Halloween Highs & Lows 29th Oct - 2nd Nov

[HappyPanda]

We're back after a mostly enjoyable 4n/5d trip to DLP. Here are my Highs and Lows:

Let's get the lows out of the way:

Halloween Party

This wasn't really a family friendly event at all in my opinion. The park was overrun by teenagers & young adults. Despite the costume guidelines displayed at the entrance, there were a large amount of people in very inappropriate costumes (one woman had a 'dead baby' hanging out of bloodied stomach!!!).

I was also really shocked by just how busy the park was on this night - all the rides that were open had wait times of around an hour. The shows they had on were great (especially the Tiana one on the boat!) but again there were so many people there that it made it very difficult to find a spot to watch it where my 6 year old could see.

We thought we'd go and check out some of the character meet & greets, BIG mistake... they were complete carnage! We accidentally ended up standing right by where Mike & Sully came to do their meet and greet, this was good as we got to meet them! But getting back out of there was a nightmare, a scrum formed of at least 80/100 people had formed behind us and were pushing forwards as we were trying to get out. At one point, I couldn't actually see DD as she was crushed in between two people. Luckily, a lovely American lady heard Olivia shouting for me and picked her up and carried her to safety (effectively losing her own place in the scrum!). I was so grateful and nearly burst into tears on the spot!

I don't see why we were given wristbands, we never had them checked them at all, so I wonder whether there were a lot of none party guests that stayed in the park?

Inaccurate Wait Times
Being the Halloween week the parks were very, very, very busy! So it was inevitable that we would be queueing a lot. What a find frustrating was that a wait time would be advertied as 45 minutes but we'd end up queuing for 75! This happened on so many occasions, Peter Pan, Star Tours, Buzz, Parachute Drop. The only rides that seemed to have accurate queue times displayed were Crush's Coaster & BTM.

Clearly DLP have never heard of the philosophy of "Under Promise, Over Deliver".

Ride Breakdowns
Now, this could just be us being very unlucky, but we encountered a lot of delays due to rides breaking down. On our first night we were right near the front of the queue for BTM when it broke down, the next morning we were in the queue for Crush when it broke down as well, then star tours were reporting that only one of the simulators were working as the other two they'd normally use during peak hours were broken, then peter pan had 'technical difficulties'. As these all happened whilst we were queuing we wasted a lot of time queuing for these.

Ok enough of the moaning, on to the good bits!:

Santa Fe
I love, love, love the refurbishment! The rooms look much bigger now and the decor and theming is fabulous!

Inventions Brunch - 1st November

We nearly didn't do this as we had been left a little deflated from our character lunch here the day before. But I'm so glad we did! We met Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, Tigger, Eeyore & Max! The food was nice, but think there could have been a better selection of mains. Overall, we had a lovely meal with some fab character interaction (so much so, I completely forget to use my shareholders discount!), I would definitely do the brunch again!

Weather
The first part of stay we had glorious weather, no need for coats at all, even late at night. Halloween night it was a bit colder, but still no where near as bad as I'd been expecting. On the Friday (1st Nov) it was raining heavily all day, but this was a blessing in disguise as the park was a lot quieter! Saturday (2nd Nov) it was a bit on and off all day but still quite warm!

Eurostar - Standard Premier
Much to my surprise (as I don't remember doing it!) we were booked into Standard Premier on both legs of our journey! What a difference! DD and I had a lovely table for two with big, super comfy, chairs. There was a food and drinks service and it was just a much nicer, more relaxing way to travel.

Disney Junior Live on Stage - Pre Show
The new pre-show bit is absolutely fantastic! I am surprised that this new change isn't advertised anywhere on the park maps/schedule - as this meant some people turned up just when the show was due to begin and therefore missed the pre-show entertainment. Jake & Sofia were brilliant, dancing with all the children and even the adults seemed to have fun!

Stitch Live
We just can't get enough of this show - so much so we did it 9 times on this trip! It's great now that it's on every 30 minutes in English! Olivia got picked to be Stitch's best friend twice which is definitely the highlight of her trip!

Big Thunder Mountain - In the Dark
After our disappointment of not getting on BTM the first night, we went back there on the second night and got our go! We used the DIS tip of using the left land and got on the ride within 20 minutes - whereas the right side seemed to barely move at all! This was DDs first time in the dark and she loved it!

DLH - Descent of the stairs
We FINALLY got to see this, after years of meaning to! We went on Friday 1st Nov. We got there at about 15.50 and it wasn't too busy at all. The children all sat down and watch the characters come down - we had Goofy, Mickey, Minnie, Chip & Dale and Pinocchio. Olivia wanted to get her photo taken with Goofy, Minnie & Pinocchio. It was much better organised than the in-park scrums and the character were good at going from left to right to choose who was next.

Meeting Mike & Sully
As I mentioned in my lows above, we ended up meeting Mike & Sully quite by accident! But they were brilliant! DD was a bit nervous, especially given by how small she looked when standing next to Sully. But he put his BIG arms around her and she soon melted! I got a great photo!

I'm sure there's more highs and lows I could detail, but I will save them for my trip report!

 

[micksn]

Welcome home - sounds like a good trip overall We were there during Oct half term the last two years and it did seem very busy. I suppose this is why break downs are more frequent and then the queues build up even more. I've always liked the idea of the halloween party, we left on halloween last year so got to see people getting dressed up and hair and make up done in HNY - it felt sad to go home and miss it. But maybe it was just as well!

 

[DLPaddict]

Despite the costume guidelines displayed at the entrance, there were a large amount of people in very inappropriate costumes (one woman had a 'dead baby' hanging out of bloodied stomach!!!).

That is so inappropriate!!! I would of complained. Our tour guides told several people to remove masks because they was darn right scary and inappropriate.

 

[HappyPanda]

That is so inappropriate!!! I would of complained. Our tour guides told several people to remove masks because they was darn right scary and inappropriate.

I would have done but there were no CMs around - It was right in town square, so I presumed she had just entered the park wearing that and no-one had batted an eyelid!

 

[DLPaddict]

I would have done but there were no CMs around - It was right in town square, so I presumed she had just entered the park wearing that and no-one had batted an eyelid!

It gives me the shivers just thinking about it!

 

[Disneyfanswicklow]

Welcome home sounds like you had a good trip overall! Pity about the breakdowns....it can be so frustrating to almost be there and then a breakdown happens.

 

[HappyPanda]

I've just remembered another high that i had to include:

Not using the Disney Express Service on Arrival
As we had booked using the Spanish site, we weren't able to use the Disney Express service for our arrival. At first, I was a little upset as it's what we had always done and I couldn't imagine not just running to the parks on arrival.

In reality, it was actually a total blessing in disguise. Once we arrived at the station, we left the hoards of people who were heading to the Disney Express desk and boarded the bus to the Santa Fe. We were at reception within 5 minutes and there was no one there - so the whole check in process was over and done with in minutes. Our room was ready, so we went and dropped off our bags and coats and then we could stay out for the rest of the day!

On the way back we spent the 12Euros to use the luggage transfer to the station - money well spent.

 

[Jonjo]

Sounds like you had a nice trip apart from the scrum that was the Halloween Party.

I think they need to re-start the Terrorific Night Halloween parties in WDS, as these were aimed at the teenagers and young adults which then resulted in the Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party to be a more family orientated event.

Rather glad we have booked the second week in October to go next year, at least the parks will be a bit quieter.

We will have to try your tip about not using the Disney Express Service next time we are at the SF.

 

[tennisfan]

Welcome back, sounds like you enjoyed most of your trip

 

[cherrymarzipan]

Welcome back! You must be hardier than us though, we've been here since the 29th too and haven't gone without coats on any day! That's not to say the weather hasn't been good though with plenty of sunshine and some lovely blue skies and like you, much better than I anticipated.

I agree with everything you say about the Halloween party. DH even saw a group of men dressed in blood stained white Arab robes (I was hanging onto DS and missed them although they must have walked right past me). How they got wrist bands (which should have acted as some sort of screening) I don't know but perhaps reading people's accounts, they never had them.

I did look out for two dalmatians together but never "spotted" you. We too loved the Tiana show and watched two sittings (the second one by accident really as we were passing when it was just starting but we enjoyed it enough to stay and watch again).

Glad you enjoyed BTM in the dark - we were on the last ride tonight and so got to go round twice.

Sounds a good trip in the main!

 

[moorhunhe]

I also saw some people wearing masks, I thought that wasn't allowed?

With some people, I had the feeling I was walking around at comic-con, even though they were dressed extremely well, I'm pretty sure they violated Disney rules.
But if DLRP won't even say anything about it, to enforce their own rules ...

I'm glad that some people share the same responses as me, about the evening itself (mainly about the characters).

I'm mainly getting responses from people, telling me I should have known it was going to be like that, and instead of "whining" how chaotic it was, I should have stayed home.

Excuse me?

I think I saw you ... but I'm not that sure anymore.
I wasn't dressed up, I only wore a Simba hat, haha, hoping to see the hyena's and see if they would respond to it, but unfortunetly, I didn't get to see them.

Someone with a Jason mask tried to scare me too, by chasing me, I told him to bugger off! haha, I was not in the mood for anything like that anymore, lol.

 

[Alahis]

I also found there were too many "not appropriate" costume.
And I'm a SFX makeup artist, I don't mind going all bloody and gory....just, not in Disney. I didn't appreciate either the scaring of guests by other guests.

I found a dalmatian family, but they weren't from the boards, so....

But I thought the killed the Terrorifics Nights because they didn't attract a lot of people (or weren't profitable ?)....But I guess it would be better, for the scaring thing some teenagers are fond of, to do them again.

 

[HappyPanda]

I shamefully chickened out of dressing up, so DD was a Dalmatian on her own! I had a nice panda jumper on though haha

 

[Lisa_C]

We thought some of the costumes were disgusting! We saw flesh wounds, sharp objects, face masks......and a person dressed as a Disney character posing for photos. I'm not ashamed to admit I reported her to City Hall and she got a stern warning, which also makes me think WHY didn't they enforce the other rules?? I actually still can't believe how someone didn't get hurt, some of the accessories were dangerous!!!

Oh we were also in the DLP on Friday, Mickey hardly had a queue and we got a far photo of DD with her Sailor Mickey and Duffy plushie! Quite a few people wanted to nick him during the trip!

 

[Jonjo]

But I thought the killed the Terrorifics Nights because they didn't attract a lot of people (or weren't profitable ?)....But I guess it would be better, for the scaring thing some teenagers are fond of, to do them again.

I heared the WDC told them to cease the events as offical horror themed parties were 'not Disney' . WDS used to be packed and tickets always sold out.

 

[HappyPanda]

I also saw some people wearing masks, I thought that wasn't allowed?

When we were going back into the park at about 20.30 - a group of men in front of us all had scream masks on. I asked the CM about the rules on not allowing masks covering the rules and she said that they are just "guidelines" and not rules? So I really don't understand the point in having them at all!

On a brighter note, it was amazing to see how much effort some people put into the costumes! One woman was a zombie bride in a MASSIVE weddding dress - can't imagine she went on many rides!

 

[DLPaddict]

We thought some of the costumes were disgusting! We saw flesh wounds, sharp objects, face masks......and a person dressed as a Disney character posing for photos. I'm not ashamed to admit I reported her to City Hall and she got a stern warning, which also makes me think WHY didn't they enforce the other rules?? I actually still can't believe how someone didn't get hurt, some of the accessories were dangerous!!!

Was she posing with children? I saw a lot of people/fans dressed as Disney characters who were posing with other Disney fans. Heck I had a photo with someone dressed as Terrance LOL!

 

[Lisa_C]

Posing with young children and doing the character pose as if she "was" the character :-/
Adults posing with adults dressed up is fine by me, but this woman was standing in Main Street blatantly posing as a face character!

 

[HappyPanda]

Posing with young children and doing the character pose as if she "was" the character :-/ Adults posing with adults dressed up is fine by me, but this woman was standing in Main Street blatantly posing as a face character!

That's awful! Glad she got reprimanded once you reported her though!

 

[Steef1991]

Was she posing with children? I saw a lot of people/fans dressed as Disney characters who were posing with other Disney fans. Heck I had a photo with someone dressed as Terrance LOL!

My friend went as Terrance, with lights in his wings
I went as Ghost Chip and Dale.. Took my Duffy as Chip