HalloweenTime at DLR Info and Photo Superthread #3

[Cheshirecatty]

So wait, they are doing M,W,F and M,W,Th the week before and the week of Halloween. Is that something they have always done? I thought it was only 2 times a week, Tu, F. Does that mean that Wednesday might be even "slower" or not a chance? Thinking about going the 23rd.

No, this is not something they have always done. Last year, they did a couple of Monday parties.

It's possible the Wednesday parties might be slower, but I surely wouldn't count on it!

The last party is always on Halloween night--hence it being on a Thursday the last week, rather than Friday.

 

[Kiwigirls]

Yay! So glad the dates are out! We are looking at Wed 23rd also. Was planning on Tues 22nd before dates were released, but I think this might work even better!

 

[dnamertz]

So wait, they are doing M,W,F and M,W,Th the week before and the week of Halloween. Is that something they have always done? I thought it was only 2 times a week, Tu, F. Does that mean that Wednesday might be even "slower" or not a chance? Thinking about going the 23rd.

I was hoping for just 2 days a week. We were planning on going that full week before Halloween and doing one of the parties, but now there will be two of our other days cut short by the other parties. Might need to re-plan and maybe go the week before.

Does anyone know if the week of Oct 14 to Oct 18 will be busier than the week following? Aren't there some schools on Fall Break during that time? I just noticed that Oct 14 is Columbus Day, so we'll have to avoid that day.

 

[Cheshirecatty]

I was hoping for just 2 days a week. We were planning on going that full week before Halloween and doing one of the parties, but now there will be two of our other days cut short by the other parties. Might need to re-plan and maybe go the week before.

Does anyone know if the week of Oct 14 to Oct 18 will be busier than the week following? Aren't there some schools on Fall Break during that time? I just noticed that Oct 14 is Columbus Day, so we'll have to avoid that day.

I know that lots of Arizona schools October Break is the week before the 14th, so that should help. Also, Gay Days will be over with. Not sure about UEA dates this year though--that has some impact--although we haven't felt it was too bad!

 

[Kiwigirls]

I was hoping for just 2 days a week. We were planning on going that full week before Halloween and doing one of the parties, but now there will be two of our other days cut short by the other parties. Might need to re-plan and maybe go the week before.

Does anyone know if the week of Oct 14 to Oct 18 will be busier than the week following? Aren't there some schools on Fall Break during that time? I just noticed that Oct 14 is Columbus Day, so we'll have to avoid that day.

I was a bit worried when I saw the 3 nights during the 21st-25th week as well, thinking we might have our days cut short (in DL at least, coukd hop to DCA), but luckily it works for us. We had already planned to have Monday out of the parks as it's the middle of our trip.

We were thinking party would be on Tuesday, so would use the party ticket that day (and not our hopper) but that would mean doing DCA on Wednesday and being behind the EMH crowds (as we are staying offsite). Now we can do the party Wednesday, and DCA Tuesday so no EMH to worry about!! The Wednesday party will be our last night there too, so a good way to end the trip.

Hope you can get it to work for you too!!

 

[dnamertz]

I know that lots of Arizona schools October Break is the week before the 14th, so that should help. Also, Gay Days will be over with. Not sure about UEA dates this year though--that has some impact--although we haven't felt it was too bad!

I might be able to make one of those weeks work, if I can decide whether I want to use one or two of my park hopper days on a day when DL closes early due to a party. This would mean having to spend the rest of that day at DCA.

Does anyone know from experience whether DCA gets extemely crowded during the MHPs? It seems like it would with all the people with park hoppers who don't have tickets to the MHP. But, then again there could be a lot of people who plan ahead and decide not to use their park hopper that day because they know DL is closing early...which would mean the overall attendance would be lower before the party guests arrive.

 

[Reelirish]

I'm a DVC member, and this is my first time buying tickets for this. On July 8th, do we go through the DVC website or the Disney.com site like you normally would in order to get advanced tickets? Thanks!

 

[perlster]

Tickets to Mickey's Halloween Party purchased in advance are $59 each for selected nights, while tickets purchased on the event days are $67 each. All tickets to Mickey's Halloween Party on Wednesday, Oct. 30, and Halloween Night, Thursday, Oct. 31, are $74 each.

 

[pigby]

OK looks like back to Plan A since the first party is now 27th Sept - assuming Tuesday 1st October party will be a bit quieter than Friday 27th September or do they both fill to capacity and therefore will have same number of guests and doesn't really matter (didn't I read that they limited this event to 10,000 somewhere?)

We go home the Thursday (3rd) so doesn't really matter which of these two we do.

On the Disney.com site though it still says 'check back closer to the date' - assume that this DisneyParks blog site is official? I can see it has Disney.com at the top but strange that when you click on events on the main Disney.com website, it doesn't have this update.

 

[Sherry E]

Boo Sherry was misinformed No Mickeys party on Monday September 30! Now we need to redo our reservation. People like to plan in advance and Disney could have released these dates awhile ago... like the same time WDW dates were released. I do appreciate your info Sherry I know it's all tentative. Your thread is the reason why we are so interested in attending the festivities. It's just our first time doing the party and we always book our trips at least 6 months in advance. We will just have to call PPH and see if we can work it out so we are there for the Oct 1 party( our original check out day). Wish me luck

Mommavilla --

This was not only a case of my being misinformed. This was a case of the Monday, 9/30 date actually being printed/released in an official Disney publication -- the Annual Pass Backstage Pass magazine/calendar. Once it is official, it is not considered to be tentative.

Also, anyone who received that same Backstage Pass could see the same date that I saw for the MHP. I can take a picture of the page in the Backstage Pass and show you what I saw. In fact, it was Pinup Mommy who first posted about the MHP date, if I recall, but she and I got our BP magazines on the same day!

So don't shoot the messenger(s)! I would have never posted any date at all if it had not been released in an official Disney publication. That's not how I roll. I stick with the official info.

This was a case of Disney most likely changing its plan after the Backstage Pass publication was released. I have said all along that if they didn't have anything else on tap for 9/27, I could easily see a party being added in on that day.

Even the CM with whom I spoke a few weeks ago -- and he looked up the date in Backstage Pass and saw the same date the rest of us did -- said that if 9/27 was free there could always be another party date added in.

Last year there were 11 parties. I thought that dropping down to 10 would be a step in the wrong direction this year, seeing that the MHP is so popular. Glad to see there are even more parties scheduled this time around!




Thanks for the link, perlster!!! I greatly appreciate it! I was happy to see that the dates finally came through!

 

[Mommavilla]

Didn't mean to come off so harsh just a bit frustrated. Thought we had it all planned out. Like I said before I appreciate all your info and this thread is one of the reasons why we want to do the party. Well we are going regardless so yay and sorry

Mommavilla --

This was not only a case of my being misinformed. This was a case of the Monday, 9/30 date actually being printed/released in an official Disney publication -- the Annual Pass Backstage Pass magazine/calendar. Once it is official, it is not considered to be tentative.

Also, anyone who received that same Backstage Pass could see the same date that I saw for the MHP. I can take a picture of the page in the Backstage Pass and show you what I saw. In fact, it was Pinup Mommy who first posted about the MHP date, if I recall, but she and I got our BP magazines on the same day!

So don't shoot the messenger(s)! I would have never posted any date at all if it had not been released in an official Disney publication. That's not how I roll. I stick with the official info.

This was a case of Disney most likely changing its plan after the Backstage Pass publication was released. I have said all along that if they didn't have anything else on tap for 9/27, I could easily see a party being added in on that day.

Even the CM with whom I spoke a few weeks ago -- and he looked up the date in Backstage Pass and saw the same date the rest of us did -- said that if 9/27 was free there could always be another party date added in.

Last year there were 11 parties. I thought that dropping down to 10 would be a step in the wrong direction this year, seeing that the MHP is so popular. Glad to see there are even more parties scheduled this time around!




Thanks for the link, perlster!!! I greatly appreciate it! I was happy to see that the dates finally came through!

 

[scrawny]

Does anyone know if you can call and order tickets or must the be purchased online? Assuming we must use the Disney visa to purchase on the 8th.

Thanks

 

[crystal1313]

Nevermind! LOl. Yay, finally got dates!!!

 

[Sherry E]

Didn't mean to come off so harsh just a bit frustrated. Thought we had it all planned out. Like I said before I appreciate all your info and this thread is one of the reasons why we want to do the party. Well we are going regardless so yay and sorry

Mommavilla -

Oh, no worries at all! I understand the frustration, and I'm glad the threads have helped!

I always say that Disney can suddenly switch things up on us (just when we think we have them figured out), but they never cease to amaze (and annoy) me nonetheless!

Somehow I felt that 9/27 would have to be involved in the party because it didn't make any sense to me to start a party on a Monday. Sure, they will have a couple of Monday parties but it didn't seem logical to actually start it on that date...and yet, there it was listed in the Backstage Pass calendar/magazine.

Sometimes I get the feeling that in Disney's case, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing! Backstage Pass may have received info from one department, while the Parks Blog got their info from a different place. It is quite possible that the Parks Blog folks (who posted the info today) had no idea that the Backstage Pass magazine listed 9/30 as the start date (which could be why it was not addressed by Erin in today's Blog). It seems like some segments of Disney do not know what other segments are up to!

Honestly, if DLR has a solid plan in place for dates, they should let us know the dates as soon as they are finalized and then keep them that way (to avoid confusion). (Aren't the Candlelight Ceremony narrators already being named for WDW's Ceremony this year?) I'm not sure if they wait so long to tell us information because they simply do not have the plans figured out 100%, or if they just don't want to get ahead of themselves with seasonal info when we are just now about to hit 4th of July!

Still, though, people need to know exact dates and info way in advance if they are to plan trips and budget accordingly. So it should not matter if it is February or March -- if Disney has the Halloween/holiday info and it is set in stone, they should tell us right away no matter what month it is!

This makes me wonder if the Parks Blog "knows" that Backstage Pass also listed the holiday season as officially starting on a Tuesday this year (11/12)! And it makes me wonder if that info is even correct now, or if the holidays will officially start on a different date!

I've updated the first post and the party post on Page 1 to reflect the MHP dates, but I have to find an official price chart. I saw perlster's post about the prices and that looks very believable, but I think there should be slightly different prices for the AP/DVC/Visa people. Last year there were the AP, et al., advance prices, the day-of-event prices and the general public-who-buy-in-advance prices.

Does anyone know if you can call and order tickets or must the be purchased online? Assuming we must use the Disney visa to purchase on the 8th.

Thanks

scrawny --

In the past I believe the Visa and DVC people had to call DLR and could not order online to get the discount. I could be wrong, but I think that's what happened. You can order online, of course, but the Visa discount wouldn't be applied (unless the set-up has changed this year). The AP holders can order online and get the discount.

 

[scrawny]

Thanks for the reply

 

[philliplc]

Curious what are typical wait times for Indy, Splash, & Space Mountain during the party? Thx

 

[DisneyFan3113]

Yay!! The dates!! Finnnalllly.... better late than never, I guess. So, this is such a basic question I know it must've been covered somewhere on here, but I'm too lazy to go back and look---what time does MHP start again? And does the timeline of the party, when it begins and when it ends, change depending on which day it is? I imagine Fridays would be longer.

 

[SueTGGR]

Curious what are typical wait times for Indy, Splash, & Space Mountain during the party? Thx

For the most part they are shorter than normal and that is why they don't have FP available but last year I really could have used a FP for Space Mtn as the line was probably 60 minutes? If I remember correctly. But it varies through the night. Go during the parade or other gatherings. I am so excited this year as my teenage son has FINALLY gotten brave enough and ridden SM a few times now and is excited about the Halloween overlay!!!
Happy days, now to save for our Oct 11 party!!!!

 

[redheadtove]

YEAH!!!! Looks like we will be attending the Halloween Party on October 8th!!!

This will be our first time going to the party, first time I've taken my Daughters who are 14 and 9 together at the same time ( they have each been once for their 7th birthday) and the VERY FIRST TIME my MOTHER has ever been!!!

 

[Sherry E]

Yay!! The dates!! Finnnalllly.... better late than never, I guess. So, this is such a basic question I know it must've been covered somewhere on here, but I'm too lazy to go back and look---what time does MHP start again? And does the timeline of the party, when it begins and when it ends, change depending on which day it is? I imagine Fridays would be longer.

DisneyFan3113 -

The start and end times are in the party post on page 1 (which I updated today), but those times are based on how it worked in the past. At this rate, we can't trust Disney to stick to anything so who knows? I am waiting for an official price list for all levels of pricing so I can complete the info in the party post on page 1.

The Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday parties usually start at 6 p.m. and end at 11 p.m., while the Friday parties start at 7 p.m. and end at midnight. I am assuming that the Thursday party this year will also end at 11 p.m., even though it's Halloween.

For the most part they are shorter than normal and that is why they don't have FP available but last year I really could have used a FP for Space Mtn as the line was probably 60 minutes? If I remember correctly. But it varies through the night. Go during the parade or other gatherings. I am so excited this year as my teenage son has FINALLY gotten brave enough and ridden SM a few times now and is excited about the Halloween overlay!!!
Happy days, now to save for our Oct 11 party!!!!

Hi, Sue!

Who knew that Disney would jump from 10 parties, to 11 parties...to 13 parties? Wow! They definitely oversold the tickets the last couple of years, so the number of dates this year shows that they are raking in the bucks on the MHP. I just wish they wouldn't sell soooo many tickets to each night so it would feel slightly more "exclusive"!!