste of turkey), and Christma-holi-kwanza-kuh :xmas: !!!!

I recently spoke to Michael E. and he told me that Disney does this just to agravate you (Crescent Fish). So you will then write a dumb post on a Disney board.

 

[brkgnews]

One of the main reasons for the decorations showing up early is the amount of them they have to put up. Think back to the early years. They had to decorate Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary, The Polynesian, and Fort Wilderness. No problem -- bring in the task force and do it Thanksgiving night. Now, fast-forward 34 years. Three more theme parks, two water parks, a couple of mini golf courses, Downtown Disney, DisneyQuest, Pleasure Island, and about a gazillion new resort hotels. And, as if that's not enough for Holiday Services (huuuuuuuuuuge warehouse behind Magic Kingdom) to deal with, they are also responsible for storing, cataloging, and installing/maintaining the holiday decorations for the Disney Cruise Line, Vero Beach DVC, and Hilton Head DVC. So, as you can see -- overnight is no longer an option.

 

[mousermerf]

"Icon trees" take a long time to install and secure properly - one falling over would be very bad. There used to be just a few - now there are literally a couple dozen.

MK has to be complete prior to the first MVMCP rehearsals. Can't have a float come down Mainstreet USA and hit a garland hung the night before.

Music is reprogrammed everywhere. That alone takes ages.

Epcot's archway installation is complex and takes lots of consideration. It has to be installed with wiring on a bridge (with no pre-built infrastructure to support it) over water on a main pathway without ever disrupting the park itself.

The Spectacle of Lights - as seen by its start date in summer - takes ages to complete.

Wreaths - tons and tons of wreaths. Christmas trees in every shop. Christmas themed displays. For example, MouseGear at Epcot has had a Halloween themed ghost motif going throughout the store for the last month.

Overall, there's a lot to do.

 

[robynchic]

You also have to consider all that sugar, chocolate, candy, and gingerbread. It gets prepared WEEKS in advance.

 

[fngoofy]

Yeah, they start putting up the xmas stuff a couple of weeks before thanksgiving. We were there over a couple of days in Nov 02, and going to Epcot like 3 days apart and the additional decorations were noticable.

It is amazing the amount of decorations they put up.

 

[Feta]

Have y'all seen the massive gingerbread house in the lobby of the Grand Floridian? I wonder how many people are involved with that monster and how long it takes to execute.

 

[Mystic]

When I was there in 2001, the last full day we were there in mid November they were just starting to put up the decorations. I nearly walked into a Christmas tree inside the Contemporary that hadn't been there that morning on my way to the launch to the WL. When I was there last year I was there just before Thanksgiving and the WL was fully decorated as were the CR, Poly and GF. EPCOT had it's tree on the lagoon and the archway up but nothing was lit at night, same with MGM, they had their trees etc but nothing lit. AK was in the process of getting their decorations put up. They only had them up in the stores at the time. As for MK, on the Saturday we were there nothing was up. When we went on the Tuesday morning (2 days before Thanksgiving) for our 8:05am PS at Crystal Palace, they were just putting the final touches on the Christmas tree on Main Street by the train station and the garlands were hung down Main Street.

 

[Mystic]

Have y'all seen the massive gingerbread house in the lobby of the Grand Floridian? I wonder how many people are involved with that monster and how long it takes to execute.

You should see the massive Gingerbread carousel they put up at the Beach Club. I saw it last year as they were putting the final touches on it. It was fabulous. It had 4 horses on it and about 10 hidden mickeys. :xmas:

 

[bob0012]

It's very true that there is a lot more to do now then there was in the early days. That said, there are also a lot more cast members. And yes Holiday Services is busier, with all the added tasks, but again, they have more people. I see what many of you are saying, that obviously there is a lot of prep work to be done, and no one denys that. And I think we all understand the Osboure lights have to go up early due to shear size. But really the first poster is right, why can't the wreaths, garland and trees go up in one night? If they get cast member voulenteers from all across the diffrent departments, it would work fine. The hotel volunteers could put up the decorations in the hotels, ect. Now I know these aren't Holiday Services people, howver all of these things are so well planned out, on person at each location, running the show would work fine.

Also as far as the concern one poster had about MVMCP rehearsals and a float hitting garland hung the night before, it's pretty simple, the highest float is 20 feet, the garland has to be 30 feet off the ground.

 

[robynchic]

You should see the massive Gingerbread carousel they put up at the Beach Club. I saw it last year as they were putting the final touches on it. It was fabulous. It had 4 horses on it and about 10 hidden mickeys. :xmas:

OOH! I have a picture of it!

now...how do I make an attachment? Or can't I?

 

[Mystic]

OOH! I have a picture of it!

now...how do I make an attachment? Or can't I?

I have a pic of it too but it's not a digital pic so I can't upload it . After I got home I wished I had taken a picture of the ingredient list that was posted next to it. :brick:

 

[EpcotGrl]

It's very true that there is a lot more to do now then there was in the early days. That said, there are also a lot more cast members. And yes Holiday Services is busier, with all the added tasks, but again, they have more people. I see what many of you are saying, that obviously there is a lot of prep work to be done, and no one denys that. And I think we all understand the Osboure lights have to go up early due to shear size. But really the first poster is right, why can't the wreaths, garland and trees go up in one night? If they get cast member voulenteers from all across the diffrent departments, it would work fine. The hotel volunteers could put up the decorations in the hotels, ect. Now I know these aren't Holiday Services people, howver all of these things are so well planned out, on person at each location, running the show would work fine.

I get what you're saying, but I really don't think it's at all feasible to get it up in one night. Imagine the time time it takes setting up the tree & lights at your house, and multiply that by a thousand (at least). While I think we'd all love for the "magic" to be able to go up overnite, it would take such a HUGE workforce and oodles of time...and I'm fairly certain that there would be a dearth of 'volunteers' to work overnight on Thanksgiving

That being said...I wanna go for XMas now

 

[Tigger1988]

The osborne lights were being put up in MGM back in August

 

[Robfasto]

It is my understanding that some of the decorations are going up earlier because they have so much to do. When we first starting going to Disney it was always something to look forward to when you woke up on December 1st, all the decorations they 'appeared' overnight, of course they only had 1 park, 3 hotels and the Campground to do at the time so it was much easier to do.

I know last year I stayed at the All Star Sports the first week of November, the night of the 4th the resort was bare, when I checked out on the 5th all the decorations were up. I know people go to see the decorations I just feel the first part of November is a tad bit early.

 

[Mystic]

I know people go to see the decorations I just feel the first part of November is a tad bit early.

You think that's early, up here we're lucky if it's October before christmas stuff is available in the stores. We get the big back to school stuff out of the way and it's immediately changed to Christmas, forget Thanksgiving and Halloween. The card stores up here were selling Christmas ornaments in September.

 

[JimboJones123]

the card stores sell xmas ornaments in may!

 

[Robfasto]

You think that's early, up here we're lucky if it's October before christmas stuff is available in the stores. We get the big back to school stuff out of the way and it's immediately changed to Christmas, forget Thanksgiving and Halloween. The card stores up here were selling Christmas ornaments in September.

Our local Walmart had Christmas stuff out the first week of August, we went to buy a new lawnmower and they didn't have any of the type we wanted, but in it's place they did have plenty of Christmas trees already out...