DL happy haunts and holiday tours

[jmkmum]

Hi,

Coming from Australia for our second trip to DL in October, and have read some posts about the Halloween tour. Is this tour only on the Halloween party nights? Is it worth doing, how much, and is it suitable for kids (2,3,6,6)? Also if anyone can tell me similar info for the Christmas tour, as we will be there for the start of Christmas stuff too as our girls (and me) are desperate to see IASW! (great excuse to make the holiday last a bit longer

 

[JadeDarkstar]

the tour is avaibule on days of the party and other days you just have to get the ultamate expirince tour if its on a night of the party. I was going to do it but finding out we wouldnt get seats for the parade as i was told before. I changed my mind.

The holiday tour we had one year but had to get refund because it was raining to much and we jsut couldnt see doing it in the rain for two hours.
I have heard they are both good but havent been to them yet.

I have been to the welcome to disney land tour tho and enjoyed that.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

Hi,

Coming from Australia for our second trip to DL in October, and have read some posts about the Halloween tour. Is this tour only on the Halloween party nights? Is it worth doing, how much, and is it suitable for kids (2,3,6,6)? Also if anyone can tell me similar info for the Christmas tour, as we will be there for the start of Christmas stuff too as our girls (and me) are desperate to see IASW! (great excuse to make the holiday last a bit longer

 

[Girimama33]

Your kids may be too young for the Halloween tour because they go on all the scary rides which most have a 40" height requirement (I noticed you have 2 two year olds).

 

[disneegrl4eva]

Your kids may be too young for the Halloween tour because they go on all the scary rides which most have a 40" height requirement (I noticed you have 2 two year olds).

yes but they dont HAVE to ride ..or else they can do a one goes on one ride and the other goes on another....

 

[MissMichigan]

I did the Happiest Haunts tour last year. They did away with the glow necklaces mentioned by a PP, and instead we got a paper pumpkin to attach to our shirts to identify us as members of the tour. Our guide, Joanna, was fantastic. You ride Snow White, Big Thunder, Space Mountain, Ariel, and Tower of Terror, any of which you are able to choose not to ride. You start in DL at the tour center and end in DCA at the ToT, where you are given very yummy rice krispy treats. I thought it was fairly fun, but i'm not sure I would do it again. I think kids would like the tour portion of this one, however as mentioned you have to keep the rides' height requirements in mind. Oh, we also got a trading pin. One thing to keep in mind with this tour is that it covers both parks, so if you won't have Hopper tickets you can't do it.

I also did the Christmas tour in 2010, and I cannot possibly recommend it enough! You get a little audio thing with a headset, and they play Christmas music as well as clips of Walt talking. You learn about the decorations at DLR (how tall the Main St. tree is, how many feet of garland it takes, etc), holiday traditions from around the world, etc. You ride Haunted Mansion, Small World, and the train. (maybe something else? it seems like there was something else but I can't remember) You stop in at the Candy Palace and get two little fudge samples, one milk chocolate and one peppermint...both delicious. After exiting small world you go over to ToonTown and get your cocoa (in a souvenir travel mug!) and gingerbread cookie (best one i've ever had). Then you go over to your wonderful seats for the parade, and are given a tour trading pin. You watch the parade and are then free to go about your day. This one is definitely kid friendly (singing carols and such), but also fun for adults. I would do this one again in a heartbeat.

I believe they were both $64 a person. They were both offered at 2 times each day, one earlier and one later. One cool thing about the pins you get from each tour, is that they change the design of them each year, so each one is only given out that specific year. For example, on my Xmas tour the pin was of Aurora and Phillip in wintery outfits, and my Halloween one is key shaped with Jafar on it.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

They did away with the glow necklaces mentioned by a PP, and instead we got a paper pumpkin to attach to our shirts to identify us as members of the tour.
WHAT....a ripoff

You stop in at the Candy Palace and get two little fudge samples, one milk chocolate and one peppermint...

aww man ...they didnt give the pumpkin fudge?????

 

[pixiewings71]

When we did the holiday tour we got pumpkin fudge. OMG it was amazing!!!!!

 

[disneegrl4eva]

When we did the holiday tour we got pumpkin fudge. OMG it was amazing!!!!!

right??? i flippin LOVE that stuff...i get it every year..along with the pumpkin muffin

 

[MissMichigan]

Nope, we got peppermint. This was in November 2010 though, so it may have changed before or after...or maybe it just depends on what day you take the tour. Most people i've talked to that did it in 2010 got peppermint though...and it was goooood. I don't actually recall seeing pumpkin on that trip, but did see it when I went last October.

And I was a little disappointed to not get the glow necklace, but didn't see it as a big issue. That is, until we got on Space Mountain. The purpose of the necklace/pumpkin is to identify the members of the tour for your guide as well as ride CM's. When you go on SM, you enter through the exit. As we were going in, a man and his teen son were leaving...saw us...decided they were on the tour too, turned around and started following us into the ride. Because it's a little darker in there, and the pumpkin tag was just a little paper thing we had to tie somewhere on our person (zipper, bag, wrist, etc) it was hard to just look at someone and see it right away. These two guys squeezed into our group, and took the seats that ExH and myself were supposed to be in. That separated us from our group, as we then had to wait for the next train. Luckily our guide noticed that we had gotten cut out as the train was pulling away, and she waited for us at the exit. Had she not noticed, we would have been cut out and most likely not been able to find them, as you don't know the tour route ahead of time. This is only about mid-way through, so we would have lost the second half...and had I payed all that money for HALF a tour because some idiot decided he was going to take advantage of others I would have been livid. As it was, I didn't enjoy the ride AT ALL because I was worrying and panicked the whole time that we weren't going to get to finish the tour.

The glow necklaces would have prevented this, IMO. Because it's a necklace, everyone wears it in the same place, so everyone would have had a big glowing ring around them, these guys wouldn't have, and they would have been stopped. Bad as it may sound, I really hope we weren't the only group that had issues like this last year, and it causes them to switch back to the necklace. (especially considering by the end of the tour it was DARK, and we took the earlier one. It was hard to keep track of each other and the guide in the fading light.)

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

I spoke with CM Cheryl today (Wed, 9/5) about how CM Linda (Wed, 8/29) had sold me the UE, complete with HH tour, based partially on saying we'd get seats at the parade. She confirmed that there would be no seats, claimed Linda probably confused the H'ween tour with the Holiday one. I am annoyed.
But anyway, we also discussed the ticket issue. If you're touring on the day of your MHP, meaning doing Ultimate Experience, rather than just a HH tour as part of your regular park day, your MHP tickets constitute your "park admission," and are sufficient to get you in the gates at 3pm, just like anyone else with MHP tickets. You go to Tour Gardens near City Hall, so not too far into the park and start your tour. As part of the tour group, you get to go where the tour takes you, so again, we shouldn't worry about Park Hoppers or other forms of tickets. You're on the tour, which is only five rides, not the six mentioned by others (I remember she listed SMGG, HM, ToT, Matterhorn, but can't recall the fifth), so you should be fine, and it ends back in DL so you get right into the MHP. Just telling what I was told.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

thats what i to was told and was annoyed at being told no seats for parade even tho before was told we would get it. any ways thats why we arent doing it so all well still have good time 2 full days and the party 3-11pm not bad

I do wish we could have done our but eh no sweat we just have extra money for food and treats

 

[pixiewings71]

right??? i flippin LOVE that stuff...i get it every year..along with the pumpkin muffin

OMG it was amazing. It was so good we asked if we could ask for another piece, the tour guide said to wait for everyone to get some and then ask for another. The person handing it out gave us each 2 extra pieces and a small baggie to put it in. LOL Which was good because the girls didn't like the pumpkin so much, they preferred the regular, so we gave them our regular and took their pumpkin, plus the extras we got from the CM, we were in fudge heaven. LOL

Nope, we got peppermint. This was in November 2010 though, so it may have changed before or after...or maybe it just depends on what day you take the tour. Most people i've talked to that did it in 2010 got peppermint though...and it was goooood. I don't actually recall seeing pumpkin on that trip, but did see it when I went last October.

And I was a little disappointed to not get the glow necklace, but didn't see it as a big issue. That is, until we got on Space Mountain. The purpose of the necklace/pumpkin is to identify the members of the tour for your guide as well as ride CM's. When you go on SM, you enter through the exit. As we were going in, a man and his teen son were leaving...saw us...decided they were on the tour too, turned around and started following us into the ride. Because it's a little darker in there, and the pumpkin tag was just a little paper thing we had to tie somewhere on our person (zipper, bag, wrist, etc) it was hard to just look at someone and see it right away. These two guys squeezed into our group, and took the seats that ExH and myself were supposed to be in. That separated us from our group, as we then had to wait for the next train. Luckily our guide noticed that we had gotten cut out as the train was pulling away, and she waited for us at the exit. Had she not noticed, we would have been cut out and most likely not been able to find them, as you don't know the tour route ahead of time. This is only about mid-way through, so we would have lost the second half...and had I payed all that money for HALF a tour because some idiot decided he was going to take advantage of others I would have been livid. As it was, I didn't enjoy the ride AT ALL because I was worrying and panicked the whole time that we weren't going to get to finish the tour.

The glow necklaces would have prevented this, IMO. Because it's a necklace, everyone wears it in the same place, so everyone would have had a big glowing ring around them, these guys wouldn't have, and they would have been stopped. Bad as it may sound, I really hope we weren't the only group that had issues like this last year, and it causes them to switch back to the necklace. (especially considering by the end of the tour it was DARK, and we took the earlier one. It was hard to keep track of each other and the guide in the fading light.)

I wonder if you could take your own glow necklaces and hand them out? I love those things. LOL

We haven't done the HH tour, just the holiday tour, so we definitely got pumpkin fudge on the holiday tour. I do remember someone asking the tour guide what the flavor was and she wasn't sure, she did say it changed from tour to tour based on what flavor they were making at the time. When we saw it was pumpkin she got excited and told us we were in for a treat, and she had some too.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

OMG it was amazing. It was so good we asked if we could ask for another piece, the tour guide said to wait for everyone to get some and then ask for another. The person handing it out gave us each 2 extra pieces and a small baggie to put it in. LOL Which was good because the girls didn't like the pumpkin so much, they preferred the regular, so we gave them our regular and took their pumpkin, plus the extras we got from the CM, we were in fudge heaven. LOL

thanks for the idea

 

[disneegrl4eva]

I spoke with CM Cheryl today (Wed, 9/5) about how CM Linda (Wed, 8/29) had sold me the UE, complete with HH tour, based partially on saying we'd get seats at the parade. She confirmed that there would be no seats, claimed Linda probably confused the H'ween tour with the Holiday one. I am annoyed.

thats what i to was told and was annoyed at being told no seats for parade even tho before was told we would get it.

what parade??? are you talking about the soundsational parade??? If so then how did you figure you would get to watch it??? the first one is shown before you even start the tour and the second one would be towards the end of the tour...besides its not even a halloween parade...they only do seating for the holiday tour because its a holiday parade and it kind of goes hand in hand with each other...the only halloween type of parade isnt even a parade..its just a cavalcade

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

what parade??? are you talking about the soundsational parade??? If so then how did you figure you would get to watch it??? the first one is shown before you even start the tour and the second one would be towards the end of the tour...besides its not even a halloween parade...they only do seating for the holiday tour because its a holiday parade and it kind of goes hand in hand with each other...the only halloween type of parade isnt even a parade..its just a cavalcade

The small parade/large calvacade that is part of the MHP, that is the one we meant. And we figured we would get to watch it in seats provided for tourgoers because CMs at 714-781-TOUR told us so, both before the tour became available to book (in July when the MHP tickets became available) and then when I called to book last Wed, 8/29.
And mentally debating the feasibility of seating for a "parade" vs. a "calvacade" means nothing to someone who has never been to DL in this century, let alone a MHP. That's why we call CMs, who, FWIW, use the word "parade," and ask them questions. Because they are supposed to be in the know.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

seee ya i called way earlyier and was told yes for a fact they had it, and then yesterday was told nope didnt have them They should make sure every one on staff knows because it sucked sorry it happened to you too

 

[ducky_love]

Does anyone know when the first Christmas tours are offered?

 

[disneegrl4eva]

The small parade/large calvacade that is part of the MHP, that is the one we meant. And we figured we would get to watch it in seats provided for tourgoers because CMs at 714-781-TOUR told us so, both before the tour became available to book (in July when the MHP tickets became available) and then when I called to book last Wed, 8/29.
And mentally debating the feasibility of seating for a "parade" vs. a "calvacade" means nothing to someone who has never been to DL in this century, let alone a MHP. That's why we call CMs, who, FWIW, use the word "parade," and ask them questions. Because they are supposed to be in the know.

man that sux..im sorry you were told that

seee ya i called way earlyier and was told yes for a fact they had it, and then yesterday was told nope didnt have them They should make sure every one on staff knows because it sucked sorry it happened to you too

Jade, you have been on these boards long enough to know that you can never ask a CM nothing!! we know more than they do

Does anyone know when the first Christmas tours are offered?

Im assuming anytime after 11/13 as that is when the holidays at DL officially start

 

[jmkmum]

Thanks for all the info! I think we might leave the haunts tour and check the dates for the Xmas one, though they both sound fun! My DD6 will go on any ride, the scarier and wilder the better (loves California screaming, and rock n roller coaster, and thinks the ToT is a bit 'lame'!) I don't do rides that move much at all, and DD3 is undecided on rides! So we def will have to book for DH to go so that he can do the rides side of the tour. It's great to know that you dont wait for the rides, might be a good way to make sure they get on everything!
Can't wait to try some of the fudge! We don't get much of that here, so trying pumpkin flavored sounds exciting!
Thanks again!! : )