Today at Disneyland: Christmas Visit 2009

Today was our family's annual all-day Christmas visit to Disneyland. The six of us had a wonderful time including a great breakfast at River Belle Terrace.

As always, the flowers at Town Square were a beautiful reflection of the season:


A highlight for us was seeing Tiana's Showboat Jubilee! for the first time.

The Jubilee is inspired by the new Disney cartoon THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG; in a nice bit of synergy, the movie is set in New Orleans and features a riverboat, both of which tie in with Disneyland.

The Jubilee starts out with a parade through the crowds in New Orleans Square.


The parade ends at the Mark Twain Riverboat...


...which then moves down the river towards the New Orleans Square end of Rivers of America.


The boat stops at that point for a colorful musical show. When the show concludes, the Mark Twain then circles around Tom Sawyer Island, at which point the cast disembarks and parades back toward the Princess and the Frog "meet and greet" area at Court des Anges.


It was a fun experience which is a good example of the extra entertainment value to be found in Disneyland for the price of a ticket. The Jubilee runs through January 3rd.

The official Disney Parks Blog has some video of the show.

Unfortunately I didn't realize my brand-new Panasonic camera was on night setting, which turned many of the photos a tint of blue. I never had anything like this happen with my Canon cameras, which I think were a little more intuitive. Argh.

Details from the tree at Town Square:




Another highlight of the day was seeing Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln, which opened a few days ago after an absence of several years.

We found President Lincoln's words about the greatest threat to our country coming from within to be disturbingly prophetic given what is happening in Washington this year.


Dusk at the Main Street Train Station:


The Disneyland pennants atop the train station were at half mast to mourn the recent passing of Roy E. Disney. The pennant atop the Mark Twain was likewise at half mast.

On a lighter note, the first pieces of 55th anniversary merchandise have hit the stores. (Is it really possible it's already been half a decade since the Golden Anniversary celebration?!) Colorful Christmas ornaments and oversized mugs are available.

I'm glad we were there at park opening and were able to do all the things on our wish list over the course of the day. By the time we left around 5:00 p.m., Disneyland was so crowded it had to close to new guests.

Previously: 2006, 2007, and 2008.