We will be driving down in October and I have a few questions about Mickey's Halloween Party. I am trying to decide if we should splurge to add tickets to one of parties on top of our park hopper tickets (debating 2 or 3 day hoppers at this point).
- Aside from the trick-or-treating aspect, what else is special/different about the party nights vs. other October nights at DS?
- Do they completely close DS for the party? Does DCA stay open if we don't end up buying the party tickets?
- My kids are 4 & 7 and not so much into the scary aspect of Halloween. Will they still enjoy it or is it too scary for younger kids?
- How crowded do the parties get? Scheduling wise, the Friday party while we are there would work best (10/21). I am crazy for even considering a Friday night party?
Thanks!
Stephanie
Hi, Stephanie! There are several Halloween threads around here to provide you with information and answers to your questions, and the same questions pop up a lot, as you can imagine. You don't need to necessarily look at the entire threads, just skim the first page of each thread and often you will get all the info you need to have.
This thread from yesterday (posted by katiesmom2) has some info in it on what the party is about and what can or can not be found in the parks on party nights and on non-party nights:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2764274
The
Halloween at DLR Superthread is a one-stop-shop for all things relating to the Halloween season at
Disneyland. This is the main Halloween thread that is year-round. We cover any and all aspects of the season, including the party but many other things as well. Feel free to jump in and ask any questions of our Halloween experts there. I created that thread specifically so that there would always be one place everyone could go to learn about the season. The first 2 posts (general information and Table of Contents) on page 1 have tons of information, photos, etc.
The
October 2011 Check-In thread (by funatdisney) is where you can post the dates of your trip and your hotel, in case you'd like to meet up with anyone, and ask questions.
The
2011 Mickey's Halloween Party thread (by funatdisney) is a separate check-in thread specifically for the party, where you can list your party dates and costumes, for possible meet-ups, and ask questions.
To address your questions:
Aside from getting candy, Halloween Screams fireworks are the highlight of the party, along with special character photo ops. See the first two threads (not the check-in threads) I linked above for more info on that.
Disneyland completely closes for the party at 7 p.m. on Fridays and at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays (with a couple of Mondays thrown in). California Adventure stays open.
Halloween Time and Mickey's Halloween Party are not scary. There are some villains roaming around and there is fog pumped into the Rivers of America, but it's Halloween done Disney-style, so it's not scary at all. It's very kid-friendly.
The parties - especially the Friday night parties - are crowded. The treat station lines are long. Some of the lines for rides are long, while others are not. But there will be a lot of people on a Friday night. However, if 10/21 is the only night you can go, I would just expect it to be crowded. It won't be hideously, unmanageably crowded, but there will be lots of people.
