Christmas Town

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angelicurrr said:
So we are supposed to go tomorrow (Sunday) and thankfully it will be warmer, but it's also supposed to rain basically all day. They wouldn't close for just rain right? We spent quite a bit of money on things since we have a child now and I'm assuming if they did close for some reason, we'd be refunded?
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I have never heard of them closing for rain and would be very surprised. Most of the shows are inside and well worth seeing. Rain keeps the crowds down and can lead to an enjoyable night if you have handle it. As for refunds my understanding is that they don't but in the event of closure will honor them for a future date.
 
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Luke said:
Busch Gardens was PACKED today....
In other news....no robot snowman in Holiday Hills this year. I loved him. Sadly I never took a picture of him. He use to be over by snowman summit. Does anyone have a picture of him?
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Is this the snowman you mention?
 

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The dining at Christmas Town has not seemed quite as good as previous years to me. There seem to be less special holiday dishes this year. Has anyone else notice that?
 
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horsesboy said:
The dining at Christmas Town has not seemed quite as good as previous years to me.  There seem to be less special holiday dishes this year.  Has anyone else notice that?
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I went on Friday and actually had a conversation with my group about this. We ate at the Fest Haus and we noticed they didn't have the salmon this year (though I hardly saw people order it so no surprise). At our table we had a sausage platter, the Christmas dinner and the sandwich and all were super bland and just looked kind of sad. I considered getting the salad since it used to be amazing, but this year it looked wilted and had half of the toppings that it previously had.
 
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Natoma said:
Please fix garish France decorations and music. Considering it is between two areas with some of the most subdued lights and distinctive moods makes it even worse
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I agree that it seems strange to be sandwiched in between those two tranquil areas. However, I think the pacing might even make part of the event depressing to some if that was yet another subdued area (the way it originally was). Besides, they actually did away with some of the old props in order to down-size the "twelve days of Christmas" theme. You may even notice that the miniature light show is gone.

Another thing about pacing; Holiday Hills has gone from "tacky retro-Americana Christmas" to "classy, retro-Americana Christmas". This also removed another miniature light show. The soundtrack has removed a few of the more "annoying songs" to reflect this.

There are no more C9 lights in the trees. Instead they decorated them like the trees in San Marco. No more pink flamingos, no robot snowman, no special signage for Peppermint Twist, fewer Coca-cola signs and more.

This year was all about making the event more classy, such as removing tinsel- except where necessary. Sometime soon I want to create a list of Christmas Town changes with before and after photos.
 
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CastleOSullivan said:
Natoma said:
Please fix garish France decorations and music. Considering it is between two areas with some of the most subdued lights and distinctive moods makes it even worse
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I agree that it seems strange to be sandwiched in between those two tranquil areas. However, I think the pacing might even make part of the event depressing to some if that was yet another subdued area (the way it originally was). Besides, they actually did away with some of the old props in order to down-size the "twelve days of Christmas" theme. You may even notice that the miniature light show is gone.

Another thing about pacing; Holiday Hills has gone from "tacky retro-Americana Christmas" to "classy, retro-Americana Christmas". This also removed another miniature light show. The soundtrack has removed a few of the more "annoying songs" to reflect this.

There are no more C9 lights in the trees. Instead they decorated them like the trees in San Marco. No more pink flamingos, no robot snowman, no special signage for Peppermint Twist, fewer Coca-cola signs and more.

This year was all about making the event more classy, such as removing tinsel- except where necessary. Sometime soon I want to create a list of Christmas Town changes with before and after photos.
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I miss the miniature lights shows in both France and Holiday Hills. I thought they added something unique to each area that would cause me to stay and linger in the area. I now just pass right through France with no stopping. I found the new countdown clock in Holiday Hills to be too sterile and unimaginative. Holiday Hills has been watered-down and it doesn't seem as festive to me. I really liked the retro over the top kitsch. The very first year for Holiday Hills just blew me away and we spent a lot time just lingering in the area enjoying the decorations, music and the clock. Most of the decorations (in Holiday Hills) are really beat up and need some significant attention and repair. Santa's sleigh and reindeer and the Santas along the bridge are really in poor shape.

Many decorations throughout the park are in poor shape. Just look at the smaller flanking trees at O'Tannenbaum, many are bent with damaged branches. There are a lot bulbs and lights that don't work.

BG is scaling back and I for one am not happy about the changes. Maybe I'm just too hyper-critical, but I know they can do better and they have done better.
 
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considering the recent cut backs is it any surprise that they are scaling back? These cuts were deep, significant, and painful. Frankly I think it would have sent a very bad message to the employees if they had spent a whole bunch of money just as they were cutting jobs. That is distasteful.
 
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I've hardly made an opinion on the new Holiday Hills versus the old one. Like I said, they have tried to remove everything that could be seen as overly tacky. As a consequence, we lost two miniature light shows and a few minor favorites. The only thing still missing is street entertainment outside of England.

I can't say any of this without bringing up the new-found classiness of Polar Pathway, which is a good fix to an issue mentioned on this site for years. The small centerpiece now resembles the rest of the theme. Santa is now where he belongs- at the entrance to Holiday Hills.

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The mini-show in France was cut, in part, for the jam it caused with people exiting 'Twas That Night stopping and others standing still to watch the 12 Days countdown.

Holiday Hills was just a stupid change for no reason. The buggy parking it became was always empty, that I saw. Buggy Brigades just clogged walking paths as usual.

As for the France reason, I'd much rather have seen the Threadneedle Bridge problem solved. Wolf watchers one side. Gloria lines the other side. With wheelchairs, buggys, and people's apparent inability to stay left or right, trying to plow through the center. Dead stop.
 
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Zimmy said:
considering the recent cut backs is it any surprise that they are scaling back?  These cuts were deep, significant, and painful.  Frankly I think it would have sent a very bad message to the employees if they had spent a whole bunch of money just as they were cutting jobs.  That is distasteful.
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A couple different points on this one.

1- I am not sure when the budget for Christmas Town is done but I be willing to bet that the budget and lay out for the event started at least 6 months ago so they really wouldn't have been spending money in the middle of lay offs.

2- As the saying goes you have to spend money to make money. If by cutting these items the reduce the likelihood of people spending money it might have had more sense financially to have spent the extra cash to keep them. I don't know about other people but as a local who attends the event multiple times every year I can tell you that I am spending less at this point and on some says nothing at the park. I use to love the Christmas Town meals but this year they seem to be closer to regular season meals then the special stuff that the did only for Christmas Town. I have always made it a point to try one meal from each restaurant in the park for Christmas town but this year I have been so disappointed in the foid that I likely won't do that and in fact even ate outside the park on my last visit. Since I have a Christmas Town pass and a season pass the park litterly made no money on me my last visit.
 
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So, I tried two CT desserts last weekend, and they were both great.

I got the peppermint mocha ice cream sundae at Josephine's. It was easily the best one I have tried since the ice cream parlor opened.

I also tried the cinnamon bun sundae at the Cocoa Cafe. They also have a regular iced version, but figured I should try the full sugar shock option. It had ice cream, sauce, and sprinkles. Both are served in special brown dishes. The cinnamon bun was great, and the sundae wasn't cloyingly sweet.

I also tried the chile hot chocolate at Josephine's. It wasn't overly sweet, like most of the CT cocoa, in my opinion. It needed to be better blended, however. Too much of the flavor was at the bottom.
 
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Nicole said:
So, I tried two CT desserts last weekend, and they were both great.

I got the peppermint mocha ice cream sundae at Josephine's. It was easily the best one I have tried since the ice cream parlor opened.

I also tried the cinnamon bun sundae at the Cocoa Cafe. They also have a regular iced version, but figured I should try the full sugar shock option. It had ice cream, sauce, and sprinkles. Both are served in special brown dishes. The cinnamon bun was great, and the sundae wasn't cloyingly sweet.

I also tried the chile hot chocolate at Josephine's. It wasn't overly sweet, like most of the CT cocoa, in my opinion. It needed to be better blended, however. Too much of the flavor was at the bottom.
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I like the ham in New France. :-D
 
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Celticdog said:
They still have the carolers in England. I have seen them on several separate occasions. Usually while exiting Scrooge No More.
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CastleOSullivan said:
The only thing still missing is street entertainment outside of England.
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Maybe I should have worded that more clearly. I meant that they need street performers outside of what they already have in England.
 
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