The Hitchhiking Ghost
12-06-2010, 03:00 PM
I hate doing negative posts but this was something that I thought about while we were down there on our recent trip.
We flew down the day after Thanksgiving and just got back yesterday, so 9 nights, a long trip for my DW and 3 DD. My wife and I have been to the World 5-6 times since we've been married and all but one of those times has been after Thanksgiving and before Christmas. The holiday decorations have always been special, the atmosphere, the candlelight processional, the lower crowd levels all made it a special time, especially the holiday theming.
Well, after just being down there, it felt like Disney turned into Scrooge and really cut back on the holiday theming.
Our first day was an ill omen. We went into the MK on the 27th and I was looking forward to that magical moment when you walk underneath the train station and into the open courtyard to see Mainstreet and the Christmas tree for the first time, what a way to start a magical vacation. Unfortunately there was no tree. No worries, I figured that with the upcoming taping of the Chrismas parade later in the week that the tree was just temporarily moved to Rose Garden area in front of the castle, which is where they put it 2 years ago when we were down there, but nope no tree. Infact during the entire stay, no tree. My guess is that it went up overnight and was there yesterday, but we missed it. So that was disappointing. Plus, and maybe this is a faulty recollection, but I thought they strung garland across main street, but again nothing.
The really bad moment though was going to Epcot. We had a CP dinner package at Coral Reef, which also happened to be our first day at Epcot. Walking in I was surprised not to see the usual holiday topiary's in front of the ball. (I did find them later in another location). After dinner when we walked out of Coral Reef and started to make our way back to the Amercian Pavilion for the CP I turned to my wife and said "something feels off". Again, mabye a bad recollection, but I thought in past years that all of the trees around the park had at least white lights strung in them. We saw none. Then the biggest blow came. As we got up to the world showcase I was looking forward to seeing the tree lit up as well as all of the lit archway gates before it. Seeing those would really get me in the mood for the CP. But to my dismay, they removed the arches! And the tree to looked naked. They used to have packages, a big light up Epcot gift tag in front and a staging area for shows. They had none of that. You can't quite call it a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but without the light up arches and the accessories, it just didn't seem right. Later I asked a CM about the arches. He said that they weren't up last year either, so I guess that makes it permanent? Also, those white balls, kind of look like dandelions in their white stages, again gone.
So I don't know what the deal was. If Disney is cost cutting or just making not so subtle changes but it wasn't good. Not to say we didn't have a great trip. This was our first time down with our 3 daughters who we adopted 1 year ago. But for me, the one thing that really made visiting the parks special this time of the year was the holiday decorating and I left with a feeling that something was missing. Maybe Disney set the bar too high in the past, I don't know, but unfortunately I left the parks with the feeling that the decorations were nothing special. It doesn't mean I didn't find them to be enjoyable, but they didn't come close to meeting the expectations I had when I walked into each park.
I'd be interested to know if this is just me, or if others have noticed a scaling back in the holiday decor.
We flew down the day after Thanksgiving and just got back yesterday, so 9 nights, a long trip for my DW and 3 DD. My wife and I have been to the World 5-6 times since we've been married and all but one of those times has been after Thanksgiving and before Christmas. The holiday decorations have always been special, the atmosphere, the candlelight processional, the lower crowd levels all made it a special time, especially the holiday theming.
Well, after just being down there, it felt like Disney turned into Scrooge and really cut back on the holiday theming.
Our first day was an ill omen. We went into the MK on the 27th and I was looking forward to that magical moment when you walk underneath the train station and into the open courtyard to see Mainstreet and the Christmas tree for the first time, what a way to start a magical vacation. Unfortunately there was no tree. No worries, I figured that with the upcoming taping of the Chrismas parade later in the week that the tree was just temporarily moved to Rose Garden area in front of the castle, which is where they put it 2 years ago when we were down there, but nope no tree. Infact during the entire stay, no tree. My guess is that it went up overnight and was there yesterday, but we missed it. So that was disappointing. Plus, and maybe this is a faulty recollection, but I thought they strung garland across main street, but again nothing.
The really bad moment though was going to Epcot. We had a CP dinner package at Coral Reef, which also happened to be our first day at Epcot. Walking in I was surprised not to see the usual holiday topiary's in front of the ball. (I did find them later in another location). After dinner when we walked out of Coral Reef and started to make our way back to the Amercian Pavilion for the CP I turned to my wife and said "something feels off". Again, mabye a bad recollection, but I thought in past years that all of the trees around the park had at least white lights strung in them. We saw none. Then the biggest blow came. As we got up to the world showcase I was looking forward to seeing the tree lit up as well as all of the lit archway gates before it. Seeing those would really get me in the mood for the CP. But to my dismay, they removed the arches! And the tree to looked naked. They used to have packages, a big light up Epcot gift tag in front and a staging area for shows. They had none of that. You can't quite call it a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but without the light up arches and the accessories, it just didn't seem right. Later I asked a CM about the arches. He said that they weren't up last year either, so I guess that makes it permanent? Also, those white balls, kind of look like dandelions in their white stages, again gone.
So I don't know what the deal was. If Disney is cost cutting or just making not so subtle changes but it wasn't good. Not to say we didn't have a great trip. This was our first time down with our 3 daughters who we adopted 1 year ago. But for me, the one thing that really made visiting the parks special this time of the year was the holiday decorating and I left with a feeling that something was missing. Maybe Disney set the bar too high in the past, I don't know, but unfortunately I left the parks with the feeling that the decorations were nothing special. It doesn't mean I didn't find them to be enjoyable, but they didn't come close to meeting the expectations I had when I walked into each park.
I'd be interested to know if this is just me, or if others have noticed a scaling back in the holiday decor.