Christmas Rumors?

ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
Bocabear said:
I would love to keep Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but the reality is, someone actually has to install all the decor which in some cases takes WEEKS to put up... So professionally we have to start early...I wish there was another way, but when everyone wants to see stuff up at exactly the same time, there are limited amounts of people to do thew installs...so it gets pushed earlier each year... That is the reality...I don't usually get my stuff up until the first weekend of December...if by then I am finished all of my professional obligations...
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For years Christmas began the Day AFTER thanksgiving and somehow stores managed to place their displays and decorations magically overnight and they were FAR more elaborate than they are today, The train layouts in department and hardware stores ....

Today we have undecorated stores open on Thanksgiving and Christmas...

Somehow the meaning has been lost and the adults in our family no longer exchange gifts except for handmade ones as a protest against what Christmas in the US has become. And Black Friday instead of a day of shopping is a day of decorating and making Turkey Soup.
 
Brad Bishop

Brad Bishop

Well-Known Member
Store / mall decorations are weak these days by comparison to decades back. Mostly it's banners and the mall may have some garland and a wreath hung every so often on their ceiling. It really used to be more elaborate. They were trying to draw you in with it.

Downtown areas were the same way (throughout the US, that is). Typically they'd have lots of interesting "fuzzy"/sparkly things hanging from lamp posts and, what I used to love, was garland or just lights strung across the street. Apparently trucks would get caught on the lights/garland but, surely there would be a way to fix this. So, a city/town's street would look pretty neat as you were traveling down it. The items on the light poles would be things like poinsettias, angels, toys, stars, snowflakes, etc (all shaped with garland (not evergreen), not just frames with lights).

Today you get the generic snowflakes (just lights on a frame) at best. I think it's mostly due the anti-Christian movement. If I tell someone, "Merry Christmas," these days it's a hate crime.
 
21stamps

21stamps

Well-Known Member
ford91exploder said:
For years Christmas began the Day AFTER thanksgiving and somehow stores managed to place their displays and decorations magically overnight and they were FAR more elaborate than they are today, The train layouts in department and hardware stores ....

Today we have undecorated stores open on Thanksgiving and Christmas...

Somehow the meaning has been lost and the adults in our family no longer exchange gifts except for handmade ones as a protest against what Christmas in the US has become. And Black Friday instead of a day of shopping is a day of decorating and making Turkey Soup.
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I never did Black Friday madness before becoming a mother. I have done it the past 5 years and it was actually fun..and I got a lot of great gifts and deals.
Until last year...
It's absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary for the stores to open so early. I'm fine with midnight. Not this 3pm stuff. By the time I went out @ 10pm most of anything that I wanted was already gone and the stores were trashed. It was not worth it at all.
 
Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
Brad Bishop said:
Store / mall decorations are weak these days by comparison to decades back. Mostly it's banners and the mall may have some garland and a wreath hung every so often on their ceiling. It really used to be more elaborate. They were trying to draw you in with it.

Downtown areas were the same way (throughout the US, that is). Typically they'd have lots of interesting "fuzzy"/sparkly things hanging from lamp posts and, what I used to love, was garland or just lights strung across the street. Apparently trucks would get caught on the lights/garland but, surely there would be a way to fix this. So, a city/town's street would look pretty neat as you were traveling down it. The items on the light poles would be things like poinsettias, angels, toys, stars, snowflakes, etc (all shaped with garland (not evergreen), not just frames with lights).

Today you get the generic snowflakes (just lights on a frame) at best. I think it's mostly due the anti-Christian movement. If I tell someone, "Merry Christmas," these days it's a hate crime.
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It has been an interesting business. I have been a professional Christmas decor designer since I got out of art school in 1987...The world has changed...In the 80s, an average mall budget for Christmas decor was about 250-400k...the program would be installed all after hours, and would last for 3 years...then it would go into the dumpster and a new program would be designed and installed... Nowadays, malls have usually under 100k to spend when they buy a new program, and they will use that same program for a decde or more, often making no improvements to it... Those numbers were not adjusted for inflation...that is what it cost in the day... So meanwhile everything has gone up, the mall management companies are making more money than ever with asstronomical rents, but they spend almost nothing for seasonal enhancements... Such a shame...
 
DisneyDebRob

DisneyDebRob

Well-Known Member
Brad Bishop said:
Store / mall decorations are weak these days by comparison to decades back. Mostly it's banners and the mall may have some garland and a wreath hung every so often on their ceiling. It really used to be more elaborate. They were trying to draw you in with it.

Downtown areas were the same way (throughout the US, that is). Typically they'd have lots of interesting "fuzzy"/sparkly things hanging from lamp posts and, what I used to love, was garland or just lights strung across the street. Apparently trucks would get caught on the lights/garland but, surely there would be a way to fix this. So, a city/town's street would look pretty neat as you were traveling down it. The items on the light poles would be things like poinsettias, angels, toys, stars, snowflakes, etc (all shaped with garland (not evergreen), not just frames with lights).

Today you get the generic snowflakes (just lights on a frame) at best. I think it's mostly due the anti-Christian movement. If I tell someone, "Merry Christmas," these days it's a hate crime.
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The stores found out that they will still sell tons of merch without the extra cost of putting up decorations. The people will still jam on in. Wait, sort of reminds me of somewhere else....
 
S

Siren

Well-Known Member
Rhinocerous said:
I can vouch for that. Was there in early December on a party day and we walked on Splash Mountain in the middle of the day.
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Hi @Rhinocerous! That's so awesome and I can't recall any lines for Splash Mountain either. I don't remember lines for any of the mountains. Anyway, thanks for confirming this -- our MK Party day had the lightest crowds of our trip. I just hope people don't catch on! LOL.
 
RobidaFlats

RobidaFlats

Well-Known Member
ford91exploder said:
For years Christmas began the Day AFTER thanksgiving and somehow stores managed to place their displays and decorations magically overnight and they were FAR more elaborate than they are today, The train layouts in department and hardware stores ....

Today we have undecorated stores open on Thanksgiving and Christmas...

Somehow the meaning has been lost and the adults in our family no longer exchange gifts except for handmade ones as a protest against what Christmas in the US has become. And Black Friday instead of a day of shopping is a day of decorating and making Turkey Soup.
Click to expand...

For centuries before that, Christmas began on Christmas. Everyone forgets that the 12 Days of Christmas song is about the the 12 days after Christmas.

I wish that we could go back to the Christmas season being the weeks after Christmas. Currently, the months leading up to it are when everyone celebrates, and then they are so sick of the over-saturation that the decorations start coming down on the 26th. It's the exact opposite of what Advent has historically been. The anticipation has now been replaced by celebration to the point that a lot of people view the arrival of Christmas Day as relief that it is finally coming to an end rather than excitement that it is finally here.

So there! Bah humbug! Get off my lawn! ;)
 
GlassHalfFull

GlassHalfFull

Well-Known Member
DisneyDebRob said:
The stores found out that they will still sell tons of merch without the extra cost of putting up decorations. The people will still jam on in. Wait, sort of reminds me of somewhere else....
Click to expand...

I'm not sure the stores in the malls are receiving the same sales numbers as they were when going to the Mall was more of an event... It's kind of a self fulfillment that you make the mall purely feel like SHOPS in cinder block hallways and that is it.. no more seeing Santa, getting to hang out at the mall for hours with hot chocolate, Auntie Annes Pretzels etc.. I find I spend less than 20 minutes in a mall once a month at the most.. where as some of my fondest memories were December Weekends where my family would go with friends and be at the mall from mall open until dinner time.. Shopping and Hanging out.. I could also go on a tirade about Malls sinking themselves with no stock as well since rarely do they have the correct sizes, but "I can order it online".. but that's for another forum/another day..

Either way.. as my friend Kenny G once said.. "I'm Jewish, and I never felt offended by people saying Merry Christmas".. If you get offended by Christmas being shoved down your throat, mind you.. the tree and gift version, NOT the Christian version.. then you probably are a little overly sensitive.. People love going to places where they feel immersed in a Holiday/experience, and there is no better place around the world(contrary to reports of others catching up) than WDW
 
Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
Matt_Black said:
Another thing about malls- online shopping. No sense in paying a lot for decorations when many are just going to sit at home and do their shopping there.
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That is true...but back when the malls did epic decorating, it was FUN to go to the mall... it helped you get into the holiday spirit... now that they have removed that aspect, online shopping is a better alternative, and the greedy Mall owners are inadvertantly leading to their own demise...
 
ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
Bocabear said:
That is true...but back when the malls did epic decorating, it was FUN to go to the mall... it helped you get into the holiday spirit... now that they have removed that aspect, online shopping is a better alternative, and the greedy Mall owners are inadvertantly leading to their own demise...
Click to expand...

Just like WDW is contributing to it's own decline.
 
MagicHappens1971

MagicHappens1971

Well-Known Member
mikenatcity1 said:
The first time I went and saw WDW at Christmas I was mezmorized...the garlands across Main St, the big tree in the rose garden by Cinderella Castle, Osborne lights...now, there are wreaths stuck to the sides of Main St that are sometimes hard to see...to me, that was the worst thing to lose.
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I miss the garlands too, but MK lost them due to FoF, and DL lost them due to PTN.
 
Pleakley

Pleakley

Active Member
In the social media era, where there's a frenzy to meet ~rare~ characters so you can instagram them, I'm truly surprised there hasn't been more of a focus on seasonal decorations. Give this segment the opportunity to take pictures of a cupcake and they lap it up. If not just for the rest of us, you'd think some fresh, unique holiday decor would actually cater to this oh so beloved crowd.

But that's of course a rhetorical statement. We all know why....$$$
 
Biff215

Biff215

Well-Known Member
Stephen Myers said:
I'd bet there will be an area in DHS that can still house the Osbourne Lights with the new extended lands...
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Don't bet much, the actual Osborne decorations were returned to the family and the lights were cut down and scrapped according to some here. The SoA was a unique location that worked well. Star Wars and Toy Story, not so much. As much as I loved the lights I think we need to move on, because Disney almost certainly has.
 

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