Welcome to the Weekend Update for January 3, 2009!
We're taking one more look at holiday decorations before most of us head back to school and work on Monday. The Universal Studios parks were decked out in grand style and we have photos from Hollywood and Osaka. After that, we hop over to Florida and check out some of the holiday activities and decorations at the Walt Disney World Resort. Some vintage postcard images round out our Weekend Update offering this week.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Dustysage and Fishbulb for holding down the fort last week while MickeyMaxx and I spent ten days in Germany. (You can look forward to some fabulous Germany photos in the weeks to come).
Thanks also to the Weekend Update crew. Each week I look forward to see what new adventures you will be taking us on. I am constantly astounded at the quality of your photos!
I also want to thank you, loyal reader, for supporting what we do here each week and for your kind comments.
Let's get started, shall we?
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal City, California
We have two sets of photos from Universal Studios Hollywood's Grinchmas celebration. First up, sir clinksalot:
King Kong is decked out for Christmas
Krusty was also in the spirit of the holidays
The Tram Tour featured the Who-ville set with a song and dance number that was cute.
They also had Norman Bates just around the corner from Who-ville
Universal was giving out complimentary coffee and hot chocolate due to the rain and cold weather
The following photos are from MiceChatters Charlie and Misty:
We went to Universal Studios Hollywood last Sunday and wanted to share some of our pictures of Grinchmas at USH with the Weekend Update.
Happy Holidays,
Charlie and Misty
TDLFAN sent us these photos from Universal Studios Japan. No sign of the Grinch, however.
Universal Studios Japan
Osaka, Japan
TDLFAN goes to Universal Studios Japan to check out this year's Wonder Christmas Event.
We arrive at Universal Studios Japan's CityWalk, decorated for the holidays.
Entering Universal Studios Japan theme park.
Coming in March 2009... Universal's Magical Twilight Parade. This is Universal Studios' first Electrical Parade spectacular. Take that Disney! TDLFAN's expectations are very high...especially since this is competition for TDL's majestic "DreamLights" parade.
Characters greet guests on Hollywood Blvd.
This year is the "Year of a 1000 Angels" at Universal Studios Japan.
Holiday treats for sale. Candy Apples...
Marshmallow chocolate trees, Xmas churros... YUM YUM!!!
Universal Japan's Confectionary Shop is the largest one in any theme park on Earth. Omiyage anyone?
Holiday Popcorn bucket is shaped to look like a snowman. Cute!
"Santa's Toy Party" show is performed at NY Street twice daily during the holiday season.
Guests claim their spot 90 minutes before this evening's presentation of "City of Angels" (a brand new holiday spectacular this year) and Xmas Tree Lighting.
"City of Angels" show begins.. as singers and dancers perform against huge holiday scenes from Paris.
We are transported to Paris' famous Louvre Museum.
At the Louvre...
A cold winter night in Paris...
Notre Dame!
Angels arrive to light up Universal Japan's spectacular Xmas Tree, which is a technical marvel of ever changing fiber optic lights... 6 stories tall.
Angels everywhere...
The Spectacular "City of Angels" show end with a "snowy" finale, much to the pleasure of the roaring crowd.
This tree is awesome and pictures do not do justice to it.. but you can sit there for an hour and marvel at the constantly changing patterns of colors and light animations. Here, the Tree is caught in a "blue" moment..
Rainbow in the middle of the night sky.
Back in Hollywood Blvd.. the trees sparkle in silver lights.
Good Night from Universal Studios Japan.
Universal Studios certainly doesn't have an exclusive on holiday decorations. Here are some examples of the great job that Disney does in this department.
Walt Disney World
Orlando, Florida
SummerInFL captured these beautiful shots of the Candlelight Processional at Epcot.
Quote:
Celebrate the holiday season with the...nightly Candlelight Processional at the American Gardens Theatre. Revel in the joy of the season as you listen to an unforgettable retelling of the Christmas story by a celebrity narrator accompanied by a 50-piece orchestra and mass choir.
Narrated by Abigail Breslin
"O'Come All Ye Faithful"
BigPigletFan takes us on a tour of some of the hotels in Walt Disney World:
Holiday decorations at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
Disney's Old Key West Resort
The exterior of the buildings are being cleaned. You can really tell the difference so far. It looks great!
Hospitality House
Disney's Beach Club Resort - Holiday decorations made from gingerbread.
Holiday delicacies being created by Disney's Culinary Cast Members.
Holiday decorations.
MiceChatter and blogger darkfairycthulu shares some more vintage postcard images with us this week:
For those of you looking for Disneyland coverage, I invite you to visit Andy Castro's Dateline Disneyland column and Michael "DarkBeer" David's In The Parks column.
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 MiceChatters Charlie and Misty for the Universal photos and darkfairycthulu for sharing those delightful postcard images.
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.
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*Some factual information sourced from wikipedia.com.
Total Comments 18
Comments
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Great Update!
Year of 1,000 Angels... Come on!Posted 01-03-2009 at 05:28 AM by Kritter
- Great Saturday update.
Does anyone have a video of Whoville on the backlot tour? The Universal Magical Twilight Parade has a few floats in the renderings that look familiar. I'm sure the City of Angels show was incredible. Thanks again for allowing the readers to share your trips.Posted 01-03-2009 at 05:30 AM by Big Bad Wolf1 -
Great update as always, glad you had a wonderful trip to GermanyPosted 01-03-2009 at 06:43 AM by hadesthecat -
Great update! Can't wait to see the photos from Germany.Posted 01-03-2009 at 11:02 AM by WheresMickey - Great pictures all around as usual. And the pics from Universal Japan were fantastic and inspiring. Can't wait to go in May.Posted 01-03-2009 at 11:50 AM by GUYNYC
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Welcome home Rixter and Mickeymaxx, we can't wait to see your Germany photos!
Interesting Universal photos this week from California and Japan. I always enjoy seeing what Uni is up to.Posted 01-03-2009 at 11:55 AM by Dustysage -
Thank you for the coool Pictures.....
I do enjoy looking at OLD postcards......
Universal Japan is giving Disney a rrun for the money!
I think that good ,maybe Disney going up the bars...Posted 01-03-2009 at 01:01 PM by Eagleman - Thank you very much, it's great to see pics from Disney's competition.Posted 01-03-2009 at 01:20 PM by Disneykin Kid
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TDLFAN just let me know that Universal Japan is in Osaka, not Tokyo. I have corrected the blog.
Oh well, geography was never my strong suit!Posted 01-03-2009 at 02:45 PM by Rixter -
Fabulous pictures!Posted 01-03-2009 at 02:59 PM by dsnylndmom -
I hope the santa hat on King Kong is not flameablePosted 01-03-2009 at 05:40 PM by HMF 
- Wow, Universal Japan sure does know how to put on a show...it looks awesome.
I'm not sure if I agree with how Norman Bates gets into the Christmas spirit in Hollywood though.Posted 01-03-2009 at 06:30 PM by ChrisFL -
I really enjoyed seeing the pictures from Universal Japan. Looks like a stunning show.
The pictures from Candlelight Processional are fantastic as well.
And nothing says Christmas more than Norman Bates putting Marion Crane's corpse in her car trunk. Great photos everyone. Thanks for sharing!Posted 01-04-2009 at 08:51 AM by RonNYC - You're welcome and thank you for the fun and informitive update each week.Quote:I also want to thank you, loyal reader, for supporting what we do here each week and for your kind comments.
BTW, love the post cards (very cool feature).Posted 01-04-2009 at 12:40 PM by toemblem -
The problem with this my friend, is that Universal Japan (in Osaka -thanks Rixter) is giving the wrong Disney park a run for their money. You see, Tokyo DisneyLand is already the very best Disney park in entertainment, number of rides/shows/parades, staffing, cleanliness, merchandise...etc etc (you name it). Universal Japan is only emulating what TDL has been doing so well all by itself. But in the process, my opinion is that Universal Japan's overall quality has been raised to a higher level than the quality found on some of the Disney parks outside Japan. *They* are the DL parks that need to take notice and not Tokyo's DL.Quote:Originally Posted by eaglemanUniversal Japan is giving Disney a rrun for the money!
I think that good ,maybe Disney going up the bars...
I think that I had the same reaction at first.. but after seeing the "Angels" show and profoundly impress me with it's gigantic images and solemn feel, I have to say that it was one of the finest Xmas show I have seen presented at any theme park around. Personally, I feel this presentation was right on in regards to what Christmas is all about. I mean.. movie-tie ins like Grinchmas is fun but ultimately, it is just a commercial extention of the true meaning of the holidays. I was deeply moved and thoroughly surprised by this show. It exceeded my expectations, and that is something I have not experienced lately at our theme parks' offerings in the USA in regards to Chritmas entertainment. (I will not comment of the Norman Bates bit as I find it a bit.. un-festive).Quote:Originally Posted by KritterYear of 1,000 Angels... Come on!Posted 01-04-2009 at 10:22 PM by TDLFAN -
Haha love the Norman Bates. At least he looks more like Anthony Perkins than Vince Vaughn.
A suggestion when posting the classic post cards, if they have a description on the back, it would be great to post that info as well. I was hoping to know the location of some of them but there was no location included. If a year is included that may be a good piece of info to include too.
Good update!
Posted 01-05-2009 at 10:46 AM by Barbossa -
great pics!!Posted 01-05-2009 at 11:57 AM by wdwnut4life -
those are some really awesome pictures!!Posted 01-07-2009 at 06:59 PM by FantasmicNut
