2017 DISNEYLAND RESORT HALLOWEEN TIME / MICKEY'S HALLOWEEN PARTY THREAD!

[theluckyrabbit]

For anyone that has attended the Toon town pre party - we want to meet the characters for a photo - is there one line for all of them or separate lines for each photo op? Thanks so much! First time ever going to this party

There are separate lines and the characters switch out. For example, you go to one line to meet either Pluto or Goofy. You go to another line for Mickey and Minnie or Chip'N'Dale. Another line for Donald or Daisy. The lines are close by each other. If you want to meet all the characters, you will need to cycle through each line twice. If the character you want still isn't out when you get back to the front, tell the CM who you are waiting for. Usually the CM will have you wait to the side until the other character comes out.

 

[malice]

So do i have to pay full price for it during the day? Why won't it be included in my normal ticket, seems only fair if party goers aren't paying for it either? Isn't it enough the party ticket gets you in a full three hours overlap of day guests with the ticket for a party that officially begins at 6 or 7? You also get park hopper at no extra charge, where does it end? A great deal if you can swing the extra $$$ for the party, but it is quickly devaluing my non discounted day ticket. DCA isn't even staying open late on the party night we're there, closing at 8 p.m. My family had talked me into going to DL again that day versus Universal, now i'm back in the Universal for that day camp!

Party ticket prices jumped up from last year $15-20 depending on the night; I wouldn’t exactly consider these benefits as a free perk. And yes, it’s a pretty good deal for anyone who just wants to check out the Halloween decor at both parks in a single visit.

 

[rlp]

What side is the Jack Orb on? I really want to be able to see this clearly as I am usually too far back in the crowd to clearly see this.

Edit: this photo is from Tom Bricker's blog post about the Halloween party.

 

[Linkura]

Thanks Linkura! Maybe it was Figment that said they go up on the Tomorrowland side. Why couldn't you see the orb from where you were? Was it because of trees?

Yes, there were a few trees in our sight line.

What side is the Jack Orb on? I really want to be able to see this clearly as I am usually too far back in the crowd to clearly see this.

Left of the castle.

 

[minnieralyks]

What side is the Jack Orb on? I really want to be able to see this clearly as I am usually too far back in the crowd to clearly see this.

It's always on the side closest to Fantasy Faire. If you want to see it, you'll probably need to be either close center or near the Tomrrowland side since trees seem to block it.

 

[azdisneylover]

Party ticket prices jumped up from last year $15-20 depending on the night; I wouldn’t exactly consider these benefits as a free perk. And yes, it’s a pretty good deal for anyone who just wants to check out the Halloween decor at both parks in a single visit.

I agree. To me, they were after people who do not go to Disneyland and said, Annual Pass holders don't matter because we already have their ticket money and if they go to the Halloween Party, gravy!. Shame, Disney.

 

[Linkura]

They raised the prices, sure, but it seems like attendance was capped at a noticeably lower number. The party was not that crowded at all. For that, I'm cool with them raising the prices.

 

[mummabear]

What a great party last night!!!!

Villains: CM I had spoken to was wrong Ratcliff and Hades are during the parade only. Villians meeting during the party are on the right side (if facing the station) Gaston and Dr Facilier and in the left Malicefint and the Snow Queen.
The Queen of Hearts and Cruella are wandering around town square.
The villians are doing 30 minutes sets alternating.
The only people we didn't catch during normal day hours were Malicefint and Snow Queen although DH had said that he had seen them both roaming Fantasyland will FO running, so it looks like there is no party specific characters.

Jack skellingtons line was as long during the part as during the day, we had met him already but popped by at several different times to check the line as we wanted him to sign a book, it never looked shorter than the 45 minute line we had waited in (even at midnight), near the end we asked the 1st person waiting in the queen if hey would be willing to take our book (and they were happy to lovely people) but CM said Jack and Sally don't sign during the parties (they do sign during the day FYI
Pirate pals was Hook, Peter and Wendy with Mickey and Minnie dressed as Pirates.
Aladdin friends were Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie alternating, only 1 out at a time and the CM said the only shift Genie was doing started at 9:45, we busted a move right from the fireworks and were the last group with him.

All rides we saw were walk on except HHM (although never checked GGSM),
We waited maybe 15 minutes for HHM right at the very end of the night although the standby sigh said 25 minutes.

 

[mummabear]

Quick question, I was caught up but I started packing and wanted to ask this so hopefully weather hasn't been discussed since I last read. My son wants to Harry Potter for Halloween so I'm buying the robe for him at Universal on Sunday. Our party night is on Monday, would it be too hot?

Has a good spot for fireworks and parade been discussed? Sorry if I missed it, I want to make sure I know where to go since I probably won't have time to read again after we leave tomorrow. Where and when should we go for first parade and then first fireworks? Thanks!

We skipped the 1sr parade and arrived to the hub about 9.15, the last two parade floats were coming through then.
We first walked to the left side (facing the castle) but couldn't see the orb, so walked to the group waiting for the parade to end and got a spot right behind the partners statue but back on the road, I could see about 1/2 the orb. It wasn't perfect but pretty good for almost no wait and I didn't want to risk attempting for a better spot because I could have ended up worse.

What side is the Jack Orb on? I really want to be able to see this clearly as I am usually too far back in the crowd to clearly see this.

Left hand side of facing the castle

For anyone that has attended the Toon town pre party - we want to meet the characters for a photo - is there one line for all of them or separate lines for each photo op? Thanks so much! First time ever going to this party

Seperate lines.

Yes, there were a few trees in our sight line.



Left of the castle.

I have been thinking all trip that I wish they would remove the trees in front of the castle there are 4-6 that I think could be swapped for some lower shrubs that would really massively improve fireworks viewing for so many people, and I don't think it would be detrimental to the overall look.

 

[pennym]

Please keep the party reports coming! I was keeping an eye on the app last night and it had quite long ride times which I was surprised about considering reports are saying otherwise. PP was 40 mins the entire time, even SW and Pinocchio were 25 mins which seems crazy! Pirates 20, HMH 55....very few walk ons. Is the app just completely wrong?

 

[figment_jii]

Thanks Linkura! Maybe it was Figment that said they go up on the Tomorrowland side. Why couldn't you see the orb from where you were? Was it because of trees?

I don't recall saying that, but if I did I meant to say the orb is on the left (Frontierland side), but to have the best view, you'll need to be on the right(ish) side of Main Street.

Other random thought (I'll put together a more comprehensive list/report after I get home)...
1. Some of the shops on Main Street remained open at midnight. The Emporium was open past midnight, as was Showcase. The Jewelry Shoo (part of the Emporium complex) closed very early (before the second parade). Starbucks closed right a midnight.

2. There really isn't a good bye show. A few characters wave from the train station platform, but that's it.

3. Last night BB MHP Dining Package viewing was by the Plaza Inn. According to the CM, this was a one-off. The viewing area is normally down by Town Square (where the MSEP viewing was located). The package includes a light-up lanyard and a bag of candy (1.5 lbs or so).

4. The in-park activation/wristband location was at the Starcade in Tomorrowland. They were having problems yesterday, so they didn't open on time.

5. There are two treat tails along Big Thunder trail! They were mostly overlooked, so the lines were short even at the start of the party. I have to say, the ROA trail was the most disappointing (more stops had crackers or fruit instead of candy!).

6. The second parade was very uncrowded. The curb filled up before it started, but most if Main Street was only one person deep.

 

[Linkura]

Please keep the party reports coming! I was keeping an eye on the app last night and it had quite long ride times which I was surprised about considering reports are saying otherwise. PP was 40 mins the entire time, even SW and Pinocchio were 25 mins which seems crazy! Pirates 20, HMH 55....very few walk ons. Is the app just completely wrong?

The app was blatantly wrong so many times during our trip that I basically completely disregarded it. Even worse regarding whether rides were up or down. Don't even look at the app anymore imo. One of my biggest peeves from the trip (and will be covered when I do my Just Back- which would have been done already if I weren't sick). Often the posted wait was also very inaccurate, too. Extremely frustrating as a WDW vet and considering most rides don't have FP at DL.

 

[GenGen22]

I don't recall saying that, but if I did I meant to say the orb is on the left (Frontierland side), but to have the best view, you'll need to be on the right(ish) side of Main Street.

Other random thought (I'll put together a more comprehensive list/report after I get home)...
1. Some of the shops on Main Street remained open at midnight. The Emporium was open past midnight, as was Showcase. The Jewelry Shoo (part of the Emporium complex) closed very early (before the second parade). Starbucks closed right a midnight.

2. There really isn't a good bye show. A few characters wave from the train station platform, but that's it.

3. Last night BB MHP Dining Package viewing was by the Plaza Inn. According to the CM, this was a one-off. The viewing area is normally down by Town Square (where the MSEP viewing was located). The package includes a light-up lanyard and a bag of candy (1.5 lbs or so).

4. The in-park activation/wristband location was at the Starcade in Tomorrowland. They were having problems yesterday, so they didn't open on time.

5. There are two treat tails along Big Thunder trail! They were mostly overlooked, so the lines were short even at the start of the party. I have to say, the ROA trail was the most disappointing (more stops had crackers or fruit instead of candy!).

6. The second parade was very uncrowded. The curb filled up before it started, but most if Main Street was only one person deep.

Figment, What is the best strategy for viewing fireworks in order to see the orb and Zero flying. I don't necessarily have to see the first parade as there are two of them but want to see both fireworks and parade.

 

[Kindermouse]

3. Last night BB MHP Dining Package viewing was by the Plaza Inn. According to the CM, this was a one-off. The viewing area is normally down by Town Square (where the MSEP viewing was located). The package includes a light-up lanyard and a bag of candy (1.5 lbs or so).

Wow-that spot is my jam. If it stayed in that spot it would be like they got what I consider to be one of the best spots in the house. I held the curb near there last year for nearly an hour (it sounds like since the parade isnt brand spanking new anymore people dont have to hold spots so long which is nice) directly in front of the red wagon. After the parade you just hop up and walk to the right/center of main street (or in my case to the curb since I need the height boost to see over peoples heads) and its a perfect view of the orb, the castle and the sky.

The app was blatantly wrong so many times during our trip that I basically completely disregarded it. Even worse regarding whether rides were up or down. Don't even look at the app anymore imo. One of my biggest peeves from the trip (and will be covered when I do my Just Back- which would have been done already if I weren't sick). Often the posted wait was also very inaccurate, too. Extremely frustrating as a WDW vet and considering most rides don't have FP at DL.

And thats when you are lucky enough to get it to work at all-it crashes all the time. The app burned me last year when I went down to ride Tower of Terror before it closed. I would check the app and the app would say 20 minutes wait time with FP for 2:00 pm. I would haul by bum, and the bums of the 3 kids with me, into CA and down to the tower and....100 minute wait time with no FP's for the day. I went through that for a few days before asking a CM what time FP's were running out at each day so I could plan the next day accordingly-his response-there haven't been any FP's this week since they were down to 1 elevator. I showed him the app and he said, yeah sorry about that but that app has problems a lot of the time. The darn thing was wrong for days.

 

[Mysteryincorp]

Please keep the party reports coming! I was keeping an eye on the app last night and it had quite long ride times which I was surprised about considering reports are saying otherwise. PP was 40 mins the entire time, even SW and Pinocchio were 25 mins which seems crazy! Pirates 20, HMH 55....very few walk ons. Is the app just completely wrong?

I happened to glance at it last night and was surprised at well. But I will say during the party on Wednesday many times the wait times posted at the actual ride (Like Space Mountain, Thunder, Splashetc) would say 15 or 20 minutes and the ride was actually a complete walk on. When. Went on Space Moutnisn the wait times at the ride
, not in the app, said 20minutes but it was actually walk on. I think they may sell more tickets for the Friday night parties, but that is purely speculation on my part

 

[MasonsG]

We were at the Friday Halloween party so I wanted to post a few things to hopefully help with planning. We were there for half an hour for that big snafu with the in-park activation/wristband in Tomorrowland at the Starcade, and it was hard not to get frustrated that they would Not make any announcement, we waited over 30 minutes and No one would say anything as to whether they thought they were close to getting it going or what was going on. Saw lots of people getting pretty upset at being held clueless. But they wouldn't announce anything. We ended up politely getting out of the zig zag lines as we were losing pretty fantastic park time just held in the corral and the party vibe was losing its fun in there. We went back around 5:15 and it was working then but they still only had 4 people checking tickets in. It is still nice they don't make you exit the park to get in line outside But any word or even acknowledgement that we were all there wondering what was going on would have been sincerely appreciated. Needless to say that put us further back being able to get into ToonTown at 6:00 but the CMs there did an Amazing job of keeping the lines flowing And organized. I wish they had been running the check in, they were all so friendly, helpful, efficient ... the same for so many of the CMs working the treat trails- what incredible personal as they were still cheerful and fun even hours and hours into the event- so impressive. ToonTown is so beautifully run, I am going to miss it if things move to CA Adventure and we may skip it, Disneyland looks far more stunning in its Halloween decor. We did visit CA during the day, never saw a single vehicle out for photo ops, just the Carsland sign and the band in the hub. We saw Mickey and Daisy (I believe) being filmed by a news crew but no meet and greet allowed then. It must look neater at night. DL just looks so stellar and the ride lines were wonderful, fireworks are spectacular, parades impressive- this was our 3rd year. And a big Appreciation for the impressive diligence in making sure only those with wrist bands are still in the park, getting on rides or into treat trails. Even 2 hours past 7 we were still being checked courteously- just Awesome. Just whatever you plan, be flexible and have fun. We did also find most of the app wait times seriously misleading. Still the most amazing place for Halloween!!

 

[midnight star]

We were at the Friday Halloween party so I wanted to post a few things to hopefully help with planning. We were there for half an hour for that big snafu with the in-park activation/wristband in Tomorrowland at the Starcade, and it was hard not to get frustrated that they would Not make any announcement, we waited over 30 minutes and No one would say anything as to whether they thought they were close to getting it going or what was going on. Saw lots of people getting pretty upset at being held clueless. But they wouldn't announce anything. We ended up politely getting out of the zig zag lines as we were losing pretty fantastic park time just held in the corral and the party vibe was losing its fun in there. We went back around 5:15 and it was working then but they still only had 4 people checking tickets in. It is still nice they don't make you exit the park to get in line outside But any word or even acknowledgement that we were all there wondering what was going on would have been sincerely appreciated. Needless to say that put us further back being able to get into ToonTown at 6:00 but the CMs there did an Amazing job of keeping the lines flowing And organized. I wish they had been running the check in, they were all so friendly, helpful, efficient ... the same for so many of the CMs working the treat trails- what incredible personal as they were still cheerful and fun even hours and hours into the event- so impressive. ToonTown is so beautifully run, I am going to miss it if things move to CA Adventure and we may skip it, Disneyland looks far more stunning in its Halloween decor. We did visit CA during the day, never saw a single vehicle out for photo ops, just the Carsland sign and the band in the hub. We saw Mickey and Daisy (I believe) being filmed by a news crew but no meet and greet allowed then. It must look neater at night. DL just looks so stellar and the ride lines were wonderful, fireworks are spectacular, parades impressive- this was our 3rd year. And a big Appreciation for the impressive diligence in making sure only those with wrist bands are still in the park, getting on rides or into treat trails. Even 2 hours past 7 we were still being checked courteously- just Awesome. Just whatever you plan, be flexible and have fun. We did also find most of the app wait times seriously misleading. Still the most amazing place for Halloween!!

Thanks for this update! I will keep in mind to just go to the actual ride than to check the app, since it seems like they aren't accurate. Did you ride anything at DCA? I am trying to figure out if it's worth trying to ride GOTG since it will be mixed with regular guests as well.

 

[MasonsG]

We did ride GOTG, app said 15 min wait (that was funny), ride entrance said 50 min but it looked shorter than that, it actually only took us 40 min from start of line to Exiting so that was phenomenal, it was maybe around noon. Looked for characters, any of the CARS to be out, not having any luck, CARS ride was listed at 75 min and its such a long trail you can't tell if that's probable but Soarin was showing 65 min and looked about that. We were really hoping to feel more of the Halloween atmosphere so abandoned CA and headed over to DL- what a difference- and we lucked out with gorgeous weather, kids in costume, characters as soon as you arrived, music, just felt like a party. We rode both Pirates of the Car (20 min line) and Haunted Mansion showed as a 45 min wait but looked Much longer so grabbed a fast pass and when we used it we were inside within 10 min for the experience- it was just awesome. We found the crowds lighter than when we have usually gone the first Fri of Oct. If they keep it at Disneyland- I wouldn't miss it for the world. They throw a fantastic party. ToonTown was just a little packed But absolutely Fun, great chance with the characters.

 

[mummabear]

Please keep the party reports coming! I was keeping an eye on the app last night and it had quite long ride times which I was surprised about considering reports are saying otherwise. PP was 40 mins the entire time, even SW and Pinocchio were 25 mins which seems crazy! Pirates 20, HMH 55....very few walk ons. Is the app just completely wrong?

Didn't look st the app during the party, but we walked straight into Pirates after the 2nd parade.

The app was blatantly wrong so many times during our trip that I basically completely disregarded it. Even worse regarding whether rides were up or down. Don't even look at the app anymore imo. One of my biggest peeves from the trip (and will be covered when I do my Just Back- which would have been done already if I weren't sick). Often the posted wait was also very inaccurate, too. Extremely frustrating as a WDW vet and considering most rides don't have FP at DL.

I was most frustrated with the app when we had asked about Nick and Judy, we were told they would be out from 4-4:30, CM showed us where the list was in the app, we kicked it across the park to get there, no one showed up, ask them CM running the WOC FP booths if they knew and they said the sets had been cancelled because it had rained that morning. Seriously hen update your app otherwise what is the point of it?
Plus in 11 days I found Wifi once but was not able to connect to it, so don't plan of having access to it

Thanks for this update! I will keep in mind to just go to the actual ride than to check the app, since it seems like they aren't accurate. Did you ride anything at DCA? I am trying to figure out if it's worth trying to ride GOTG since it will be mixed with regular guests as well.

Keep in mind that at GOTG becomes Monsters after dark at 5pm.
Fast passes for MAD start at 3pm and go pretty quick, by close the standby line winds into bugsland.

 

[mummabear]

At the airport now, so sad to be heading home.
Will load photos once I can