[Gill H]

By now it was just after 6pm and time to go over to Town Square for the tree lighting. According to the plan we’d put together yesterday, this was at 6.30, and the Christmas parade followed at 6.45. (Remember that anvil? It’s about to drop…)

We had a quick browse through the Emporium, coming out on Main Street, and were surprised to see that at 6.20 there were no crowds in Town Square, and the tree appeared to be very much lit already. What? How had that happened? So we grabbed our times guide to check …

… aaaaand there it goes. Of course, being Saturday there was a new times guide for this week. All our careful planning had been done using last week’s guide. And unfortunately, according to this week’s version, the tree lighting had happened at 5.45, and there hadn’t been an evening Christmas parade at all.

Meanwhile, we’d also missed the ‘Surprise Mickey’ show in Studios, as that had run at 6.05 instead of 7.45 as we’d planned.

What an Epic Christmas Fail! OK, not on the scale of the guy from Newport who’d downloaded the WDW app instead of DLP – but still, after 10 years of visiting you would think we would know the times guide changed on a Saturday!

So, rather crestfallen, we headed back over to Studios. We had a good look in the new Pandora shop in Studio 1 and asked them what DLP-specific charms they had. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to have any there – or if they did, no-one seemed to know about them. So we decided to go back to Ratatouille one more time, where yet again there was hardly any queue. Such a good ride, it never gets old for me.

This done, we decided to find ourselves a place near the stage for Goofy’s Incredible Christmas at 8pm. There was already quite a crowd, but we managed to find a place pretty near the front with a reasonable view. Which we then had to spend a good 20 minutes defending from people who thought they could push their way to the front for no reason, as ever. Even so, a bunch of people turned up at the last minute and pushed us out of the way to join the one family member who had been holding their place. And if that wasn’t bad enough, a guy standing at the front – with a perfect view for himself and his son – hoisted the kid on his shoulders just before the show started. Please. This is not Illuminations. The show is about three feet away from you and even a small child can see everything perfectly. Why should everyone behind you spend the whole time looking at the back view of you and your child?

Fortunately we weren’t the only ones who groaned loudly, because he turned round to see what was wrong. He didn’t actually take the kid off his shoulders, but he did at least move to a spot where he wasn’t blocking people’s view.

So with one thing and another, we weren’t in the best of moods before the show started. We were cold and tired, disappointed with ourselves for messing up the times, and ticked off with our fellow park guests. This show was going to have to work hard to boost our mood.

We needn’t have worried. Goofy’s Incredible Christmas was – well, incredible. Even before the show started, there were flurries of snow settling on the edges of the tower, which gradually built up as time went on. Then, with a blast of fireworks, the screens on the stage changed to a snowy street with a bright red postbox (a British one rather than French – thanks DLP!) and a dual-language narration began to tell a story about magical stars and letters to Santa. Dressed in smart Victorian outfits, Donald and Daisy, Minnie and Mickey arrived with their letters, stopping to greet lucky children at the front of the crowd. They read out their wishes for ‘the best Christmas ever for all my friends’ and posted their letters. Then Goofy rushed in, still in his pyjamas, seemingly too late to post his letter. Or was he?

I won’t go into massive detail about the impressive mix of projections, dancers, characters and music that followed. Suffice it to say, they got their wish and all ended happily. And not just for Goofy and co. By the end of the show we were as full of festive spirit as Scrooge on Christmas morning. This is one of the best shows I have ever seen at DLP, and certainly the best Christmas offering in the parks this year. If it comes back next year and you have the chance to see it, make it a priority – you won’t regret it.