Cruzinmaniac
DLP lover
- Joined
- May 7, 2013
- Messages
- 107
We went yesterday for a day trip, and I thought I'd just write up a quick list of discussion/tips for those who have yet to go! 
Decorations: We loved them!
Make sure to spend lots of time on Main Street and in Frontierland to check them out. Also, the Castle stage is decorated, and the brambles are super cool-looking! Make sure to walk past them at least at night, as they have an awesome nighttime lighting scheme and the castle is purple on the Fantasyland side! (It's reddish from the hub side.)
Meet 'n' Greets:
Marie/Winnie: We got in the queue at about 9:32 and there were already about 5-6 groups in front of us. Right after we queued up, tons more people joined. This queue grows fast. If you want to meet Marie, join the line before the park opens, as early as possible. You'll still get done before ten if you want to do the rope drop rush to BTM, Discoveryland, or whatever, or you can hop over and join the Goofy line which opens at 10 and won't be long yet. We never met Winnie as by the time he got there the lines were long.
Goofy: We hopped over here right after Marie, and there were only about 3 groups in front of us. Once Goofy got there, though, the lines multiplied. I would recommend coming over here right after Marie or Stitch if you want to do this.
Stitch/Minnie: We walked past here at around 10:10, and the lines were really long. I would recommend doing this on another morning with the same strategy as with Marie. (It will probably be Stitch.) We got in the queue at around 1:50 for the 2:00 set, and it was already completely full. Minnie was first, but by the time we got up there, Stitch had come out. We weren't out of there until around 2:40. This was insane.
Jack/Sally: We popped over here right after the Villains Promenade at around 10:35 (We watched the promenade from the entrance to Frontierland for easiest access.) There weren't very many people in front of us, but it still took a good 20 minutes. He is GREAT and really spends tons of time with each person, which also makes the lines take forever. There were already several groups in line when I walked past at 10:15. If you want to be first in line, you'll want to skip the villains promenade and go here after Goofy.
Villains: I was really scared that there would be lots of pushing and craziness at this, but it wasn't too bad even though we were there during French school break. Don't expect to get amazing pictures or have super awesome interactions though. Basically, the sets are about 15 minutes, with a 5 minute break between them. After the characters leave, the CMs will ask you to wait behind the circle on the pavement, and you can watch Maleficent appear and do a little spiel. Then the villains come out, usually about 5. We only met 3 of them as we weren't really fussed with meeting them all. All the kids basically crowd around the villains and they kind of choose who they will meet. Maleficent, Captain Hook and the Evil Queen were the most popular in our experience. The Sheriff of Nottingham didn't have nearly as many though, maybe no one knows who he is! Haha
Don't expect there to be lines or anything though because there are none.
Cavalcade: We saw this at the first showing at 11:50. We had a bad experience here though which makes me mad.
We got a spot at the end of main street at about 11:20, 30 minutes before it started. The parade didn't even arrive 'til about 12:10ish though. I wanted to have a straight-on view. The problem was that when the parade got really close and we were all situated, they moved the ropes up suddenly so they were at a diagonal, and everyone behind us that had gotten there late moved in front of us (these were all adults without kids) and all of the families, including us, who had strollers and everything couldn't keep up and we got stuck behind everyone! 
I really don't think that moving the rope was necessary anyways, but if they had to do it, they could have done it slowly, little by little, so people could keep their spots! We could barely see anything and when the kids tried to squeeze back in front there was this rude lady who was all like "Ahem, you're not alone." And all this time I was thinking, um, yes, we are, because we actually took the time to get here in advance and you didn't! It just made me really mad and ruined the cavalcade for us. We got a better view when we were walking into Discoveryland as it was going on, for goodness' sake! 
So don't bother getting here early.
Phantom Manor: This isn't a special thing for Halloween, per se, but I just wanted to note that it had longer lines than usual.
Other than the horrible experience with the cavalcade, we liked the Halloween offerings. We had a fun day, don't get me wrong.
I hope these tips are useful to someone! 
Decorations: We loved them!
Make sure to spend lots of time on Main Street and in Frontierland to check them out. Also, the Castle stage is decorated, and the brambles are super cool-looking! Make sure to walk past them at least at night, as they have an awesome nighttime lighting scheme and the castle is purple on the Fantasyland side! (It's reddish from the hub side.)Meet 'n' Greets:
Marie/Winnie: We got in the queue at about 9:32 and there were already about 5-6 groups in front of us. Right after we queued up, tons more people joined. This queue grows fast. If you want to meet Marie, join the line before the park opens, as early as possible. You'll still get done before ten if you want to do the rope drop rush to BTM, Discoveryland, or whatever, or you can hop over and join the Goofy line which opens at 10 and won't be long yet. We never met Winnie as by the time he got there the lines were long.
Goofy: We hopped over here right after Marie, and there were only about 3 groups in front of us. Once Goofy got there, though, the lines multiplied. I would recommend coming over here right after Marie or Stitch if you want to do this.
Stitch/Minnie: We walked past here at around 10:10, and the lines were really long. I would recommend doing this on another morning with the same strategy as with Marie. (It will probably be Stitch.) We got in the queue at around 1:50 for the 2:00 set, and it was already completely full. Minnie was first, but by the time we got up there, Stitch had come out. We weren't out of there until around 2:40. This was insane.
Jack/Sally: We popped over here right after the Villains Promenade at around 10:35 (We watched the promenade from the entrance to Frontierland for easiest access.) There weren't very many people in front of us, but it still took a good 20 minutes. He is GREAT and really spends tons of time with each person, which also makes the lines take forever. There were already several groups in line when I walked past at 10:15. If you want to be first in line, you'll want to skip the villains promenade and go here after Goofy.
Villains: I was really scared that there would be lots of pushing and craziness at this, but it wasn't too bad even though we were there during French school break. Don't expect to get amazing pictures or have super awesome interactions though. Basically, the sets are about 15 minutes, with a 5 minute break between them. After the characters leave, the CMs will ask you to wait behind the circle on the pavement, and you can watch Maleficent appear and do a little spiel. Then the villains come out, usually about 5. We only met 3 of them as we weren't really fussed with meeting them all. All the kids basically crowd around the villains and they kind of choose who they will meet. Maleficent, Captain Hook and the Evil Queen were the most popular in our experience. The Sheriff of Nottingham didn't have nearly as many though, maybe no one knows who he is! Haha
Don't expect there to be lines or anything though because there are none.Cavalcade: We saw this at the first showing at 11:50. We had a bad experience here though which makes me mad.
We got a spot at the end of main street at about 11:20, 30 minutes before it started. The parade didn't even arrive 'til about 12:10ish though. I wanted to have a straight-on view. The problem was that when the parade got really close and we were all situated, they moved the ropes up suddenly so they were at a diagonal, and everyone behind us that had gotten there late moved in front of us (these were all adults without kids) and all of the families, including us, who had strollers and everything couldn't keep up and we got stuck behind everyone! I really don't think that moving the rope was necessary anyways, but if they had to do it, they could have done it slowly, little by little, so people could keep their spots! We could barely see anything and when the kids tried to squeeze back in front there was this rude lady who was all like "Ahem, you're not alone." And all this time I was thinking, um, yes, we are, because we actually took the time to get here in advance and you didn't! It just made me really mad and ruined the cavalcade for us. We got a better view when we were walking into Discoveryland as it was going on, for goodness' sake! So don't bother getting here early. Phantom Manor: This isn't a special thing for Halloween, per se, but I just wanted to note that it had longer lines than usual.
Other than the horrible experience with the cavalcade, we liked the Halloween offerings. We had a fun day, don't get me wrong.
I hope these tips are useful to someone! 
