Back from Halloween Party and HoJo stay

[poohnpigletCA]

Overall we had a great trip to Disneyland. Our trip was 10/8-10/12. We really enjoyed World of Color and our kids discovered a new friend in Duffy.

HoJo:
I booked the family suite back in January. This was our first time at the HoJo. I read up as much as I could. We got to our room 318 on the 3rd floor close to the freeway. There was loud traffic noise, but who cares I paid $99. There was a big rip in the carpet, but who cares I paid $99.

It was about 9:00 when we got checked in so we started to get the kids ready for bed so we could hit rope drop the next day. We turned on the heater in the kids side as it was quite chilly and while it did blow air it was not warm air. Quick call to the front desk and they said they would send someone up. He arrived and also discovered no warm air. He said he would put in a maintenance order for the next day. Another call to the front desk and they sent up blankets.

Next day we come back to the room to get ready to go swimming. Maintenance had been there, they left the AC blasting as evidence. However, we switched it over to heat and no warm air. Call to the front desk and they said they would again send up maintenance.

Maintenance guy came to the room and after a few minutes he tells hubby that the heat will not work because they have not lit the boilers in the basement.

MG: "We light the boilers in the basement seasonally and they have not been lit yet."

Hubby: "Dude, it's October my kids are cold at night."

MG: "Well it would require someone to go into the basement."

Hubby: "Dude, my kids are cold."

MG: "Okay, I will go to the basement."

Well you know all of the basement and boiler talk just brought up many "The Shinning" references. Every time we walked down the hall to our room hubby would walk behind me whispering redrum redrum.

Well apparently Maintenance Guy chickened out and never went to the basement because the heater never did work. I know I only paid $99. but I still expect the heat and air to work.



Up next the Halloween Party:

 

[cp11]

Ok, this would be a major gripe on my part. I am always cold and I don't care if someone has to go to basement. Guess what, that's part of your job and why we pay the hotel money to stay there! Grrrrr.

Oh, and yes, I do stay at the HoJo.

 

[jemilah]

I had that happen once at a hotel in Mexico with the AC, they turn it on when they felt it was needed. I am surprised you were not given at least a small discount by Hojo.
The girls coustumes are BEAUTIFUL !!!!

 

[Eeee-va]

Sorry about your freezing room!

Are those your girls' costumes? Did you make them? They're amazing! The Haunted Mansion one is amazing!

 

[poohnpigletCA]

The Halloween

Ok if you have already bought your tickets and you are here to read a gleaming review of the party, you need to stop reading now.

Go ahead and gently back out of the thread, it is ok we will wait.

All right here we go. We have been to 2 Halloween parties at California Adventure and 1 at Disney World so we were really looking forward to the party at Disneyland.

All of the elements were there, the treat trails, the characters, the dance parties. The problem was that Disneyland WAY oversold tickets to the party. Every character interaction had lines of an hour or longer. This is longer lines than there was during the day

In my opinion no hard ticket event should have longer lines than during operating hours. The treat trail lines were also long, but did move fairly quickly. The problem with the treat trails was some of the Cast Members. While the Cast Members were nice to our girls they would see us and grab a handful of raisins or tootsie rolls and toss them angrily into our bags.

I thought I was just getting cranky CM's but no that was not the case. I found this out while waiting in line for food. This was the second problem of the evening. The party started at 6:00 and there was limited food options open. We waited almost 30 minutes for cheeseburgers.

While waiting in the line several other adults were commenting on how cranky some of the CM's were.

The fireworks were another major problem. As you can only see these fireworks during the party almost everyone from this already overcrowded party was on Main Street. We were at Disneyland on a very crowded night in July and the fireworks were less crowded than they were at the Halloween Party.

We watched the fireworks on Main Street near The Plaza Inn. The was 3 emergencies that past by us that night on the way to the nursing station. Now I know there are going to be emergencies at Disneyland, it was the way it was handled. There was a loud CM (think Jersey shore cast) screaming "Emergency coming through! Emergency! Emergency" With all of the CM's on the street it seems like they could have handled the situation a little better. I understand a path needs to be cleared, but it was almost as if everyone needed to know there was an emergency. I finally ended up taking our youngest off of Main Street because it was just too stressful for her. We ended up watching from the Plaza Inn. Not the best view but at least it was out of the mayhem.

So if you got this far and you already have tickets here are a few pieces of advice.

*Eat before the party starts. Do not waist an hour or more of precious party time waiting for food or trying to find an open table to sit at.

*Take an alternate bag for treats. I happened to have bought a sweatshirt for the night and had the Disneyland bag it came in. The small trick or treat bags they give you will fill up quickly (all those tootsie roll). We would occasionally empty some of our treat bags into the larger bag. If the small treat bags were not as full then the CM's seemed a little less cranky.

 

[isisisme]

The Halloween


The fireworks were another major problem. As you can only see these fireworks during the party almost everyone from this already overcrowded party was on Main Street. We were at Disneyland on a very crowded night in July and the fireworks were less crowded than they were at the Halloween Party.

Last year, my DH was more irritated while we waited for the fireworks. I think we are going to have to sadly skip this year or find an alernate place to watch.

*Eat before the party starts. Do not waist an hour or more of precious party time waiting for food or trying to find an open table to sit at.

We could not find a place to eat late in the party last year. We ended up getting overpriced sandwhiches after we got back to the hotel. This year, we are eating at BTRBBQ Sunday to have left overs for after the party. I am thinking about eating at Cafe Orleans before the party rolls out though.

*Take an alternate bag for treats. I happened to have bought a sweatshirt for the night and had the Disneyland bag it came in.

We had extra bags in a back pack to dump into last year. There is no way that tiny bag could hold even 1/2 the candy.

I am sorry the party was not as enjoyable for you and your family.
I too wish they would take into account the amount of tickets they sell and maybe have more characters in different places (Mickey say in a couple places). We have never waited for any characters because of the lines, even though I want to see the Queen of all Evil (Malificent).

 

[rentayenta]

Redrum $99 or not, the heat and ac should work.

 

[skiingfast]

All of the elements were there, the treat trails, the characters, the dance parties. The problem was that Disneyland WAY oversold tickets to the party. Every character interaction had lines of an hour or longer. This is longer lines than there was during the day

In my opinion no hard ticket event should have longer lines than during operating hours. The treat trail lines were also long, but did move fairly quickly. The problem with the treat trails was some of the Cast Members. While the Cast Members were nice to our girls they would see us and grab a handful of raisins or tootsie rolls and toss them angrily into our bags.

The fireworks were another major problem. As you can only see these fireworks during the party almost everyone from this already overcrowded party was on Main Street. We were at Disneyland on a very crowded night in July and the fireworks were less crowded than they were at the Halloween Party.

*Eat before the party starts. Do not waist an hour or more of precious party time waiting for food or trying to find an open table to sit at.

*Take an alternate bag for treats. I happened to have bought a sweatshirt for the night and had the Disneyland bag it came in. The small trick or treat bags they give you will fill up quickly (all those tootsie roll). We would occasionally empty some of our treat bags into the larger bag. If the small treat bags were not as full then the CM's seemed a little less cranky.

I agree with how they sell out these parties. But I think DL is feeling things out. Last year they presold all the ticket and then sold more at the park on the same day because they didn't know they could fill it up so easy. With the high demand they should add more nights like at WDW to increase supply.

With the huge amount of demand for the character M&G they added some this year, and some trick or treating. For the fireworks, I think they should run two shows a night. It might seem hard to do but it's possible and with a show that is so importand to view from the Hub it's needed. Unlike WDW's MK with a much bigger hub area to watch from the crowds can't easily be absorbed in DL.

I feel like the CMs get a bit stressed because they are working at break neck speeds on these nights.

I agree that you should not waste time eating dinner at a Hard Ticket event, but live and learn. Next time eat before and grab a popcorn or icecream if you get hungry again.

The bags I think are small on purpose. With all these people so happy about pounds of candy, I think they are small to enoucrage you to limit it. If you need to take home 15 pounds of candy, save a party ticket and get it at the grocery store.

Like I said Disney is feeling things out a bit. This is kind of like a whole new model since it's back to DL and they are on the seconds iteration. MHP 2.2.

 

[sojocomo]

I agree with how they sell out these parties. But I think DL is feeling things out. Last year they presold all the ticket and then sold more at the park on the same day because they didn't know they could fill it up so easy. With the high demand they should add more nights like at WDW to increase supply.

With the huge amount of demand for the character M&G they added some this year, and some trick or treating. For the fireworks, I think they should run two shows a night. It might seem hard to do but it's possible and with a show that is so importand to view from the Hub it's needed. Unlike WDW's MK with a much bigger hub area to watch from the crowds can't easily be absorbed in DL.

I feel like the CMs get a bit stressed because they are working at break neck speeds on these nights.

I agree that you should not waste time eating dinner at a Hard Ticket event, but live and learn. Next time eat before and grab a popcorn or icecream if you get hungry again.

The bags I think are small on purpose. With all these people so happy about pounds of candy, I think they are small to enoucrage you to limit it. If you need to take home 15 pounds of candy, save a party ticket and get it at the grocery store.

Like I said Disney is feeling things out a bit. This is kind of like a whole new model since it's back to DL and they are on the seconds iteration. MHP 2.2.

I agree about the treat lines. For the price of the ticket, the treats were inconsequential in my opinion. But we were happy that people were waiting in huge lines because it meant that the ride lines were shorter for us. I don't understand the need to collect vast amounts of candy when you could go to the store and purchase it for so much less than the price for the tickets. Oh well...to each their own

 

[starshine514]

I agree about the treat lines. For the price of the ticket, the treats were inconsequential in my opinion. But we were happy that people were waiting in huge lines because it meant that the ride lines were shorter for us. I don't understand the need to collect vast amounts of candy when you could go to the store and purchase it for so much less than the price for the tickets. Oh well...to each their own

That's my opinion as well. If all I want is candy, I could get an awful lot of it at the store for the $200 or so it would take for my family to go to the party. I also doubt I would 'waste' (for lack of a better term) time on rides if I already had an AP or was there on vacation anyway. Sad to say, but I would probably be in lines to meet characters all evening, except when watching the fireworks or something. Hmm...I guess that's why we decided to stick with going for DD's actual birthday instead of Halloween.

I have to agree, I think they should sell fewer tickets for this type of event so everybody there can truly enjoy the experience.

Last year, we went to Sea World's Halloween Spooktacular and, I must admit, we did trick or treat there. However, that was not a special ticketed event (so we could use our APs) and it was hard to resist trick-or-treating for mini-bananas, chocolate rocks and peanut butter (especially when the mid-afternoon munchies were hitting).