You'll notice two different things in the blog. First, I'm playing around with the layout of the pictures in the blog. Let me know if it works for you or if you want me to go back to the original layout. If you can't tell a difference; perfect. I'm trying to expedite the process so I can post more in a shorter time. Also, I've taken a lot of pictures of Christmas trees. Typically, I've taken a far away picture and then a more close up picture to highlight the details of the trees. Both are important to show the grand picture, but also to have those Disney-details.
To start our tour, we begin in America's favorite playground, the Magic Kingdom Park.
Most of the decorations are found on Main Street U.S.A., including a gigantic Christmas tree with impressive strings of popcorn. Huge popcorn and I love its look. This would include a great view of Cinderella Castle, best viewed at night. Take a look for yourself. I had a very difficult time picking the best one, so I kept three!
You can also find Candy Cane Garden on Main Street U.S.A. this time of year. And who would spend their time in such a place? Why Santa of course!
Let's jump on the monorail and head on over to our next park.
Epcot is the next stop. There's only a few in Future World. There's a little Christmas bushy scene with some classic characters. Entering the World Showcase, we see a grand tree with ornaments from around the globe.
In the World Showcase, I always walk clockwise (unless I don't), so we go to Mexico then Norway and moving into Germany where Helga talks about German traditions. Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of great shots in Mexico, just a blurry picture inside the pyramid.
Next, we move into Italy followed by one of the many gingerbread houses on property at the American Adventure.
The recipe for the gingerbread house:
820 lbs of Sugar
135 lbs of Butter
1040 Eggs
150 lbs of Chocolate Chips
470 lbs of Flour
2 lbs of Baking Soda
All ingredients are combined and baked in a very large oven.
Don't believe it's real? Take a closer look at the house.
If only I could get you to smell it! Wow.
Moving further around the world, we head into France with Pere Noel, the bonjour Santa Claus and his counter-part in the United Kingdom, Father Christmas. Close by is Canada with some beautiful Christmas decorations and the International Gateway (the boat dock for a voyage to Disney's Hollywood Studios).
Now before we depart for the Studios, did you notice some of the Epcot countries not represented? Well, not everyone celebrates Christmas nationally, so they do not in Epcot. There's no China, Japan, or Morocco decorations.
Shall we go to Hollywood now for a few photos and a video perhaps?
Good, glad you think so too.
Okay, there's not a lot to Disney's Hollywood Studios outside a few random decorations here and there, such as the grand tree outside (in both light and dark). Near the Muppets is a giant string of lights. Take a closer look at them and they are very Muppet-y. Also, there's a fishy decoration near Voyage of the Little Mermaid. And a dancing line of Minnie decorations, just for kicks!
Where Hollywood Studios really shines (wink-wink) is at night. They turn on five million little twinkling lights for the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. It was very crowded when I was there, but I got a few nice shots and a lovely video that helps capture the felling of the holiday scene.
What you don't see in this video is the snow falling. Sorry! It was difficult to capture on film and I attempted it several times. If you want snow, visit Washington D.C. On a total side note, here's Stephanie's step-father Doug standing outside in the blizzard they had recently.
Glad I'm in Florida! Speaking of Florida, let's get back to the parks. We have just one more to visit.
Let's end in the Animal Kingdom.
This has, currently, the most pictures of any of the parks. Why? Well, there's the Christmas tree forest and Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade. But there are some other fine details as well, such as the great tree out front as well as some festive yeti's. Dinoland U.S.A. has a decked out fossil as well as some "roadside attraction" looking decorations. You can really get that feel in the details of the trimmings with a gas pump and dinosaur.
In Camp Minnie-Mickey, you can see a host a Christmas trees. Looking at them, we have a great deal of detail in all of them. Many are animal themed, be it woodland or buggy or something else rustic.
Most of the are actually themed after some favorite Disney characters.
Let's see. There's Chip and Dale, followed by Pluto's tree.
Now there's Simba's tree and one from Finding Nemo.
Moving on, let's look at Lilo and Stitch's trees. You can tell the difference because Lilo is not known to take bites out of surfboards like Stitch does. But she does have some lovely flowers on her's.
Donald Duck's tree stands close to Goofy's.
And finally, Mickey and Minnie have their decorated trees very close to each other (naturally!).
Enough trees for now. I want to show you the Jingle Parade with all of it's glory! It will be shown out of order, but that's okay.
A lot of characters took part in the parade. King Lou, Baloo, Rafiki, and Chip and Dale are pictured here. Take a closer look at the bear, Baloo, particularly his shirt. It's poinsettas.
The parade was full of animals. Well, very large puppets of animals at least. All of them are decorated in some way that's Christmas-y. Some of my favorites are the monkey with a Santa hat, the tiger with mittens, the parrot with a pear, the reindeer-alligator, and the elephant with a candy cane in its trunk. I don't know what is in the hippo's mouth.
There were a number of vehicles in the parade as well, each very unique unto itself. Minnie's got a giant, bathtub sized pot of hot chocolate that filled the streets with the smell of cocoa. Goofy's car was decked with stockings and nice/naughty lists. Donald's car had a trail of snow following it! You can really see it in this photo. Mickey was the finale wishing all a happy new year!
That's it! Those are my holiday photos from the parks. There might be an amendment if I get to see the holiday parade in Magic Kingdom, but I'm not positive I'm going to get to it. We shall see.
Don't worry. There's a lot more photos. A whole lot more. The parks, for the most part, can't really decorate for Christmas because that's not in the land's themeing. The resorts, on the other hand, really do a fine job of (well, many of them), of decorating for the holidays.
Happy Holidays!
Loved it, loved it, loved it and especially the snow picture!
ReplyDeleteLove from Conyers! We will miss you!