Welcome to the Weekend Update for December 20, 2008!
We have more holiday photos for you this week. I'm trying to fit them all in before the holidays are over. Something about the Christmas decor inspires our photographers to shoot volumes of photos! This week we have photos of Walt Disney World by BigPigletFan and Denise nbodyhome Preskitt. We also have photos of Disneyland contributed by Goover and MiceChat Moderator penguinsoda who also sent us photos of a snowy desert wonderland.
We'll start the update this week with a very special Christmas card from our globetrotting correspondent TDLFAN who whisks us around the world to view some bigger than life holiday decorations.
TDLFAN takes a trip around the World for Christmas, visiting three of the most cosmopolitan cities in the World. Fasten your seat belts! It's going to be a merry flight!
We begin with HONG KONG where the Holiday decor gives the word "HUGE" it's meaning. Hong Kong's skyline is quite colorful, especially during the Holidays.
Most buildings in the Kowloon District light up for the holidays.
Hong Kong's famous Peninsula Hotel.
More buildings in Admiralty.
Skyscrapers in Central with the city's official Christmas Tree in Union Square.
But one of the coolest things about Hong Kong is... they have a Disneyland Park!
HKDL's Sleeping Beauty Castle is a vision of holiday sparkle during Christmas Time.
Let's "fly" to our Next stop... the City of (Christmas) Lights... PARIS!
Arriving at the most famous avenue in Europe, Champs D'Elysees with the Arc De Triomphe in the background, all decorated for the Holidays.
Busy sidewalks as shoppers swarm Champs D'Elysees.
Fountains are decorated at Round Point, near Grand Palais.
Ferris Wheel and Fountain at Concorde Square.
The Paris Opera Theater... a grand palace of arts.
Paris' most popular shopping spot: Galeries Lafayette, becomes a spectacular display of lights for the holidays.
Lovely 4-story high Xmas Tree inside Galeries Lafayatte.
Animated windows at Galeries Lafayette delight visitors.
The Eiffel Tower, symbol of Paris, sparkles in strobes every hour after dusk.
..One of the coolest things about Paris? Parc Disneyland during Noel!
Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant is a fantasy palace during Christmas time.
Now, let's "fly" to our Final stop, NEW YORK!
Arriving in Grand Central Station...
...We are just in time for the animated Christmas light show!
A few blocks south, the Empire State Building stands proud in the heart of NYC.
Nearby.. Macy*s is the place to shop for the Holidays.
Inside Macy*s Dept Stores.. Feels like living your very own "Miracle on 34th Street" all over again.
Animated windows at Macy*s are popular with visitors to the store.
Ice Skaters have fun at Bryant Park's Ice rink.
Imposter in the City!!
It would not be Christmas in NYC without a visit to World Famous... Radio City Music Hall!
Inside Radio City, the glorious art deco lobby is elegantly decorated with a crystal Xmas Tree, decorated with over 10,000 individual Swarovski glass ornaments. Quite spectacular tree!
The Radio City Christmas Spectacular features the world famous Rockettes!
The Rockettes high kick it!!
Toy Factory act of the show.
Grand Finale!
One of the coolest things to visit in NYC? The World of Disney Store!!! Here, the 2nd level all decked out for the holidays.
Rockefeller Center and Saks 5th Avenue store.
Ice skating at Rockefeller Center.
Finally, we conclude our trip at the most famous Christmas Tree on Earth!
Thank you for coming along on this worldwide holiday trip. From TDLFAN to all of you...
Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2009!
BigPigletFan is back this week with photos from Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Orlando, Florida
Remodeled Sunset Boulevard shops:
The American Idol Experience is coming!
ABC Theater has officially changed its name back.
Streets of America holiday trash can.
Pixar Place/Backlands
Muppet Courtyard decorations.
Denise nbodyhome Preskit attended the final torch lighting ceremony at Disney's Polynesian Resort and shared these photos with us.
Disney's Polynesian Resort
Walt Disney World
The Polynesian Resort had it's final torch lighting ceremony on December 13th (at least for now, it may return in some form eventually).
Kaleo, an 18 year Polynesian CM (he also played guitar at the Tambu lounge), was part of the budget cuts and this was his last night.
Good luck Kaleo!!!
A gingerbread house in the lobby of the Polynesian:
A sign at the Polynesian (these signs are all over the parks and resorts, with heavy discounts in merchandise)
MiceChatter Goover shares these Disneyland photos.
Disneyland
Anaheim, California
MiceChat Moderator penguinsoda also spent some time at Disneyland recently and shares these photos with us.
penguinsoda lives near Joshua Tree National Park and shot these photos of a recent unexpected snow storm.
Desert Wonderland
Joshua Tree National Park
Winter comes to the desert! Who says the desert is only hot and dry. These pictures were taken over two days, Dec. 15th and 17th, near the Joshua Tree National Park.
Quote:
Joshua Tree National Park is a United States National Park that is located in the Southern California Desert of the United States of America. The park encompasses nearly 800,000 acres of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, conserving two separate desert ecosystems at different altitudes. The name of the park is derived from the distinctive Joshua Tree, a tall-growing variety of the yucca genus that grows prevalently within its boundaries.
Wikitravel
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:
Jack Hollywood 1939 Wixom
TDLFAN
Denise nbodyhome Preskitt
SummerInFl
PhotoMatt
Fishbulb
sir clinksalot
MickeyMaxx
BigPigletFan
Abominable Snowman
A very special thank you to to our wonderful guest photographers goover and penguinsoda for sharing their vision with us.
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)
or send me an email: oceansiderick@gmail.com.
or send me an email: oceansiderick@gmail.com.
It is readers like you who make MiceChat such a special place.
Don't miss a single one of MiceChat's Featured Blogs (including the Weekend Update). Add our feed to your favorite feed software or site:
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*Some factual information sourced from wikipedia.com.
Total Comments 19
Comments
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Great update! It's so neat to see snow in the desert! Thank you!Posted 12-19-2008 at 11:21 PM by MonstersGoBoo!
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This was a fantastic update!
Happy Holidays to the Weekend Update Crew and thank you all for the AMAZING photos that you've shared with us this year. You have put a tremendous amount of work into these updates and it has been appreciated!
Kudos, thank you, and merry Christmas!
-DustyPosted 12-20-2008 at 01:24 AM by Dustysage 
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Thanks for a great update. Happy Holidays everyone!Posted 12-20-2008 at 06:33 AM by Barbossa -
Thanks for all of these amazing shots everyone! Merry Christmas to all of the amazing photographers and the one and only Rixter who puts this together each week. This weeks set of photos was incredible!Posted 12-20-2008 at 08:19 AM by Mac Daddy -
TDL - wonderful photos from so many places! Hong Kong looks so pretty for Christmas, and Paris is always beautiful!Posted 12-20-2008 at 08:49 AM by nbodyhome
Updated 12-20-2008 at 11:01 AM by nbodyhome - Great pictures.
The trees on Champs D'Elysees remind me of wine glasses. Joshua tree is an amazing place and the pictures with the snow are incredible. I have never seen it like that before.Posted 12-20-2008 at 09:15 AM by toemblem -
Great update as always, especially liked snow in the desert.Posted 12-20-2008 at 09:17 AM by vfire -
Thanks! I was just at Joshua Tree a month ago. It was hot!Posted 12-20-2008 at 09:57 AM by llama5492 -
Great pictures from all around the world!Posted 12-20-2008 at 11:07 AM by WheresMickey -
LOVE the pistures Christmas around the world!
I think it is cool how Hong Kong deck out there town...
I never seen so mush snow in Joshua Tree National Park!
I know it been something like 37years we had so mush snow over the Mountains and Deserts in So.Calif.Posted 12-20-2008 at 03:48 PM by Eagleman -
awesome as always!
These budget cuts are getting ridiculous. They keep cutting all these show performers, yet they still keep hiring people in stores. How about they stop hiring people in stores since we have PLENTY and stop cutting back hours and cutting people.Posted 12-20-2008 at 04:30 PM by Kritter -
Macy's looks a little pedestrian next to the Galeries Lafayette! Gorgeous decorations.Posted 12-21-2008 at 07:54 AM by pussnboots - i think i like hong kong and paris' castle's better than the one at disneylandPosted 12-21-2008 at 02:16 PM by yellow_sub
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Love the Christmas pictures. Thanks especially to TDLF -wonderful photos.Posted 12-21-2008 at 05:21 PM by tell-no-tales -
What a wonderful weekend update! The pictures are all gorgeous
Posted 12-21-2008 at 05:27 PM by dsnylndmom -
What a great update! I really enjoyed all the photos. Is there some place where I can see more of the Macy's windows? It's one of my favorite places to stop during December if I'm in NY.Posted 12-21-2008 at 05:52 PM by Top Chef Remy -
Wow, awesome pics from so many locations! Very nice.Posted 12-21-2008 at 07:52 PM by DonDuck -
fabulous pics!!! paris, NYC, disneyland & WDW all look fabulous!! happy holidays everyone!!Posted 12-22-2008 at 01:53 PM by wdwnut4life -
Just got around to catching up on the updates. WONDERFUL pictures, thnks so much for all the hard work and efforts
Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a really wonderful New Year!Posted 12-27-2008 at 11:44 AM by FREQDUDE
