Chapter 168
One in the Park as Well

November 11-15, 2013

It was tough to get through the workday on Monday because we were so excited about the prospect of getting to Disneyland now that Holiday Time was officially underway. We booked it over to the parks right after dinner and immediately saw the floral Mickey all decorated with poinsettias.

Of course, City Hall was all decked out as well.

And the Christmas tree was up in Town Square.

Though we wanted to get our evening underway, we had to stop by Guest Relations first to get a new DAS card. Luckily, there were even some decorations to see in there.

New card in hand, we could head back out to Town Square and get a good look at that tree.

Of course, we had to photograph it from several different angles.

We had to get our photos taken with it too.

Main Street was just so festive too, with the Christmas background loop playing.

The trees in the hub weren’t lit up in their full glory yet, but we still enjoyed the lights that were on.

We’d seen the snow-covered castle before going to CO, but now that it was all lit up, it just looked so pretty.

Every few feet, we’d stop for another quick photo shoot because we just wanted to take it all in.

Here’s a shot back down Main Street.

We’d gotten a return time for “it’s a small world,” not realizing it would be closed for the fireworks, so we made our way back in that general direction. I think this facade was what we were most looking forward to seeing in person after all the pictures we’d seen online through the years.

As we approached, the reflection in the water was cool.

And then right as we got closer, the new Nutcracker projection show started.

I’m always a big fan of the projections as long as they’re well done, and I thought this was really fun.

Of course, what we were really looking forward to was when the projections were all done and we got our first real view of the lights.

It’s just incredible in person. I don’t think photos can possibly do it justice.

Obviously, the downside was that the attraction was closed and we couldn’t ride, but it was neat being able to take pictures without anyone in them because access to the attraction was all roped off.

Immediately, our favorite small touch near Small World was all the wreaths that are themed toward different iconic sections of the attraction.

Here’s the poodle.

And the mounty.

Fiesta hoy.

Since the ride wouldn’t reopen until after fireworks anyway, we decided to watch the fireworks show. Because it would be our first time seeing it, we figured we should try to get the full effect, so we turned around and headed back to the hub.

En route, Tracy kept getting stopped by fellow guests who wanted her to take their picture for them. I think it happened at least 5 times tonight, which was weird…

Of course, we were primed for a photo ourselves because we’d once again donned our homemade Santa ear hats.

We staked out a spot in the area of the hub between the Partners statue and the end of Main Street, and our view wasn’t too obstructed even though the show was just about to start.