HalloweenTime at DLR Info and Photo Superthread #3

[DisneyFan3113]

Hi guys! We are going to our very first Halloween party on the 11th and we are so excited! It will be me, DH, DS5 and DS3, and as I've mentioned before wwe are all dressing like TRON with light up outfits and everything! In fact, my DH is working on them right now. So my question is costume related. To make the costumes light up, it requires wires. And batteries. Will all be wearing a vest over a shirt. My concern is if they make us remove the vest for some reason.....because that's where all the wires are hidden, and that would probably be a huge red flag. I would have never worried about this before, but the last couple times we were there, security had us unzip our jackets at the bag check area. I'm just worried if they ask us to remove our vest it may cause an issue. We plan on trying to cover the wires to the best of our ability (although we haven't figured out how) does anyone know if there are different rules at the security check for the parties? Or are we worrying for nothing? I'd hate to get there and be turned away. My boys would be totally crushed. TIA!

Sorry, I don't have an answer to your question, but tell me when your DH finishes those costumes you'll post pictures!!

 

[iKristin]

I doubt they will make you remove the vest. The rules are pretty simple for the costumes

Costume Guidelines

All event Guests (including adults) may dress in their favorite Halloween costume and must follow at least these guidelines.

Costumes Should

Be child-friendly.

Costumes Should Not

Be obstructive, offensive or violent.
Drag on the ground.
Contain sharp objects, pointed objects or materials that may accidentally strike another Guest.
Contain any weapons which resemble or could easily be mistaken for an actual weapon.
Masks

Masks may be worn, but they must not obstruct vision and eyes must be visible at all times.
Please Note

Please be sure costumes meet these guidelines. If a costume cannot be modified, a Guest may be refused entry into the event.
Guests who dress like Disney Characters may not pose for pictures or sign autographs.
Guests of all ages may not wear a costume to a Disneyland Resort Halloween event unless they have a valid ticket to that event.

 

[Mousequake]

I've got a question about the restrictions on masks during the Halloween parties. DD5 is deadset on being Darth Vader at the Halloween Party, but the rules clearly state "masks are okay, but eyes must be visible at all times." With a Darth Vader mask on, the eyes won't be visible. Does anybody know if this is a rule they might look the other way on with kids, or is it enforced for everyone?

 

[CluelessDisFan]

Similar issue my DS is wearing an iron man costume. He can see through the mask, is that all that matters?

 

[figment_jii]

Similar issue my DS is wearing an iron man costume. He can see through the mask, is that all that matters?

As one of the PP said, the guidelines do allow for masks, but they must not obstruct the wears vision and the eyes must be visible at all times. So if the Iron Man Mask has the eyes covered, it might not be permitted, but if the eye holes are open, it should be fine. This is the language on the ticket for the costume guidelines:

Costume Information: All event attendees - including adults - may dress in their favorite Halloween costumes and must follow these and other guidelines as determined solely by Disney:
Costumes should be child-friendly and may not be obstructive, offensive or violent.
Guests may wear masks. However, masks must not obstruct vision, and eyes must be visible at all times.
Costumes should not contain sharp objects, pointed objects or materials that may accidentally strike another Guest.
Guests that dress like Disney Characters may not pose for pictures or sign autographs for other Guests.
Costumes should not drag on the ground.
Costumes should not contain items which resemble or could easily be mistaken for an actual weapon.
Guests of all ages may only wear costumes to the Mickey's Halloween Party to which they have valid tickets.
Guests that do not adhere to these guidelines may be refused entry into the event or asked to modify their costumes. Information subject to change without notice.

 

[iKristin]

most kids end up taking their masks off anyway because #1 it usually isn't cold outside, it gets warm, #2 it's dark outside so it's not very easy to see and #3 rides!! you can't wear a mask on a ride and actually enjoy it

 

[dnamertz]

We are not huge character fans, so cannot help you on the last one other than last year they had a huge character meet over at Big Thunder Ranch.

Does anyone have infor on the characters that are at Big Thunder Ranch during the Halloween season? Which characters can you find there? I heard there are villians at that location. Is this true, and if so is it only one villian at a time?

 

[figment_jii]

Does anyone have infor on the characters that are at Big Thunder Ranch during the Halloween season? Which characters can you find there? I heard there are villians at that location. Is this true, and if so is it only one villian at a time?

It was my understanding that there was only one villain in the tent at a time. I don't know if there was anyway to know which villain it would be or if they were on any type of schedule. Last year the ranch wasn't open the entire day (I want to say it opened around 10 am and closed before sundown).

 

[Sherry E]

It was my understanding that there was only one villain in the tent at a time. I don't know if there was anyway to know which villain it would be or if they were on any type of schedule. Last year the ranch wasn't open the entire day (I want to say it opened around 10 am and closed before sundown).

figment_jii --

Yes, exactly. At the Carnival you could "conjure up a Villain" in the tent, and it was any one Villain from a list of like 4 or 5 of them (Captain Hook, maybe the Evil Queen, Cruella, etc.). I don't think there was any way to choose who you conjured up.

That was how Disney made the Villains more exclusive last year. They used to be out -- as many of us recall -- in their own photo spot in Fantasyland (and before that in DCA), and there were 2 or 3 of them there at one time. By limiting access to them in the daytime last year, that made (I believe) the MHP all the more enticing. People wanted to buy tickets for the MHP because they could no longer meet Jafar or Frollo, for example, in the daytime, in the parks. They could only meet them at the MHP.

I think that the limited access to Villains last year had an impact on the MHP ticket sales. This year I suspect that the Villains will be out in full force on 9/13 (Disney is using the "Unleash the Villains" tagline after all), then scaled back to limited access/one Villain at a time at the Carnival once again, and then out in full force at the MHP.

Also, the costume-clad characters (such as Skeleton Goofy and Pumpkin Donald) were forced out of their Main Street photo spots and into the Carnival last year, along with other Halloween-attired characters.

​

By the way, the big announcement on the holiday front today was, of course, the official announcement from Disney that a holiday World of Color is coming this year (which most of us already suspected), starting November 15th!!

As excited as I am for an all-holiday World of Color, how cool would it be for Disney to invest some money into Halloween Time to build it up a little bit, and show an all-Halloween World of Color? That would be awesome, I think! Of course, it would mean that Disney would have to actually include DCA in the Halloween Time festivities once again, and they seem to be avoiding that.

But I would love love love an all-Halloween-themed World of Color!!

​

 

[DisneyFan3113]

Wow! That World of Color show sounds so cool! Maybe someday they will do a Halloween WoC. That, I'm sure, would be quite fun You're making me want to go back for Christmastime again this year, Sherry! Unfortunately we can't... too many non-DL trips on the schedule for 2014 (New York, South Africa, England... we're pretty crazy). I guess I'll have to make our Halloween trip last!

 

[Sherry E]

Wow! That World of Color show sounds so cool! Maybe someday they will do a Halloween WoC. That, I'm sure, would be quite fun You're making me want to go back for Christmastime again this year, Sherry! Unfortunately we can't... too many non-DL trips on the schedule for 2014 (New York, South Africa, England... we're pretty crazy). I guess I'll have to make our Halloween trip last!

DisneyFan3113 --

My goodness! You certainly do have a lot of trips lined up.

By the time you eventually get back to DLR for the holiday season things will probably be a lot different. I am almost certain a party will be happening.

When WoC first opened I think that a couple of Disney's representatives said that it was set up so that they could easily do Halloween and holiday versions. I recall that MiceAge/MiceChat mentioned a few different times that Disney was not yet willing to do a full Halloween version, for fear of lack of interest or something silly. As we see, it took long enough for the holiday ("Winter") version to come around. The previous years with the Prep & Landing intro were just a teaser, I think. And isn't there a segment of WoC themed to July 4th, as well?

In any case, hopefully the popularity of the coming holiday version will make Disney see that a Halloween version is necessary too (and it really is necessary for Halloween Time, because the Halloween offerings in DCA are minimal!).

When Toy Story Midway Mania first opened, the same thing was said about it being a ride that was easy to install Halloween and/or holiday overlays on, as they've already got Mr. Potato Head's recorded Halloween and holiday banter. It would probably just be a matter of shutting TSMM down for a few days or so, to swap out the games and put some decorations up somewhere.

And yet, 5 years into TSMM's run, there are still no Halloween or holiday versions! Where is Mr. Potato Head singing holiday songs? Why must it take so long for these things to come to fruition?

 

[crystal1313]

Sorry, I don't have an answer to your question, but tell me when your DH finishes those costumes you'll post pictures!!

I for sure will post photos! DH already has his costume done, as my DS5 had a TRON themed bday in February.....and my DH dressed up like tron to surprise my DS at the party. It was amazing and my DS was beside himself and never figured out it was my DH in the costume, which makes it even better! Lol.

 

[wdwmoose]

When Toy Story Midway Mania first opened, the same thing was said about it being a ride that was easy to install Halloween and/or holiday overlays on, as they've already got Mr. Potato Head's recorded Halloween and holiday banter. It would probably just be a matter of shutting TSMM down for a few days or so, to swap out the games and put some decorations up somewhere.

And yet, 5 years into TSMM's run, there are still no Halloween or holiday versions! Where is Mr. Potato Head singing holiday songs? Why must it take so long for these things to come to fruition?

It wouldn't even take days. The games are just software. They could have it all ready to go and then take a few minutes to upload the new games. Easy Peasy. The physical decorations could take maybe a day, if that. It'd be super easy to do any sort of overlay for TSMM.

 

[Sherry E]

It wouldn't even take days. The games are just software. They could have it all ready to go and then take a few minutes to upload the new games. Easy Peasy. The physical decorations could take maybe a day, if that. It'd be super easy to do any sort of overlay for TSMM.

Yep. It should work that way and be that fast, for all intents and purposes. I tend to think that Disney would plan to shut TSMM down for at least a couple of days for the very first time they did a TSMM overlay of any kind, just to iron out bugs that may arise in the games and that sort of thing, as well as decorate. (Although we would have to assume that it was also being tested in the wee hours when the park was closed, which would take care of most of the bugs.) And then, if everything was worked out earlier than anticipated they'd open up ahead of schedule (like how HMH and IASWH often open up earlier than planned).

But the ease with which an overlay could be installed is one reason why a holiday TSMM could work well within the context of a Christmas party in DCA! Once they got the overlay fine-tuned they could literally run the regular TSMM games on non-party days and the holiday games on party days, and just keep switching back and forth without too much disruption. Whether or not Disney would do it that way remains to be seen, of course.

I can see the holiday version of TSMM coming to fruition even before a Halloween version. I would be both happy and sad about that -- happy because there would be a holiday version and Mr. Potato Head would be saying holiday things, but sad because Disney doesn't seem to want to put Halloween back into DCA in any real way (I'm barely even counting the "Frankenweenie" presence in DCA last year because that basically involved an exhibit/display promoting the 2012 movie and a preview of that movie in the Muppet theater [or something like that], correct?), and I'm not sure they'd even bother with a Halloween TSMM at this point.

I need more Halloween Time in DCA! I need the floral Masked Halloween Mickey to return to the entrance of Disneyland! I want more Halloween things in both parks (but especially DCA), not less!


After all, Cars, Bugs and Grizzlies must celebrate Halloween too! And I know that there is some cool retro/vintage Halloween decor floating around that could work with Buena Vista Street.

 

[DisneyLuver2013]

Gotta love Halloween time at Disney!!!

 

[DisneyFan3113]

So, it looks like my DD15's friend may be joining us during our October trip. The problem is, its too far in advance right now for her to know for sure, so I can't purchase an MHP ticket for her yet. We may not get a definite answer from her parents until as late as September... would most of the MHP nights be sold out by then? We're going on the 23rd and 25th of Oct. I'm just worried now that she won't be able to attend with us because the tickets will already be gone!

 

[figment_jii]

We may not get a definite answer from her parents until as late as September... would most of the MHP nights be sold out by then? We're going on the 23rd and 25th of Oct.

Will they know in early September or are you talking about the end of September? While no one knows when the tickets will sell out this year, I kind of doubt they'll sell out until closer to the party date. The first party and Halloween night will probably sell out first, then perhaps the ones that corresponds to Gay Days weekend. Last year, it looks like the first sell outs were reported in mid-to-late September. So, I would buy tickets as soon as you know in September, but my guess is that there will still be tickets in early-to-mid September.

 

[DisneyFan3113]

Will they know in early September or are you talking about the end of September? While no one knows when the tickets will sell out this year, I kind of doubt they'll sell out until closer to the party date. The first party and Halloween night will probably sell out first, then perhaps the ones that corresponds to Gay Days weekend. Last year, it looks like the first sell outs were reported in mid-to-late September. So, I would buy tickets as soon as you know in September, but my guess is that there will still be tickets in early-to-mid September.

Thank you! Its such a relief just to hear that. I would hope they'd know by early September, but it might be closer to mid-September. Still, I don't think they'd wait until all the way to the end of the month.

 

[Alohagirl73]

Reading this thread has made me even more excited for Halloween time at Disneyland. This is the only season I have never experienced at Disneyland. DH and I have decided to attend MHP in September with our DD who is 2. Beyond excited for this!! Bought my tickets yesterday.

 

[gbp02]

I am going Sept 21-24. The 21 and 22 are on a weekend; is it likely that the Davy Crockett Canoes will be open?