Every so often I’ll take a picture of something and sort of file it away because it doesn’t fit into any real category or post, and then it just sits there, so I decided to weed through some and finally put them up.
First up–the Halloween Tree
It's a tree all decorated in pumpkins
So, yeah, like basically a leaf-less tree hanging with pumpkins. I also took a picture of the accompanying plaque that identified this as The Halloween Tree and said something I can no longer decipher about Ray Bradbury wanted to have something in the park so here it is.
Nice reflection of my camera there
Sorry, that was lame. And equally lame is a picture I took of a guy cleaning the fence.
This is in Downtown Disney
If I remember correctly, I thought this was cool because the guy was actually dusting inside of those twisty things rather than, I don’t know, hosing it all down and calling it a day, which is what I would have done. Or actually I probably would have left it dusty, because I’m lazy like that. But just another example of Disneyland’s attention to detail.
I really really REALLY want this. Should I treat myself? Please vote yes or no in the comments.
Front
This part just kills me
I can’t remember if I actually posted a picture of Tuxedo Mickey and his Mouseketeer companion, so here you go:
He didn't win this costume contest--we were robbed!
And over at the watch shop, the watchmaker was actually doing something with a watch!
Changing the links, to be specific
I don’t know if I could work in a fishbowl like that. The window faces out to Main Street. Any old weird person with a camera like me can just snap a shot.
Oh, also I got a new phone which I’m kind of ambivalent about, but it does have good camera functions and has video recording. I thought I’d try it out tonight. Of course, it was only after I shot two videos that Kevin pointed out that if I held the camera horizontally, then Youtube wouldn’t cut off my video frame. Oops. Also, it was difficult trying to keep the phone stable so the videos are a bit jumpy. Sorry.
First, the castle lighting. The video is long but pretty much all the action is over after 25 seconds so if you ditch out early, I’m not going to blame you. Also, turn your volume way down–we were standing right underneath a speaker. Also also, I tried to rotate it in Youtube so it isn’t sideways, but at the time of this posting it was still “updating” so we’ll see what it looks like in the morning. If it’s still sideways–well, lesson learned.
This video is even less exciting. We were standing near the Hungry Bear restaurant by Splash Mountain to watch the fireworks. The interesting thing I think is that when they moved the fireworks focal point to the castle and started doing castle effects, if you’re standing on Main Street or in the hub the fireworks all look like they’re directly behind the castle. However, from this angle you can clearly see the difference between the high fireworks being shot off the backlot and the low fireworks (on the right) at the castle. Also, keep your sound turned down here too–the fireworks are a lot louder in that area than in other areas, it seemed.
We hit the park tonight for the first time since the holiday decorations went up, and gosh, it reminded me of why I love holiday time at Disneyland so much. It’s just so beautiful. The castle looks amazing, the tree is awesome, and Main Street looks fabulous. Not to mention Small World.
Well, I’ll mention Small World in another post.
It was pretty crowded today, not surprisingly two days before Thanksgiving, so we didn’t expect to do much other than soak in the atmosphere. Well we tried to ride Small World (that again?) but the line was huge, so we skipped it.
We did arrive just in time for the castle lighting, more formally known as the Wintertime Enchantment Holiday Lighting. This was a first for me, although I always knew such a thing existed.
First they darken the park
Darrrrk
We were about 1/4 up Main Street from Town Square.
Then things start to sparkle. There are little white lights that go on and off on the castle, on the garlands above Main Street, and the big tree (which I didn’t get a picture of).
The sparkling was more impressive in person
Then the castle gets fully lit up
And Shelby takes a not-so-great picture of it
And then one of my favorite Disneyland holiday things–it snows!
What's this in your hair?
I will never get tired of the snow at Disneyland, particularly the look on kids’ faces when they see it for the first time. Theo is an old hat when it comes to Disneyland snow, but he still oooohed and aahhhhed over it.
Oooooohhhhhh!!!!
Following that, the castle is fully lit and just beautiful.
A snowy fairy tale
The castle lighting happens about 4 times a night, so check your entertainment schedule and position yourself in front of the castle somewhere to check it out. It’s such a nice little touch of holiday magic.
My Year With The Mouse 