Christmas at the DLR

IndianaJones

IndianaJones

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
Okay gang, good ideas for Tomorrowland's missing Christmas decorations.

But I was thinking something along the lines of a 1960's retro-future Christmas with aluminum Christmas trees set up along the PeopleMover track with color wheels, and go-go girls in tinsel miniskirts doing the twist and the swim to Twistin' Santa at Tomorrowlad Terrace, etc., etc.

Something that this lady would appreciate...

aluminum.jpg
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Love this idea. Make it so DLR!
 
RandomPrincess

RandomPrincess

Keep Moving Forward
I thinking of doing WDW during the holidays in the future but DLR truly has the better Christmas, WOC, HMH, IASWH, Viva Natividad. Plus all the decorations! It looks amazing. They all beat WDW's offering s in my book!
 
GiveMeTheMusic

GiveMeTheMusic

Well-Known Member
RandomPrincess said:
I thinking of doing WDW during the holidays in the future but DLR truly has the better Christmas, WOC, HMH, IASWH, Viva Natividad. Plus all the decorations! It looks amazing. They all beat WDW's offering s in my book!
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There really isn't a comparison anymore. DLR just owns Christmas at this point - WDW cuts every year, and if Osborne is killed for DHS expansion, they'll be down to Candlelight and MVMCP.

Plus, their decorations are UGLY. I don't know what the deal is down there, but DLR's decorations are WAY nicer and classier. In particular, the Christmas trees at WDW are hideous.
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
GiveMeTheMusic said:
In particular, the Christmas trees at WDW are hideous.
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Yes, they are. When it comes to Christmas trees in the parks, Disneyland is Nordstrom and WDW is WalMart.

The difference is in the decorations. At Disneyland, each tree is custom themed to its location with real, actual decorations of various textures and sizes and types. Here's a close-up of the decorations on the Disneyland Christmas tree in the Town Square this year as an example;

IMG_1525-M.jpg


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It's just pure class, from both the 100 foot long shot, and once you walk up close to it for your family photo.
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The similarly sized and placed trees in the WDW parks use vastly different decorations. All plastic and cloned and sparsely placed. And the trees at WDW are fake, like Disneyland, but are a cheaper fake that is just a giant cone with "branches" glued to the cone structure so that the decorations sit on the cone instead of hanging from actual branches. The overall effect is less than convincing, even at the 100 foot view.

DHS Park Christmas Tree
DHS_ChristmasTree_2008-goldhaber.jpg


The only excuse I've been able to come up with, aside from Orlando management just being really cheap and/or lacking in good taste, is that the Orlando climate doesn't allow them to have nice things outdoors. But the SoCal climate in November/December isn't perfect, and it's often when the first real rain and wind arrives in SoCal. But Disneyland has found a way to display outdoor Christmas trees for six weeks that can take that beating and look fabulous doing it.
 
ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
GiveMeTheMusic said:
There really isn't a comparison anymore. DLR just owns Christmas at this point - WDW cuts every year, and if Osborne is killed for DHS expansion, they'll be down to Candlelight and MVMCP.

Plus, their decorations are UGLY. I don't know what the deal is down there, but DLR's decorations are WAY nicer and classier. In particular, the Christmas trees at WDW are hideous.
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Epcot also has the Holiday Storytellers each year and they are pretty fun to watch too. I've never been to Disneyland at Christmas, but I have been to WDW and I don't think the decor at WDW is bad. But that is just my opinion.:)
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
ajrwdwgirl said:
I've never been to Disneyland at Christmas, but I have been to WDW and I don't think the decor at WDW is bad. But that is just my opinion.:)
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It's not that the WDW decorations are bad, it's just that they aren't good enough. And there aren't enough of them.

Only Main Street USA really gets the décor treatment at Magic Kingdom, where every land except Tomorrowland gets decorated at Disneyland. And at the other parks it's the same thing; just a basic Christmas cone tree and some entry area garlands/wreaths at the other parks in WDW, but DCA gets a full luxury décor package for Buena Vista Street and the park entry area, and then custom themed décor for most other lands in the park; Cars Land, Hollywood Land, A Bug's Land and Paradise Pier.

If WDW just existed all on its own, the Christmas decorations in the parks there would be just fine. But WDW is owned by a company that also runs two other theme parks in the United States, and those two other theme parks have a noticeably superior decorating package with a much larger budget. That's the real issue here.
 
ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
TP2000 said:
It's not that the WDW decorations are bad, it's just that they aren't good enough. And there aren't enough of them.

Only Main Street USA really gets the décor treatment at Magic Kingdom, where every land except Tomorrowland gets decorated at Disneyland. And at the other parks it's the same thing; just a basic Christmas cone tree and some entry area garlands/wreaths at the other parks in WDW, but DCA gets a full luxury décor package for Buena Vista Street and the park entry area, and then custom themed décor for most other lands in the park; Cars Land, Hollywood Land, A Bug's Land and Paradise Pier.

If WDW just existed all on its own, the Christmas decorations in the parks there would be just fine. But WDW is owned by a company that also runs two other theme parks in the United States, and those two other theme parks have a noticeably superior decorating package with a much larger budget. That's the real issue here.
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Like I said I haven't been to DL for Christmas but have been to WDW and I didn't mind the decor. Could there be more, probably. I have liked what I have seen of the DL decor in pictures.
 
RandomPrincess

RandomPrincess

Keep Moving Forward
ajrwdwgirl said:
Like I said I haven't been to DL for Christmas but have been to WDW and I didn't mind the decor. Could there be more, probably. I have liked what I have seen of the DL decor in pictures.
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I think another problem is WDW has scaled back on holiday decor in the past decade and DLR is adding more holiday decor.
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
ajrwdwgirl said:
Like I said I haven't been to DL for Christmas but have been to WDW and I didn't mind the decor. Could there be more, probably. I have liked what I have seen of the DL decor in pictures.
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Yeah, it's just one of those cases of the two properties operating very, very differently. Christmastime displays those differences the most starkly and obviously. WDW's decorations are "nice" and very predictable, if minimally used. For Magic Kingdom Park, it's the typical wreaths on lampposts and predictable garlands strung over the street along Main Street USA. Then there's a big fake Christmas tree with plastic decorations, the Castle lighting, and.... oh, we're done. That's all they really decorate; Main Street USA. Although the small amount of New Fantasyland décor and the Jingle Cruise has finally cracked the lock on that this year for Magic Kingdom Park.

But it's a very, very different theory of operations at Disneyland Resort this time of year.

Back to Disneyland....

For 2013 they redid the "Clock Show" they've been doing at It's A Small World Holiday for the last 10 years. The Clock Show is now redone with new digital projectors and all new animation this year, although the music is the same (thank goodness!). It looks fabulous and better than ever.

Every 15 minutes, after the clock has finished its regular show and march of the Children Of The World, the lights suddenly turn off and this happens for 60 seconds....

 
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Nicole220

Nicole220

Well-Known Member
I just had a friend come back from Disney World and comment on how there was a severe lack in Christmas decorations as compared to here.
 
wild01ride

wild01ride

Well-Known Member
BTW, I don't know if anyone followed the debacle that was the construction of the ice for the ice rink? They were fighting it for days (and it didn't seem like they knew what they were doing).
As of last Sat. night, they were starting to spray water onto what was a lumpy, chunky mix of ice and crunchy snow.

I couldn't believe my eyes yesterday when I saw that they actually achieved "ice". (although it still looked pretty snowy and crunchy on the surface!)
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Nicole220 said:
I just had a friend come back from Disney World and comment on how there was a severe lack in Christmas decorations as compared to here.
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Yeah..... Those who have only been to WDW and don't get out much may not see the problem, but those who have visited Disneyland can tell something isn't quite right at WDW parks this time of year.
 
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