ILoveRides Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 The Holidays are almost here, which means "Holidays at the Disneyland Resort" is back! During the holiday season there’s always so much to see, taste, and experience at the Disneyland Resort. Among the highlights this year at Disney California Adventure (DCA) are the “Festival of Holidays,” where you can experience diverse cultural holidays with delicious food and entertainment, “Mater’s Jingle Jamboree” and “Luigi’s Joy to the Whirl” musical ride overlays in Cars Land, and “World of Color - Season of Light,” a special holiday version of World of Color. Over at Disneyland there’s,“A Christmas Fantasy” parade, two of the best holiday ride overlays ever: “Haunted Mansion Holiday” and “It’s a Small World Holiday,” and “Believe... In Holiday Magic” Fireworks Spectacular. Spears was there to check out some of this year’s highlights - and for the first time ever she did the whole report: the photos, the writeup, everything! - so if you enjoy the report be sure to say “Great job Spears!” Take it away Spears... After parking, I strolled through Downtown Disney and enjoyed the decorations. It starts with the holiday banners. I love the Christmas trees made of ornaments! The decorations were grouped by color. There was red, blue, green and white. It wouldn’t be Christmas without amazing merchandise! There were holiday sweaters and ears. The pom-pom Minnie Ears were my favorite. About to check in! I got to meet Minnie and Mickey dressed in their best holiday attire. Minnie and Mickey Mouse strike-a-pose. Next, we took a tour of the recently renovated Grand Californian Hotel. The first stop was the “Grand” New Gingerbread House. This was the biggest gingerbread house that I had ever seen! When I arrived, the house was still being decorated. The entire room smelled of fresh gingerbread. The Christmas tree was breathtaking from the 4th floor! We were able to tour one of the recently renovated suites on the 4th floor. It had a private balcony, a living room, and it even had a wine cooler. All of the art was created especially for the hotel. The suites are able to sleep more than 6 guests. It felt like home-away-from home and so much more. At DCA, we stopped at the "Festival of Holidays." This event celebrates food and cultures from around the world. This event runs from November 10, 2017-January 7, 2018. There is limited edition merchandise (Can be found near the Little Mermaid ride.) The merchandise focuses on diverse holidays: Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, Kwanza and Three Kings Day. I’m starting to get hungry... time for food! So many tantalizing treats! Looks at those gingerbread rice crispy treats! The delicious treats continue with peppermint marshmallow wands, chocolate yule logs, and gingerbread candy apples. There is something for everyone! They brought back the ever popular “Roasted Turkey Slider.” New this year, there will be a “Ham Slider” too! Love the Goofy popcorn bucket, it’s a must have. There is a handy-dandy "Tasting Passport." It lists all of the foods and beverages, as well as a map so you can easily find all of your favorite treats. It helped me find my favorite booth, which was booth #5, "Brew and Bites." I got the warm bavarian pretzel with whole-grained dijon mustard and the raspberry sour beer. It was the biggest pretzel ever! Just look at that pretzel! Next, I tried the chana masala with grilled garlic naan, from booth #7 "Classic Crocks and Casseroles." I wish I had more time to check out all of the food. It wouldn’t be a holiday event without amazing entertainment. I was excited to see the ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party. This show celebrates traditional Hispanic culture, dancing and music. It’s the Three Caballeros (from left to right): Panchito, Donald Duck and José Carioca. The party keeps getting bigger and bigger, with more dancers joining the festivities. Drums! Minnie and Mickey join the party! When the sun sets, come check out all of the amazing live bands. Tonight’s feature was ‘Phat Cat Swinger.’ This was a band from Canada that puts a jazz/big band twist onto all of your favorite Christmas songs. The band featured a bass, drums, saxophones, stand-up bass, trumpet and tuba. Each song show-cased the individual musicians. I didn’t want the show to end! Don’t forget to check out the nightly shows. There are 5 other bands performing which include: Mariachi Divas, The Sound, Mostly Kosher, Blue13 Dance Company and the Holiday Toy Drummers. Check the schedule to see the times for the shows. Time to check out the rest of DCA! Cars Land is all decked out for the holidays! Mater's Junkyard Jamboree is now “Mater’s Jingle Jamboree” and Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters is now “Luigi’s Joy to the Whirl!” Carthay Circle looks classy as always. I love all of the hidden details! Bye DCA, heading over to Disneyland. Disneyland’s Main Street is breathtaking! Winter has taken over the castle and it’s covered in snow! This is the best time of the year to see the castle! My favorite part of the holiday celebration is “It’s a Small World Holiday.” There are FastPasses available for this ride. So awesome! Every 15-minutes, there is a light show projected onto the exterior of the ride. Let’s jump into a boat and take the happiest boat ride in the world! Season's Greetings! This is one of my favorite rooms! Welcome to the jungle! ¡Feliz Navidad! We are going under the sea to see Ariel. Lilo caught a big wave. Mele Kalikimaka! Happy Holidays! The finale of the night was the “Believe...in Holiday Magic” fireworks display. This was my first time viewing the show in front of Small World. It was great because they closed the queue before the fireworks, so it was empty in front of us. Fireworks + projections = win! OOoooo! AAAhhhhhhh! Blue fireworks! Rainbow fireworks! Fairy Dust! Red fireworks! The finale! I’m so sad to be leaving, but I love the beautiful view on the way out! I had a wonderful time seeing the Holiday offerings at The Disneyland Resort! Thanks to Disney for the wonderful experience. "Holidays at the Disneyland Resort" runs through January 07, 2018 - don’t miss it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 It's all so beautiful, festive, colourful....and the decorations are great, too! So many food and beverages ^ to choose from. Constantly impressed with Disney and what they come up with. Great Disneyland/DCA Holiday TR! Thanks for sharing it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Very nice! They really go all out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 Thanks for the report about DLR's Christmas festivities! The parks always look great, and I particularly like how they decorate Cars Land Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Kane Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 "Wow wow wow!" (as Gordon Ramsay would say ) I love wintertime, and Disney sure knows how to do the season right! Thanks for a 'technicolor' Report. Alice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillerman1 Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 The castle looks absolutely STUNNING! WOW. I'm always amazed at how all out Disney goes...the park looks just gorgeous. Great first TR Spears. Thank you for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyBo Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 "Great Job Spears!" I love Disneyland during the Holiday season. Halloween and Christmas at Disneyland are always so awesome. It's great to see the many offerings that both parks are offering this year. I'm totally going to get a Tasting Passport if I ever make it out there! I'm starting to like how CarsLand is starting to decorate for the different holidays now. I don't remember them doing that in the past so it's fun to see what the "Cars" are up to. Jimmy "Great Job Spears!" Bo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sluggo77 Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 Great report. Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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