TR - A Gregarious Ghostly Gallivant - Final Thoughts Finally Posted!

[Tat2ddisneymom]

We've been the last two years during Halloween, and are very excited to be going again.

As for advice.....hmmm, probably just the usual things like go early and during the week to avoid crowds. October used to be considered a slow time but not anymore. It gets packed! This is a pic I snapped on a Saturday in front of the Haunted Mansion last year. Shoulder to shoulder people and strollers everywhere. But during the week, it wasn't bad.

Last year they had Jack and Sally out posing for pics and signing autographs. Get in line early if you want to meet them. They close the line off pretty quickly and I couldn't understand why at first, until I saw just how long they took with each guest. The interaction with them was really fun, and lingering.

There are lots of special Halloween themed treats offered during this time so save room in the budget and stomach for those! Especially the famous pumpkin muffin which is really good.

They even have special jack-o-lantern shaped sourdough bread for purchase over at the Pacific Wharf Cafe.

I'd recommend taking time to really take in all the decorations. The windows and shops walking down Main Street are all decked out. Even the horses get into the act and the napkins are themed! It's those little touches everywhere that really immerse you into the spirit of the holiday. (Yes, I actually took a pic of the horse's behind and a napkin. LOL But what can I say, I was impressed that Disney thought of everything!)

There is lots of fun Halloween merchandise for sale. And if your girls are into the characters, you'll have plenty of photo ops to take pics of them with the characters in their Halloween costumes.
Last year, Minnie was a witch, Goofy was in a skeleton costume, Chip and Dale were a cop and robber.

Near the Mexican restaurant and Big Thunder Mountain, they have a Day of the Dead display with some artists offering free "tattoos". Many people were walking right by because they didn't realize it was free to do. So we stopped and let the kids get it done. After all, how many things in Disney are free! We had to take advantage of that. lol

Okay, well, I'll shut up now. It's just a really fun time to be in the parks and I can't say enough about it. Hope some of this was useful. Oh, and I love your Mickey Pumpkin Shirt.

Thank you for posting these! I am also jealous that you ran into Jack and Sally! I didn't even realize that they came out to sign autographs. It must be a strictly DL thing.

And those pictures of that food...oh my gosh! I would have wanted to try a little bit of everything. That looks awesome.

It really was crowded. I guess WDW can get like that, too. I swear it was wall to wall people like that one day I was there last September. I hate that! Glad it calmed down during the week!

 

[Leger13]

Thanks. As a matter of fact, I did. It's here if you'd like to read it: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1988356
There are links in the first post to all the updates so you can skip all the chatter if you want.

Thanks for the link!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Thank you so much for posting these pics and info, it makes the trip feel that much more real

We've been the last two years during Halloween, and are very excited to be going again.

As for advice.....hmmm, probably just the usual things like go early and during the week to avoid crowds. October used to be considered a slow time but not anymore. It gets packed! This is a pic I snapped on a Saturday in front of the Haunted Mansion last year. Shoulder to shoulder people and strollers everywhere. But during the week, it wasn't bad.

Wow, that is pretty packed. I always try to avoid the parks on the weekends and am willing to yank the kids out of school for a few days to go during the week (they're always so heartbroken )

Last year they had Jack and Sally out posing for pics and signing autographs. Get in line early if you want to meet them. They close the line off pretty quickly and I couldn't understand why at first, until I saw just how long they took with each guest. The interaction with them was really fun, and lingering.

Oh Cool! I had no idea they even had live characters for Jack and Sally - you guys were very lucky to have been able to have such a great interaction!

There are lots of special Halloween themed treats offered during this time so save room in the budget and stomach for those! Especially the famous pumpkin muffin which is really good.

They even have special jack-o-lantern shaped sourdough bread for purchase over at the Pacific Wharf Cafe.

What wonderful goodies ...I can tell already that I haven't budgeted enough money for food!

I'd recommend taking time to really take in all the decorations. The windows and shops walking down Main Street are all decked out. Even the horses get into the act and the napkins are themed! It's those little touches everywhere that really immerse you into the spirit of the holiday. (Yes, I actually took a pic of the horse's behind and a napkin. LOL But what can I say, I was impressed that Disney thought of everything!)

There is lots of fun Halloween merchandise for sale. And if your girls are into the characters, you'll have plenty of photo ops to take pics of them with the characters in their Halloween costumes.
Last year, Minnie was a witch, Goofy was in a skeleton costume, Chip and Dale were a cop and robber.

Oh yes, we're doing five days and I'm hopeful that it will be enough to drink it all in and take lots of good pictures. If it isn't enough I'm already contemplating turning it into a 6-day trip (since the price isn't that much more and we just had Satuday planned as a pack it up and drive out day anyways). We would just get an early start in the park before it got packed and leave when it did.

Nice shot of the horse's hiney btw ;-] I hope I've budgeted enough money for merchandise, I know they'll have some cool stuff. And yes, my older DD is a fanatic about the characters and getting pics/autographs of all of them. The character schedule will be the first thing she goes for when we enter the park - lol

I'm looking forward to going to Mickey's Trick or Treat Party in CA. The girls want to dress up and DW and I are contemplating wearing the King and Queen of Hearts costumes we wore last halloween:

Near the Mexican restaurant and Big Thunder Mountain, they have a Day of the Dead display with some artists offering free "tattoos". Many people were walking right by because they didn't realize it was free to do. So we stopped and let the kids get it done. After all, how many things in Disney are free! We had to take advantage of that. lol

Okay, well, I'll shut up now. It's just a really fun time to be in the parks and I can't say enough about it. Hope some of this was useful. Oh, and I love your Mickey Pumpkin Shirt.

Well that is great that they actually do some free activities. And the kid always love the face painting/tattoo stuff. And please, I love the enthusiasm - it is contagious!

Thank you about the pumpkin shirt. I still have some minor retooling to do on the design and then it will be on to the Jack Skellington one (hopefully we won't get tackled by the copyright police while we're in the parks wearing that one - lol).

Okay, your pictures want to make me spend all my $ to get plane tickets to come out there from GA for Halloween!!!! That looks so fun!! Especially the food. And Jack and Sally are out signing autographs???? It's SO not fair that they don't do that at WDW!!! I think I may go pout now. Did you do a TR from this trip? If so I'd love to read it and see all of your pictures!

Yup, you're just going to have to pack a bag and join us! They don't do Jack and Sally at WDW??? How weird.

I love the shirt! Nice job

Thank you very much!

Thanks. As a matter of fact, I did. It's here if you'd like to read it: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1988356
There are links in the first post to all the updates so you can skip all the chatter if you want.

Oh, very cool - I'll have to check that out :-]

Thank you for posting these! I am also jealous that you ran into Jack and Sally! I didn't even realize that they came out to sign autographs. It must be a strictly DL thing.

And those pictures of that food...oh my gosh! I would have wanted to try a little bit of everything. That looks awesome.

It really was crowded. I guess WDW can get like that, too. I swear it was wall to wall people like that one day I was there last September. I hate that! Glad it calmed down during the week!

Yup, you'll have to come out too Nikki!

As for me, still working on my itinerary but haven't had much time as part of the weekend was spent out of town and I came back to the boards being down Workin' right now but still finding little moments to DIS.

Cheers everyone!!!

 

[Leger13]

Oh yes, we're doing five days and I'm hopeful that it will be enough to drink it all in and take lots of good pictures. If it isn't enough I'm already contemplating turning it into a 6-day trip (since the price isn't that much more and we just had Satuday planned as a pack it up and drive out day anyways). We would just get an early start in the park before it got packed and leave when it did.


Yup, you're just going to have to pack a bag and join us! They don't do Jack and Sally at WDW??? How weird.


As for me, still working on my itinerary but haven't had much time as part of the weekend was spent out of town and I came back to the boards being down Workin' right now but still finding little moments to DIS.

Cheers everyone!!!

I think you should do a 6 day trip!! Go for it if it's not much more expensive!!

I would love to!! Maybe in a few years when I have all my debts paid off. And no they don't sadly I'm guessing it's strictly a DLR thing since they do the NBC decorations inside the HM there. I still don't think it's fair though!

Out of town huh? Business trip? That stinks that you came back during the "upgrade". Glad you are still finding a few moments to dis from work. I really hate that they did the maintenance to the boards on the weekend. I mean, how dumb was that?? They really should have done it during the week when we're all supposed to be working anyways

 

[Sarah84]

We've been the last two years during Halloween, and are very excited to be going again.

As for advice.....hmmm, probably just the usual things like go early and during the week to avoid crowds. October used to be considered a slow time but not anymore. It gets packed! This is a pic I snapped on a Saturday in front of the Haunted Mansion last year. Shoulder to shoulder people and strollers everywhere. But during the week, it wasn't bad.

Last year they had Jack and Sally out posing for pics and signing autographs. Get in line early if you want to meet them. They close the line off pretty quickly and I couldn't understand why at first, until I saw just how long they took with each guest. The interaction with them was really fun, and lingering.

There are lots of special Halloween themed treats offered during this time so save room in the budget and stomach for those! Especially the famous pumpkin muffin which is really good.

They even have special jack-o-lantern shaped sourdough bread for purchase over at the Pacific Wharf Cafe.

I'd recommend taking time to really take in all the decorations. The windows and shops walking down Main Street are all decked out. Even the horses get into the act and the napkins are themed! It's those little touches everywhere that really immerse you into the spirit of the holiday. (Yes, I actually took a pic of the horse's behind and a napkin. LOL But what can I say, I was impressed that Disney thought of everything!)

There is lots of fun Halloween merchandise for sale. And if your girls are into the characters, you'll have plenty of photo ops to take pics of them with the characters in their Halloween costumes.
Last year, Minnie was a witch, Goofy was in a skeleton costume, Chip and Dale were a cop and robber.

Near the Mexican restaurant and Big Thunder Mountain, they have a Day of the Dead display with some artists offering free "tattoos". Many people were walking right by because they didn't realize it was free to do. So we stopped and let the kids get it done. After all, how many things in Disney are free! We had to take advantage of that. lol

Okay, well, I'll shut up now. It's just a really fun time to be in the parks and I can't say enough about it. Hope some of this was useful. Oh, and I love your Mickey Pumpkin Shirt.

Those photos are fantastic, make me wish i was visiting when the halloween decorations are up well apart from the photo of the crowd

 

[mnmrmustard]

I think you should do a 6 day trip!! Go for it if it's not much more expensive!!

I would love to!! Maybe in a few years when I have all my debts paid off. And no they don't sadly I'm guessing it's strictly a DLR thing since they do the NBC decorations inside the HM there. I still don't think it's fair though!

Out of town huh? Business trip? That stinks that you came back during the "upgrade". Glad you are still finding a few moments to dis from work. I really hate that they did the maintenance to the boards on the weekend. I mean, how dumb was that?? They really should have done it during the week when we're all supposed to be working anyways

I hear ya about the debt thing - Disney isn't very condusive to paying down debt, it tends to incur it Yeah, it seems that they should do it at both HMs.

No, no business trip. Went down to Redding to pick up my nephew (or technically my wife's), he is staying with us over spring break. Get to drive him back down this Saturday - wheee!

Yeah, they have to know that they're having a bigger impact on users by upgrading during the weekend. We do our maintenance at the college during the wee hours of Thursday morning because it has shown to be the lowest traffic day on our network.

Ah well, gotta go with the flow I guess. After all, they don't do upgrades very often and it is good that they do them.

 

[mnmrmustard]

Wheee! Top of the page!!!

Top O' The Page!

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Sorry, I'm just easily amused today

 

[mommaU4]

Thank you for posting these! I am also jealous that you ran into Jack and Sally! I didn't even realize that they came out to sign autographs. It must be a strictly DL thing.

And those pictures of that food...oh my gosh! I would have wanted to try a little bit of everything. That looks awesome.

Your welcome. I love Jack and Sally, so it was a real treat. I've heard they also have them in Disneyland Paris, but I'm not certain on that.

The food is so good. Then again, I'm a sucker for anything in Halloween packaging. Take a cupcake, stick a plastic spider on it and suddenly it just tastes better to me. lol
But their treats really are good, and one trick we use with my large family of six, is to order one or two of something. For example, we'll get two or three of the pumpkin muffins, not six, and then share them.
It cuts down on expenses. And each person is still able to get a taste of it without filling up on one thing. You are able to sample much more that way.

Thanks for the link!

Sure.

I'm looking forward to going to Mickey's Trick or Treat Party in CA. The girls want to dress up and DW and I are contemplating wearing the King and Queen of Hearts costumes we wore last halloween:

Those are so great!! I think you should definitely wear those. The cast members love it when everyone gets in on the act and dresses up, so you'll get lots of attention for sure.

I think you should extend your trip another day if you can. Another day at Disney is always a good thing.

Those photos are fantastic, make me wish i was visiting when the halloween decorations are up well apart from the photo of the crowd

LOL Yeah, the one of the crowd is a little ummmmm........terrifying.
But that was a Saturday so it's pretty much to be expected, especially in that area right in front on the Haunted Mansion which is so popular during that time of year. (Thankfully they offer Fastpass for the HM during that time of year. They don't at other times.)

 

[kaoden39]

Yuck on having to drive to Redding but do me a favor and wave at Mt Shasta for me as you go by. It is one of my all time favorite places to go. That whole area is so beautiful.

 

[Leger13]

I hear ya about the debt thing - Disney isn't very condusive to paying down debt, it tends to incur it Yeah, it seems that they should do it at both HMs.

No, no business trip. Went down to Redding to pick up my nephew (or technically my wife's), he is staying with us over spring break. Get to drive him back down this Saturday - wheee!

Yeah, they have to know that they're having a bigger impact on users by upgrading during the weekend. We do our maintenance at the college during the wee hours of Thursday morning because it has shown to be the lowest traffic day on our network.

Ah well, gotta go with the flow I guess. After all, they don't do upgrades very often and it is good that they do them.

oh so so true!

Oh gotcha. Fun times fun times!

You'd think they know that. But apparently not. At least the college you work for is smart about it.

Yes it is good. Especially if it makes the boards a bit speedier

 

[Leger13]

Wheee! Top of the page!!!

Top O' The Page!

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Sorry, I'm just easily amused today

WOOHOOOOO!!!!

Nice party btw!!

 

[Leger13]

I just realized that I forgot to comment on the costume idea for you and your DW for the halloween party. I think you guys should totally wear those costumes!!! Very Very nice! Do Bean and Pumpkin Girl know what they want to go as yet? Did you already say? I can't remember

 

[mnmrmustard]

But their treats really are good, and one trick we use with my large family of six, is to order one or two of something. For example, we'll get two or three of the pumpkin muffins, not six, and then share them.
It cuts down on expenses. And each person is still able to get a taste of it without filling up on one thing. You are able to sample much more that way.

Those are so great!! I think you should definitely wear those. The cast members love it when everyone gets in on the act and dresses up, so you'll get lots of attention for sure.

I think you should extend your trip another day if you can. Another day at Disney is always a good thing.

Good idea with sharing the treats And thank you on the costumes - the only concern I have is with the bulk of Roxy's dress. We'll just have to see.

I'm really thinking about that extra day. The only problem is it makes us drive our first leg pretty late and after a very long week. But we live for just that kind of adventure, don't we?

Yuck on having to drive to Redding but do me a favor and wave at Mt Shasta for me as you go by. It is one of my all time favorite places to go. That whole area is so beautiful.

Yeah, my other nephew lives there so it was a good mid-way point for the younger nephew, who lives in Santa Rosa.

oh so so true!

Oh gotcha. Fun times fun times!

You'd think they know that. But apparently not. At least the college you work for is smart about it.

Yes it is good. Especially if it makes the boards a bit speedier

Yup, family stuff. Yes, I love faster boards!!!

WOOHOOOOO!!!!

Nice party btw!!

Thank you - I love to throw a colorful party

I just realized that I forgot to comment on the costume idea for you and your DW for the halloween party. I think you guys should totally wear those costumes!!! Very Very nice! Do Bean and Pumpkin Girl know what they want to go as yet? Did you already say? I can't remember

We have them ready if we decide to do so - I just have to clean the beer stain of my sash Bean is going to be a pirate, PumpkinGirl is undecided atm.

 

[mnmrmustard]

I’m technically taking 2 full weeks off, so I’ll be at home starting on the 7th and will getting as much as I can together before we drive out. But I promised DW that we wouldn’t do the “get off work on Friday and stay up until 2am packing to drive out Saturday morning” thing since she still has to work.

Day 1 - Saturday, Oct 10th, 2009 – Packing Day

• Saturday get up when we feel like it and do the last bits of laundry and finish packing the van
• Have everything ready to roll except pillows/blankets/toiletries Saturday evening


Day 2 - Sunday, October 11th, 2009 – Packing Day

• Breakfast at home
• Hit the road around 8am but not stressing if we don’t get out until later
• Drive for 4hrs or until we get hungry – eat fast food lunch somewhere around Willows, CA
• Drive about 4hrs more
• Stop for the night at the Days Inn in Lost Hills, CA
• Dinner at Mimi’s Café


Day 3 - Monday, October 12th, 2009 - Travel Day/Check-In

• Complimentary breakfast at Days Inn (hope they have waffles)
• Pack up/back on the road around 11am
• Lunch on the road
• 3hr drive to Anaheim
• Check-in at 3pm at Disneyland Resort
• Walk around the grounds/Downtown Disney
• Dinner at Rainforest Café


Day 4 – Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 – Disneyland

• Breakfast in room on stuff we bring
• Try to be there for Main Street opening
• Check times for characters (everything below subject to change depending on where they are and when)
• Avoid the initial crowds by going towards Adventureland instead of Fantasyland or Tomorrowland
• Jungle Cruise
• PoTC a couple of times
• Indiana Jones Adventure
• Haunted Mansion a couple of times
• Splash Mountain
• Lunch at Stage Door Café
• Ride the Riverboat to let food settle
• BTMRR
• Back to hotel to kick back/hit the pool
• Come back and ride the train to the Toontown stop
• Stroll straight through to hit the classics in Fantasyland
• Jump back on the train and do a full loop, ending in Tomorrowland
• Stroll to the monorail and ride it back to DTD and DLH
• Dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen


Day 5 – Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 – California Adventure

• Breakfast in room
• Stroll in around opening time
• Check out where/when for characters
• Make a beeline for ToT (Bean won’t allow for anything else)
o I’m assuming she’ll want to ride it at least 8 times to match her WDW record
• See Disney’s Aladdin
• Stroll through Disney Animation
• Check out Monsters Inc. ride
• Might do Turtle Talk and Muppet Vision – up to the kids
• Ride Soarin’
• Eat lunch at Taste Pilot’s Grill
• Hit the Redwood Creek Challenge to work off lunch
• Hit the Grizzly River Run to cool off from RCC
• Back to the hotel to rest/hit the pool
• Back in the evening to do Paradise Pier
• Finally get to ride California Screamin’!!!
• Do the boardwalk and the rest of the rides there
• Dinner at one of the counter services spots on the Pier


Day 6 – Thursday, October 15th, 2009 – Disneyland

• Breakfast in room
• Early entry to Toontown
• Roll over to Tomorrowland
• Finding Nemo before it gets crowded
• Space Mountain
• Buzz
• Star Tours
• Lunch at either Redd Rockett’s or Tomorrowland Terrace
• Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
• Innoventions
• Back to hotel to rest/hit the pool
• Back to the resort to hit the stuff we missed in Fantasyland and Frontierland
• Monorail back to DTD and then head to dinner reservations at Yamabuki in the Paradise Pier Hotel


Day 7 – Friday, October 16th, 2009 – California Adventure/Disneyland

• Breakfast in room
• Basically a general hit whatever we want to ride again morning
o More ToT and California Screamin’ specifically
o Everything in between
• Lunch wherever is convenient
• Back to the hotel to rest/hit the pool
• Take monorail to Tomorrowland station
• Take train to New Orleans square
• PoTC & Indiana Jones if they aren’t too crowded
• Stroll around until evening/light counter service dinner
• Fantasmic! Dessert Buffet/watch Fantasmic!
• Stroll around/ride what we can
• Hit Main Street Shops
• Take train to Tomorrowland/monorail back to DTD/DLH


Day 8 – Saturday, October 17th, 2009 – Check-out from DLH/Drive home or stay and play???

• This is currently scheduled as a check out/drive out day
• Either way we have to check out by 11am
• We’ll see if that stays with us checking out and driving up. Orrrrrrr, changes to us doing an extra day in the parks and then driving to Stockton (the 1/2-way point between there and home) and checking into the hotel there around midnight. You know us DIS’ers, we’re gluttons for punishment!


Day 9 – Sunday, October 18th, 2009 – Drive home

• Wake up/eat/ check out
• Drive the last 6hrs to get us home
• Collapse in a heap and thank my lucky stars that I don’t have to go back to work until Wednesday (unfortunately Roxy does, and the kids have to go back to school). Yay for me - lol

 

[kaoden39]

Argh a pirate. If they are like my daughters there is a long time between now and October and they will chnage their minds a thousand times. I know Santa Rosa. I live in Fairfield, I am half way between San Francisco and Sacramento.

 

[Leger13]

We have them ready if we decide to do so - I just have to clean the beer stain of my sash Bean is going to be a pirate, PumpkinGirl is undecided atm.

did we have a little accident??

Very cool costume idea for Bean!! She'll make a great pirate!!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Argh a pirate. If they are like my daughters there is a long time between now and October and they will chnage their minds a thousand times. I know Santa Rosa. I live in Fairfield, I am half way between San Francisco and Sacramento.

Yes, she may at that. She has a very cool costume for it if she still want to wear it and still fits in it. If not, we'll see where her mood and tastes take her

Fairfield aye? Well we drive right past you 1 to 2 times a year then! We do the I-5 to 505 to 80 to 37 to 101 route to get to my bro-in-law's place in SR

did we have a little accident??

Very cool costume idea for Bean!! She'll make a great pirate!!

Hey, there was a kegerator involved Yes, I need to find a pic of her in her costume, it is pretty cute.

 

[mnmrmustard]

Dear MICHAEL:

Thank you so much for your recent order with DisneyShopping.com. We are very excited to announce your order is now on its way!

Qty SKU Description
1 Item #66954 D23 Charter Membership



I'm such a sucker for stuff like this

 

[Leger13]

So somehow I missed the itinerary when I commented back yesterday. Whoops!! Looks like you have a good plan. This may sound like a dumb question, but since I have only been to WDW I'm going to ask. What characters are at California Adventure?

 

[Leger13]

Dear MICHAEL:

Thank you so much for your recent order with DisneyShopping.com. We are very excited to announce your order is now on its way!

Qty SKU Description
1 Item #66954 D23 Charter Membership



I'm such a sucker for stuff like this

I've been looking at that and considering ordering it but it looks like Disney's ploy to make you spend money to spend more money. Can I ask, what made you join? Have you heard if they are going to offer members any perks?? If they do then I might have to join but I don't think I will if there isn't anything else to it other than the free gift and magazine.
Oh and let us know what the free gift is when you get it. I'm curious!!