I think the current CT Express sucks....royally. The 12 days of Christmas was so much better.
Christmas Town 2019
- Thread starter Gavin
- Start date
I agree that the lack of additions is making CT a bit stale for those that go every year (though, I would say that 2015's Twas the Night addition was noteworthy). Other additions (Rudolph, Gift of Harmon, FoF, CT Express), even combined aren't enough to warrant additional days in the park - especially since CT Express is, at best, a slight upgrade over previous years - though I know many think it's a downgrade. Plus, we lost Miracles in that time span.
Net result is that we're cutting back from 6 planned CT days in the park to 4 days (we're out of town). Which means less food/beverage/gift purchases from this family of 5.
On a side note, CT fun cards are now on sale for $52, which is $10 off. Not clear whether this sale ends on Nov 17 with the single day ticket sale (it seems ambiguous to me).
Currently on the train ride i saw 2 tombstones leftover from howloscream still in plain view
Those tombstones are in memory of all the lights that aren’t working.
Here are the 2019 Christmas Town menus, notice there are no holiday changes at Squires and the only one at Trappers is the CT Salad. It’s really sad, that is the main reason in past years we return so many nights was for all the various foods, chili, Ham at Trappers, so much more. It really sucks when you factor in that you expected to get all those on the new dining plan yet they are gone so there is no need to visit and dive over and over.
There's a lot of lights that aren't up but I won't slam them too hard for it. They only had 13 days to transition from Howl-O-Scream to Christmas
I must say tonight was the most pathetic I have ever seen BGW look on a preview night for CT. Everywhere you looked things werent lit up, things looked cheezy, Holiday Hills looks like they just gave up. All those cool blowmolds they had, some are still there but other than the huge santa faces on the bridge none were lit up. Dashers Diner I guess is no more, so many things around the park to comment on and I just cant remember them all. The biggest let down is the Tree Trail...I honestly felt like I was aimlessly wandering the Lowes Christmas tree lot. There seemed to be no direction, no path or signs directing you. There was not a single light or ornament or decorations on a single tree. There were 3 stations with very small tents for kids to decorate some crappy paper something but other than the sign on each of the 3 booths I saw nothing that was themed to those countries mentioned., That place is going to be awful on any night they use more than one parking lot. This photo right here sums it up...they have now even gone cheap on the Holiday Hills sign....which by the way didnt work.
And before yall start saying "its a preview".....it opens for real tomorrow and theres no way they will remotely get things ready by then. If this is what a extre weekend of HOS gets us then never do it again.
And before yall start saying "its a preview".....it opens for real tomorrow and theres no way they will remotely get things ready by then. If this is what a extre weekend of HOS gets us then never do it again.
I keep thinking of things to mention.....but where they played the Rupolph movie last year is now some giant fireplace.....looked no where near finished and it wasnt lit up so who knows what it will be.
Also the sliders are an addition at Trappers. They are only served during CT.
Oops...yep your right. I missed those, but I really miss the Christmas dinner with the ham or the chili bowl or the chowder they had. I remember them having the sliders before, not sure if it was last year or another year.
They had it on the sign for the snack stand in front of DarKastle although I didnt see the breadbowls so it may be in a cuo there. Overall they do not have the entrees marked with what is or not on the dining plan either at most places which led to confusion from team members.
I hope things improve this coming week. We are taking guests that we have always talked up this event to. We didn't attend last year and in 2017 I took my daughter on a rainy night which wasn't a great experience. My wife wussed out because she was nearly 9 months pregnant ??. Fingers crossed that the lights get resolved, I don't care about the food all that much.
We enjoyed ourselves last night. Sure, some areas had lighting issues and some things looked unfinished, but the talent in the shows more than made up for it. They have some super talent in all the shows. Pathway music has been updated. The polar pathway has much better music this year. I'm feeling good about this season.
I think that if you have never been to CT before that you would have still walked away impressed. It's more that there are people who have been coming for years who notice what's missing. But with no frame of reference it looks great. With that said there will definitely be more done next weekend.
To me, that's an issue. If you set an aggressive turnaround schedule than be prepared to meet it. If it's inconceivable, then adjust accordingly. How much more could have been accomplished if they had another week? By trying to milk another weekend of Halloween (which reviews here said it was half assed) they open a valuable new "season" not ready for prime time.
The "they only had xx days to get ready" is a tiresome excuse we see year after year.