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.