Mickey's Halloween party questions

[Disney Vegas]

We are going to Mickey's Halloween party on Friday. We are trying to figure out a few things. For those of you that have recently gone

1. Do you happen to have the map with the showtimes on it? I know the fireworks are at 9:30, but the parade? The villian show? any other cool shows ?

2. What time do people usually start dressing up? Since most of us will have our costumes in lockers

3. At Christmas, they serve free hot chocolate, we heard that they do the same for the Halloween party...is that true?

4. There are a limited # of tickets available, so does that mean, it is not jam packed? the way it is on the weekends after Disney California closes.

Those are all of the questions I can think of for now. Thanks

 

[Dot2Vegas]

We are also attending on Friday! We went last year on a Friday, so the following is just based on my experience

1. I don't have a map! Sorry!

2. We didn't go into the parks until 4:00 (we only had the party tickets). At that time it appeared that anyone going to the party was already in costume.I know adults are not normally allowed to dress up, so I wouldn't go any earlier in costume.

3. I didn't see any free hot chocolate last year but it would be pretty cool if they did it this year!!

4. It was MOBBED from 4pm-7pm last year. As soon as the regular crowd left it was wonderfully uncrowded! We were able to ride nearly everything in 5 hours. We did not do the parade. We focused on rides, characters meet and greets and some trick or treating. There are a lot of people in the park but everything was organized and everyone was moving right along with whatever they were doing.

Have fun!!

 

[kim3339]

The parades were/are at 8:30 & 10:30. There was a dj at Ranch del Zocola in Frontierland and on the stage area in Tomorrowland. They had the Dapper Dons dressed like graveyard workers/skeletons and singing on a raft in the Rivers of America on and off throughout the night as well.

 

[Girimama33]

We are going to Mickey's Halloween party on Friday. We are trying to figure out a few things. For those of you that have recently gone

1. Do you happen to have the map with the showtimes on it? I know the fireworks are at 9:30, but the parade? The villian show? any other cool shows ? Parades at 8:30 and 10:30. No villans show that I know of.

2. What time do people usually start dressing up? Since most of us will have our costumes in lockers You can put your costume on when the party starts (4pm for a Friday).

3. At Christmas, they serve free hot chocolate, we heard that they do the same for the Halloween party...is that true? No Hot chocolate at DLR for free during HP.

4. There are a limited # of tickets available, so does that mean, it is not jam packed? the way it is on the weekends after Disney California closes. Like PP mentioned...expect it to be bust from 4 till about 8 when they get all of the non-party guests out of the park. Depending on which party you go to, it could still be busy crowdwise.

Those are all of the questions I can think of for now. Thanks

Have fun!

 

[laura&fam]

Does anyone else know anything about the free hot chocolate this year? That would be so great!

 

[Girimama33]

Does anyone else know anything about the free hot chocolate this year? That would be so great!

They do NOT offer free hot chocolate during the Halloween parties.

 

[MissMichigan]

Just to clarify, there is also NOT free hot chocolate during Christmas time either. At least not at DLR. I've heard they do cocoa and cookies at the Mickey's Christmas Party in WDW (an event they don't do at DLR), though i've never been to one so it's only rumor to me.

 

[PatMcDuck]

We were at the party Friday. It was a sold out party. I never saw any Villians, they were somewhere I guess. They were supposed to be in the front, I think, but they were not there at 7 or so when we arrived, or at 11:15 when we exited.

LONG LONG lines for some of the characters. The worst was Mickey/Minnie, and Jack Skellington. I would assume the ride lines were all pretty short, we did not ride too many, just Jungle Cruise, Star Tours, Space Mt.(had a FP from earlier). It was crowded in front of the castle for the fireworks at 9:30, as one would expect. We watched the 10:30 parade. Long lines for candy in some cases, other ones had almost no line. Of course, as it got later, lines got better. But after the 10:30 parade, I no longer saw any characters..... not sure if they came out after that. I had hoped to wait to see them in the last hour 11-12, that the lines would be better. IF they WERE out, I did not see any of them.

I loved seeing all the guests in their costumes, some are so amazing, or funny.

 

[figment_jii]

1. Do you happen to have the map with the showtimes on it? I know the fireworks are at 9:30, but the parade? The villian show? any other cool shows ?

I took a photo of the map on Friday night. It's a little blurry in places.

The schedule was pretty much hourly:
8:30 pm - Cavalcade (Small World to Main Street)
9:30 pm - Halloween Screams
10:30 pm - Cavalcade (Main Street to Small World)

There are dance parties that run continuously throughout the night. There are also trick-or-treat locations throughout the park (sometimes more than just what is listed on the map). Likewise, there are character meet and greets throughout the park.

2. What time do people usually start dressing up? Since most of us will have our costumes in lockers

From the ticket: "Guests of all ages may only wear costumes to the Mickey's Halloween Treat event to which they have valid tickets. During normal Park operating hours, costumes are only permitted for Guests ages nine and younger." I saw adults in costume starting around 4 pm.

3. At Christmas, they serve free hot chocolate, we heard that they do the same for the Halloween party...is that true?

There was no free hot chocolate. Lots of candy...

4. There are a limited # of tickets available, so does that mean, it is not jam packed? the way it is on the weekends after Disney California closes.

The party didn't seem "jam packed" to me. There was a pretty good length line for HM and SM, but it wasn't really hard to get good spots for the Cavalcade and fireworks. The hub was pretty busy for fireworks, but down on Main Street things didn't really start to fill up until 15 minutes before the show. The second Calvalcade had open spots on Main Street when it started.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

No free hot chocolate at any Halloween Party I've been to at either DCA or DL. At Christmastime, the only "free" hot chocolate that I know of at DL comes with the Holiday Tour.
If your party date is sold out, prepare for crowds (anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 people, for what I've heard). Some lines will be longer than others, but mostly for photos with popular characters. Ride lines and candy lines move pretty quickly.

 

[fiddlefaddle2]

The schedule was pretty much hourly:
8:30 pm - Cavalcade (Small World to Main Street)
9:30 pm - Halloween Screams
10:30 pm - Cavalcade (Main Street to Small World)

Does anyone know if they're the same times for the tuesday parties?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

They should be.

 

[iminla]

we are going this friday too. have a question:

we have annual passes so we are not really interested in using the extra 3 hours ( 4 PM entry) - if we arrive by 6 - 6:30PM would it be too late - i mean parking lots full, long lines to enter, etc.

we already rode HM (halloween version) - haven't done space yet so that is on top of the list.

any strategy for character meet & greets? it would be wonderful to get a pic with mickey & minnie.

it will be 2 adults and 2 girls (9 yr olds).

Thank you!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

This Friday's party is sold out, so I think it will be very crowded by the time you arrive. I don't think you will be too late, just that the crowds will already be there. The Gay Days convention is this weekend, so there will be many day guests who will be attending the party -- they will already be in DL when the early entry hours begin. Many of these convention guests are already staying on property or nearby, so I don't think the parking lots will be full, although you may hit lines to get in as other people getting off of work also hit the party. Lines for the meet and greets have been long -- just prepare yourself and your girls to wait a while for the really popular characters.

 

[figment_jii]

we are going this friday too. have a question:

we have annual passes so we are not really interested in using the extra 3 hours ( 4 PM entry) - if we arrive by 6 - 6:30PM would it be too late - i mean parking lots full, long lines to enter, etc.

we already rode HM (halloween version) - haven't done space yet so that is on top of the list.

any strategy for character meet & greets? it would be wonderful to get a pic with mickey & minnie.

it will be 2 adults and 2 girls (9 yr olds).

Thank you!

I would actually recommend that if you have the AP, go the park early and try to ride Space Mountain before the party starts. I did that on Friday - got there in the AM and got a FP then used it before the party started. To me, there is no reason to wait in line during the party for the rides because they are the same during the day. That way, you can spend the party hours focused on party activities.

Mickey and Minnie were doing their Halloween meet and greet over by Big Thunder Ranch during the party. I wasn't over there at the start of the party so I don't know when they arrived, but they were out by 8:00 pm. If they're your #1 photo op, then I'd get in that line first.

If you're girls can handle it, I'd also wait on the trick-or-treating until the second half of the party. The lines are generally shorter and the candy is the same whether you're there at 7 pm or 11 pm. We usually wait until the end of the party to the trick-or-treating (otherwise you have to carry all that candy and avoid the temptation to eat it! ).

Regarding the crowds, no one knows exactly how many tickets they well for any given party. The party of Friday (9/28) was sold out as well (at least according to the sign at the gate and the CM at the sales and activiation point inside the park), but the crowds didn't seem awful to me. So, it's probably all relatively to what you are expecting. The hub was crowded for the fireworks and either HMH or SMGG were walk-on. MS didn't really start filling in until about 15 minutes before the fireworks and there were plenty of spots on MS for the second Calvalcade.

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

There were villians... lots of them!!! Yay.

They were on main street. They changed out every 30 minutes or so.

We saw: Cruella, Jafar, Lady tremaine and her daughters (from cinderella), Dr. F....the guy from princess and the frog, Queen of Hearts, The Evil Queen, one guy whose name I don't know and.... MALEFICENT!!!!

Yep we saw Maleficent. Have been waiting to see her for a long time.

There was no "show" per se but there would be this carriage that went around town square to drop off the new villians and pick up the ones who had already been out.

This went on several times as they changed the villians.

What I liked most was that the Villian lines were not long at all. I couldn't believe it.

I haven't been in the past two years but from what i remember from the last time the party was in DCA the character lines were very long waits.

Since there were so many Villians and they each had their own seperate line the lines never got outrageously long.

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

Oh forgot to mention.. no free hot chocolate.

It was very busy from 4 to 7. After that it was great. Trick or treat lines were very long at the start of the party but towards the end of the night they were very short.

 

[Khiori]

I'm loving this thread! I am not going until next year but this is really getting me pumped up!

 

[iminla]

Thank you Figment and Lucky rabbit - very helpful tips )

Do villians give authographs?

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

Thank you Figment and Lucky rabbit - very helpful tips )

Do villians give authographs?

Yes they do!