Early November Info

[starshine514]

So, if we get APs, my daughter want to go for her 7th b-day (November 3). If we go for the 3rd (Thurs) - 5th (Sat), will all of the Halloween stuff already be gone? If I understand correctly, HM will still have the overlay, but what about SM? I'm guessing we'll miss meeting Jack & Sally, too? Could somebody who was there that time last year give any insight? I tried searching the forums here, but couldn't seem to find what I was looking for.

Thanks!

 

[cloudconnected1039]

From what I remember back in 2009, they started taking down Halloween decorations on November 1st as they had to start preparing for Christmas time decorations, as that starts on November 15th-ish. But it could very well be different now.

Either way it will be lots of fun!!

 

[J. Galt]

We have been twice during that same week. You will get a mix of Halloween and Christmas... everyday more Halloween will come down and more Christmas will go up... we would make a game of spotting the changes each day. Haunted Mansion will be overlay.... but can't guarantee Jack and Sally... we were told by several CMs that Jack was still there that week, but we never, ever saw him (we waited and waited one day by HM, but no luck). I would suggest that if you want to try to catch him and you still don't have any clear info from these boards confirming he is still there, then I would try to do it your first day.... I bet by the weekend he is gone for sure. Not sure about SM, my kids haven't had the nerve to ride that yet. IASW will be closed to put on overlay...my kids have yet to see it at DL... this is part of why we are changing the timing for our trip this time around... otherwise I would go that first week in November in a heartbeat! Weather was beautiful and crowds during the week were absolutely non-existent! Enjoy!!!!

 

[Disney Dreams]

It will be very sketchy what you will see. Halloween will be coming down a bit more every day.

As for your search here on DIS, there is A LOT of Halloween information, BUT...
it is all in 1 thread dedicated to Halloweentime. I think it makes it really difficult to find information because you have to read through the whole (ginormous) thread to find the information you are interested. It keeps there from being multiple threads on the same topic so it' what the mods chose to do this year. I would suggest curling up with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate or something yummy to enjoy while you read through the thread looking for what you are trying to find. It's in there. Where exactly, no idea.

Here's Halloweentime thread 1 from 2010 (3,459 posts long).
And here's the continuation in Halloweentime thread - Part 2 (1,487 posts).

- Dreams

ETA: Maybe if you jump through the threads above to early November there will be comments from people about what was still decorated during their visits. ??? Just a thought.... I know there are comments throughout the threads about what is up and when during years past, but that may require a lot of hot chocolate to find.

 

[Sherry E]

Okay, here's the thing - it won't matter what DLR did last year or even the year before, because it's the actual season beginning/ending days that are the key. The dates are going to fall on different days each year, and that will change when seasons begin and end. So the holiday season will not always start during the same week, nor will Halloween Time.

The way it usually works is that Halloween Time starts on either the next-to-last Friday in September or the last Friday in September, and it ends on Halloween if it is a Sunday, or on the Sunday immediately after Halloween.

The Christmas season usually begins either 2 Fridays before Thanksgiving, or the Friday before Thanksgiving, and ends on the Sunday immediately after New Year's.

This year, there is an extra Friday in September, making the last Friday the 30th. So if DLR sticks to its usual patterns of when seasons begin, they would probably start the season on the next-to-last Friday, which is September 23. September 30th will be too late to start it, and September 16th would be ahead of their usual schedule (but it's not out of the realm of possibility).

Now - here's the tricky part. Halloween will fall on Monday this year. DLR never ends its seasons (officially) on Mondays. You will notice that whenever they show a season end date, it is a Sunday. IF they stick with the way they usually do things, then this means that Halloween Time could possibly officially extend until Sunday, November 6th!!! Yes, it would be a late end for Halloween Time, but that's the only option unless they end Halloween Time on October 30th, which seems odd since they have a Halloween party to throw on Halloween.

In any case, if they end Halloween Time on Sunday, November 6th, this means that the Christmas holiday season will most likely start a week later than it has for the last 2 years, and thus, closer to Thanksgiving. Therefore, the Halloween decorations will be up longer.

You can never count on any Halloween decorations being up past the official season end date. Yhey have been up or overlapped with Christmas stuff in the past, but that doesn't mean that it will happen again. It's probably just a logistical/scheduling issue that they can't get everything down that fast. But it is true that the Halloween stuff (which there is not that much of to begin with) will gradually come down, and the Christmas stuff starts to go up early - because there's tons of it to put up all over DLR.

Space Mountain will only have the Ghost Galaxy overlay until the official Halloween season end date, and then they will remove it. Haunted Mansion Holiday will stay open until early January.

 

[Sherry E]

It will be very sketchy what you will see. Halloween will be coming down a bit more every day.

As for your search here on DIS, there is A LOT of Halloween information, BUT...
it is all in 1 thread dedicated to Halloweentime. I think it makes it really difficult to find information because you have to read through the whole (ginormous) thread to find the information you are interested. It keeps there from being multiple threads on the same topic so it' what the mods chose to do this year. I would suggest curling up with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate or something yummy to enjoy while you read through the thread looking for what you are trying to find. It's in there. Where exactly, no idea.

Here's Halloweentime thread 1 from 2010 (3,459 posts long).
And here's the continuation in Halloweentime thread - Part 2 (1,487 posts).

- Dreams

ETA: Maybe if you jump through the threads above to early November there will be comments from people about what was still decorated during their visits. ??? Just a thought.... I know there are comments throughout the threads about what is up and when during years past, but that may require a lot of hot chocolate to find.

Disney Dreams, you don't have to read through the whole thread. If you notice, Page 1 of the Halloween Superthread Part 2 is nicely loaded with all sorts of info, and links directing you to where to find other info. Several of us worked hard on putting that together for people to find things. You don't even need to look at the first thread at all, really. Part 2 is the one that's organized.

But...thanks for the referral, I guess?

 

[starshine514]

...
Now - here's the tricky part. Halloween will fall on Monday this year. DLR never ends its seasons (officially) on Mondays. You will notice that whenever they show a season end date, it is a Sunday. IF they stick with the way they usually do things, then this means that Halloween Time could possibly officially extend until Sunday, November 6th!!! Yes, it would be a late end for Halloween Time, but that's the only option unless they end Halloween Time on October 30th, which seems odd since they have a Halloween party to throw on Halloween.

In any case, if they end Halloween Time on Sunday, November 6th, this means that the Christmas holiday season will most likely start a week later than it has for the last 2 years, and thus, closer to Thanksgiving. Therefore, the Halloween decorations will be up longer.

You can never count on any Halloween decorations being up past the official season end date. Yhey have been up or overlapped with Christmas stuff in the past, but that doesn't mean that it will happen again. It's probably just a logistical/scheduling issue that they can't get everything down that fast. But it is true that the Halloween stuff (which there is not that much of to begin with) will gradually come down, and the Christmas stuff starts to go up early - because there's tons of it to put up all over DLR.

Space Mountain will only have the Ghost Galaxy overlay until the official Halloween season end date, and then they will remove it. Haunted Mansion Holiday will stay open until early January.

Wow! Thanks for all the date info. I really hope that they do follow their past pattern. I can see why you would say that the last two years aren't applicable (with Halloween falling on Saturday and Sunday) for figuring out this year when you understand how their seasons work. I was thinking we would miss Halloween season entirely (since it was after Halloween); I was just hoping to see SMGG and I think it would be awesome to meet the NBC clan! Thanks, you've now given me hope about the full Halloween stuff being on still for our visit! I'll have to take a look at those threads and educate myself.

 

[Sherry E]

Wow! Thanks for all the date info. I really hope that they do follow their past pattern. I can see why you would say that the last two years aren't applicable (with Halloween falling on Saturday and Sunday) for figuring out this year when you understand how their seasons work. I was thinking we would miss Halloween season entirely (since it was after Halloween); I was just hoping to see SMGG and I think it would be awesome to meet the NBC clan! Thanks, you've now given me hope about the full Halloween stuff being on still for our visit! I'll have to take a look at those threads and educate myself.

starshine514 - You're very welcome!

Yes, the dates this year are wacky. None of us (in either the Halloween Superthread or the Christmas Superthread) are quite sure what DLR is going to do with the seasons' beginning and ending dates.

DLR could totally throw us all off and do something out of the norm like, let's say, extending the Halloween season through Sunday, November 6 (which, again, seems like kind of a late end for Halloween Time, but we'll see), and then starting the holiday season on Friday, November 11. To me, that seems unheard of because that would make the seasons only 5 days apart, and it's just too short of a time span to dismantle the Halloween stuff and start getting the holiday stuff up in time. They usually have at least 10 days in between the end of one season and the start on another.

At the same time, to end the season on Sunday, October 30th seems silly when they have to have the Halloween party on Halloween, 10/31.

So my complete guess is that the Halloween decor will stay up in some capacity through November 6th, and that they will go with an 11/18 start date for the holiday season. I could be totally wrong, but based on DLR's history and typical patterns of doing things, that seems like it would be a likely assumption. Of course, they could always switch things up on us and break tradition, but probably not.

I think we will probably start to get little trickles of info about the Halloween season (such as dates) in May or June. The DLR website does not put up the Halloween season dates until August, but other outlets such as the Disney Parks Blog, D23 or the Disneyland News website, etc., sometimes leak out the scoop before then.

In any case, I hope you will get to see the full array of Halloween things..although based on photos I've seen, it is quite amusing to see the crossover, when the Christmas stuff starts (like snow on the Castle) to go up while the pumpkins are still positioned around the Partners statue!!



Both Halloween threads are great if you have time to scroll through, but the first one was not organized so it can be hard to find things (although it has tons of wonderful photos). The second thread - the actual Halloween at DLR Superthread Part 2 - is the one in which I and three other DIS'ers worked on making it more organized, as well as easier to find certain essential posts/threads/blogs, etc. about the season. And we will be updating our posts when the 2011 info comes in. So if you want to save time, you can skip the first thread altogether if necessary and just cut to Part 2.

 

[starshine514]

So, it looks like the Halloween season will end on October 31. I guess I'm back to the between seasons scenario, then?

 

[Sherry E]

So, it looks like the Halloween season will end on October 31. I guess I'm back to the between seasons scenario, then?

Yep! Back to the between seasons scenario. Now we are waiting to find out if the holiday season begins on 11/11/11 or 11/18/11, but my guess is 11/11. So you will see the unusual crossover period as the Halloween stuff comes down (which won't take long) and the Christmas stuff slowly goes up (some of it). The crowds should be lower in that time frame, so that will be good!

 

[Brady's Mom]

Starshine - that week is our very favorite week to go to DLR!! We've been lucky and been able to see SM for the last day of Halloween (Nov. 1, 2009), and then it was down for 1 or 2 days (can't remember) and then opened up again for the rest of our trip.

You will miss Small World, but HM will be NBC and open. We've never seen Jack and Sally, so I have no info there.

The hours are short - 10 am to 8 pm at DLR and it used to be 10 am to 6 pm at DCA, but that was before WOC, so I don't know how DCA hours are now.

We can fit in all the rides we want and do just about everything we want in that week. We just pay attention to the things that are important to us. If we want to catch Aladdin or Fantasmic or Billy Hill or whatever, we just plan around those things since their schedules are pretty consistent.