HalloweenTime at DLR Superthread #5-- HALLOWEENTIME STARTS SEPT. 9!! SOLD OUT!!

[egritz]

We are back from our week long trip (10/22 - 10/29). Is it just me, or has Disney scaled back the Halloween decorations? Last time I was there for Halloween was 2009 and I felt like everywhere I looked there were Halloween decorations, but this trip I found them lacking. Beyond the banners and the pumpkins on Main street, and the huge pumpkins above the entrance, there was pretty much nothing that caught my eye. The past 3 years we have gone for Christmas and there were even more decorations outside the Haunted Mansion the in previous years than this past week (there were virtually no pumpkins outside on the ground like there normally are).

And I have to say the Halloween Party was pretty weak. Especially for the $89 price tag (with no AP or Disney Visa discount on our party night), it was PACKED. I took the advice from others here and avoided most of the treat trails, but we did wait quite a while for Peter Pan with Wendy. Yes ride lines were rather low, but I was hoping for more exclusive stuff throughout the party. I'm sure it din't help that my daughter is terrified of villains so we dd avoid those lines. We got a decent spot for the parade last minute by small world, but then there was NO good spots for fireworks for our family of 4 by the time we got to main street and we ended up settling on the Frontierland side of the Walt & Mickey statue which meant a horrible view (we had a better view from our Hotel Room over at the Anaheim Desert Inn).

Over all we still had a great trip, I was just let down by the Halloween stuff. Plus with all the Christmas decorations already starting to come out, that kinda threw things for me too.

 

[closetmickey]

We are back from our week long trip (10/22 - 10/29).

Over all we still had a great trip, I was just let down by the Halloween stuff. Plus with all the Christmas decorations already starting to come out, that kinda threw things for me too.

I agree. I think it is only fair to the Halloween guests to restrain from putting up the holidays until Halloween is over. Even if it means starting the Holiday season a week later.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Usually the Christmas decorations start going up toward the end of October to be ready for the Christmas Parade taping the first weekend of November. The Town Square, Main Street, Castle areas have to be ready on a deadline, so little by little, things will start changing over as October draws to a close. After Oct. 31st, things seem to change very quickly.

 

[minnieralyks]

I remember being there a couple years back towards the end of October and snow was already on the castle. It doesn't bother me any, we just think it's funny because it's like the Nightmare Before Christmas.... when two holidays collide!

 

[Kilala]

I'm going to DTD tomorrow and I will see if any Christmas decorations are up yet. I will post pictures from the 5 times I went to MHP later on this week. I did not go in costume on of the nights because it's was so hot.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

We saw you at the TT pre-party on 10/26! You were walking by while we were in line to meet Mickey. You looked great!

 

[Kilala]

We saw you at the TT pre-party on 10/26! You were walking by while we were in line to meet Mickey. You looked great!

thank you

 

[tzeitel]

Our trip was great! I really do not want to jinx myself but we have always had great trips to DLR We were there 22-27th, Ralph Brennan's haunted gingerbread house on the 23rd, MHP on the 24th. Crowds on Sat were a bit crazy, Sunday it rained, Monday party was not crowded. Not sure if it was the weather, crowds or what but DH and I were so tired during the day! I started a TR but have to do the dreaded Photobucket editing, plus the boards are super wonky for me - yikes! as I wrote how wonky it is the whole site just froze. I do like how the post got saved and you can open another screen and not lose what you wrote.

 

[egritz]

Our trip was great! I really do not want to jinx myself but we have always had great trips to DLR We were there 22-27th, Ralph Brennan's haunted gingerbread house on the 23rd, MHP on the 24th. Crowds on Sat were a bit crazy, Sunday it rained, Monday party was not crowded. Not sure if it was the weather, crowds or what but DH and I were so tired during the day! I started a TR but have to do the dreaded Photobucket editing, plus the boards are super wonky for me - yikes! as I wrote how wonky it is the whole site just froze. I do like how the post got saved and you can open another screen and not lose what you wrote.

We were at the party on the 24th too and I thought it was super crowded. Funny how people can have completely different opinions of the same thing, lol.

The rain on Sunday and Monday sucked, it didn't seem to deter the crowds at all! And wow, I have never seen cast members treated so rudely by guests (by people trying to escape the rain in roped off areas who were told they needed to move). we saw so much rudeness DH asked how the crowds are in WDW and proposed going there next year instead.

But the rest of the week was much better weather wise and crowd wise.

And yes, I love the auto draft save feature...it has saved my posts/responses many times as disboards.com freezes on me all the time. it is cool that it saves them between devices too, so if my phone freezes I can go to my computer and it I'll have the draft saved..... super cool.

 

[hilarys]

Our trip was great! I really do not want to jinx myself but we have always had great trips to DLR We were there 22-27th, Ralph Brennan's haunted gingerbread house on the 23rd, MHP on the 24th. Crowds on Sat were a bit crazy, Sunday it rained, Monday party was not crowded. Not sure if it was the weather, crowds or what but DH and I were so tired during the day! I started a TR but have to do the dreaded Photobucket editing, plus the boards are super wonky for me - yikes! as I wrote how wonky it is the whole site just froze. I do like how the post got saved and you can open another screen and not lose what you wrote.

We were there Friday 10/28 leaving the morning of 11/1. This was our fourth year in a row of going to the Halloween night party. I thought the crowds at the 10/31 party were lighter than the last two years - pretty much walk on to every ride except HMH, treat trails were short waits (except the Toon Town ones), and we were able to get a great spot for the later parade. We did not do any of the character lines. Crowds on Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday were some of the worst I have seen at Disneyland or at least it felt like it with the closures. Monday was good pretty much all day. My group declared this one the best of the Halloween parties that we have attended.

Yes, we noticed a bit more of the Christmas decor appearing each day.

 

[nikerbokers]

Had our trip- in the parks 3 days 10/23-25. Party on the 24th. For the first time, our daughter didn't want to see fireworks or the parade so we did rides. Walked on pretty much everything we tried including Pirates. While the attendance has increased since our first party 3 years ago, it is still manageable and maybe a 5/10 on the crowd scale. It rained two of the three days but we still had a great time. The decorations were a bit less than usual. Believe it or not, this was the first time I did the Ghost Galaxy version of Space Mountain and I know I'm a rare bird here but I thought it was lame. It has been so hyped up but I thought it was meh.

Overall, another great Halloween trip. Came home with tons and tons of candy and only did 5 trails. My 4 year old was Belle and my 7 month old was Snow White. We didn't let the rain ruin our parade... Basically, we made the best of our trip and can't wait to be at DLR for Halloween next year.

 

[Vala]

I found it very crowded in some Parts too - worst of all was certainly the Toontown Pre Party. The first night I got in line 45 minutes early. Still Mickey and Minnie switched out to Chip and Dale two families in front of me. Second night no chipmunks, so they split Mickey and Minnie. I was fourth to meet Mickey. But as they let us in early because the lines were blocking everything the line was sneaking around the gazebo three times when I was out, so I gave up and never met Minnie.

Also I was incredibly disappointed by the villains. Over the years we've gone from an insanely big selection of rotating characters to three, and now to one only, and three of the four on Rotation could be found in the park throughout the day. Not a happy chappy.

Still I am insanely grateful that I got to go after all after that ticket Drama. I absolutely loved the Parade, and was very happy to meet Mulan and Pocahontas in her new Outfits as well.

Highlights were non Party related though. October 13 we went to meet Tink, who suddenly started waving at someone through the grass "Hi Tweedles!" My friend and I both went "huh?", turned around and saw red butts running past. I almost did a "hi Tink bye Tink!" and ran off. You guys know how much of a character fan I am and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum meeting in Anaheim, this is basically unheard of. So we made the Tink meet Brief and ran through Fantasyland where we really found the Tweedles Meeting with the Queen of Hearts.

And there I had thought nobody could beat out Gaston from earlier in the trip. We had been in line to meet Alice and Mad Hatter when he showed up harassing them. He walked past us, so we tried to get him to stop - my friend had never met him. He would pose for Pictures, but it was hard to get one with him. We were bantering back and forth with him a bit and got on the subject of things he liked. I asked him if he liked gifts and managed to find one of my drawings: Gaston admiring himself in a mirror. I had worked on it forever and it was one of the pieces I was most proud of. Not only did this immediately get me a Picture with him, when I offered to trade it to him for my friend getting a Picture he was all ears.

Then he proceeded to walk through Fantasyland, slapping the drawing on random tourists maps, having others have their picture taken with him and the drawing, admiring himself with the drawing in anything showing his reflection, showing it to everyone that couldn't get away fast enough - including Alice and the Hatter, I could barely yell to them that I had drawn them too and would be back... he even ran along the Peter Pan line showing it to everyone. It was MENTAL. We followed him for a while until we knew we had to get back to Alice and the Hatter to give them theirs. Poor Alice was totally shocked when I handed them their drawings as gifts too. "I thought you were joking." It was so funny.

Then 3 hours later we were in line to meet Belle in her Villager Dress. Who shows up at the line, STILL CARRYING THE DRAWING WITH HIM? Gaston. Cue more or less quiet Freak out. Well okay, less. He showed it to all CMs bragging how hard he had worked on this, and hadn't seen me. So I stepped out of line, cleared my throat and told him (Hands on hips): "Excuse me, Artist Standing right here." His face when he realized who was talking was priceless. And my friend managed to snap a Picture of his reaction. He came to Chat with us. So I gave him the drawing I had done of Belle so he could Show it to her - she hadn't been that impressed by his other "masterpiece." Off he went. It was so so funny. He then came back to us to return the Picture and as a special treat he agreed to join me on my Picture with Belle. Needless to say, they could have evacuated the park that day and I still would have walked away happy.

 

[lorijohnhill]

I found it very crowded in some Parts too - worst of all was certainly the Toontown Pre Party. The first night I got in line 45 minutes early. Still Mickey and Minnie switched out to Chip and Dale two families in front of me. Second night no chipmunks, so they split Mickey and Minnie. I was fourth to meet Mickey. But as they let us in early because the lines were blocking everything the line was sneaking around the gazebo three times when I was out, so I gave up and never met Minnie.

Also I was incredibly disappointed by the villains. Over the years we've gone from an insanely big selection of rotating characters to three, and now to one only, and three of the four on Rotation could be found in the park throughout the day. Not a happy chappy.

Still I am insanely grateful that I got to go after all after that ticket Drama. I absolutely loved the Parade, and was very happy to meet Mulan and Pocahontas in her new Outfits as well.

Highlights were non Party related though. October 13 we went to meet Tink, who suddenly started waving at someone through the grass "Hi Tweedles!" My friend and I both went "huh?", turned around and saw red butts running past. I almost did a "hi Tink bye Tink!" and ran off. You guys know how much of a character fan I am and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum meeting in Anaheim, this is basically unheard of. So we made the Tink meet Brief and ran through Fantasyland where we really found the Tweedles Meeting with the Queen of Hearts.

And there I had thought nobody could beat out Gaston from earlier in the trip. We had been in line to meet Alice and Mad Hatter when he showed up harassing them. He walked past us, so we tried to get him to stop - my friend had never met him. He would pose for Pictures, but it was hard to get one with him. We were bantering back and forth with him a bit and got on the subject of things he liked. I asked him if he liked gifts and managed to find one of my drawings: Gaston admiring himself in a mirror. I had worked on it forever and it was one of the pieces I was most proud of. Not only did this immediately get me a Picture with him, when I offered to trade it to him for my friend getting a Picture he was all ears.

Then he proceeded to walk through Fantasyland, slapping the drawing on random tourists maps, having others have their picture taken with him and the drawing, admiring himself with the drawing in anything showing his reflection, showing it to everyone that couldn't get away fast enough - including Alice and the Hatter, I could barely yell to them that I had drawn them too and would be back... he even ran along the Peter Pan line showing it to everyone. It was MENTAL. We followed him for a while until we knew we had to get back to Alice and the Hatter to give them theirs. Poor Alice was totally shocked when I handed them their drawings as gifts too. "I thought you were joking." It was so funny.

Then 3 hours later we were in line to meet Belle in her Villager Dress. Who shows up at the line, STILL CARRYING THE DRAWING WITH HIM? Gaston. Cue more or less quiet Freak out. Well okay, less. He showed it to all CMs bragging how hard he had worked on this, and hadn't seen me. So I stepped out of line, cleared my throat and told him (Hands on hips): "Excuse me, Artist Standing right here." His face when he realized who was talking was priceless. And my friend managed to snap a Picture of his reaction. He came to Chat with us. So I gave him the drawing I had done of Belle so he could Show it to her - she hadn't been that impressed by his other "masterpiece." Off he went. It was so so funny. He then came back to us to return the Picture and as a special treat he agreed to join me on my Picture with Belle. Needless to say, they could have evacuated the park that day and I still would have walked away happy.

These are the things that will elevate a great trip to the BEST TRIP EVER! I'm so happy for you. I really enjoyed reading your story.

 

[Vala]

These are the things that will elevate a great trip to the BEST TRIP EVER! I'm so happy for you. I really enjoyed reading your story.

Thank you.

My friend saw him with the drawing first from the Belle line - I usually mount them on colored cardboard for easier handling and this one was bright orange, so hard to miss. She said: "whatever made you decide to get drawings signed, you should light a candle each day for getting that idea." And I think she's actually right with that. I doubt we would have got the first photo with him, much less the interaction that followed. And to see him carrying my artwork around three hours later... let's just say I was glad she didn't take a picture of my face when realisation hit.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

What a great story! So glad that your trip turned out well!

 

[mummabear]

Excitedly waiting for info on Halloween time 2017!

 

[mummabear]

Did pirates league return for 2016?

 

[GenGen22]

Excitedly waiting for info on Halloween time 2017!

Me too... I'm already looking at hotels...lol I'm addicted to Halloweentime.

 

[rowan1813]

I am too!!!!!

My friends and I look forward to Halloween every year! This will be our 6th year at the Halloween party!

 

[Kilala]

Is anyone interested in seeing my photos from MHP from the 2016 parties?