Our trip is planned for Sept. 18 - 25. If the first day of Halloween is the 24th, is it usually crowded the first day? I'm really excited to be able to catch the halloween decor before we leave. Do the decorations gradually come up over the weeks before the frist day or do they close early the night before to put up final touches? Thanks
Akashellrae - Well, the last time I was there for the first day of Halloweentime was in 2007 (this was when it actually started on the next to last Friday in September, rather than the last Friday as it has started for the last 2 years), and it was not crowded, really. Plus, the fact that it was raining on and off that weekend kind of kept people away, I think. I did not go on opening day in 2008 or 2009, but it seems like there were a couple of folks on the DIS who said it was pretty busy. I still don't think it will be as busy in that last week of September as it will be in October, but it's anyone's guess. A lot of folks (AP holders) will come out to see the Halloween stuff on opening day, after they get off work. So I would guess that maybe the first half of opening day would be relatively manageable in terms of crowds, and then by late afternoon into early evening, the crowds will get a bit heavier. That's just a guess, though.
I think that things like the Halloweentime window and in-store displays go up in the week leading up to Halloweentime. But the Haunted Mansion Holiday and SPace Mountain Ghost Galaxy will probably open on the actual Halloweentime start date. And I think the giant Mickey pumpkin, as well as all the other carved pumpkins around DLR, will probably go up overnight, from September 23rd to the wee hours of September 24th. Halloweentime is not as all-encompassing and detailed as Christmastime is. Literally, as soon as Halloweentime is over on November 1st, DLR starts slowly putting up the Christmas decorations to get ready for Christmas season. There is a lot more to do with the Christmas stuff so they have to get started right away. I think it takes them less time to put up the Halloween stuff because there isn't as much of it to handle, so they don't want to reveal it to the public too early. So you will most likely see all the Halloween merchandise and even the special food items available when you first arrive at DLR on 9/18, or at least by 9/20, but I don't think the 'big ticket' decorations will come out until late late late on 9/23.
Ok, so I know we had this conversation way back on page 23, but I just happened to be doing a Google image search trying to find a good pic of the porch on Main Street, and somehow I came across these:
Are these similar to the picture you saw, Sherry?
Apparently this was something they did in 2006-2007, but it wasn't really a parade. It was just a little streetmosphere type show that they did on Main Street. All the descriptions I can find of this basically say the same thing:
"Main Street, U.S.A., will be decked out for the Main Street Pumpkin Festival, and guests will be greeted there by two new Main Street characters: Miss Cobbler (recently crowned Miss Pumpkin Festival) and Constable Jack OLeary."
One site has a picture of these characters and next to it says:
"Part of the Main Street Pumpkin Festival includes little shows, complete with singing, dancing, and even audience participation."
In fact now that I've seen the pictures, I think I remember coming across these two back in 2007. I didn't give it much thought at the time, I just rushed by trying to get to my next destination.
Wow! Was it way back on page 23 that this was the subject? Gee, the pages are flying by now!!
Yes! The Pumpkin Princess woman I saw (I guess she is Miss Cobbler) had dark hair (so a different CM than the one in the photo above), but it was the same outfit and it looks like the same basic backdrop. I cannot, for the life of me, recall where I initially saw the photos - I thought it was here on the DIS, but when I tried to look at some old links that I thought might lead me to it, those links were no longer valid. It may have been on another site. I was just thinking that there may have been a little mini-float or something that resembled a parade.
In any case, I wonder why DLR 86'ed Miss Cobbler and Constable Jack O'Leary? Maybe they weren't very popular! I went in 2007 but if those two were out, we missed them.
Its going to be very, very interesting to see what happens with the TOTP in DL this year, and to find out exactly how much of DLR is available to the TOTP and where the treat stations are located, as well as what "the ultimate Disney neighborhood" (from the language on the DLR website) means.
