HalloweenTime at DLR Info and Photo Superthread #3

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

DD and I were at the pary on 10/21 and had a blast! I was worried about the crowds, slow treat lines, and a long line for the villians. None were an issue for us!

We were the first in line to meet the villians when the party started, Cruella, Dr. F (from Princess and the Frog) and the queen of hearts. After that we took in one treat trail and hit the restroom. Then got back in line for the villians and were at the front of the line when the change happened and The Evil Queen, Maleficent, and Hades came out. Which were the Villians we were hoping to see!

After that we were done with character meet and greet so we hit up the treat trails. We avioded the Monorail one because of what looked to be a very slow moving line. All others went pretty quickly. We had a good time looking at everyone costumes.

The party did seem more crowded then back when it was in DCA but it didn't seem packed to us.

We also took in multiple rides HM (2x), pirates, matterhorn, and star tours.

We decided to wait for a good spot for the fireworks since last year we had to watch from the back and couldn't see Jack. This year while the parade was going on we took a spot in front of the castle and settled in for a nice snack and break. It was well worth the wait. I love those fireworks.

After that we hit some more treat trails, HM again and then headed out. We were in time to see the Villians do their parting song.

All in all, it was a great experience. DD and I had a fabulous time!!

We had a much better experience here then at the Friday the 13th party and actually got to see Villians as well take home tons of cany.

 

[MadMim]

Overload!! There are so many excellent post here! Three more days for me!

 

[MommyLove]

YEY!!!! i hope i meet some of you guys tomorrow, i'll be there as a fat pirate with a normal pirate friend!

It was so cool meeting you tonight! Thanks for introducing yourself!

Rowan1813, we saw you and your friends too at 7:00pm (same time I met vlad) as you were getting off Alice. You three looked BEAUTIFUL!! I *adored* your costumes. Would have come up and said hi but we were IN the Alice queue and I couldn't get over to you.

We are having an AMAZING time. Great reactions to our costumes and it's fun to be a trick-or-treating like a little kid again!

We're now chilling in the PERFECT seats for the fireworks show; sitting on a bench facing the castle!

Loving our time and so thankful for the great info here that helped me plan a fantastic night. I'll have to share more next week when we're home.

 

[Amommy21]

I used Microsoft Publisher to customize the Disney mailer/invitation to Mickey's Halloween Party. DH checked DS out of school and told him we had dentist appointments. He came home to find a pile of suitcases and the letter telling him to "Put on your Mickey Ears, we're going to Disneyland!"

Friday October 18th - UEA weekend so it was pretty crowded. But Disneyland wasn't too bad on our party day. Here is what we were able to get done after arriving later in the morning, about 10:30 am.

DS pulled Space Mountain FP's and we headed to Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, Pulled Indy FP and used Ghost Galaxy Fast passes. I really don't like this ride. I don't know if it's because it's darker or the creepy skinless ghost or what. It kinda makes me sick. But DS thinks it's fantastic! Then we went on Star Tours, The Matterhorn and caught the Parade.

We picked up our bracelets and trick or treat bags at that time over in Frontierland. Then we went on Indy and The Jungle Cruise.

DS knew we were going to the Halloween Party, but didn't know what he was wearing as a costume. We teased him all night that he was going to be one of the 7 dwarves, which he wasn't too happy about. So when he woke up to a Captain Jack Sparrow Costume he was excited to play pirate for the day! You can see that it was very busy this weekend. The park was pretty packed. And the Friday night Halloween Party was sold out.

Then we had LINNER at Blue Bayou

Maybe not such a good idea to wear a leather jacket when it was 80 degrees! We got a special backstage encounter on our trip through Indiana Jones Adventure this time. But I dare not publish it here!

Because I didn't know what the weather or the party would be like I choose a simple Minnie Mouse Apron. It was fun and easy and I received lots of comments from other moms. There were so many elaborate costumes, but I would totally do something simple like this again.

After lunch we wet to the Ranch and Saw Goofy, Minnie and Mickey and played some games. They were just wandering around then did a little parade, dance show... very cute. the kids in the area loved it. We were waiting to go in the tent and were next and this big tour group came and took the next viewing... we just didn't feel like waiting any longer and left.

We were among first in line for the Toon Town pre- party and it was totally worth it. They couldn't send us through everything fast enough! There was lots of trick or treat trails, rides and characters. We saw Carabelle and Goofy and went on Gadget Go-Coast and ended up missing Roger Rabbit (should have done that in backwards order) We had more candy than we could ever eat over the weekend before the party officially began! Oh, there was no where to get a bottle of water or anything as it was all closed up. that was frustrating. But there was a small stand outside after we left Toon Town.



Trick or Treating in Minnie's House

There are so many fun things to see. Don't miss walking through the path behind Big Thunder Mountain from the Ranch to Frontierland, at night it becomes a really cool spooky trail!

Our best tip is to avoid the main hub and stay in the back or corners of the park as much as you can. The parties can be very crowded and overwhelming. Especially as the regular park goers are being escorted out and the Halloween Party guests are trying to enter Disneyland. And being lost in that mess would be miserable!


We saw Peter Pan and Wendy, went through all the Trick or Treat Trails in the area, and saw Donald and Chip and Dale.


During Halloween the Dapper Dans turn into the Cadaver Dans and float on a raft in the middle of the foggy Rivers of America. It was amazing and their singing filled the whole area with a spooky atmosphere.


Time to Meet Jack Sparrow!

I should have video taped this encounter as Jack didn't really hold still for a picture until the end and played around with DS and his costume and hat for a while... Lots of fun!

We caught the Costume Cavalcade. I don't know why they don't just call it the Halloween Parade! The Halloween Fireworks were AMAZING and we got a last minute front row joe seat directly in front of the castle. DH thinks we waiting 30 minutes, but I didn't notice because we were snacking on treats and needed a break to sit down and rest anyway.

We made our way to Tomorrowland to find Darth Vader was not appearing, although he was a usual character at the Halloween parties this year. But the storm troopers were in front of a cool back drop in front of the Space Mountain entrance. And it appeared to be a regular place to find them for the parties.



Then we went through the innovation trick or treat trail to see Phineas and Ferb. After riding single rider through both sides of the Matterhorn we caught the Costume Cavalcade again and trick or treated through Fantasyland to the ranch to see the spooky trail again.



Just before the end of the night we made the line to see Minnie and Mickey. It shouldn't have been a long wait, but these two took their sweet time with each party. At that point I just wanted to get off my feet! Minnie was very cute about my costume and kept giving Indy BIG kisses!

It was so much fun to see what the Halloween Parties at Disneyland were all about. I kept telling the boys we didn't care about candy. In the end you end up with a lot of candy because a lot of the special characters are in candy trails.

They did have "healthy" choices. Apples, Carrots, Craisens, Cheeze-its, Graham Crackers, Goldfish, etc. The candy was all chocolate. No hard candy, suckers or gum. Which was actually more disappointing than we thought. It's fun to have variety.

The Birthday Fairy made a trip to us while we slept. Saturday was DS's 12th Birthday celebration

If you want to hear and see more of our trip report and the rest of our weekend send me a PM and I'll send you a link to my blog. I can't wait to see my photopass photos. Sorry for the crappy iphone shots.

Thank you for all the suggestions on this thread. I can't say if I would do this again, it's not a usual time of the year for us to visit. But we had so much fun. It was SUPER crowded, but we stayed ahead of the game and did well for the most part. What no one tells you is that it is sooo exhausting because you are on your feet all night! it was harder to skip treat trails because they would have a character you wanted to see... or you'd just end up in them like when we cut through Fantasyland at the end of the night. Stay away from the main hub as much as possible. Eat first. I tried to gather as many healthier snacks as possible so we would have funs snacks the rest of the weekend.

 

[kmedina]

Amommy21,

Your trip sounds fantastic. That will be a hard birthday to top. I love the invitation.

 

[pharmama]

Had a great time at the 10/23 party! I didn't think the crowds were too bad. We did skip the villain M&G due to long line when we came in and didn't make it back in time to do it which I was a little bummed about. But overall it was great. Got plenty of candy, saw fireworks and cavalcade and DD jasmine got photo with Aladdin and DD Cinderella got to see Cinderella (even though we were in line for M&G with princesses and Cinderella was switching out. DD nearly in tears but Cinderella saw her in line and came over for hug and a photo. Made DDs night!)

Ready to leave for the party!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[vladimir p]

WOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
ahh i just got back from the oct 23 party and i had a wonderful time!
i got there at exactly 2:50 when they where letting the party people in and went straight to the coke corner to see if alice and hatter were doing the musical chairs but they werent, returned to city hall and got my friend a first visit badge and make reservations for the big thunder barbecue but they cast member there was having trouble with the system or something so no reservation, then off to tomorrowland to get space mountain fast pass, then we did captain EO, star tours and went back to ride space mountain, i really liked it but i really prefer the normal version, mostly because of the music (it really is my favorite disney theme ever, even from the movies) then we did autopia, after that we went to get my first ever dole whip YEY!!!!! but really dislike pinneapple and this wasn't the exception, then over to carnation plaza for some fried chickun since we didn't make it to the bbq on time, and now i don't remember haha terrible memory but we did, story book canals, alice (first time for me) star tours 2 more times, astro blasters, snow white ride, indiana jones, jungle cruise, pirates of the caribbean, splash mountain 2 times, there was literally no one on line so we asked the cast member if we could do another round and surprisingly she agreed! we tried to meet wendy, peter pan and hook but the fireworks started so we went over there, and for the last ride we went to matterhorn and i was skeptical because i'm fat and i heard the new sleds were tiny, but it no problem, i really enjoyed it, and to finish the night we went to meet merida, we were the lasts ones, she was very kind and funny.
the park was not crowded, i felt i was the perfect amount of people, super fast lines and plenty of people to create a great energy,
oh! also while we were leaving we i decided to go to the emporium to get me one of this keychains

but no luck, i also tried the little shop at the exit of the park and world of disney and nothing!! i really wanted one.
i love disneyland, i seriously think i cannot have a bad time there.

It was so cool meeting you tonight! Thanks for introducing yourself!

thanks! it was so cool meeting you and your family, i forgot to compliment you on your costumes, you all looked great! stay gold. also it's funny how your husband is from where i'm from, small world.

 

[deesquared]

Less than a week until Halloweentime!

Can someone tell me where the villians are during MHP?

Thanks!
Dianna

 

[figment_jii]

Can someone tell me where the villians are during MHP?

On Main Street, right in front of the Main Street Train Station, facing Town Square. If you head to City Hall, you can't really miss them.

 

[Kilala]

I noticed that it wasn't as crowded then I thought it would be for a sold out night. All the Trick or Treat trails wen really quickly.

 

[Disney Lvr of Old]

I saw on the Gymbofriends Disneyland board that people are paying 2-3x face value on Ebay for MHP tickets- such a potential for fraud! I feel so bad for people doing that.

 

[DisFam95]

QUOTE]

Where did you get that little Oswald!! I've seen one on the Disney online shops but I thought it was bigger.

Amazing planning !!

 

[figment_jii]

This time...Big Thunder Carnival! The Big Thunder Ranch area is set-up to resemble a Halloween carnival. There are pumpkin carvers, some games (free), coloring stations, character meet and greets, snacks, and Pirates League. It's a fun area to explore and look around.

The entrance sign:

The "ticket" taker - it's free to enter!

This is where Pirates League is set-up.

There are lots of cute decorations scattered throughout the area:

There were also games! One was spin the wheel and the other was a ring toss. Both were free to play and the "prize" was a card with your fortune on it.

And then there were the Carnival treats! Lots of yummy things to try. It's also worth noting that if you missed out on last year's Halloween mug (the one with Mickey & Minnie dancing with the Haunted Mansion ballroom ghosts), they have that over there with hot Apple Cider or Cocoa.

Guests had the option of coloring a picture or a paper mask.

The Carnival is also where Billy Hill and the Hillbillies play.

Next time...the pumpkins!

 

[deesquared]

Thanks Figment, for your wonderful pictures, and for answering my question about the villians!

I can't wait to see the Halloween Carnival. Our first day in the park is October 31st, so we have to check out allllll the fun Halloween stuff before it goes away!

 

[rosanab1031]

Had a great time at the 10/23 party! I didn't think the crowds were too bad. We did skip the villain M&G due to long line when we came in and didn't make it back in time to do it which I was a little bummed about. But overall it was great. Got plenty of candy, saw fireworks and cavalcade and DD jasmine got photo with Aladdin and DD Cinderella got to see Cinderella (even though we were in line for M&G with princesses and Cinderella was switching out. DD nearly in tears but Cinderella saw her in line and came over for hug and a photo. Made DDs night!)

Ready to leave for the party!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

GREAT COSTUMES!!! And that is SO sweet! I'm glad your DD got to meet Cinderella

 

[figment_jii]

Thanks!

And now for the pumpkins! (Gotta get these photos up before Halloweentime ends!)

The pumpkins seemed to come in three types: 1) the ones that almost entirely painted, 2) the ones that were etched, and 3) the ones that were carved like sculptures. I didn't very many that were carved the way folks normally do it a home (e.g., Jack 'O Lantern). Some of the carved ones were really impressive.

Jack

Sally

The Caterpillar

Jasmine

The Evil Queen

Stitch

Frozen

The Headless Horseman

...and Ichabod Crane

Bruce

Scar

Merida

Tinkerbell

Dr. Facilier (he was an etched one and had begun to look dried out)

Captain Hook (suffering the same fate as Facilier)

There was a little 3D Jack...

And then Jack & Sally driving the carriage

Then there were these two...I have to admit that the Mad Hatter ones were kind of creepy

Gonzo was cute...

As was Minnie and the Toy Story Alien.

To me, the most impressive ones, were the sculpted ones. The carvers use a pumpkin as a base and then create a character from it.

Sir Hiss

Candy King

And then there was Ursula. I saw her for the first time while the carver was sculpting one of the two eels. It was just a piece of pumpkin at that point (slightly curved rectangle). By the time I went back the next day, the eels had been finished and she was complete with sculpted hair. It was impressive!

 

[Amommy21]

Where did you get that little Oswald!! I've seen one on the Disney online shops but I thought it was bigger.

Amazing planning !![/QUOTE]

DS got the little Oswald on Amazon for around $10 a while ago. DS is just in love with the history of Disney and Walt and loves anything classic Mickey and had fun discovering Oswald's story. DS collects those small Mickey's in different themes like the Jedi Mickey, Pirate Mickey, etc. That little Oswald is just about that size.

 

[Sherry E]

figment_jii --

Thank you for posting all of the fun, festive photos (I especially enjoy the pictures of the things that I haven't seen, such as the newer carved pumpkins at the Halloween Carnival that have been created since I was there and spoke with the carver), but please don't feel as though you have a duty to post them before Halloween Time ends! Save something for Halloween day/night itself, or for the next thread! Halloween Time photos are always welcome in a Halloween thread, at any time of year.

At this point, when it is so late in the season, everyone has either already been to DLR and seen a lot of it for themselves, or they are about to go and will see it within the next week. It's not like we're at the beginning of the season anymore, before most people have taken their trips and need to know what to expect. And the people who are not going to DLR this year at all can wait a while to see more photos!

I just don't want you to feel like you have to do something because the clock is ticking. We can wait!

 

[PHXscuba]

This time...Big Thunder Carnival! The Big Thunder Ranch area is set-up to resemble a Halloween carnival. There are pumpkin carvers, some games (free), coloring stations, character meet and greets, snacks, and Pirates League. It's a fun area to explore and look around.

The entrance sign:

The "ticket" taker - it's free to enter!

This is where Pirates League is set-up.

There are lots of cute decorations scattered throughout the area:

There were also games! One was spin the wheel and the other was a ring toss. Both were free to play and the "prize" was a card with your fortune on it.

And then there were the Carnival treats! Lots of yummy things to try. It's also worth noting that if you missed out on last year's Halloween mug (the one with Mickey & Minnie dancing with the Haunted Mansion ballroom ghosts), they have that over there with hot Apple Cider or Cocoa.

Guests had the option of coloring a picture or a paper mask.

The Carnival is also where Billy Hill and the Hillbillies play.

Next time...the pumpkins!

I am so disappointed I missed the Halloween carnival area. It closed early the day we were there and I didn't find out until after it had closed. I guess I just get to see it through everyone's great pictures!

PHXscuba

 

[figment_jii]

Sherry - Thanks! I have more photos...so some I'll hold for a bit (like the ones of Haunted Mansion Holiday...those I still need to do a little post-processing on and I'm waiting for my new computer so that Photoshop stops crashing!). Maybe I'll save the snacks and treats for Halloween day...after all, candy/yummies is a big part of the day itself!