HalloweenTime at DLR Info and Photo Superthread #3

[Sherry E]

I'm mikey --

Such awesome, amazing photos of Halloween Screams (as we would expect from you!)! So you use a Canon? Why was I thinking you used a Nikon?

The Halloween Screams fireworks went off tonight!
Once the fireworks were loaded for Friday it is dangerous to change.

The winds were very strong last night, it seemed likely the fireworks would be cancelled.

I was able to buy MHP tickets at the GCH for the "sold out" party yesterday. Tickets are released for resort guests in the morning (~7AM).

Nonsuch --

Thank you for reporting back here about that. I was really curious to hear if that worked (onsite guests getting the MHP tickets at the hotel on the morning of the party). I guess we can assume it will happen that way in future years too. That's good information to have. I'm sure the number of tickets the hotels get in tends to vary or be limited, but it's a good back-up plan in case a night sells out before a hotel guest has a chance to get the tickets.

 

[Goofy_Mom]

The week before Halloween, there are parties Mon, Wed, and Fri. So, now that I think about it, if Monday's fireworks were cancelled they would probably just save them two nights to do at the Wed party.

This is what I'm thinking as well.

After I typed that I got to thinking, the people that paid for the party are missing out on a major draw to the party. I wonder if they still fire them off the next day so at least there is a chance they'll still get to see them. Of course I'm thinking about those of us who aren't local and make the party part of our vacation. And even for the locals with APs who forked over money to see the fireworks, they'd still get a chance to see them. Hard to call. We'll just have to see what happens if the fireworks are cancelled on a weekday party.

 

[jason41483]

Thank you.



These were taken with a canon 60D and 18-135 lens mounted on a tripod, I also had a 3 stop neutral density filter attached to the lens.
The camera was set to BULB mode, I used a remote cable release to activate the shutter.
Aperture = f/11
ISO = 200
shutter speed varied between 13 and 29 seconds, depending on the picture.



I had the same problem, I had my family stand on each side of the tripod to help protect it.

Not exaggerating when I say those are the best fireworks pictures I have ever seen. Not just fireworks at Disneyland, but anywhere.

Sherry E --

Hello, fellow Los Angeles resident! Have you visited Old Town Pasadena yet? It's a fun area.

I don't know exactly how long it takes to get to Disneyland from Pasadena, but from my area of L.A. it takes about 40 - 45 minutes without traffic of any kind, and at least twice as long as that with traffic.

Still, though, as you say -- being so close to Disneyland is going to be dangerous. Are you going to get Annual Passes, or have you gotten them? It sounds like it might be a worthwhile investment (albeit, an expensive one)! After all, the holiday season is coming up and Disneyland really knows how to do it up right!

Thanks! We actually live in Old Town Pasadena, it is fantastic and the walk-ability is great for us and our dog. It took us about 2 hours to get to Disneyland on a Saturday night, we left at 5pm and I-5 was a mess near the construction closer to Anaheim. We're going to try the 210 east to 57 south next time and see if we cut down on congestion.

I have my Cast Member main entrance pass, so I'm all set! Just have to work around the black-out dates during the holidays. I submitted to get my CM Holiday tickets. Will get much more use out of my entrance pass than I ever did living in Seattle, so excited!

 

[Rayes88]

we had a fantastic time at MHP this year. Here are some pictures from the Halloween Screams fireworks on Tuesday October first.

Seriously your pictures are AMAZING! Best pictures i have ever seeen so excited now!!

 

[tdhickey]

Thank you.
These were taken with a canon 60D and 18-135 lens mounted on a tripod, I also had a 3 stop neutral density filter attached to the lens.
The camera was set to BULB mode, I used a remote cable release to activate the shutter.
Aperture = f/11
ISO = 200
shutter speed varied between 13 and 29 seconds, depending on the picture.

Now that is you how you take pictures of fireworks. I always laugh at people using a point and click or "shudder" a smartphone to take pictures of fireworks, it's like why bother. This on the other hand is actually worth doing!

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Yep, awesome shots Mike, looking forward to trip report.

 

[Sherry E]

Now that is you how you take pictures of fireworks. I always laugh at people using a point and click or "shudder" a smartphone to take pictures of fireworks, it's like why bother. This on the other hand is actually worth doing!

I think that anyone should take pictures of any subject that interests him or her, no matter what kind of equipment is used. I don't want anyone thinking that they shouldn't post fireworks photos in any of my Superthreads unless they are professional-level and taken with the best equipment. I encourage everyone to post photos of whatever they have taken, with any kind of camera, as long as it fits the theme of the thread!

Some people can't afford the kind of equipment that is used by our expert photographers here on the board, and/or it's just not a practical purchase for them if they don't take photos often enough. They may still want some fireworks photos for their own collection. I'm not personally an avid fireworks enthusiast so it's not something I would ever spend a great deal of time on with any kind of camera, but I love looking at fireworks photos!

 

[rosanab1031]

I think that anyone should take pictures of any subject that interests him or her, no matter what kind of equipment is used. I don't want anyone thinking that they shouldn't post fireworks photos in any of my Superthreads unless they are professional-level and taken with the best equipment. I encourage everyone to post photos of whatever they have taken, with any kind of camera, as long as it fits the theme of the thread!

Some people can't afford the kind of equipment that is used by our expert photographers here on the board, and/or it's just not a practical purchase for them if they don't take photos often enough. They may still want some fireworks photos for their own collection. I'm not personally an avid fireworks enthusiast so it's not something I would ever spend a great deal of time on with any kind of camera, but I love looking at fireworks photos!

Thank you for this

 

[kmedina]

I think that anyone should take pictures of any subject that interests him or her, no matter what kind of equipment is used. I don't want anyone thinking that they shouldn't post fireworks photos in any of my Superthreads unless they are professional-level and taken with the best equipment. I encourage everyone to post photos of whatever they have taken, with any kind of camera, as long as it fits the theme of the thread! Some people can't afford the kind of equipment that is used by our expert photographers here on the board, and/or it's just not a practical purchase for them if they don't take photos often enough. They may still want some fireworks photos for their own collection. I'm not personally an avid fireworks enthusiast so it's not something I would ever spend a great deal of time on with any kind of camera, but I love looking at fireworks photos!

Or, like me, you have the nice camera but do not have the knowledge or skill to use it. Then, people with regular point and shoots take better pictures than I do. I just take about 50 of the same shot and post the best one. That is why I never mind seeing any picture even if it is blurry. It is so hard for me to take a non blurry picture even on auto sometimes. Yes, I am that bad, and my hands are very shaky. A tripod would help, but I do not want to carry it around or rent a locker just for it. We rarely do breaks, so going back to the room to get it would not work either.

Mike, you really did get fantastic pictures. They are right up there with Bret's and PiO's.

 

[Shadowcat70]

Has anyone seen any of the "black coffin" plastic lunch boxes this year?
I saw a picture which might have been from last year and family has their eyes set on them, so I would like to know ahead of time before any hopes get too high. lol!

 

[MommyLove]

MHP tickets purchased (for the 23rd), Photopass+ purchased, hotel room reserved (quite awhile back) and one night successfully added, costumes about half way done... we are GOING to our first ever Halloween party at Disneyland! I'm sooooooooooo excited!! We never really know until pretty close if we can make a planned trip so I'm pretty happy!

Great job on the thread, Sherry. Been reading since the post you made about your visit there last month on the first Halloween day (over 30+ pages ago... took me a couple days, lol). Wonderful contributions all around (Mike, your firework pics are incredible) and I love ALL the pics included, everyone!

My main question right now is (and I've seen conflicting answers to this on this thread, so I'm hoping to get a more definitive answer... or maybe one that goes the way I hope )... do we really have to wait until 3pm (doing a Wednesday night party) to come in our costumes?

I know I had more comments (and maybe another question) as I was reading through all those pages, but I can't think of them right now. Just so psyched to be going in a couple weeks!

Sherry, when are you going to a party?

I think that anyone should take pictures of any subject that interests him or her, no matter what kind of equipment is used.

Amen!

Well, unless you're holding up a ginormous iPad and it's blocking other's views.

 

[Sherry E]

Thank you for this

rosanab1031 -- You're welcome! I just want to make sure that everyone knows that all Halloween Time photos are welcome here, no matter what they were taken with!

Or, like me, you have the nice camera but do not have the knowledge or skill to use it. Then, people with regular point and shoots take better pictures than I do. I just take about 50 of the same shot and post the best one. That is why I never mind seeing any picture even if it is blurry. It is so hard for me to take a non blurry picture even on auto sometimes. Yes, I am that bad, and my hands are very shaky. A tripod would help, but I do not want to carry it around or rent a locker just for it. We rarely do breaks, so going back to the room to get it would not work either.

Mike, you really did get fantastic pictures. They are right up there with Bret's and PiO's.

Kim -- Yes, good point. Some folks don't have the time or patience to figure out the nice cameras. I think you probably have the skill, though! I suspect you can take some great pictures!

Or, another scenario is that in some cases people may have the nice equipment but maybe not such a good eye for composition and what not. So then the nice equipment is essentially wasted if the 'eye' is not there to begin with.

I don't blame you -- I wouldn't want to carry the tripod either. I'm far too clumsy to be lugging around a really, really nice camera and all of the accessories. I would end up dropping something or losing it. But that doesn't diminish my love of taking photos of certain things and constantly attempting to get interesting pictures!

Has anyone seen any of the "black coffin" plastic lunch boxes this year?
I saw a picture which might have been from last year and family has their eyes set on them, so I would like to know ahead of time before any hopes get too high. lol!

Shadowcat70 --

Ar you sure they were lunch boxes and not popcorn buckets? I didn't see any when I was there on 9/13, but now that we're into October I wonder if the coffin has made a return!

MHP tickets purchased (for the 23rd), Photopass+ purchased, hotel room reserved (quite awhile back) and one night successfully added, costumes about half way done... we are GOING to our first ever Halloween party at Disneyland! I'm sooooooooooo excited!! We never really know until pretty close if we can make a planned trip so I'm pretty happy!

Great job on the thread, Sherry. Been reading since the post you made about your visit there last month on the first Halloween day (over 30+ pages ago... took me a couple days, lol). Wonderful contributions all around (Mike, your firework pics are incredible) and I love ALL the pics included, everyone!

My main question right now is (and I've seen conflicting answers to this on this thread, so I'm hoping to get a more definitive answer... or maybe one that goes the way I hope )... do we really have to wait until 3pm (doing a Wednesday night party) to come in our costumes?

I know I had more comments (and maybe another question) as I was reading through all those pages, but I can't think of them right now. Just so psyched to be going in a couple weeks!

Sherry, when are you going to a party?

Hi, Kathleen! Welcome!

It's hard to believe that more than 30 pages have passed since 9/13! I hadn't checked, but I know that this thread moves very fast (as did the previous Halloween thread). There is a much different kind of pace to it than the Christmas/Holiday thread, even though that thread is long (and popular) as well. It's harder to -- for lack of a better phrase -- get a handle on this thread because it moves fast, which is fine as long as we can all just go with the flow and roll with it, and all of that good stuff.

With each thread I am constantly making notes to myself, i.e., "...must add X, Y and Z to next thread... must add a category for this and that in next thread..." So, ultimately, this thread will end up like the current Christmas Holiday season thread in that it will have different posts and categories for everything on Page 1. It's already in the works, but it does take a lot of time to put it together in the proper way!

I've never known of anyone being allowed into Disneyland in costume prior to the allowed entry time (either 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. on party days), but I could be wrong. Who knows? Maybe some people have pulled it off, but I always thought that costumes were off limits until that time. The last time I attended a party, I noticed a whole bunch of folks entering Disneyland in costume at 3 p.m.!

As for when I'm going to the party, I probably should have stuck with my original plan of going on 9/27. I changed my mind about that because I wanted to go in October instead (for more of a Halloween-ish vibe!). I had my mind set on one date in October, and then a second date as an alternate, but I needed to take care of some arrangements before finalizing my plan. Something told me not to buy my ticket yet, even though I have gift cards ready to do it. I just had a feeling.

Those dates that I had my eye on have sold out...which wouldn't be a big deal as I would just go on another night that is not sold out. But, something kind of important has come up recently which may prevent me from going at all (that's probably why I was getting the strong feeling about not buying a ticket yet). I don't want to get into it now because I am hoping something will still be worked out, but now I am thinking that if I had stuck with my original 9/27 plan to go it would have worked out fine. But noooooooooooo! I just had to abandon my 9/27 plan in favor of trying to go to the MHP at a more Halloween-ish time!

Amen!

Well, unless you're holding up a ginormous iPad and it's blocking other's views.

Kathleen -- Very true! It's never fun when people are holding up large devices to snap photos, preventing people from seeing things!

​

 

[dddarrington]

Only 30 minutes until we start getting ready for our party!!! Here's to having a GREAT time!!!

 

[Sherry E]

Only 30 minutes until we start getting ready for our party!!! Here's to having a GREAT time!!!

dddarrington -

Have a wonderful time! Be sure to report back to us and let us know how it all went.

 

[SingWithFlowers]

Has anyone seen any of the "black coffin" plastic lunch boxes this year? I saw a picture which might have been from last year and family has their eyes set on them, so I would like to know ahead of time before any hopes get too high. lol!

I haven't been to the park this season, but I know I saw a coffin picture and I think it was labeled as a popcorn bucket a while back. I'm pretty sure it was in this thread.

ETA: I found a 2013 pic of it in another thread and I guess it is used as a lunch pail at DLR... http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3087929

 

[figment_jii]

Just a quick update about the coffin popcorn/lunch bucket (they were the same thing last year)...I didn't see them at either the French Market or Haunted Mansion popcorn stand today. I was kind of surprised, but maybe they are featuring them this year.

For the costume question, I saw a few folks around 2 pm, but almost none before that.

 

[CluelessDisFan]

We went on the 27th. I loved the Cadaver Dan's floating in the river. That was spectacular! By far the best part. Couldn't stand the treat trails, we did a couple that we didn't have to wait for. Was super irritated there were not photo pass photogs out near the castle. I talked to one, he said they were trying to blend in. I thought that was ridiculous considering how much we spent to be there and for photo pass +. Definitely enjoyed only taking the oldest. Dh and I agreed it was good one on one with him that we rarely get. We are going to make it a point to take the other 2 when they're older one on one to a party too.

 

[Viva Las Disney]

Can Halloween screams be seen well from anywhere outside the park like downtown Disney? I made a spur of the moment trip and am staying in the holiday inn by the parking garage to go to DL tomorrow, I tried to get tickets for tonight but the Halloween party was sold out.

Are the fireworks at 9:30?

 

[figment_jii]

Are the fireworks at 9:30?

Yes, they are at 9:30 pm. I would guess that you can see them from the Esplande....you won't see the effects on the castle or Zero, but you should be able to see the bursts.

 

[dddarrington]

Well, I've now been to a Halloween Party and I have mixed feelings. For something we had to spend additional money to attend, there were WAY too many people there! I kind of figured a special event would feel more exclusive.

We did several treat trails when the lines weren't bad. Only two photo shoots as those lines are painfully slow. I thought the effects were GREAT, and it was fun to see everyone's cosumes. I LOVED the fireworks. My DGS wanted to leave before that, but I made him wait...he was glad we did! Don't get me wrong, we had a great time, but I'm not sure I would pay to do it again.