Enjoying the Holidays!

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays season, wherever you are and whoever you with. And if you are at a Disney Park somewhere across the world, well, the Royal Family is very jealous!

Because this is a time for being with family and friends, relaxing and taking some time-out, things are going to be quiet here at DF'82 for the next week or so. But we are not going to leave you empty-handed! Oh no, instead, we are going to head over to Tokyo DisneySea and have a look at their very special way of decorating for the Christmas Season. They introduce a Christmas Tree for each 'land' in TDS.

Mysterious Island

Mermaid Lagoon

Arabian Coast

Lost River Delta

Port Discovery

American Waterfront

Happy Holidays and thanks for reading!

Joyeux Noel!

Merry Christmas From The World

Five years ago I was lucky enough to be working in Walt Disney World, as a Cultural Representative in the UK Pavilion. It was my first Christmas away from Scotland, and my first time at Disney during the holidays.

Today, on Christmas Eve, I wanted to share a shot with you all that just reminds me of my time spent in the World during the holidays. Enjoy!

Wish & Fantasy At Christmas

Tokyo Disneyland celebrates the holidays slightly differently, with their Christmas season beginning in early November and finishing on Christmas Day itself.

This year's celebration is Christmas Fantasy in Tokyo Disneyland, and Christmas Wishes at the sister park Tokyo DisneySea. There are so many amazing events, attractions, shows and characters in the parks for the holiday season in Japan that I wanted to share some of the views of the park, courtesy of the lovely Disney David. If you want to read in more detail about the events themselves, this site is great!

Tokyo Disneyland has got itself into the festive spirit, with decorations and the Christmas tree welcoming you as you pass through World Bazaar.Leading to the beautiful hub centrepiece.

Tokyo DisneySea is just as beautiful, with their welcome banner on Hotel Mira Costa as you enter the parks.The tree near the Tower of Terror is gorgeous.And don't forget to check out the fantastic stage show, 'Christmas Wishes'!
We'll visit Tokyo again later in the holiday season - so keep those park tickets handy.

Holidays Of The World

We can't visit Disneyland without experiencing the wonder of a Small World Holiday!

Thanks to Chuck, again, we can have a look at some of the fun sites of this special holiday-themed attraction. I have yet to experience it, but I sure can't wait!

The attraction is 'dressed up' for the holidays, with decorations, ornaments and designs scattered beautifully throughout.

Even Pumbaa is in the festive mood!

And Ariel shares a decoration or two with us.

Happy Holidays!

Bright Times in Disneyland

With the wonders of the internet, we can experience Christmas in all the different Disney parks without leaving the comfort of our own home!

Today, thanks to Chuck Canzoneri over at the Disneyland Gazette, we can take a brief look at Disneyland welcoming the holidays.

As you can see, may your days be merry and your holidays be bright!

And if you're not impressed with the holiday adverts scattered throughout the gift shops, there's one way to start to get into the festive spirit. Head over to Thunder Ranch, near Big Thunder Mountain, and meet some of Santa's reindeer.

I wonder where Rudolph is...

Ready for the Holidays

Disney parks all around the world get ready for the holidays. They may celebrate them at slightly different times, but they still get their best decorations out and 'deck the halls' and all the other attractions.

Take, for example, the simple Character Train at Disneyland Paris.This train was introduced during the 15th celebration - and even during the Christmas season, they made sure to trim the edges with some tinsle and decorations to help get the characters and the guests in the festive spirit!

Enjoying a Moment...Chateau at Christmas

Let's Enjoy a Moment over in Disneyland Paris, with the beautiful Château, all lit up and ready to celebrate the holidays.

Happy Holidays!

On The First Day of Christmas

Starting our run-up to Christmas here on DF'82, we will have a look at the publishings of Tokyo Disney Resort Japan.

We firstly have the Tokyo Disney Resort Times, ready for Disney's Christmas!
And, of course, our Times Guides for the parks during their Christmas celebrations. Doesn't it make you want to go visit Mickey and his friends over in Japan?

Exploring the Insides

I started this blog, DF'82, in order to show people the wonder of all the Disney parks around the world. But I wanted to focus on Disneyland Paris, as I feel it is a park that is enjoyed by many, appreciated by few and a place that people have to visit.

One of these areas that I really urge any reader to take time, and enjoy, is le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant - inside, outside and around. It's been a while, but let's take another moment to look around the inside of the Château from the ground.

From here we look up to see the second floor, which holds the story of Sleeping Beauty (which you can read here, here and here).
The detailing around this area is fantastic.And we also have the entrance to La Boutique de Château, a shop which holds jewels, glass ornaments and many other Arribas gifts and souvenirs.

Who's Who in the Wild West

If we are lucky enough to spend some time in the Wild West, Disneyland Paris Style, we are probably in Hotel Cheyenne's resort area.

And if we are truly living the Old West style, we may have to tend to our horse, or need somewhere to store our hard robbings, ahem, I mean earnings! If so, look no further.

In Disney's Hotel Cheyenne we can visit the Blacksmith and the Bank (which we looked at several weeks ago).But make sure you have earned all that money honestly, or we may be heading somewhere else...

Get Shorty

It's time to head back over to Boot Hill in Frontierland and check out another grave they have, near the Phantom Manor.

It reads 'Short Smith 1862', possibly linking to one of the ghosts inside the Phantom Manor, although we have no real way of knowing.

Driving into Discovery

Disneyland Paris may have a very different Tomorrowland, in the shape of Discoveryland, but there is one attraction that guests will find very familiar.The Autopia ride can be found in Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, Magic Kingdom (in the form of Tomorrowland Indy Speedway), Tokyo Disneyland (Grand Circuit Raceway) and, of course, in Paris, as 'Autopia'.
A thoroughly popular attraction, if you fancy taking a ride on this futuristic, 1950's style, Grand Prix track, you are advised to get there early. The queues for this ride can get very long as the day goes by, as it is a long attraction and the loading can be quite slow.The theme here is far more retro-futuristic, trying very hard to fit into the Jules Verne-theming of the rest of Discoveryland. It is a great chance for children to try their hand at driving a real car! Although it may be more appealing to younger children (under the age of 10, perhaps) it is a fun, family attraction and can bring back memories to those older guests who may have enjoyed this attraction at a younger age.

Autopia is sponsored by Ford, and it is 'On Route to the Future'!

Double the Fun

Heading back over to Main Street U.S.A., we are going to take another look at one of the fantastic buildings in Disneyland Paris.This one is the Doubleday Building built in 1888. During my research for this building, I cannot see any direct relation between Doubleday and Disney. We can only speculate that this is the Doubleday of Doubleday & McClure Company, a publishing company that is now a division of Random House. Doubleday Australia actually has some Disney children's books in print.
Not leaving the building yet, we also have a great advertising poster for all passers-by to read:

Play a Better Game With
All American
Sporting Goods

Another great advert keeping in time with the theming of Main Street U.S.A. and the surrounding buildings. But we shouldn't just look at the facades of the buildings - remember, we should always look up!
And if you do, you can see the top of the Doubleday Building has been adorned with a Trophy, keeping in theme with the Sporting Goods advertisement.

Update: The fantastic George Taylor, from Imaginerding, contacted me to add to the "mystery" of the Doubleday building. In fact, it is a mystery no more! Due to the sports theming of the building, the 'Doubleday' is more likely to be a reference to Abner Doubleday, a US Army officer and who claimed to invent baseball, although there was much evidence against this. I think we can mark this as solved!

Enjoying A Moment...In Space

It's Sunday, and time to sit back, and relax with another view of another Disney Park. After this week's visit to Space Mountain, I thought today we would enjoy a moment in Discoveryland, watching the Columbiad prepare to blast unsuspecting guests to the moon.

As Time Goes By

We have looked at the graves on Boot Hill before, here at DF'82. And it is one of this Princess's favourite places in the whole of Disneyland Paris.

But it's interesting how time can change the graves that we have seen. Here are some old shots of the headstones at Boot Hill.

And now let's look at those graves, and how they have weathered.Although a lot of Disney fans prefer the parks to be kept up-to-date, with fresh coats of paint and excellent gardening throughout, I think this is one part of the park that can be allowed to run a little wild. A different kind of attention to detail by the Cast Members of Paris. Spooky!