Tokyo Disneyland Christmas Parade; Disney World Update; California's Great America
We have a nice little Weekend Update for you this week. TDLFAN shares Christmas Parade photos from Tokyo Disneyland. Denise nbodyhome Preskitt files a Walt Disney World update. sir clinksalot takes us on a trip to California's Great America. Finally, DisneylandPostcards.net shares some really cool vintage panoramic post card images.
Thanks for visiting the Weekend Update!
Christmas Fantasy Parade
Tokyo Disneyland
TDLFAN rushed these photos to me just in time to make it into the Weekend Update. It looks like the transition from Halloween to Christmas is as quick and efficient as it is here at home.
Christmas Fantasy 2009 is now playing at Tokyo Disneyland....
Mickey sports a santa hat...
Oh Christmas tree... at World Bazaar.
Dusk at TDL.
Less is more. Cinderella Castle features minimal decor this year.
Partners
Decorations around the Hub are always new and different from one year to the next.. and this year is no exception. The holiday theme this year at TDL is "White Winter Fun".
Hub Centerpiece features Mickey & Minnie, Donald and Daisy, Goofy and PLuto.. in very funny and heartfelt ice skating situations.
World Bazaar Plaza.
The all new "White Holiday Parade" steps off in grand style.. With Donald, Daisy and Snowman Mickey leading the parade.
MIss Bunny, Thumper, Pooh... also join in the fun.
Toy Story float features a seesaw on which one of the alien characters slides back and forth..Very cute.
Mice on iceskates. Mickey and Minnie do some fancy ice skating moves.
A Mad Xmas tea party with Mad Hatter and Alice.
Santa bring the parade to a jolly end.
Let's go shopping... The big seller item this year at TDL seems to be the gingerbread cookie Mickey and Minnie plushes. They sell like hotcakes.
"It's a Small World Holiday" is now open during the christmas season.
After the "Christmas Dreamlights Parade" and "Christmas Wishes in the Sky" fireworks, the huge crowd of guests march down World Bazaar to exit the park after a full day of holiday fun.
One last look back as we say.. "and to all.. a good night".
Denise nbodyhome Preskitt's Walt Disney World Update
Space Mountain sign:
The Starport Welcome sign:
Going through the queue:
The post-show has some tributes to Horizons:
RCA dog:
The Space Mountain ride itself is not very different, and not quite as dark as I thought it'd be (but it's still one of my favorite rides). I have plenty of photos and and here is one of our videos of the attraction (we have queue and post show too).
At Epcot, there is no Lights of Winter this year
:
Phineas and Ferb, as well as actress Alyson Stoner visited the Magic Kingdom to do a promo for the Disney Channel:
Princess Tiana is now in the "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade".
A few night photos:
As always, you'll find many more photos and videos on Denise's great website mousesteps.com.
California's Great America
Santa Clara, California
sir clinksalot takes us to a Cedar Fair amusement park in Northern California.
Welcome to California's Great America
The park has undergone many changes and many owners. But one thing that has not changed is the parks beautiful entrance (well, except the name).
The parks best Coaster is the former Top Gun, now called Flight Deck
The Double Decker Carousel is still gorgeous
Vortex, one of the first "Stand Up" Coasters is sadly showing it's age
Invertigo is probably the 2nd best coaster in the park. Oddly enough, the ride got stuck the day after we were at the park
Survivor The Ride is a Very Fun and Very Spinny ride
The Queue features posters from the former seasons of the show
The Ride in Action
You can see from the smoke that the ride also features fire effects
Looking for up-to-date reports from Disneyland
including photos, gossip, park schedules and more?
Visit these MiceChat columns each week:
Andy Castro's Dateline Disneyland
David DarkBeer Michael's In the Parks
And that brings us to the end of another week. Our photographers have just enough time to reload their cameras before we see you all again next weekend. Thank you to all of our wonderful readers, and as always, a huge thank you to our amazing team of global photographers, spies, and gossips:
TDLFAN
Denise nbodyhome Preskitt (mousesteps.com)
SummerInFl
sir clinksalot
MickeyMaxx
CaptPhoebus
Ian Parkinson and Richard Williams
BigPigletFan
Abominable Snowman
Fishbulb
PhotoMatt
Jack Hollywood 1939 Wixom
Special thanks to Ken Eslick at DisneylandPostcards.net.
Your Editor - Rixter
Where have YOU been recently? We invite you to share your photos of theme parks or any other destination that may be of interest to our readers. Please feel free to contact me via MiceChat Private Message (screen name Rixter)
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Total Comments 30
Comments
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The postcards are fantastic. I've never seen ANY of them before and wish they were still in print. The buildings look so much larger, without all the 'old growth' landscaping. Thanks for sharing!Posted 11-21-2009 at 05:24 AM by michael darling
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Old Postcards was so coool...
Great report!
I never been...to the Great American-
But one thing I like to see!
The Double Decker Carousel !
I heard the name was the Columbia....
(does anyone know?)
I like the Ideal it's RED ,WHITE, BLUE!
look's like got things to do American Pride!
I would bet it have EAGLE"S on it.......
Thanks You guy's Great job!Posted 11-21-2009 at 06:56 AM by Eagleman -
Great shots by everyone this week!
I can't wait to visit TDL some day. What a beautiful park! And I loved the vintage post cards. Monstro actually used to look a bit scary looking!Posted 11-21-2009 at 07:19 AM by Mac Daddy -
Funny. You went to Great America the same day we were there!Posted 11-21-2009 at 08:40 AM by WDITrent -
The postcard of the Stage Coach Ride has an odd effect. The driver looks to have a large rock in his lap!
As cool as the old park is, it looks more like a backyard project slapped down, rather than the park that has always been there compared to the way it looks now. The "Old Growth" makes such a big difference!Posted 11-21-2009 at 09:47 AM by rstar -
I love those Ginger bread plushes!!Posted 11-21-2009 at 10:22 AM by TravisMT81 
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I absolutely, love love love the Gingerbread plushes! Those are adorable. The Tokyo Disneyland pictures are fantastic. I love their Christmas decorations.Posted 11-21-2009 at 11:01 AM by dsnylndmom - [QUOTE]As cool as the old park is, it looks more like a backyard project slapped down, rather than the park that has always been there compared to the way it looks now. The "Old Growth" makes such a big difference![QUOTE]
I was thinking the same thing.Posted 11-21-2009 at 11:16 AM by Scotty -
Great photos, as always
I used to enjoy going to Great America, but now it's not such a big thing for me. Flight Deck, Invertigo, and the Demon are the best roller coasters there. Vortex is WAY too jolty.Posted 11-21-2009 at 11:38 AM by RedHandedJill - All those postcards are stills from the "People & Places" film of Disneyland from 1956. It was filmed in CinemaScope, which explains the wide aspect and the curvature in the lens... and why Sleeping Beauty Castle looks miles away in that Main Street image!Posted 11-21-2009 at 12:26 PM by Rongo
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Wow - that's great info. Explains a lot about those images.Quote:Originally Posted by Rongo
All those postcards are stills from the "People & Places" film of Disneyland from 1956. It was filmed in CinemaScope, which explains the wide aspect and the curvature in the lens... and why Sleeping Beauty Castle looks miles away in that Main Street image!Posted 11-21-2009 at 12:39 PM by Rixter -
A bunch of us over at the UD forum are hoping that People and Places gets released in a future Walt Disney Treasures DVD set. The Disneyland one is already on the WDT set Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic.Quote:Originally Posted by Rongo All those postcards are stills from the "People & Places" film of Disneyland from 1956. It was filmed in CinemaScope, which explains the wide aspect and the curvature in the lens... and why Sleeping Beauty Castle looks miles away in that Main Street image!
Thanks for the update.
Posted 11-21-2009 at 02:06 PM by Barbossa -
The Vortex was my first steel coaster after The Matterhorn. Flight Deck (then Top Gun) was my first inverted coaster. Great to see photos of the place.Posted 11-21-2009 at 02:32 PM by Timmy55 - I was working there the day Invertigo got stuck.
It is called Carousel ColumbiaPosted 11-21-2009 at 03:49 PM by mondo -
Nice old DLand Postcards!Posted 11-21-2009 at 07:26 PM by Emmanuel_4 -
Thanks for sharing this. I used to live in Northern California up until 1991 when I relocated to Phoenix. While living there I used to visit Great America (then owned by Marriot) on a regular basis.
Seeing this photo brings back many wonderful memories of my youth. I remember when it used to be a seasonal park. It's great to see that it's now open throughout the year.Posted 11-22-2009 at 07:50 AM by AzGizmo -
It's not open year-round... this photo update is a couple months old. He said it was odd/whatever how the next day InvertiGO got stuck, which happened August 21st. Checking the CGA website's calendar shows the park has been closed since the beginning of the month and not scheduled to open again until the usual March or April of next year.Quote:Originally Posted by AzGizmo
Thanks for sharing this. I used to live in Northern California up until 1991 when I relocated to Phoenix. While living there I used to visit Great America (then owned by Marriot) on a regular basis.
Seeing this photo brings back many wonderful memories of my youth. I remember when it used to be a seasonal park. It's great to see that it's now open throughout the year.Posted 11-22-2009 at 08:08 AM by BestBeatingHeart - I haven't been to Great America in quite awhile. I used to go when it was Marriot's Great America then it was Paramounts Great America. I actually got to meet William Shatner there during a Star Trek promotion they were doing.Posted 11-22-2009 at 11:28 AM by SingingDrummer
- Oh Wow! I didn't know Space Mountain in WDW didn't have a soundtrack to it! You'd think with the referb they'd put one in. While I watched the video, I thought it kinda seemed a little boring of a ride without the music like at DLR Space Mountain.
Great update all around! I'd LOVE to go see Great America some day. Looks like a fun park.Posted 11-22-2009 at 12:03 PM by disney-fan-reborn -
All fantastic updates! Also love the old post cards.Posted 11-22-2009 at 06:31 PM by DonDuck
