WonkaKid
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2009
- Messages
- 4,718
Let me say at the outset that Halloween is my favorite holiday and things usually go well for me on the day. I consider myself a lucky person in general but Halloween in particular always seems to have my back and grants me extra wishes and surprises.
I arrived at the park gates at around 7:15, which is about as early as anyone who isn’t a hotel guest can get there. I was one of the first into the M&F parking structure and was definitely the first through security and onto the tram path. The second guests were well behind me.
The gates opened at 7:30. I was the first one in and managed to get a pic in my Willy Wonka costume on Main Street when it was still empty. Incidentally, I didn’t see nearly as many costumes as I’d hoped. Perhaps only 10% of the guests dressed for the day.
The crowd at the rope wasn’t as bad as I’ve seen it in recent weeks, which was a pleasant surprise. These days I’d say that at least 3/4 of the time guests run at rope drop. I’ve posted countless times about how much I hate that. Runners only prompt others to run as the principle of scarcity kicks in. However, on this magic day there were no runners, which was another nice surprise. We made it easily to be first in line for PP. There was a nice pair of young people — not exactly kids but probably teenagers — right behind us who’d walked quickly to make it and I offered them my first-place spot. I’ve also said many times that if I’m first and there are kids behind me who seem nice/have a good attitude, I’ll always offer them my first-place spot. But they declined.
I got at least 30 compliments on my costume throughout the day. Many people guessed (wrongly) that I was the Mad Hatter. When they did, I’d show them my homemade screen-accurate Wonka Bar and they’d usually laugh, squeal or otherwise show their delight. Next year I’ll bring extra bars to hand out. I always include a screen-accurate Golden Ticket inside as well, which people always love.
I did OK on Buzz. Early in the day I broke 2M but my score didn’t come through, which always aggravates me. Later in the morning, someone got first place with a score of 1,911,200. That always feels like a challenge to me; as if I’ve been called out. Fortunately, on my last game of the day I was able to beat it by about 30,000. I left the park at 3:00 and don’t know if it survived for the rest of the day. If anyone was there later and happened to notice, please let me know.
As I say, I left at 3:00. I had plans to go to the LA Haunted Hayride later and that was a lot of fun. There were about as many costumes as I saw at DL earlier however many of them were of a more risqué nature, unsurprisingly. I had a great time there as well.
Some pics from the day.
I arrived at the park gates at around 7:15, which is about as early as anyone who isn’t a hotel guest can get there. I was one of the first into the M&F parking structure and was definitely the first through security and onto the tram path. The second guests were well behind me.
The gates opened at 7:30. I was the first one in and managed to get a pic in my Willy Wonka costume on Main Street when it was still empty. Incidentally, I didn’t see nearly as many costumes as I’d hoped. Perhaps only 10% of the guests dressed for the day.
The crowd at the rope wasn’t as bad as I’ve seen it in recent weeks, which was a pleasant surprise. These days I’d say that at least 3/4 of the time guests run at rope drop. I’ve posted countless times about how much I hate that. Runners only prompt others to run as the principle of scarcity kicks in. However, on this magic day there were no runners, which was another nice surprise. We made it easily to be first in line for PP. There was a nice pair of young people — not exactly kids but probably teenagers — right behind us who’d walked quickly to make it and I offered them my first-place spot. I’ve also said many times that if I’m first and there are kids behind me who seem nice/have a good attitude, I’ll always offer them my first-place spot. But they declined.
I got at least 30 compliments on my costume throughout the day. Many people guessed (wrongly) that I was the Mad Hatter. When they did, I’d show them my homemade screen-accurate Wonka Bar and they’d usually laugh, squeal or otherwise show their delight. Next year I’ll bring extra bars to hand out. I always include a screen-accurate Golden Ticket inside as well, which people always love.
I did OK on Buzz. Early in the day I broke 2M but my score didn’t come through, which always aggravates me. Later in the morning, someone got first place with a score of 1,911,200. That always feels like a challenge to me; as if I’ve been called out. Fortunately, on my last game of the day I was able to beat it by about 30,000. I left the park at 3:00 and don’t know if it survived for the rest of the day. If anyone was there later and happened to notice, please let me know.
As I say, I left at 3:00. I had plans to go to the LA Haunted Hayride later and that was a lot of fun. There were about as many costumes as I saw at DL earlier however many of them were of a more risqué nature, unsurprisingly. I had a great time there as well.
Some pics from the day.
